Microseason 11 of 72 · February 21–25
Rain begins to replace snow
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
Rain begins to replace snow
Precipitation shifts — sleet gives way to cold rain.
- SESoutheast Subtropical
Rain replaces the last snow
Warm rains saturate the Piedmont; rare remaining snow patches vanish; swamp water levels climb steadily.
- PNWPacific Northwest
The Soil Awakens
Rain intensifies. The forest floor begins to breathe again. Earthworms surface. Invertebrates stir in the warming humus.
- CACalifornia Mediterranean
Earth warms, flowers rush upslope
Warmth accelerates growth upslope toward higher elevations. Coastal poppy meadows brilliant orange-gold. Buckeye still leafing. Rains now sparse. More Anna's hummingbirds push inland.
- MWMountain West
Rain begins to trace the snowline upward
Valley rain increases; snowline retreats higher each day; first lupine and paintbrush push through brown winter grass at lower elevations.
- MPPlains Continental
First killdeer return to thawed fields
Killdeer call from melting stubble across the central plains; cold rain replaces sleet as the freeze loosens.
- SWSouthwest Desert
Rain clouds gather on the horizon
Temperature swings widen—days 88-92°F, nights dropping to 35°F. Occasional high cirrus clouds. Moisture still absent; desert remains parched.
- TRTropical / Sub-Tropical
Humidity breaks the dry season spell
Late February showers mark transition. Humidity climbs toward 75%. Mangrove propagules ready to drop. Coqui songs now begin before full dark.
- AKAlaska Subarctic
Winter grip begins to release
Temperatures moderate toward freezing point; south-facing snow begins crusting as melt-freeze cycles begin.
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.