Just a quick update because I cannot remember when this last happened and I want a record of it for next year.

Last year we had a cold snap in September that shut down our garden early. This year we had a late finish to our season. We only just finished cleaning up the yard 5 days ago. Our sprinkler system just got blown out 2 days ago. Yesterday was sunny and beautiful and I thought that today I would be harvesting the last of my strawberries….Here is what our yard looked like yesterday.

There was a forecast of a cold front moving in. There was a chance of snow. We live down at the bottom of the valley and generally escape the first signs of winter while our neighbours up the hill experience winter an average of 2-3 weeks before us. We get spring sooner and in general an extra month of warmer growing weather. So, I disregarded the snowfall forecast and figured we would see some colder temperatures and a bit of rain…I was wrong. I woke up to quite the “trick” this morning despite being a week away from Halloween. This is what our yard looked like 12 hours after the above photos.

Not only do we now have a good covering of snow, it also doesn’t look like it will be melting right away…which usually happens with the first few snowfalls. They never last more than 12 hours. Our temperatures are forecasted to stay below freezing AND we are expected to see more snow on Monday. Thank goodness we got those last few walls built!

We will see how next week goes. The weather is supposed to go back up to 5-7*C by Wednesday, so we should be snow-free again soon enough. Hopefully the little kids out trick-or-treating will not need to wear snowsuits under their costumes. I will however, be happy if it stays in the mountains around town so that the cross-country and downhill ski seasons get started earlier than usual. Always look at the bright side!