Spring Photo Thread 2016 (tornadoes, precipitation, wear, Illinois)

[Ariete]

First day of spring...

It was late, but the grass turned brown after all:



Hmm... it's 8C outside... PATIO TIME! "Indoor Northern European cultures" my a$$





No moar ice:



Snow on the hill:



Not subtropical paradise. Note the small black pile under the ash. It's snow, yuck:



Low sun angle:

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by Ariete

First day of spring...

It was late, but the grass turned brown after all:



Hmm... it's 8C outside... PATIO TIME! "Indoor Northern European cultures" my a$$





No moar ice:



Snow on the hill:



Not subtropical paradise. Note the small black pile under the ash. It's snow, yuck:



Low sun angle:

Great architecture in the 2nd and third photos. What time of day is that with the low sun angle?

[Ariete]

Originally Posted by tom77falcons

Great architecture in the 2nd and third photos. What time of day is that with the low sun angle?

It was around 3:45-4 pm. Sunset today is 6:36

[Joe90]

Originally Posted by Ariete

First day of spring...
It was late, but the grass turned brown after all:

Looking at the colour of the grass. It's the same as colder areas just around where I live.

Perhaps it's the duration of cold, rather than the severity of cold, that causes dieback?

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by Joe90

Looking at the colour of the grass. It's the same as colder areas just around where I live.

Perhaps it's the duration of cold, rather than the severity of cold, that causes dieback?

I think maybe it has to do with soil temps. I notice that multiple ice days in a row really bring down the soil temps, and then the grass goes brown. A few days of average or above and it greens back up as soil temps respond pretty quickly. Also, rainfall with above avg temps in winter green the grass up here very quickly.

[Joe90]

Originally Posted by tom77falcons

I think maybe it has to do with soil temps. I notice that multiple ice days in a row really bring down the soil temps, and then the grass goes brown. A few days of average or above and it greens back up as soil temps respond pretty quickly. Also, rainfall with above avg temps in winter green the grass up here very quickly.

A good way of putting it. No ice days around here, but lots of ground frosts, with anywhere from 120-170 at low elevation, just within a few km of where I am. Also lots of warm rain, and grass does tend to go green>brown >green etc.

I think most photos of places showing green grass in winter, could also show photos of other years, where the grass isn't so green.

[B87]

^^Not here. The only time the grass isn't green is in summer.

[Joe90]

Originally Posted by B87

^^Not here. The only time the grass isn't green is in summer.

What about the coldest of winters?

Here the grass will lose colour a cold spell, so I think it would be worse in your area during very cold weather.

[B87]

Originally Posted by Joe90

What about the coldest of winters?

Here the grass will lose colour a cold spell, so I think it would be worse in your area during very cold weather.

That pano of SW London that I posted was taken during the winter of 09/10, which was a cold one! Look at the grass and vegetation.

You get a lot more frost than us, maybe that's the reason?

[Joe90]

Originally Posted by B87

That pano of SW London that I posted was taken during the winter of 09/10, which was a cold one! Look at the grass and vegetation.

You get a lot more frost than us, maybe that's the reason?

Or different grasses. Your area would still get ground temperatures as cold as here, so I expect they would respond the same if they were the same species.

A mixed bag here, with cool season grasses that brown easily, summer grass that get frost damage easily -important when year round pastoral grazing, is big business.

There are also species here, that are always green in the driest of summers and coldest of winters, but they are quite different -capable of 2 ft of growth during winter and growing in extremely dry soil -surviving just off summer dew.