The cold wind is blowing through my mountain holler. Forecasts have the temperatures for the next few days down in the low 30s at night. Dogwood trees are just beginning to bloom in my area so the cold spell of weather can be attributed to dogwood winter.
dogwood winter noun A frost or freezing spell in mid to late April when dogwoods are in bloom.
1952 Wilson Folk Speech NC 533. 1962 Dykeman Tall Woman 14 And after the cold spell, when dogwoods bloomed, there would be whippoorwill winter and blackberry winter. “Dogwood winter” happens in April, but it is soon followed by anothr spell of cold called “blackberry winter,” which occurs in May when blackberry briars put out their delicate flowers. 1970 Vincent More of Best 64 Sometimes dogwood buds burst into full bloom up here, and the very next day top coats won’t feel a bit too warm. This is what we in these parts call “Dogwood Winter”. 1982 Smokies Heritage 123 In the warmth of Spring may come a sudden chill, with even a hint of snow. This is “dogwood winter,” usually here when dogwood blossoms hang white upon the trees and wildflowers are beginning to appear. 1994-97 Montgomery Coll. (Adams, Brown, Cardwell, Shields).
Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English
There are several little winters in the mountains of Appalachia. Dogwood and blackberry are the most common.
I find the weather lore of little winters fascinating. I love thinking about the folks who noticed year after year a cold spell occurred when a certain thing was blooming or happening in nature.
For more information about the little winters of Appalachia go here.
Last night’s video: How I Make Pimento Cheese – Taking The Boys Dinner While They Work.
Tipper
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Next up is blackberry winter, and then we can plant the garden, yay!
TIPPER DID YOU KNOW THAT AT ONE TIME IN HISTORY SOME MONTHS ONLY HAD 19 DAYS.
IN THE USA SEMI TRAILERS ARE CALLED JUST THAT (TRAILERS) IN ENGLAND THEY ARE CALLED (LORRIES. AND THE TRUNK OF A CAR IS NOT CALLED TRUNK OF A BART BUT BOOT.
Tipper–My favorite among the many names for mountain cold snaps (others you don’t mention include service (“sarvis”) winter, locust winter, and redbud winter) is catbird squall. I’m sure it comes from the fact that catbirds, a migratory species, show up each spring about the time there’s likely to be a chilly spell. What tickles me is that the “squall,” a weather term, is pronounced the same as “squawl.” The catbird’s “song” is more of a squawl, and I have to believe that some insightful mountain woman or man many generations ago made that delightful play on words and it stuck.
Well, I’m experiencing a bit of Bluebonnet Winter here in central Texas. Oh, it ain’t cold atall outside, but the bride has the AC set on freeze-him-to-death-and-collect-the-insurance. S’posed to be 84 F here today. I’ve been wearing shorts and t-shirts for a few weeks now. ‘Course, we get weather breeders this time of year that can give birth to twisters. They’re gonna test the tornado sirens for 15 minutes at full tilt tomorrow morning.
Tipper, I have a *huge* request: Since you don’t have anything particular to do these days except for (1) caring for Granny (2) keeping Matt from coming “unfed” (3) helping Katie with little Ira (4) helping Corie and Austin ready their new home (4) getting ready to plant Pap’s big garden (5) planting your home garden(s) (5) teaching/demonstrating/sharing recipes and techniques plus (6) the tremendous time and energy necessary to pull together posts for Celebrating Appalachia on YouTube and posts to this blog DAILY!!!—would you please do another book? This one a photo book with big glossy copies of the beautiful, closeup pictures you’ve shared of daffodils, wild violets, irises, crab apple blossoms, dogwood blossoms, blackberry blooms, laurel blooms, zinnias, holly and on and on. Please. You’re a wonderful photographer and I would love to have a collection of your photos of flowers, trees and your beautiful, fast-moving creek. Someday, maybe? Thanks for all you do for so many.
