Just when we thought winter would never end…

It was a mighty tough winter again in Door County this year. We had a thick snow cover by December 3rd, and it didn’t go away until an unseasonable break in February. Two days later the thick snow cover was back again, and stuck around for awhile even in the fields (the fields being first to melt, thanks to the sun’s unobstructed warming rays).

North Slope Snow persists at Peninsula State Park on March 26, 2009

The woods were (are) much more reluctant to relinquish their winter dress. Although my backyard has been 100% melted for 10 solid days now, the “north slopes” at Peninsula remain cloaked in a thick, stubborn white blanket.

We had a similar scenario last winter, between thick, persistent snow cover and bitter cold temps. And it cost dearly — spring awoke with very, very, very few rodents, squirrels, raccoons and skunks. We lost a lot of small mammals over the winter. Where the woods were teeming with wildlife as winter fell in November, the landscape remained eerily still in the bright warm spring sun. The silence and stillness was unsettling. When the critters didn’t reappear, and didn’t reappear, it was obvious… they had all died.

This is, of course, the way of nature. A bloated population eventually is pruned down by harsh conditions; the individuals with “selected for” genes (which is what makes them strong and capable of surviving) survive and reproduce, and build a new, stronger population.

Red Squirrel at Weborg Point, 3/26/09

That’s exactly what has happened here. The strongest survived, and reproduced, and the result was a hardy stock that survived this winter quite handily. I’ve seen more squirrels in the past 2 weeks than I saw all of last summer combined. (That’s not to say we are overflowing with squirrels; rather, it’s more a statement on how few squirrels there were last year.)

But the thick unyielding blanket of snow this winter eventually became stifling. Although winter and the sun duked it out for most of February and early March, I was really starting to think that winter was going to remain a permanent state and that my only chance at reprieve was to scramble southward.

But then March 17th came. The last bits of snow was melting off the fields and yards, and warm breezes lured us outside in short sleeves and even shorts! Yes, shorts. It was in the 60s in the sun (which, when you’re accustomed to 20s and 30s, feels like a sauna). And thankfully, fantastically, it also kicked off spring bird migration. :)

Filed under: Weather

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