Microseason 2 of 72 · January 6–10
Ice thickens on still water
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
Ice thickens on still water
Ponds in Prospect Park may freeze at the edges.
- SESoutheast Subtropical
Still water thickens with ice
January cold deepens and swamp water glazes over; tupelo and bald cypress await spring's return.
- PNWPacific Northwest
The First Pressure Shift
Coastal low-pressure systems deliver the first genuine rainfall after the holiday freeze. Streams swell slightly. Moisture saturates the air.
- CACalifornia Mediterranean
Hills hold the winter cold
First storms of the season dampen the Central Valley. Manzanita branches glisten with rain; oak woodlands show the first signs of leafing.
- MWMountain West
Ice thickens on alpine tarns
Mountain streams freeze solid; ponderosa pines shed frost in the morning stillness; valley inversions deepen.
- MPPlains Continental
Arctic cold grips the heartland
Bitter January frost locks rivers solid and drives arctic air deep into the plains.
- SWSouthwest Desert
Moisture lingers beneath the crust
Recent December rains green the lower desert. Trace of green haze in creosote valleys. Nights still near freezing; days climbing past 65°F.
- TRTropical / Sub-Tropical
Reefs reflect clear winter light
Clearest water of the year—winter dry season in full. Coral spawn timing shifts with moonlight. Parrotfish schools move into shallow lagoons.
- AKAlaska Subarctic
Ice thickens in bays and rivers
Sea ice consolidates in Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound; river ice strengthens as cold persists, ensuring safe travel routes.
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.