Snowing in Bend (Ashland: house, live, floors)

[delta07]

Greetings Central Oregonians! I know snow was predicted in town overnight and into the morning, but I didn't think it would be snowing this hard! It's looking like we have a couple of wet, heavy inches on the ground right now, and it's still coming down hard. My garden is still in the ground and the leaves are still on the trees. In fact, my beautiful silver maple is dropping branches as I type. As a newby to Bend, I'm wondering if September/October snows are common? As a former Coloradoan, I've dealt with my fair share of fall blizzards, but wasn't sure if this was expected in Central Oregon. I do know that I chanced the garden this year, and it looks like the weather won.

[seashelly]

Hello from The Coast! Crispness in the air over here. I'm watching it via webcam right now. That is so cool! Happy First Snow of the Season!

[Fiddlehead]

Well the shoulder seasons are variable here. It is cold down here in Ashland too. I recall snow as late as May and as early as October, but we do not get the September blizzards that roll down the Front Range. Bend is dicey with respect to gardens, because the frost free period is only about 60 days. The nights drop below freezing there in all except July and August. It is surprising given its relatively low elevation,but just part of the geography of the area. If I lived there, I would get a little greenhouse.

[delta07]

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

Well the shoulder seasons are variable here. It is cold down here in Ashland too. I recall snow as late as May and as early as October, but we do not get the September blizzards that roll down the Front Range. Bend is dicey with respect to gardens, because the frost free period is only about 60 days. The nights drop below freezing there in all except July and August. It is surprising given its relatively low elevation,but just part of the geography of the area. If I lived there, I would get a little greenhouse.

This was my first year gardening in C.O. The hubby and I have already talked about a greenhouse, or at the very least, cold frames. We actually had a quite successful garden this year, but maybe that's not normal. Oh well, can't complain!

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by delta07

This was my first year gardening in C.O. The hubby and I have already talked about a greenhouse, or at the very least, cold frames. We actually had a quite successful garden this year, but maybe that's not normal. Oh well, can't complain!

I'm a little further south (20 miles south of Crater Lake, 30+ miles north of Klamath), along side Agency Lake which moderates both the heat and cold. No snow here yet, but yesterday it was 68 and today it's 38.

We had an unusually wet and cold June this year, and the garden sort of limped along - normally June is a great growing month, and we have at least 120 good days, often over 150, instead of this year's 110 or so. This year's first heavy frost was earlier this week, which did in the cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and summer squash (at least the ones not in cold frames).

One of my projects for next year is a DIY greenhouse for an extended season. The cold frames are nice, but they help more in extending the season rather than getting it started earlier. We've got solar thermal hot water for the house (domestic hot water and radiant floors) and I think I'm going to build a home-brew hot water system for the greenhouse, too.

[skypros]

Last night (saturday 10.3.09) there was a trace of snow..... This morning (sunday 10.4.09) at 7 am there was 2"...... it has been snowing ever since... and I took this picture at noon and there was 4" (+/-)