Lorton precipitation amounts Mar 4 - Mar 10, 2013; spring starts next week!

Spring is coming next week (Wed Mar 20) but the good news is that on average our low temperatures rise above freezing this week.  We start the week with a climatological average high of 54 and a low of 31 and end the week with a high of 56 and a low of 33, and average temperatures will continue to rise every day through spring.  For those thinking of planting their tomatoes, we do still risk freezing temperatures - our latest date below freezing was May 22, 2002, though   Temperatures below 28°F are widely destructive on most vegetation, with heavy damage to fruit blossoms and tender and semi-hardy plants.  The record last date for temperatures that low was April 22, 1975 when it got down to 27 degrees.  I for one love June tomatoes, and you just can’t have a tomato that early unless you risk planting it early.  The forecast for March April and May was for warmer weather than normal, though March certainly hasn’t verified.  Perhaps that means a warmer April and May?

As you’ve no doubt figured out by now, daylight savings time has resulted in the sun setting just after 6pm.  We’ll be back to sunsets after 7pm in May.  

My rain gauge in Lorton recorded the following precipitation at 6am on the day indicated for the previous 24 hours.  I’m sure we got more than 2.5” of snow between Wed and Thu last week, but it melted before I could measure it!