It’s snowing today and there is nothing better to do than to have a fire, read (or write) and watch the yardstick slowly disappear under a white blanket. As Juana and I follow the birds fighting over position at the feeder, today’s New York Times has a story about how the signs of Spring this year are coming earlier than ever before. This story is ironic as both of us thought the same as we made our way North. With each State came a different reminder that March is a transformation month.
Florida: Over the last month there had been a warmth and lack of rain that would be common during the heat of a New England summer. We had a stretch of temperatures in the upper 80s with lots of humidity. Our drive back was no different with a high of 89 degrees registering on my Subaru’s thermometer. The A/C struggled to keep up during our drive. The outdoors were lush with coconut and palm trees that were full of fruit. The palmetto trees also were heavy with fronds that pierced the sky as we drove by. The St. Augustine and zoysia grasses were thick and dark green as was most of the foliage. The green now in Florida was the dark summer green that decorates oaks and maples up north during July and August when they are fending off the heat of the season.
Georgia: By the time we got to Georgia, the intense heat and green started to fade. The daytime temperatures were in the 70s quickly dropping to the 60s as the day ended. There were few of the more tropical varieties of trees appearing being supplanted by yellowwoods, beech and oak. At the same time, evergreens of pine, spruce and fir started to fill in the spaces particularly as we travelled through swampy realms. There was lots of life in these areas as the grasses were lush and the smells of rot and decay strong. The roadside was littered with creatures great and small letting us know that their winter sleep was over but their skills at preservation a bit rusty.
South Carolina: Save the boarder crossing with Georgia, we saw few palmettos (the state’s namesake tree) particularly as we turned away from the coast up toward Charlotte, NC. The grasses were still thick and green as was the profusion of conifers. At the rest stops there was a better indication of diversity with oaks and dogwoods with tiny leaves that would only emerge in the North a few months hence. The temperature dropped another 10 degrees or so to the 50s and our Florida garb started to feel a bit skimpy.
North Carolina: We couldn’t really tell how the Tar Heel state looked as it was traversed in darkness and falling temperatures that dropped to the high 30s. But a crescent moon and the stars pointed the way home.
Virginia: A crisp morning of 41 degrees greeted us as well as a profusion of daffodil and crocus bulbs. The roadside grasses were green but short. Clover flowers were waiting for bees, who mostly decided that it was too cold to pollinate. The forsythia was in full bright yellow display, too late to force. Most surprising were large stands of white flowering trees, which appeared to be Bradford pears from their shape and color (it’s hard to tell a few hundred yards out driving at 75 mph). Weeping willows were also budding out. As we headed north, the grasses started to go more brown and the trees were not as enthusiastic in their embrace of 50s temperatures.
West Virginia & Maryland: As we drove through very thin slices of these states we saw little change save that winter was still here. There was a thin veneer of snow on the north facing slopes and the deciduous trees were devoid of leaves amply displaying their skeletal forms. And unlike the south, few conifers were along the roadside.
Pennsylvania: We saw more farmland along the road with some fields planted with winter wheat, which seemed alive and green in contrast to others of furrowed corn sporting a few nubs and brown stalks. Grasses for the most part were brown. It was colder and as we drove over the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania we hit successive snow squalls, which efficiently eliminated any observations of the coming Spring. As the outdoor temperatures dropped from 35 to 25 degrees in a few minutes, we realized that our flirtation with warmer northern weather was over.
New York & Connecticut: Snow flurries and near freezing temperatures told us the story: March is still winter up north. But when we got home we were greeted by a few daffodils starting to break out of the ground as well as bunches of snowdrops.
