After last winter, I feel we deserved those spring-like days in January, don’t you? Not to mention, we missed getting the 24″ storm that socked the Boston area the last week of the month – whew! While Mother Nature went easy on us in January, we can’t be certain she will be as kind to us in February – so, we are getting prepared, and remaining diligent. We still have about 8 weeks left of this winter season, and as we know, we can get a lot of snow in 8 weeks. (but, let’s hope for the best, prepare for the worst!)
Winter was slow to arrive this year, which was fine by us – it gave us a chance to finish fall pruning, fall clean ups, and get our equipment and crews ready. After over 13 years in the business, I still remind myself that the first storm is “on the job training” for our crews, and yes, mistakes happen. I want to thank you for your patience and understanding as we ironed out some “bugs,” made corrections, and got our crews fully up to speed and storm-ready.
Around the 10th of the month, we experienced a classic January thaw, accompanied by 2″ of rain that washed away any remaining snow. We got to look at our bare lawns for a couple days, until a snow storm brought in 6″ of snow. Then, we got a taste of a typical January in Maine when temperatures plunged to the teens. The lowest temperature, 1 degree on January 22nd – was still warmer than last years lows – we will take it, but still had to sprinkle a lot of salt on it.
Still, January was pretty mild. The average temperature was 27 degrees, which is 4.7 degrees above normal, and is the 8th warmest January on record. Our crews enjoyed the “t-shirt weather.”
The month of January brought us 4 “plowable” events, and 13.2 inches of snow – which is 6 inches below normal. I don’t remember, but I’ve been told, that the January of 1979 was the snowiest on record when 62.4 inches of snow fell. Let’s do repeats of 2016 please!
The service that did keep us hopping was salt service. As always, when we have a strong sun and warmer temps during the day, we have melting, and then refreezing at night when temperatures go back down below zero. We will be sending storm totals for your specific property within a day or two.
Let’s hope Punxsutawney Phil’s predictions are accurate, and we continue to ride out a mild winter, and experience an early spring. Be sure to contact us about any spring projects you have in mind – believe it or not, now is the time to get those scheduled!
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