I read somewhere about a climate zone rating system in Russia which made use of many more factors than minimum lows.. would be interesting to have something like that, but of course, more factors that could be wrong :)) I actually have no idea how cold it is/gets under our snow pack, which is much less and of shorter duration than yours, though considerably more and longer lasting than in places like Calgary (where, it should be noted, many things rated for much warmer zones survive in years with little snow cover at all.. of course often little is actually known about the hardiness of various species outside regions with the most gardeners), and varies considerably from one part of my property to another, within a few metres one way or another in some cases! Certainly nothing is growing under the snow here, with the soil solidly frozen before snow cover, generally, and for some time at least after melt as well! More forecast for tomorrow--looks like a late spring here this year! Cohan
On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 5:18 PM, [email protected] <[email protected]>wrote: > Indeed, Cohan, there was even more snow depth than is pictured in my photos > taken April 12 so there has been some snow melt already. However, the > overall indicator of snow melt progress is the volume of water in the Blue > River which flows from the west side of the Continental Divide through > Breckenridge, down to Lake Dillon (Denver's water supply) and into the > Colorado River Basin. As of today, the water level in the Blue River is > still low. The local newspaper has been warning residents that our river > could flood this spring due to the increased snowpack. May and June are > usually our heaviest snow melt months. Even in early July it could be > problematic trying to cross on foot some of our back country streams where > there are no bridges. By late July, the river and creeks have "calmed down" > and are at a normal summer flow. > > > I don't put much stock in an area's USDA zone designation. Those zones are > based on the coldest ambient temperature recorded for a given area. My Zone > 4 says it can get to -30F (-34.5C) but it never has been that low in the 18 > years we've lived up here or in the 48 years Klaus has been coming to > Breckenridge to work and ski. Also, the zone designation doesn't consider > an area's winter snowpack. At our house, the snowpack begins around the > first week of November and is still providing an insulating blanket for the > soil through mid-May. The temperature at the contact point between soil and > snow stays around 32F (0C), fluctuating only 2 to 3 degrees downward when we > have a period of sub-zero F. ambient temperatures. Our snow is never icy > and is full of air, even when it's compressed. The plants are protected > from biting winds and extremely cold temperatures and actually continue to > grow under the snow, forming new foliage and even flower buds. They are > also protected from March and April days of unseasonably warm sun that might > induce them to break dormancy prematurely. Because of my reliable snow > cover, I have been able to grow species listed as hardy only to Zone 5 and > even 6. > > > Just 20 miles from here, on the east side of the Continental Divide, the > winter climate for plants is far more severe. That area, around the little > towns of Alma, Fairplay and Hartsel, is designated as Zone 3, even though > they are at or below the elevation of our gardens. Being in the "rain > shadow" of the Rocky Mountains, they get very little snow throughout the > winter months. To make matters worse, fierce winds sweep across the > naturally-open, park-like meadows, removing what little snow may have fallen > on the plants. With mostly clear winter days, the sun beats down strongly > through the thin atmosphere, warming and heaving the frozen soil, ripping > apart the root systems. Every spring, gardeners lose several perennials to > that harsh winter climate. > > > One winter I tried to keep the path to the compost pile shoveled but it was > a losing battle. We have a half-acre lot and the compost pile is at the > back end, about 250 feet or so from our house. I would get the whole thing > nicely cleared and then the winds would come up during the night and fill in > the path with windslab snow. After repeating that operation several times > with the same result and throwing out my back in the process, I finally gave > in to Old Man Winter and strapped on snowshoes to get to the back of our > lot. We had so much snow this winter that I couldn't even keep my broken > snowshoe path open! Again, it was Mr. Wind who filled in my neatly packed > track with 12 inches of new snow during the night while I was in dreamland. > > > Jane Hendrix > Mountain View Experimental Gardens > Peak 7 Area - Breckenridge, Colorado U.S.A. > Elevation: 10,000 feet > USDA Zone 4 > Website: http://www.picturetrail.com/hendrix > > > West Central Alberta, Canada, Zone 2-3 record temps from 10-20 miles away: min -45C/-49F;max 34C/93F http://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus
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