Compare the two photographs below:

A week of mild, wet, and frequently windy weather has transformed northern Nova Scotia from a winter wonderland to the next best thing to spring. In what is usually the coldest month of the year, this January Thaw has been a welcome reprieve from frigid temperatures that reached as low as -25°C in late December and early January. On the downside, the thaw has also brought raging rivers and localized flooding in various parts of the province.

Our own Matheson Brook has been a rushing brown torrent for days. Ice plates that a week ago covered the brook now lie stranded on shore well above water level, evidence of flooding after last weekend’s torrential rains and temperatures of 10°C or higher melted almost unimaginable quantities of snow and ice within a span of two days. Since then, continued mild air and more rain have left little snow remaining, just patches in ditches and in the woods.

.

.

Both I and the local wildlife have taken advantage of the balmy temperatures to forage for food. Monday and today, I pulled away straw mulch covering carrots and parsnips in my garden and dug out buckets of very muddy but incredibly fresh, crisp roots. Birds are gleaning formerly snow-buried seeds from the exposed ground, and a small herd of white-tailed deer visits our yard every day at dusk to graze on the lawn. A week ago, those birds were fluffed up against the cold, and those deer were punching holes in crusty snow with every step. Knowing the volatility of Nova Scotia’s weather, they soon will be again.