The Great New Years Eve Blizzard of 2014 is now underway, right outside my house. In April 2015 I will have been here 16 years, and I have never seen this kind of a storm before at this elevation, one that has produced entirely snowfall with no rain that preceded it. (Its currently about 23 F, -5 C.) I am pretty sure that it is snowing in the townsite of Yucca itself, which lies about 1200 feet (375 meters) lower than I do here in the foothills of the mountains, a thing that I have never seen before either. People, there are snowdrifts on my front doorstep! What is this? Minnesota? What happened to my desert? Kidding aside, I am glad that its snowing like this, because it will help provide both moisture and an insulating blanket to help protect my various plants against the inevitable cold nights that are going to follow the departure of this storm. The wildflower seedlings, the numerous sprouting bulbs I planted in October, and of course the cacti and succulents will all benefit from a bit of extra insulation. Normally Canadian storm systems that drop down over the interior Great Basin Desert to the north are quite dry and windy and produce little if any precipitation. Ordinarily I get all of the negative impacts of freezing without any benefits of moisture, so this storm is quite a departure from the norm. We could see as much as 4 to 5 inches (10-12 cm) of snow today, although some of it is melting as it hits the ground. Time to drive around and get some rare pics of Joshua trees and saguaros in the snow. More later.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 18:47:36 +0000
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