Sunny and even warmer today after the frosty morning. Temperatures climbed into the 50s with some moderate winds picking up out of the east in the afternoon.
I think the winds today contributed to warmer temperatures by helping to mix relatively warm air aloft down to ground level. I hadn’t thought to check the Harbor Mountain weather station before today, but it’s been above freezing up there (even at night) for most of this week.
On the 13th temperatures rose and have stayed above 5C/41F since. Had I realized that earlier, I might have been motivated enough to go up Verstovia to experience the warmth. Connor had commented on how hot it felt in the sun when he was up on Starrigavan Ridge a couple of days ago. I think he attributed it to the sun shining directly and reflecting off the snow (which certainly contributed to the felt sense of warmth), but it seems likely the air temperature was warmer than it had been at the bottom of the hill.
I hadn’t thought about it at the time, but in hindsight I could have deduced there was an inversion based on the behavior of smoke the past couple of days. It hung around down low, reaching a ceiling of a few hundred feet and spreading out there. I am pretty sure that’s a good sign of an inversion.
When the temprature rose, the relatively humidity dropped precipitously. I’m a little surprised it stayed mostly below 20%. That strikes me as very dry for around here. The lowest it appears to have gone is 23% this evening.
I had two calls this morning and another this afternoon. It was too nice to stay inside the whole morning, so I went for a walk around Totem Park. It was pretty quiet bird-wise. Lower numbers than I had seen on previous visits. I forgot to check for crocus or snowdrops on the SJ campus.
I had intended to go out during my afternoon call as well, but didn’t end up doing so. After it was done, I cleaned pine needles the had accumulated on my roof. I made a half-hearted attempt to get pictures of the Anna’s Hummingbird visiting the feeder. I spent some time enjoying the sun while laying out on the roof. It was interesting to hear the birds flapping their wings as they flew over me (I was right under the regular flyway between a large pine tree and the feeders).
I was feeling pretty unmotivated overall (perhaps in part due to yesterday’s activities, and maybe because I ate more than optimal for lunch). After taking a short nap I did head out once more. This time to look for birds and see if the sunset developed.
Clouds had moved in from the southwest enough for the sun to disappear behind them a few minutes before it set. I didn’t try for a green flash today.
I did stop by Swan Lake. The warm daytime temperatures this week haven’t been enough to overcome the calm just below freezing nights, as it’s almost completely frozen.
Most (all?) of the redpolls may have moved on in the past couple of days. I wasn’t spending time where I expected to observe them yesterday, but I didn’t see any around the house or neighborhood today.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
