Moody February showed its true face once again. Just as I feared this week we jumped from late spring back to the middle of winter. The temperature has dropped back below 0°C (32°F), and cold north winds started turning the rain into snow. 

This is actually something we’re used to, the only difference this year is that the sunny temperatures were very high and well above average. The high temperatures in the first days of February started waking up the plants, and by the end of the first week, the meadows and forests were full of our heralds of spring. Primroses, snowdrops, and crocuses colored the grey earth.

Soon after the trees started waking up, and by now many of the trees, bushes and fruits have started showing leaves and buds. By the end of the month, our meadows were full of spring flowers and freshly grown grass. 

I had to resist the urge to start planting the spring vegetables in the garden. I tried to control myself and I’ve sown only the veggies that can survive frost and winter conditions. I knew that even though we had a warm period, we were still very far away from the warm months and that the cold danger was just too high. So I concentrated on sowing more indoor seedlings and caring for the already grown ones.

And of course, I was right. This week we got one of our well-known north wind storms. Croatia is well known for its strong winds. Although coastal Croatia gets much stronger winds, like “Bura”, which can blow up to 250km/h (155mph), the north winds here in northern Croatia are also very strong. The winds last for many days and cool down the air during the process. February and March are the windiest months, and we usually get at least 3 to 4 wind storms. The wind storms during the sunny periods are worse than the ones with the rainfall. The sunny ones bring much lower temperatures and sometimes feel like the temperature is under -15°C (5°F). I actually had many occasions in which north winds froze up my delicate plants even while the temperature was well above 0°C(32°F).

On Friday one of the wind storms hit us pretty hard. We had stronger winds over the years, but this one came after a long warm period, so the cold feeling is bigger than usual. The winds should last until Wednesday morning and right now the major gusts aren’t as strong as the past couple of days, the highest gust today was 65kmh(40mph) and the hits are getting less often. Today there are even periods without wind, so at least doggie walks aren’t as bad as during the weekend. Of course, this kind of weather means we’re keeping indoors, and no garden work can be done. 

The strong winds brought us some snow, but luckily the soil is still warm enough for the snow to melt as soon as it starts falling.

Hopefully, March won’t be as moody and we’ll get some nice gardening weather. We’re waiting.