They survived the Blizzards of '06!

[2-Wheeler]

We're still in our first year of beekeeping, so everything is still new. We have been concerned about the bees during a really bad December. It was both very cold and we had a lot of snow. We had two big blizzards around the holidays with a total of more than 36 inches of new snow in about a week. The snow came with high winds and we had drifts over 4 feet high from the first storm.   I've got more details and some photos on our blog: http://beesandblooms.blogspot.com/2006/12/december-blizzard-v20.html 

Today was the return of the Chinook winds. (Chinook is a word the native americans used for "Snow Eater".) The winds are warm and from the west and help to melt the snow. It brought the temps into the lower 50s (F) for the first time in over a month and the bees emerged!  We saw some coming out for clensing flights and perhaps doing other housecleaning chores. 

It was a great relief to see they survived.  :-D

[edit: the climate data had a bug, I'll try to get it updated soon. In the mean time, you can check my weather page and see what's going on at this link: http://www.leyner.org/  ]

[Kirk-o]

OH yeah those bees are tuff.I had bees in Fruit Heights Utah in the 70's snow two feet deep they made it .They will probably be fine Do you have a January Thaw
over there?
kirko

[mick]

I gotta get me some serious snow before I die. We just dont get it here, not like that, and not anymore and not where anyone lives.

[amymcg]

Sounds like every year in New England, except this year. . ..

Snow is an excellent insulator.   You can tell how warm those hives are by looking at the gap of snow that seems to widen next to the hives.  I usually take a snow shovel and just scrape it away from the opening and that's it.  What will make you nervous is how many dead bees you can actually see now because of the snow. 

[2-Wheeler]

We had another warm day today before the next snowstorm hits tonight and the bees were out "playing" today.  They flew about 100 meters from the hive and were gathered by my back door. For some reason they were interested in the rubber door mat that is sitting just outside the door. At one point there were at least 2 dozen of the girls just poking around in the grooves of this rubber door mat. I have no idea what the interst was.   

We put some blooming houseplants in the area where they were collecting, but they took no interest.

Perhaps they were just enjoying the warm sun in a place sheltered from the wind?

[Jerrymac]

Perhaps getting some water. Perhaps there has been honey, suger, soda pop, other stuff dropped onto the pad.

[Cindi]

Ha, Jerry, maybe they wanted to come into your house where it is warm and a nice environment.  LOL. Cindi