I always tell people that complain about winter that you just have to get to February. It’s the first month where the average temperature increases from the beginning to the end.
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Yeah, I'm usually just hoping to avoid the absolutely brutal week of subzero cold we often get in January at some point, often along with some snow\ice which sucks when its too cold for the road salt to work.
February isn't so bad if we get through that. It gets a bit warmer and the snow melts off faster, and there's some more sun in the mix.
But March can be very cruel. It gives hope and then crushes it
This.
Outside of a couple muddy weeks, this has been a perfect winter so far.
Iowa ag needs cold temperatures much more than it needs precipitation that just ends up in our rivers and streams as it flows off frozen ground in the spring. Livestock are still grazing and feed needs are lower when they can stay dry. There was a winter a few years back where I burned through 1000 gallons of diesel fuel just pushing water into piles around here. It was appalling.
Go snowmobile in Canada, this is great.
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February is the worst month for me. January still isn't great but February is toughest for me, even though it is the shortest month.
- January has a couple holidays (New Years, MLK day) and kind of a fresh start to the year
- by the time February rolls around, I am so sick of winter
- Valentines day is one of my least favorite holidays (if in a relationship-pressure for gifts/dates; if single-feel a bit lonely)
Agree, February is the worst.
January I expect to be cold. And 2 months (Dec/Jan) of cools temps seems to pass along reasonably fast.
February is unpredictable. Can be teased by temps in 50's or have extended periods of clouds and highs in 20's. February is the equivalent of the-day-before, the-day-before Christmas as a kid.
March is all good once we get to the Big12 BB Tournament in KC. So I can deal with 1-2 weeks of winter.
Much prefer February. Mostly because I can see the end of winter coming. January is depressing because you know spring is still a long ways off.
Dog grabbed his lead from the hook and laid it on my feet, which is his not very subtle sign that it it time to walk. Thought I was gonna die the first few blocks and tried walking places with houses blocking west wind. He gave up pretty soon after that as we were the only creatures dumb enough to be out and it just isn’t as fun for him when he couldn’t terrorize a cat or squirrel. East side of our house is actually fine with the sun and out of that wind.
My brother ice fishes and brought over walleye for me to clean this morn! Can't wait for dinner.
Same here. Got two old Toros, a two-stage and single-stage (aka Big Chuck and Little Fran). Been a couple of years without even starting Chuck and I have no fuel even mixed for Fran. Should have at least test fired them considering how old they are and little they have been run the last few years.
I was hoping to learn how to cross country ski this winter(and last) not been possible in Central Iowa last two years.
I like the names, I should come up with something similar. I have a 90s era two-stage Deere (marketed as: The BEAST). And a single-stage knock-off I inherited when a relative moved to AZ.
We had that really weird winter last year in central Iowa. Got like 24"+ of snow in a matter of a couple weeks. The big boy got some work during that period. But it rarely gets used. Maybe once a winter. It's just such a load to maneuver, I do everything I can with the little guy.
Agreed. Thinking about getting an electric single stage to handle the 1-2 inch snows. I’ll pull out the two stage gas one if we ever get more.
Im a runner and I would also like to try, but I worked with a guy who was really into cross country skiing and he said its not really worth it. There are a few groomed trails in central Iowa when we have the right conditions but that doesn’t happen often. He retired and permanently moved to to his cabin up in northern Wisconsin a few years back.
