Jan. 30-Feb. 5, 2012

Opening a barn door for the sheep standing out in a cold rain, or throwing a few grains of corn to the chickens are small things, but these little things begin to add up in you, and you begin to understand that you’re important. You may not be important like people who do great things that you read about in the newspaper, but you begin to feel that you’re important to the life around you.

-Wendell Berry, Renewing Husbandry

The Singing Cardinal Moon, entering its second quarter Jan. 30, waxes throughout the first week of February, bringing more cardinals into song and becoming completely full at 4:54 p.m. on Feb. 7.

Rising in the afternoon or  evening and setting in the morning, this moon moves overhead in the middle of the night. Waxing through Taurus on Feb. 1-2 and then through Cancer on Feb. 4-6, the moon this week offers superb conditions for seeding flowers and for vegetables that will produce their fruit above the ground.

Lunar conditions favor fishing (but discourage dieting) in the middle of the night and at the second-most-powerful lunar time, midday, especially as the barometer falls in advance of the Feb. 3 and 6 cold fronts.

Jupiter continues to hold its position in Aries, deep in the west after dark throughout February. Saturn in Virgo comes up near midnight and lies in the southeast at dawn. Moving retrograde into Pisces as late winter begins, Venus continues as the brilliant evening star far in the west, lower than Jupiter (which is not quite as bright as Venus), and setting before Jupiter.

Mars moves into Leo this month, rising before midnight and traveling across the sky throughout the early morning hours, coming overhead by 6 a.m.

The first two days of February often bring the Groundhog Day thaw – a brief time of mild temperatures. Beginning Feb. 3, however, conditions typically become chillier. The likelihood of below-zero temperatures becomes the greatest of the entire winter, and the chances for highs below freezing remain steady at 60 percent.

The second barometric high of the month arrives near Feb. 6 and generally reinforces the cold. If strong storms occur next month, they will be most likely to strike on or around the following dates: Feb. 2-4, 6-9, 14-18 and 24-25. Full moon on Feb. 7 and new moon on Feb. 14 are likely to increase the intensity of the weather systems that typically arrive near those dates.

By the time the Groundhog Day thaw is over (Feb. 3 or 4), the sun will have climbed past a declination of 16 degrees, more than 30 percent of the way to spring equinox.

Zeitgebers for next week include the mating cries of cardinals half an hour before sunup, the first mourning dove songs (just after the cardinals), the bell-calls of the blue jays later in the day and the arrival of pollen of mountain cedar, acacia, smooth alder, bald cypress, American elm, red maple, white poplar, black willow and bluegrass from the South, carried on the winds of the Groundhog Day thaw.

Jan. 30: The Groundhog Day thaw often begins today or tomorrow and lasts until about Feb. 3. The moon’s position in Taurus through Feb. 1 augers well for indoor seeding throughout the North.

In the wetlands, hemlock has grown about half a foot tall. Sometimes a few peony spears and bleeding heart stalks are visible in the garden. Sometimes rhubarb shows its red knuckles through the mulch.

Jan. 31: In northern Mexico, monarch butterflies are moving toward the Texas border. They will reach the Gulf coast in small groups during mid- to late March, and their offspring will find the Ohio Valley in May. In Florida, fireflies begin their season, four months ahead of their relatives in the lower Midwest.

Feb. 1: Be prepared for possible drought; make sure your soil has sufficient potassium and phosphorus.

Feb. 2: Today is Groundhog Day. Although the tradition about the groundhog seeing its shadow began in the Northeast, most groundhogs stay in their dens this early in February throughout the northern half of the country; they do, however, become active during January and February in the South.

Feb. 3: Throughout the region, there is one hour more daylight than on Dec. 26. Flies and bees come looking for skunk cabbage when temperatures warm to 50 degrees. Deer come together to feed in herds. Turkeys are flocking now too, but they will disband and scatter into smaller family groups by April.

Feb. 4: Thunderstorms frequently arrive with the cold wave that breaks the Groundhog Day thaw. Across the South, tornadoes could strike in the night. The coldest days of winter often begin near this date and last through Feb. 16.

Feb. 5: Cedar waxwings and snow buntings are migrating. Moss grows on logs in the sun. Raccoons, opossums and beavers become more active.