Saturday, March 11, 2017
03:52
The winter of 2016-17 was a La Nina year. In a La Nina year,
the goings on in the southwest Pacific Ocean makes the winter weather in Spokane , Washington
I haven’t paid attention to the statistics but over the
years the January temperatures in Spokane
are a bit above freezing in the day time and a bit below at night, on average.
Those are averages, there are wide swings. It can be 20 below and 50 above.
Those are freak temperatures.
When we’re sticking close to our averages, snow accumulates
at night and it is reduced during the day time. But a couple of degrees
difference in the averages makes a lot of difference with the snow cover. We’ve
had ‘open winters’ recently with little to no snow accumulation. This winter we
got snow cover late in 2016 that stayed through the first week of March.
[The movements of the jet stream, high over head, north and
south a makes differences in our weather on a shorter term basis. It can bring
us cold weather in what should be a mild year … an El Nino year.]
The elevation of downtown Spokane is about 1850 feet. The top of the
basalt plateaus around the town, including Spokane ’s ‘south hill residential area’ is
about 500 feet higher. A few feet of elevation makes a lot of difference in
snow coverage, especially on the north face of Spokane ’s south hill. Drumheller
Springs Park ,
on Spokane ’s north hill, is only about 1900 feet
but it has snow cover longer than downtown Spokane .
This long discussion of our weather is about the first
blooming of Lomatium gormanii, salt and pepper, and Ranunculus glaberrimus,
sagebrush buttercup.
I’ve only been watching a few years, but if I remember
correctly, I have seen L. gormanii in January every year but this year, once as
early as January 10th. In one or two years I have also seen R.
glaberrimus in January, not quite so early.
This year, the snow cover, a few feet up from the valley
floor has lasted well into March so I haven’t even checked to see if L.
gormanii was in bloom.
Grant Cummings told me where to look in Drumheller Springs
Park Euclid from the monument
for Chief Spokane Gary’s School. I would find early L. gormanii on the east
facing surface.
I detoured driving to an errand a week ago, today, March 4th,
just to assure myself that snow cover was complete in the park. The snow cover
was nearly complete except for spots under the trees and, significantly, on the
rock of the early L. gormanii. I didn’t stop. I promised to return the next
day. The next day we had complete snow cover down downtown.
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I went out, Tuesday, the 7th of March. Slush was
falling. This is the outcrop where I find the first L. gormanii. The tiny white
flowers would have been impossible to see through the slush.
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I made an effort to record the weather and to record the
height of south pond. I had never seen south pond that high. The shrub in the
lower left corner is Ribes Aureum, golden currant. The base of the shrub is
showing here. The base will be under water later.
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South pond willows dulled by the snowfall.
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I went out Wednesday, the 8th of March. The snow
cover on the rock was complete. The right side of the rock seems to be a spillway
for south pond, limiting its size.
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The water level of south pond was even higher.
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The water level of south pond is below the base of the Ribes
aurum, golden currant, near the southeast ‘corner’ of tall pine grove.
It rained all day and much of the night, day before
yesterday, March 9th and the temperatures rose into the 50’s. Even the night
time temperature was above freezing. Downtown snow was gone, even the
parking-lot piles were much reduced.
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Yesterday was a day of sunshine, blue skies and
beautiful clouds. The snow in the park was much reduced. The water level of
south pond was a little higher.
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The water of south pond seemed to reach almost to the main
trail through the park. The rock on which I expect to see the first R.
glaberrimus was underwater. The top of the rock is visible in the center of
this photo.
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The water is covering the base of the R. aureum near the
north corner of tall pine grove.
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It is farther up into tall pine grove.
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There seems to be spillway behind Lomatium gormanii rock
that prevents the pond from getting higher. The grass is too tall and thick to
say for certain … without getting my feet wet. It seems there may have been a
man made drainage ditch. This is a view of ponded water north of L. gormanii
rock, west of the probable spillway.
11.5
I dug out a photo from March 8, 2016. The overflow from
south pond was only a few feet away from the willows.
11.7
March 30, 2016 the water level was somewhat higher but
nothing like 2017
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I walked over to the Lomatium gormanii rock. It was scattered
with L. gormanii blossoms.
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Almost the first blossom I saw was pink. Pink Lomatium
gormanii are rare in the park. I have not seen them either very early or later
in the season. They seem to be ‘on’ only briefly.
14 328 crop
The pink color shows the divided stylopodium more clearly. The
pistil, the female reproductive organ, is two fused carpels. Two styles emerge
through the stylopodium each rising from an ovary. The stylopodium is a spongy
nectary, attracting pollinators. I saw a single bee like insect visiting L.
gormanii blossoms.
The stylopodium seems to be unique to the Apiaceae, the
parsley plant family. Two other Apiaceae species occur in the park later in the
year, L. macrocarpum and L. triternatum. I have seen a third, probably a
domestic carrot, but only one plant and only one year.
All of the Lomatium in the park were food plants for Native
Americans but at least one tribe considered L. gormanii only food fit for
groundhogs. The Nez Pierce seem to think better of them.
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Most of the R. glaberrimus leaves I observed were not well
developed. I saw only one bud in this location. I saw only one more on the
walk.
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The sepals were wrapped tightly around the petals.
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I observed only one fresh mushroom.
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I observed only one fresh mushroom.
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There is a larger outcrop at the west end of the park with a
similar southeast exposure.
The outcrop is to the right of this photo of the park
entrance with snow berm.
I looked to see if I could find early L. gormanii and R.
glaberrimus there. There were L. gormanii on the top of the rock but fewer.
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I saw a patch of well developed R. glaberrimus var.
ellipticus leaves. I suppose they are var. ellipticus because the leaves are
somewhat pointed. I wonder if they will develop the distinctive notches later.
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A couple of feet away there was a small patch of more rounded
R. glaberrimus var. glaberrimus leaves with small notches. They seem to have
suffered winter damage.
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There was an R. glaberrimus bud sufficiently advanced to
show some yellow anthers. One leaf lacked notches and was somewhat pointed,
another leaf showed a rudimentary notch. It was in a small swale shaded from
afternoon sun and morning sun. One would suppose plants in full sun would
mature faster.
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I was surprised by the amount of water in the west end of
the park. It is very dry later. I talked very briefly with a woman a couple of
doors from the park when I got back to my car. She has lived there twelve years
and has never seen this much water in the park.
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I have too many photos of sun shining on yellow willows but
I can never resist another two.
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