Sea Ice in Long Island Sound During the Coldest Month on Record!

Now that it's March, we can officially declare the month of February 2015 as the coldest month on record in Bridgeport, Connecticut with an average temperature of 19.9 degrees (F)!  Records go back to 1948. 

Climatologically, January is the coldest month of the year. So it is impressive to have the coldest month on record now be in February! 

The NWS reports the highest temperature recorded at Bridgeport in the month of February 2015 was 37 degrees and the lowest was -2 degrees. The month saw 21.5 inches of snow fall with an average snow depth of 11 inches throughout the month (that's a far cry from what Boston saw!) 

I've shared some of the pictures of a frozen Long Island Sound in this post and this post but here are some more photos I haven't shared yet! 

Below is a picture of the American flag at Anchor Beach in Milford, CT. Notice all the sea ice and slush floating in front and around the rock that sticks out into the water. 

Since the cold was so prolonged, every tide cycle added more ice to the rocks along the shore. 

Frozen steps to the beach! The bottom few steps of this staircase that have weathered both Irene and Sandy have accumulated ice during high tides during the month. 

Another stair case to the beach frozen from high water at high tide. Pretty impressive that not even the sun could melt this ice! 

These rocks along the beach have been incased in sea ice, formed at different levels depending on the height of the tide. The combination of ice, tide and rocks made for some very cool patterns. 

Long Island Sound or the Arctic? Sea Ice Forming Along Coast

The arctic outbreak continues here in the Northeast, everyday inching closer to being the coldest month on record (that's the coldest month in about 100 years!) for the Connecticut coastline. This February 2015 Arctic Outbreak is certainly one to remember. Every day I go to the beach and the ice just gets thicker and thicker, something I have never personally seen.  Usually winters along the Connecticut coast are a battle zone for the rain/snow line, this year that battlefield is frozen over!  

Once again, here is the flag at Anchor Beach in Milford, Connecticut. Notice the thin layer of ice that surrounds the rock as well as the rest of the water within the photo. 

Here's another view of the flag, along with the frozen over Long Island Sound! Incredible! 

Looking out over Long Island Sound towards Long Island and ice covers the water out or at least 300 yards! 

Another picture looking towards the West Haven, CT coastline from Milford. Ice everywhere!  

Another view from Milford looking towards Long Island, over the extensive ice sheet forming on Long Island Sound. 

To go along with my photos of Long Island Sound Sea Ice, check out these MODIS Satellite images and check out the ice forming on Long Island Sound and up near Cape Cod. 

Now here's an impressive MODIS Satellite image! Delaware Bay is full of ice and so is the Chesapeake Bay! Anymore ice and it will look like the film "The Day After Tomorrow" 

Blending the Seasons! Plants Don't Know If it's Fall, Winter or Spring!

As the nor'easter finally begins to wrap up and slowly but surely move away from the northeast, it seems some of the plants have the seasons mixed up. As some snow flurries fell yesterday afternoon, I took a quick stroll around the backyard with the dog and decided to take a few photos with my phone. As I walked across the melting snow (just a dusting from the night before) I noticed some snow on the arborvitaes, which looked very festive with Christmas coming up. Then out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a color that was neither brown, nor white or green. A color that should not be found in nature this time of year. This color was a yellow flower. Specifically, a forsythia flower, a trademark of spring. It must bloomed last week when temperatures briefly peaked around 60 degrees. It wasn't even just one flower, there were multiple blooms! There was even some forsythia leaves on the branches.  

In all the photos I took, you can see the dusting of snow in the background. Nature is defiantly confused on what season it is! There's spring blossoms, winter snow, and of course it really is still autumn! 

Snow hangs on to the evergreen branches, creating a festive holiday scene! 

Halloween pumpkin partly eaten by squirrels and covered in a dusting of snow! 

Forsythia flowers blooming with a dusting of snow in the background.  

Even new forsythia leaves have sprouted!