I figure it is dogwood winter. My mom, Gwenda Gibson, said that too in a phone conversation yesterday.
This morning, April 22, 2024, the low temperature here in Lexington, Kentucky, was a below normal, cold 31 degrees according to the National Weather Service.[1]
Spring
brings warm weather that contrasts nicely with winter. However, warm weather and cool (cold I'd call it) weather conditions alternate during the
first half of spring.
When
I was growing up in southeastern Kentucky my mom and others often referred to
the cold spells (or "little winters") in spring by names based on plants that
were blooming at the time.
I
especially remember three different winters in spring. My mom and others
discussed redbud winter, dogwood winter, and blackberry winter. Mom said all of these didn’t come every year, but they
seemed to most years.
I
learned there are other winters in spring. The total is more than seven "little winters."
My
online research indicates that these winters of spring are especially known in areas in or near the Appalachian region, places including Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. I didn’t see a reference
to such winters on websites in other areas.
Currently I live in central Kentucky, in Lexington, which is not considered part of Appalachia. Nonetheless, Lexington's climate is similar to that of the southeastern Kentucky Appalachian area of my childhood.
Furthermore, many residents of Lexington are originally from southeastern Kentucky and recall growing up there and hearing about the winters of spring.
I
wonder if other parts of the U.S. and other countries have similar names for
the short winters of spring?
A Fox56 website article[2] discussed five “little winters” in Kentucky. It discusses the three I remember from my childhood, as well as Locust Winter and Linsey-Woolsey Britches Winter. A 2019 WLEX article discusses the same five “little winters” in Kentucky.[3]
A VisitClevelandTN.com webpage discusses what it calls “the six little winters of Tennessee.”[4] It includes the five previously mentioned and adds Whippoorwill Winter for the sixth one. A WKRN website article lists the same “six little winters.”[5]
Some of the winters of spring are better known than others. A WOWK article[6] discusses what it considers “the three major ones in Appalachia.” These are the three I mentioned earlier that I remember best from my childhood: redbud, dogwood, and blackberry winters.
In yesterday's phone conversation, mom said those three and sarvis winter are the
four she remembers best. She told me that her mom (Annie Hunter-Wicker) talked about
those four too.
Below
I discuss each of these four in chronological order, followed by brief discussions
of three other “little winters” of spring.
Sarvis
Winter
I only remember learning about sarvis winter in recent phone conversations with mom such as the one yesterday. But she said she and her mom both referred to sarvis winter during her childhood.
Mom told me that it comes in early spring before redbud winter. That's when the sarvis trees feature white blooms. The sarvis tree is more commonly called the serviceberry tree.
Its usually white blossoms typically feature five petals according to various websites. An interesting West Virginia Explorer article[7] states that sarvis tree blooms in Appalachia let “folks know spring has arrived.” An article on The Tomahawk website[8] covers all seven “little winters” I discuss, including sarvis winter.
Redbud
Winter
Redbud
trees in eastern Kentucky begin looking beautiful with magnificent bright pink
buds in late March and early April. A cold period in early April while redbud
trees are near their peak of pink color is called redbud winter.
Below are two photos I took of a redbud tree near my apartment building in Lexington, Kentucky. I took them on March 31, 2024 (top one), and April 2, 2023 (bottom one). The black strip at the top of the 2024 photo is part of my apartment building that got into the photo. Oops!
Dogwood
Winter
Dogwood
trees in eastern Kentucky bloom in mid to late April. The cold spell that
typically occurs while dogwood trees bloom in late April, is called dogwood
winter. The cold morning today, April 22, 2024, in Lexington, Kentucky, is
probably part of dogwood winter.
Below are two photos I took yesterday, April 21, 2024, of a dogwood tree on Parkway Drive in Lexington, Kentucky.
Blackberry
Winter
Blackberry
winter typically comes in early to perhaps mid-May in Kentucky. Mom said it’s
usually the first or second week of May. Naturally, it is when blackberry
bushes bloom with beautiful, often white, blossoms.
Mom
also stated in yesterday's conversation that her mom claimed that
if blackberry winter is wet, it will be a wet summer. If blackberry winter is
dry, then summer will be dry as well. Do you think that's true?
Locust
Winter
The
timing of locust winter seems to vary more than the others according to various
websites, which indicate it can be in late April, May, or even June. Locust
tree flowers are often white, such as those of the black locust tree. I don’t
remember locust winter from my childhood, but that may be due to my limited
memory.
Linsey-Woolsey
Britches Winter
I
know little about this one. It reportedly occurs after those mentioned
earlier, in late spring. The name refers to a type of warm wool and linen (or
cotton) clothing worn in winter weather. The end of linsey-woolsey winter supposedly
indicates one can put away the winter clothing till fall/autumn.
Whippoorwill
Winter
I
also know little about this one. Various sources report it to be the last of
the short spring winters, occurring in late spring. It comes when one can hear whippoorwill
birds make music.
Closing Thoughts
These
seven “little winters” of spring may in some cases be called by other names. Furthermore,
there are a few other short winters of spring that I’ve heard or read about briefly, such as elderberry winter.
[1] “Weather Observations for the Past
Three Days: Lexington Blue Grass Airport”; National Weather Service; April 22,
2024; webpage accessed April 22, 2024; https://w1.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KLEX.html
[2] Goins, Madylin;
“Kentucky’s little winters: Here’s when you can put your coats away”; Fox56
(Kentucky television station website); April 15, 2024; updated April 18, 2024;
webpage accessed April 22, 2024; https://fox56news.com/news/kentucky/kentuckys-little-winters-heres-when-you-can-put-your-coats-away/
[3] “Kentucky’s Little Winters”; WLEX (Kentucky television station website); April 17, 2019; webpage accessed April 22, 2024; https://www.lex18.com/stormtracker-blog/2019/04/17/kentuckys-little-winters/
[4] Jenkins, Mary Tom;
“The Six Little Winters of Tennessee”; VisitClevelandTN.com; March 31, 2021;
webpage accessed April 22, 2024; https://visitclevelandtn.com/the-six-little-winters-of-tennessee/
[5] Mays, Mary; “What
Are ‘Little Winters’ “? WKRN.com (Tennessee television station website);
November 12, 2019; revised November 13, 2019; webpage accessed April 22, 2024; https://www.wkrn.com/special-reports/what-are-little-winters/
[6] Knoll, Chris;
“Cold Snap Names in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky”; WOWK (West Virginia
television station website); March 17, 2023; webpage accessed April 22, 2024; https://www.wowktv.com/weather/cold-snap-names-in-west-virginia-ohio-and-kentucky/
[7] Sibray, David; “Sarvis Tree Blossoms
Signal the Arrival of Mountain Spring in W. Va.”; West Virginia Explorer; March
19, 2024; webpage accessed April 22, 2024; https://wvexplorer.com/2024/03/19/sarvis-tree-west-virginia-serviceberry-funerals/
[8]
Manuel, Virginia; “Old Timers Had a Name for All These Weather Changes”; The
Tomahawk; April 16, 2024; webpage accessed April 22, 2024; https://www.thetomahawk.com/archives/old-timers-had-a-name-for-all-these-weather-changes/article_04f92377-8ca9-5bdd-97bd-92d2f5304231.html