Papaw, I live 30 miles from downtown Greenville but in southern Greenville County and about 35 or more miles from the Greenville/Spartanburg airport which gives a lot of weather reports. The closest country town (no other city closer than Greenville) is Honea Path, SC and also the location of my post office address is 14 miles away. We pronounce Honea as Honey, the older generations nicknamed the town Sugar Foot. I am so far out in the country the roads are so narrow they would have to be widened before they could paint a center line on them and the sunshine is a day old when we get it. It has to be piped in.
Honea seems to be a name that comes from the Old English word hunig which means honey. It could also be an old nickname related to how we call out wives and girlfriends honey and sweetheart. There could be a connection people who’s job was bees and beekeeping.
Maybe somebody “coursed” a honeybee and found it’s hive at Honea Path. Do or have people in your area done any bee coursing?
Dogwood Winter here in Middle TN! Easter we had temps near the 80’s! Thursday I went to do my grocery shopping and ended up with a huge cart full as they had big paper towel packages on a good sale. I went in without a jacket as it was in the 50’s. As I went out the door, the wind was so strong I had trouble keeping my cart straight and raindrops were blowing sideways. Then a spell of sleet started! The wind was blowing it so strongly that I felt every one it seemed like. My hair blew straight up! Finally got to my car, grabbed my jacket and just began throwing things in the back seat. A man walked past me and I said how cold it was. He replied that it was and was even worse when you couldn’t find your car.
that sounds like California the last couple of days!!! we had wind ,rain,hail,snow and then a clear sky to see the sunset..all in one day…lol
As a child, I was taught in SW PA that we had a Sarvis snow, an onion snow, a robin snow, and an Easter snow. Our current snow would be considered the onion snow because I know people with onions planted.
We also count out Spring cold snaps with the Spring Peepers (those little frogs – I’m not sure of their real names). Once you heard them for the first time, they had to froze over and heard again three times before the cold snaps will be over. My grandfather would say, “The peepers have to look through ice three times before spring is here for good.”
JC- some years ago I lived in Butler, PA. One evening while eating supper, I looked out the window and it was snowing…this was in May!
Here they are called peep frogs!
We got 4 inches of heavy , wet snow last night. My husband about worked himself to death yesterday try to get new fence posts set before it moved in. It’s a good thing nothing in my frost garden is up yet, lol.
Enjoyed reading about the dogwood and blackberry winters. We always refer to them as cold spells. April has always been an unpredictable month. Our son was born on April 8th and the day we brought him home from the hospital it was so chilly but the week before it was warm and that was forty years ago. He always jokes about how the weather will be on his birthday. He will say warm and windy or cold and rainy. Have a great day everyone!!
I put on a coat and got out a little bit yesterday and liked to froze to death. It was a cloudy 54Âş but with 20 mph winds. This morning it was a sunny 41Âş at 8:00 AM with no wind when I went out in a thin short sleeved shirt and felt fairly comfortable.
I used to work, wearing just a shirt and pants, in a frozen food warehouse at -20Âş. But, if I walked in front of a fan, I thought I would die. Yes, they do have fans in frozen food facilities. They circulate the air so that the heat doesn’t build up at the ceiling, thaw out condensation and cause freezing rain or snow inside. They also have fans at the doors to try to keep the balmy 38Âş air on the dock from infiltrating the freezer. It’s like a whole nother world in a huge 100,000+ft² sq -20Âş warehouse. Brrrrr!
The still of the morning didn’t last! The wind is ripping again and here I am huddled up in front of a space heater. I think spring went to Cancun for spring break.
That was interesting. Thank you for sharing it.
Winter can sure be a stubborn thing. These various cold snaps are the dying gasps of old man winter. Warmer weather is coming just as sure as the next sunrise, but don’t put your coat away just yet.
No matter what we call it, the weather has been wicked here in KY for the past week. The tornados that went through touched down way too close to my home. Then it rained like poring out of buckets and ended with a few snow flurries that blew around in 35 MPH winds. It’s in the 30s this morning! I sure hope Redbud winter has come and gone this spring.
