Spring will be coming in on tippy-toe feet

Many horticulturists believe that plants remain dormant at temperatures below fifty degrees Fahrenheit.  That led to the use of Growing Degree Days.  Some GDD models use a base of 40F or 42F but most use 50F.

If the modeling by Accuweather is accurate, then spring will advance very slowly through the month of April here in Eaton Rapids. In fact, it will advance about half as quickly as the average.

This is OK by me.  I would rather have the trees bloom late and not get frosted than to have them bloom three weeks earlier than average and be at risk.

The other advantage is that this gives me more time to get my garden ready.  I would normally plant my potatoes around May 1 and my corn May 15 but it looks like I can comfortably push those back a week.  There is little point in planting seed potatoes or seed corn if it cannot germinate and grow.