Foul weather is no news; hail, rain, and snow

Are now expected, and esteemed no woe;

Nay, ‘tis an omen bad, the yeomen say,

When Phoebus shows his face the second day. – The Country Almanack, February 1676

In the Sky

The volatility of the upcoming Opossum Mating Moon accentuates solar influence, and the mix of warming and freezing, sunlight and clouds, encourages skunks and other small mammals to wander the night in search of mates. Under this moon, pussy willows emerge all the way, maple sap runs into buckets and the early bulbs – snowdrops, aconites and snow crocus – send up foliage in northern states and come into full bloom across the South.

Weather Trends

Significant cold waves are due to cross the United States around the following dates: Feb. 3, 6, 11, 15, 20, 24 and 27. The first four February weather systems belong to the subseason of Late Winter, the last three to Early Spring.

If strong storms occur this month, they will be most likely to strike on or around Feb. 2-4, 6-9, 14-18 and 24-27. New moon on Feb. 9 and full moon on Feb. 24 are likely to increase the intensity of the weather systems that typically arrive near those dates.

Peak Activity Times for Creatures

When the moon is above the continental United States, creatures are typically most active. The second-most-active time occurs when the moon is below the Earth. Activity is likely to increase at new moon and full moon and at perigee (when the Moon is closest to Earth), especially as the barometer falls in advance of cold fronts near those dates.

Date               Best            Second-Best

Feb. 1-2:  Midnight to Dawn   Afternoons 

Feb. 3-9: Mornings                    Evenings

Feb.10-15:Afternoons Middle of the Night

Feb.16-23: Evenings.             Mornings

Feb.24-28:Midnight to Dawn Afternoons

The Natural Calendar

The brief season of Late Winter settles in throughout the nation. Although this period can be one of the coldest of the year, its thaws accelerate the swelling of buds and the blooming of early bulbs. Firefly season starts in southern Florida. In the lower Midwest, turkeys come together for turkey flocking season and deer move into herds. In Arkansas, rhubarb leafing coincides with henbit leafing in Lexington, Ky.

The foliage of the oak-leaf hydrangea has fallen in the past weeks. The Osage fruits have turned deep red-brown. The berries of the euonymus are falling from their sepals. Garlic mustard is lush on the hillsides.

But there is fresh growth on the Japanese honeysuckle, leaves dark violet, venturing out from the axils of their woody vines. A few red nubs of peonies have appeared. Black walnut hulls are dark and collapsing and fall away at the touch of your heel.

Average temperatures in February typically rise two degrees from the January average, (from 28 to 30 in Ohio and Indiana), and the rate of increase is almost the same in every part of the United States. The Ohio/Indiana leap from 28 to 30 degrees is matched by Houston’s 54 to 56, Juneau’s 25 to 27, Denver’s 29 to 32, San Francisco’s 49 to 51, or Chicago’s 26 to 28. In western states, more subject to the vast thaws sweeping up from the Gulf of Mexico, the jump is four to five degrees: Minneapolis averages move from 12 to 16 degrees, International Falls, Minn., from 3 to 7, Bismarck, N.D., from 10 to 14.

In northern Mexico, monarch butterflies move toward the Texas border. They will reach the Gulf coast in small groups during mid to late March, joining those that have spent the winter in the Deep South.

The first major waves of robins and bluebirds now cross the Ohio River. Along the backroads, road kills attest to the increasing nighttime activities of opossums.

Countdown to Spring

• Two weeks until the first red-winged blackbirds arrive

• Three weeks to the first snowdrop bloom and the official start of Early Spring – a time when maple sap season can begin at any moment

• Four weeks to major pussy willow emerging season, to crocus season and owl hatching time

• Five weeks to the beginning of the morning robin chorus before sunrise

• Six weeks to daffodil season and silver maple blooming season

• Seven weeks to tulip season and the earliest wave of blooming woodland wildflowers

• Eight weeks until golden forsythia blooms and skunk cabbage sends out its first leaves and the lawn is long enough to cut

• Nine weeks until the peak of Middle Spring wildflowers in the woods

• 10 weeks until American toads sing their mating songs in the dark and corn planting time begins.

In the Field and Garden

Continue to start flowers like geraniums and coleus indoors under lights. You can sprout tomatoes, too, and even cabbages.

Treat ash, bittersweet, fir, elm, flowering fruit trees, hawthorn, juniper, lilac, linden, maple, oak, pine, poplar, spruce, sweet gum, tulip tree, and willow for scale and mites. Spray trees with dormant oil when temperatures rise into the upper 30s or 40s for at least 24 hours. Such temperatures are virtually certain to occur again by the middle of the month.

When aconites bloom, then spread fertilizer in the field and garden so that it can work its way into the ground before planting. When maple sap runs, then prune houseplants to encourage spring growth.

Almanack Classics

Surprise

by Hazel Rose, Muncie, Ind.

This happened in the 1930s. This elderly lady had the one son. He liked to drink strong drink, and he would forget his way home.

One moonlit night, about 1 a.m., there came a knock upon our door. My mother answered the door, and there stood this lady saying that she could not find her son. Would my mother help locate him and get him home?

So off they went.

And eventually they found this person passed out in the barn yard. Being the Good Samaritans they were, they got him up, and my mother kept telling him he ought to be ashamed, treating his mother this way, to which statements the man completely agreed.

Then lo and behold! They got him home, and the woman’s son was actually home with friends! They ended up never knowing who the stranger they tried to help really was. And I never heard my mother laugh as much in my life as when she told about what they had done that night.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S SCKRAMBLER

NORST SNORT

ROPT             PORT

MOTR MORT

TORF             FORT

OERTT TORTE

ARTWHT THWART

OOCNSRT CONSORT

STODIRT DISTORT

XHRTOE EXHORT

SSRTAO ASSORT

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

LSSEIM

SELIM

LESIG

IESLT

PSLIE

YESSTL

IAESSL

DALIS

ERILS

FLSIE

BLESI

In order to estimate your SCKRAMBLER IQ, award yourself 15 points for each word unscrambled, adding a 50-point bonus for getting all of them correct. If you find a typo, add another 15 points to your IQ. Yes, you are a genius.

Will’s Almanack for 2024 Is Still Available

You can still order your autographed copy of the Almanack from www.poorwillsalmanack.com. Or you can send a check for $20 to Poor Will at P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, Ohio, 453867. Or you can order from Amazon.

Copyright 2024 – W. L. Felker