I learned about dogwood winter from one of your previous posts. I guess that’s what we’re having in Richmond, Virginia. Mama called the cool spell in May blackberry winter.
To me it does not matter what winter it is! The weather is what it is…just seize the day!
I’m in awe of the beautiful blooming trees I see as I drive around our area! My Cherokee Pink Dogwood looks like it won’t be long till it is in full bloom but not there yet. I just love spring!
Enjoyed your tailgate picnic for the boys working. I’m not a fan of pimento cheese but I did enjoy seeing how you made it. Just so happy for ya all and how well you work together.
Reminds me of my Mother and Daddy and how they were a wonderful team working together. Seemed like they knew how to do anything and everything, planting, putting up, canning, repairing, building, etc.
The whole folkway of correlating two or more natural events to guide practical choices fascinates me as an aspect of human behavior. From Native American names, it appears that they had accumulated a wealth of such knowledge. I think new comers quickly garnered that knowledge because it was so needed in a hunting-gathering-planting manner of life. And it was added to and refined cumulatively across years by local observation and experience. That, in turn, put people into being what I call “practising ecologists”, synchronized with their environment as a common lifeway. It got expressed in a host of local lore such as ” plant corn when white oak leaves are the size of a mouse’s ear” or “wind out of the east means heavy rain”. So … do you risk your seed in cold ground when you can expect a dogwood or a blackberry or a whipoorwill winter or risk missing good growing days ?
Ron-for tender plants we don’t chance it 🙂 This time of the year we only plant the things that can stand a little frost.
Never heard of “Dogwood Winter” but our temps here in southern Virginia have been a lot cooler during the day and at night (30’s). Everything is blooming or has bloomed. The daffodils and hyacinths have bloomed and are gone. The forsythia blooms are on their way out, too. We have beautiful red buds blooming; a weeping cherry tree is full of gorgeous pink blossoms, the apple trees and pear trees are blooming, and the dogwoods are almost all opened up. Hope we will have some fruit this year. The peonies are up about a foot with buds. The trees are greening up and my husband says he has to mow the lawn soon before the grass gets thicker. This is usually how our spring is introduced here–periods of warmth with colder temps, especially at night. We actually had a few minutes of small hail yesterday afternoon. That’s why we wait until the last week of April to plant our garden. Watched your videos yesterday of Matt working in Corie and Austin’s house and you making pimento cheese.
Based on the information you just let us know about, we are having a dogwood winter here tonight. Our temps are supposed to get down to 28! This is our welcome back to home after spending 2 months in Florida. At least it will get warmer and spring is here!
I thought of this after my first comment. Tipper writes about the signs and planting for each month, and I know this is not the same signs she is writing about. My Daddy would say you are not truly safe from frost in our area (upstate SC) until the wild blackberry vines bloom. I heard a South Georgia produce farmer say he didn’t start planting until the pecan trees begin to bud out. My pecan and walnut trees are beginning to get those “wormy” things on them. I mentioned the difference in temperature between the city of Greenville and my country home -40 degrees in Greenville and a light frost on the windshields and roof tops at my home.
We called those wormy things tent caterpillars if they spun a weblike nest, or “tent.” I’ll bet that’s what you have. I used to torch those I could reach with a pole.
I had tent caterpillars in a crabapple tree. I sprayed brake parts cleaner on them.
Never heard of whippoorwill winter before.
Very windy here in North Cherokee County GA yesterday. Downright cold to be out in the wind. Everyone have a blessed day.
We are having a cold spell here in my part of Alabama as well. Once it warms up in the spring then turns back cold, that cold spell seems colder than it does in winter. I guess it seems that way because we’ve had a taste of the warmth then are hit with the cold again.
Cold here in Choestoe!!
The Cherry trees have bloomed, but my 3 Dogwoods (Gabriel, Michael and little bit) are too scared just yet to bloom! Lol I find the Dogwood to be the spring harbinger personally. I also wonder if this tree is true to Christian legend. Yesterday we had 4 seasons in 1 day-it rained, sleeted, threw tiny hail balls, snowed half dollar flakes and the sun shined! I saw it all y’all!!! Happy Spring and keep the precious babies warm! Y’all take care now, ya hear?
