Bear Paw Meanderings

March can be a very fickle month. Or maybe it is that I am expecting so much of spring out of March and frequently the month is much more about winter than spring.

The National Weather Service told me a couple of weeks ago to look for March to be the end of El Nino which has been providing us with such an open winter.

It has been probably the strangest winter I have ever spent on the banks of the mighty Milk River. Day after day it is sunshiny, cold at first, then warming up to the 40’s. Lots of wind and more of the same week after week after week. We have had El Nino winters before but I cannot ever remember one like this.

The National Weather Service went on to say that March should be above average in temperature and above average in moisture. Average moisture, if I recall, is a little over a half inch. They also said that with El Nino gone, look for a big dump of snow in March or April. Although they could not see that dump on their long range forecasts yet, it will probably come as it usually does.

That was good news for me. I don’t mind those heavy wet March and April snows. They average around 2 to 3 feet of snow and the sun is warm enough that the snow melts soon enough and really helps with moisture all summer long.

That is what we need is moisture to last through the summer growing season. I was digging out in my garden the other day and it is very dry going quite deep. I don’t know how my perennials like peonies, rocket, lupine, poppies and Maltese crosses will fare with so little cover over winter and so little moisture going into spring. It is too early to tell but by the end of March I should know much more about my flowers.

I hope for the best and even have been known to go out this time of year and say little prayers over them to wake up and give one more glorious year of blooms in my garden.

One thing I do know about March. If you think we have had lots of wind this year so far, hold onto your hat for March traditionally is one of our most windy months. Knowing how the wind loves around the Milk, look for that wind to be with us through March.

Finally, it is always good to write about the weather because usually what I say is wrong and it is a subject everyone talks about but no one does anything about.

Although there was a time when airplane pilots seeded clouds in our area with dry ice hoping to get rain.

But that is a story for another day!