Early February approaches

The waterfall has partially thawed, the pond has not.  The mossrock surrounding the pond is rather picturesque under freshly fallen snow.

Early February marks the end of deepest winter:

• It’s the halfway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox. Already, we are adding over 2 more minutes of daylight a day.
• The average high temperature finally reaches the freezing mark – and starts going up a degree every couple of days after that. That may seem unremarkable, but the average high has been between 29 F and 32 F for nearly 6 weeks.
• February 4 is the day with the most subzero readings.  Anecdotally, the first week of February always seems like a cold snap, but the last really severe one.

In some respects, late winter and early spring are the most difficult to deal with. Things are starting to warm up, but progress is slow. I was heartened, though, to hear birdsong on my last few morning walks to the train – if the birds can have faith that spring is coming, so can I.