Here in central eastern WV, it snowed all day yesterday and it is supposed to snow all day today until later this afternoon. There was very little accumulation except for sticking in the trees and just a skiff in the yard. You got soaked when walking out in it. Our highs are in the 30’s today and tomorrow. The snow is beautiful—It doesn’t bother me this time of year when it melts as it lands in the grass. I am looking forward to a warmer day on Sunday though. Your pimento cheese looked yummy last evening. I will have to try it. I can’t wait to see how the countertops look when Matt gets finished. Take care and hugs for Granny and baby Ira.
I really enjoy the folklore that you share with us, thank you! I will have to try the pimento cheese, I have seen it but never tasted it. I will have to make it with something other than sharp cheddar as that can bring on migraine headache for me. I am so happy for Corie and Austin getting to move next door to you, and it is so wonderful to see you all pitch in together to prepare the house for them to move into. I can tell that you are close family as is mine. We are so blessed. I continue to pray for the safe delivery of Corie and Austins’ baby boy and for Granny, and all of you. Praying for Katie and Ira, makes my heart glad! God bless you and yours.
Winter stops and starts in Michigan, too, and it drives us all crazy. We’ve even had snow storms in May, but the worst was several years ago when 10 inches of snow came down overnight on April 8th. Everyone was out shoveling and blowing snow and mad as hops–self included because I had some crocus and daffies up and they were buried and crushed under the snow. Today I look back on it and just laugh. I always try to remember that snow means water and to be grateful for it.
Nancy, you mentioned snow meaning water. Down here in SC and other southern states the farmers liked to have several snows on their winter wheat, they said snow was the same as putting nitrogen on it. It has been several years since we have had any amount of snow at all.
That is very interesting. Living here in Florida, April is to me the most comfortable month. Less humidity, and rain that clears out the pollen that coats the ground and makes your eyes water.
Loved your video last night as well as the video about the house preparation.
We are having temps in the mid 30’s for the next several nights. Around my country home it will usually be a few degrees colder than in the city and there will be a frost. The wind has been blowing pretty hard for the last two days. The dogwoods are blooming around here too. I have heard these cold snaps called Dogwood Winter or Blackberry Winter all of my life. I have a few things growing in my garden that the frost won’t hurt but have been holding off on setting out my tomatoes. I will cover my Grandmother’s old peony flower, the buds are ready to bust opened any day now.
I am blessed in that I don’t live in a city nor is there one near enough to compare my temperatures to. There is a town attached to the end of my address but that’s only for Postal Services purposes, I don’t live there. The township I live in isn’t in the same one my address refers to. The closest real city to me is Charlotte. Hickory is a closer and calls itself a city but is only a wannabee. Then there’s Morganton which is as much a city as Hickory but calls itself a town. Then there’s Forest City and Bryson City which struggle to be even a town but are stuck with City in their name.
Where I live isn’t even a wide place in the road. I can go everywhere I need to go without ever getting on a road wider than two lanes. The road home narrows to one lane (we can’t keep it between the lines because there are none) then turns onto gravel and it maintained by it’s residents, if at all.
When people ask what road I live on, I say it must be “No Outlet!” That’s the only sign I see. It used to be “Dead End” but somebody changed it for no good reason!
Papaw (maybe I should address you as Mr Papaw as I don’t know you but I’m 75 and may be a contemporary of your’s so will just be familiar),
I just want to say how much I enjoy your writing. Many of Tipper’s readers/followers are good with the written word and I look forward to reading all that folks have to say but I got a kick out of your post today – especially the last paragraph. That made me laugh out loud and I’m still grinning.
I love it when someone puts into words thoughts that make me say “Yeah, that’s exactly how it is!”
Thanks for the chuckles. Hope you have a dandy day.
Myra G