Microseason 8 of 72 · February 6–10
Sap begins to rise
A five-day window of the year, read through nine North American climate regions.
Same week, nine climates
A microseason names a five-day window of the solar year. What that window actually looks like on the ground depends on where you are. Below, the same calendar window read through each of nine North American climate regions.
- NENortheast Continental
Sap begins to rise
Maples in parks may be tapped; sap runs cold and sweet.
- SESoutheast Subtropical
Warming winds thaw the margin
Southeast winds arrive; ice retreats from swamp edges and tributary creeks; southern magnolia buds open.
- PNWPacific Northwest
East Wind Weakens the Marine Layer
An easterly pattern pushes inland moisture offshore. The valley fog lifts by mid-morning. Cascade snowpack glints clearly for the first time in weeks.
- CACalifornia Mediterranean
Blooms erupt across chaparral
Ceanothus (California lilac) in full bloom—blue drifts across hillsides. Manzanita flowers open white and pink. Oak titmouse song fills woodlands. First sap rises in trees.
- MWMountain West
East wind carries a subtle promise
Subtle shift in air currents; sap rises infinitesimally in aspen and cottonwood; day length gains eight minutes by month's end.
- MPPlains Continental
Subtle shifts in the light
As February progresses, longer days bring barely perceptible warmth to the frozen grassland.
- SWSouthwest Desert
Wildflower bloom spreads upslope
Blossom wave moving up elevation. Palo verde gold flowers emerging. Brittlebush yellows the slopes. Daytime approaching 85°F; nights dropping to 37°F.
- TRTropical / Sub-Tropical
Coral spawn timing aligns with moon
Coral spawning synchronizes with lunar cycle—full-moon trigger near. Parrotfish grazing patterns intensify. Gumbo limbo flowers open in papery white clusters.
- AKAlaska Subarctic
East wind hints at warming ahead
Subtle shifts signal the approach of breakup; daily temperatures creep above -20°F in coastal zones.
About the 72-microseason calendar
A microseason is a five-day window of the solar year — long enough to notice something change, short enough that the change is specific. The year holds seventy-two of them, six per month, ordered by what the natural world is doing rather than what the clock says. Almanac calendars like this are an old American habit, kept by farmers, gardeners, and birders for centuries; Weather Story collects them into a single reference.
Each microseason is read through nine North American climate regions. The phenological events that mark a five-day window vary with ecology — the strawberries that open in the Northeast might coincide with the first magnolias dropping in the Southeast and the salmonberry blossoms unfurling in the Pacific Northwest. Same week, nine ecologies, nine readings.