We're still only halfway through February but some recent warm days have made it feel like we're in mid-April.
This "teasing" nice weather makes you think of baseball games, golf outings and spring flowers, but nasty, cold, inclement weather will almost certainly occur between now and the end of March.
Relatively speaking, to date it's been an easy winter in the southern end of the Lehigh Valley. However, if you live north of the Kittatinny Ridge in Pennsylvania, or New Jersey, things can be a lot different.
Granted, at times this long swath of mountainous uninterrupted forest has gotten abnormally warm weather like those of us further south have experienced. But, as anyone who regularly travels Route 33 knows, it can be a much different winter world as soon as you top the mountain above Wind Gap.
I haven't been up that way recently but no doubt there are lots of big piles of plowed snow there and they will be around for a long time. Even when it gets warm, it takes a lot of energy for the snow and ice in these dense mounds to turn to water, and then more energy is needed for the water to vaporize. But the air pockets inside these piles can insulate them for months.
A few weeks ago I wrote about early blooming snowdrops in the front yard, and now there are daffodil shoots along the side of the house that are much bigger than they normally are at this time in February. They always break ground in this sheltered area when winter serves up a warm spell, but they usually stay small and stilted. And now there are hyacinth plants near them already showing central buds.
But even as this is happening, there's still snow on the eastern edge of the yard that doesn't get afternoon sun. And when I walked through that area a few days ago, I saw several exposed meadow vole tunnels coming out from under patches of snow.
Meadow voles, or field mice, live all over our area and they're a substantial food source for many wild animals and all of the raptors. Most people don't like or value them, but they're an integral part of nature's natural balance.
Worldwide there are more than 2,200 species of rodents -- animals that constantly gnaw at things because their two incisors continuously grow. A lot of the rodents are different kinds of mice or rats that are reviled by humans, but others, like chipmunks and certain kinds of squirrels, are species people like because either they're cute or entertaining.
Our current spate of warm weather is also bringing flocks of common grackles, brown-headed cowbirds and red-winged blackbirds down into fields and backyards to feed.
But don't be fooled into thinking that that means spring is right around the corner, because it doesn't.
Arlene Koch is a freelance writer. Email her at sports@lehighvalleylive.com. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook.
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