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Late winter, last of year’s coldest time, arrives this week

Jan. 25-31, 2010
I rejoice in the winter landscape, cut to the essentials. Earth and sky are more closely joined.
-Harlan Hubbard
Lunar phase and lore

The Skunk Cabbage Moon waxes until it is completely full on Jan. 30 at 1:18 a.m. On and around that date, watch for late abortions in weaker pregnant animals. And treat all your animals (and your children, brothers and sisters and parents, too) well at full moon time, the single most stressful time in any month.

If you have children or teach school, expect the kids to be wilder than they normally are, as the moon turns full. If you work in law enforcement or medicine, watch for a rise in accidents and domestic violence.

Venus, the morning star of 2009 that disappeared at the end of last year, reappears in the evening during the last week of February. Moving retrograde throughout the spring and summer, it will remain the brightest light in the west after sundown until late autumn.

Saturn, still in Virgo this month, is low in the southern sky below Arcturus and Regulus. Jupiter is in Aquarius in the far west at dusk. Mars continues to travel across the night with Cancer.

Weather patterns

On the Jan. 27, the chances for highs above freezing reach above 80 percent, and stay there through Jan. 30. While Jan. 31 can bring back subfreezing temperatures, it also introduces a solid possibility of a high in the 60s for the first time since Jan. 7.

Between Jan. 26-28, dry conditions prevail 75 percent of the years, and Jan. 27 is usually the sunniest day of the month, bringing an 80 percent chance for clear to partly cloudy skies. Jan. 30 is the cloudiest day in the second half of the month (with a 70 percent chance for overcast conditions), and the wettest – rain or snow coming two days out of three.

The first days of February may bring warmth, but are often marked by precipitation. The wettest day of the week is Feb. 1, with a 55 percent chance for rain or snow.

The 13th of winter’s 16 cold fronts usually arrives by Feb. 3, bringing an end to the traditional Groundhog Day thaw. Then the cruel 14th weather system should be here on Feb. 6.

Countdown to early spring

On Jan. 31, the sun reaches a declination of 17 degrees, 25 minutes, one-quarter of its way to spring equinox.

Late winter, the final phase of the year’s coldest season, arrives this week. You can tell it is here because Orion has started to move into the west by midnight.

To the upper left of that vast group of stars, past Castor and Pollux, the markers of Gemini, you may be able to make out the stars of the spring constellation, Cancer, its shape almost like a person without hands walking along behind Gemini.

Almanac daybook

Jan. 25: The front due to cross the Mississippi around Jan. 25 often spawns storms, and the days following its arrival make today and tomorrow some of the month’s chillier days.  Secondary frontal conditions, sometimes carrying moist Gulf air, can set off powerful blizzards around Jan. 27. The approach of full moon increases the likelihood of bad weather this week.

Jan. 26: Today is the first day of the season of late winter. This season contains five to six major cold fronts and lasts from Jan. 26-Feb. 18.

Jan. 27: Jan. 27 is a pivotal statistical date in the fortunes of the cold. Throughout the country average temperatures, which had remained stable from the middle of January, climb 1 degree.
That rise may not be obvious in any particular year, but it does represent the cumulative wisdom of all the years on record, revealing the inevitable turn of the planet toward June.
Jan. 28: Full moon on Jan. 30 increases the chances for seasonal affective disorders, as well as problems with family and animals. Plan ahead now.

Jan. 29: And as the moon wanes through its third quarter next week, most mid-winter abortions often occur in livestock. Traditional supplements to ward off abortion include rose hips, hawthorn berries, raspberry leaves, tansy leaves and hollyhock root. Herbs to help with birthing: peppermint, thyme and chamomile.

Rather than depending on these plants to cure an animal of some disease or difficulty, however, consider them as tonics that might contribute to the overall health of your animals.

Jan. 30: The Groundhog Day Thaw often begins today or tomorrow and lasts until abound Feb. 3. Schedule routine livestock maintenance and foot clipping for early next month under the dark moon. Clip your fingernails in preparation for lambing and kidding.
Plan a walk in the woods and take inventory of plants sprouting around the yard when the weather is mild. Count the number of pussy willows cracking now; then, check again after the next thaw.
Jan. 31: The sun’s declination passes 17 degrees, 31 minutes today, one-quarter of the way to spring equinox, just as the final weather system of January arrives under the frigid influence of the fat moon. Along the 40th Parallel, the day’s length is now almost three-quarters of an hour longer than it was at the beginning of the new year.

Living with the seasons

The major lambing and kidding season starts throughout the region: More lambs and kids are born in the next eight weeks than in any other months. Students in 4-H should be planning to reserve a lamb or kid for their project.

The S.A.D. Index remains in the upper 60s throughout the period, on a scale of 1-75, indicating a continuing risk of seasonal affective disorders.

This is the week that crows start their spring migration. The great gatherings that sometimes number in the thousands of birds are breaking up in anticipation of courtship.

Plain talk

“Some persons broke into the stable of horses belonging to a cavalry troop and cut off all the tails. An officer advised the troop to sell them wholesale ‘because,’ he said ‘you can never retail them.’”
-The Kentucky Almanack for 1801

“A lady being asked how she liked a gentleman’s singing, who had an offensive breath, said, ‘The words are good, but the air is intolerable.’”

-The Farmer’s Almanack for 1801

“Socrates, when under sentence of death, was visited by a friend who expressed great grief for him, that he was condemned to die innocent. ‘What,’ said Socrates with a smile, ‘would you have me die guilty?’”

-An Almanack for 1798
“A man being brought before the Vice Chancellor, on an accusation preferred against him, began to hawk and spit. On being asked what he meant by such insolence, he said he was come to clear himself.”

-The Farmer’s Almanack for 1800
Epitaph
“Gaily I liv’d, as ease and nature taught,
And spent my little life without a thought;
And am amaz’d that death, that tyrant grim,
Should think of me who never thought of him.”      
-An Astronomical Diary for 1789
(The Almanack will pay $3 for any original, unusual animal or family story. Send your tale to: Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. An extra $3 will be paid if the story is used in the annual Almanack for 2011.)

1/20/2010