It is almost the end of February and I’m wondering what happened to winter this year in the Salt Lake Valley. Has winter gone on walkabout? Where is the snow?
Immature drake Common Goldeneye with a crayfish catch
We’ve barely had any of that white fluffy stuff, and temps have been much warmer than normal. Where there should be ice, there is open water.
It’s still pitch dark outside and I can see that there is a very, very light skiff of snow on the ground. But that might be only the fifth or sixth time this winter? One day, we did have about three inches when I woke here at home.
However, last year on this date, there was more than 18 inches of snow where I live. I scraped, shoveled, and snow-blowed for most of the day.
Sure, last winter was freaky.
It was a record-breaking winter and more like winters were when I first moved to Utah.
More than anything, though, this winter I’m missing the winter birds at my local ponds. I’ve only seen a few Common Goldeneyes at the pond, usually one adult male by himself. I haven’t seen a single female or immature male. I have yet to find a Red-breasted or Common Merganser. Not even one Canvasback.
The Ruddy Ducks and Redheads have been at the pond, but they are year-round residents here in northern Utah.
And the nearby crabapples that are usually eaten and gone by mid-February? The House Finches, Cedar Waxwings, and American Robins haven’t needed them to survive. The trees are still full of the over ripened fruits.
Fortunately, this winter has brought ample snow to our mountain ranges. From my living room window, I can see the snow-capped Oquirrh Mountains; from the street, the snow-covered Wasatch Mountain Range. The snow that has fallen this winter means the Great Salt Lake might survive an extra year. Maybe. Maybe not.
It has been a weird, wacky winter. Maybe we’ll get a blizzard of snow before winter is officially over. I’m not counting on that. Not one bit.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Common Goldeneye photos plus facts and information about this species.
Mia, missed your “Life is Good” reminder!
Grace, there are times when I write about serious things like our missing winter, that I can’t bring myself to sign off the way I normally do. As I finished this post up I thought about all the water that will be wasted this year on bluegrass lawns and water-sucking alfalfa instead of reaching the lake and I just couldn’t sign off with “life is good” because I know if people cared, it could be better.
Fortunately, I’m an optimist.
Imagine how gloriously toasty and dry Summer ’24 will be!!
We got a couple of inches last night but I agree with all these “big storm fronts” predicted mostly have only given us an inch or two of snow. I have commented to Jon, with all these storms we would normally be buried in snow. We have had a lot of rain and as you mentioned the mountains have had snow. Last report I saw 425 feet this year. They are expecting more and hoping March will be stormy. I am missing birds even in my yard but I also have a permanent hawk this year.
How many winters like this before most people notice water supplies are down? Do these winters herald a drought, or are they just an anomaly? Here’s hoping we get a Big Snow this year!
I wonder about how many winters ago people could have failed to notice