Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Tom and Shell

Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by Tom and Shell »

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Yorkshire Kris
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Re: Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by Yorkshire Kris »

Just rain and slushy rain here but only 1.8 degrees.
GoggleboxUK

Re: Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by GoggleboxUK »

Snow is good! It insulates the ground, prevents heat loss and keeps all those roots extra toasty :)
cordyman

Re: Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by cordyman »

ooooooooooooooh INTERESTED! send some my way drunken_smilie1 drunken_smilie1
kata

Re: Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by kata »

Derbyshire was bad, I spotted three 'toasted cars' online,
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otorongo
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Re: Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by otorongo »

I don't want any of that white crappe near me, and please don't use the S word!
GoggleboxUK wrote:Snow is good! It insulates the ground, prevents heat loss and keeps all those roots extra toasty :)
Who cares about the roots if the tops die? :roll:
GoggleboxUK

Re: Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by GoggleboxUK »

otorongo wrote:I don't want any of that white crappe near me, and please don't use the S word!
GoggleboxUK wrote:Snow is good! It insulates the ground, prevents heat loss and keeps all those roots extra toasty :)
Who cares about the roots if the tops die? :roll:
If you have anything left outside that can be damaged by 2-4c (optimum temp for snow) then you've not been paying attention.

Lots of exotics are root hardy, Musa Basjoo and Hostas are prime examples) and if you've wrapped basjoo you'll be grateful for extra insulation. An inch or two of snow on top of any protected plant will keep it warmer, especially if it freezes after snowing to create an igloo effect.
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Re: Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by otorongo »

GoggleboxUK wrote:
otorongo wrote:Who cares about the roots if the tops die? :roll:
If you have anything left outside that can be damaged by 2-4c (optimum temp for snow) then you've not been paying attention.

Lots of exotics are root hardy, Musa Basjoo and Hostas are prime examples) and if you've wrapped basjoo you'll be grateful for extra insulation. An inch or two of snow on top of any protected plant will keep it warmer, especially if it freezes after snowing to create an igloo effect.
I have things outside that can be damaged by -2, -5, -8...

S*** decreases their chance of survival by insulating them from the ground heat. Temps plummet quicker with s*** on radiational cooling nights, which is what caused so much damage in Dec 2010. Moreover, s*** reflects the sunlight and shoots it back into the sky to heat the void instead of us. More nighttime loss and less daytime gain.

Snow only insulates what it settles on - anything below the soil level, your greenhouse, fleece, wrapping... as long as they don't collapse under its weight. I guess it depends on your gardening style - I like to grow things that don't die back and don't need protection, so a s***less scenario is on my side. If you mostly grow die-back plants or wrap everything, s*** may give you some insulation, but it will also increase the need for it to begin with.

I much prefer the sight of a lush, green garden in winter to a battery of white mummies and chicken wire in a tundra.
GoggleboxUK

Re: Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by GoggleboxUK »

Easier to do in London I guess ;)

Personally I agree that a garden full of winter protection isn't a pretty sight which is why I let much of my garden alone, let what will regrow doe back and use temporary protection rather than permanent for the season wrapping.

The main reason why most things died in 2010 wasn't the snow at all, it was the temperatures and the unbelieveable amount of ice days. Snow isn't a swear word, snow falls from clouds and cloud cover stops temperatures plummeting.

If your garden can't cope with snow then you will, inevitably, hate it but we're seeing more frequent snowfalls these last few years so some adaptation is sensible. My initial comment is something I still stand by and people who see snow as a sign of low tempperatures and plant damage are mistakenly linking the two because of one year's devastating results.

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Tom2006
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Re: Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by Tom2006 »

The problem occurs if the ground is frozen prior to the snowfall. If it is the snow just holds the cold in....and then if skies clear radiation frosts occur.this is what happened in 2009 and then 2010 up here and killed loads of plants not just exotics. So as always there is a caveat and on recent winters snow has definitely not been a good thing here.
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fern Rob

Re: Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by fern Rob »

There was some sleet snow and rain in York on Tuesday.
kata

Re: Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by kata »

Brilliant post otorongo but you wote the word...snow...now you will get some.

Only protected my new Fern, going to put a tree guard on my new Basjoo tomorrow.

Thats it, nothing else cus its bedding.

Ensete drained ready to take its chance... :lol: :lol: :lol: With wrapping.
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Yorkshire Kris
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Re: Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by Yorkshire Kris »

Is it still snowing in Rotherham?

Snow cover is "relatively" good for plants under the snow but it's bad for plants above the snow due to more severe freezes.
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Re: Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by Dave Brown »

Tom2006 wrote:The problem occurs if the ground is frozen prior to the snowfall. If it is the Sn*w just holds the cold in....and then if skies clear radiation frosts occur.
That is not what happened here. I had 2 soil temp probes at 10cm and 30cm depth in 2010. The severe frosts from 24th to 30th Nov on bare ground froze the surface, and I recorded 2C at 10cm and 5C at 30cm. On 5th Dec I re-read the probes, after clearing 33cm of laying snow. The surface had thawed and was wet, while the 10cm probe temp had risen from 2C to just under 5C, and the 30cm probe risen from 5C to just under 7C. All this occurred while radiation frost above snowfield had given temps to as low as -10C including 2 ice days.

To me this shows the 'blanket' of snow had insulated the ground allowing it to gradually warm from below, as soil temp at around 2m remains near 10C year round. :wink:
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Tom2006
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Re: Its Snowing in Rotherham!

Post by Tom2006 »

Dave Brown wrote:
Tom2006 wrote:The problem occurs if the ground is frozen prior to the snowfall. If it is the Sn*w just holds the cold in....and then if skies clear radiation frosts occur.
That is not what happened here. I had 2 soil temp probes at 10cm and 30cm depth in 2010. The severe frosts from 24th to 30th Nov on bare ground froze the surface, and I recorded 2C at 10cm and 5C at 30cm. On 5th Dec I re-read the probes, after clearing 33cm of laying Sn*w. The surface had thawed and was wet, while the 10cm probe temp had risen from 2C to just under 5C, and the 30cm probe risen from 5C to just under 7C. All this occurred while radiation frost above snowfield had given temps to as low as -10C including 2 ice days.

To me this shows the 'blanket' of Sn*w had insulated the ground allowing it to gradually warm from below, as soil temp at around 2m remains near 10C year round. :wink:
But you didn't have it anywhere near as cold as us Dave. We had -14C as a high one day, and that was in the middle of a two weeks sub zero spell with over 2 level feet of snow. The coldest spell of winter weather on record up here, and I believe the records go back hundreds of years.
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