Microseason 9 of 72 · February 11–15
First snowdrops appear
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
First snowdrops appear
Galanthus blooms push through frozen soil in sheltered spots.
- SESoutheast Subtropical
Magnolia blooms break the gray
Southern magnolia opens its creamy white flowers; the scent carries sweetly across the Lowcountry.
- PNWPacific Northwest
Thrush Song at First Light
Varied thrushes and hermit thrushes begin full territorial song at first light. The forest awakens with their flute-like calls in the pre-dawn fog.
- CACalifornia Mediterranean
Winter blooms at their peak
Manzanita flowers peak—delicate urn clusters attract insects. Sage flowers multiply. Anna's hummingbirds intensely territorial over best patches. Scrub jays cache seeds aggressively.
- MWMountain West
Snowmelt springs whisper beneath ice
Mountain springs begin to flow again; first pasqueflowers and prairie crocuses show color on south-facing slopes under thin snow.
- MPPlains Continental
Bald eagles concentrate on open water
Bald eagles cluster on river bends and below dams where the Missouri and Mississippi run open; horned larks pair on south-facing fields.
- SWSouthwest Desert
Hummingbirds stake territory claims
Five hummingbird species now present: Costa's, Anna's, broad-billed, black-chinned, rufous. Males chasing hard at flowering shrubs. Days 83-86°F.
- TRTropical / Sub-Tropical
Morning dew lingers on new leaves
Mid-February—last fully dry stretch. New leaf-break near complete in hardwood hammocks. Mangrove flowers turn to developing fruit. Coqui frog calls peak at midnight.
- AKAlaska Subarctic
Light gains speed as winter wanes
Fairbanks gains 45 minutes of daylight this week; sunrise now clearly visible before 10 a.m.
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.