Not Spring in Minnesota

It's almost the end of March, but you wouldn't know it around here. There's a big weather system coming to the middle of the country, and it may take the form of snow here tomorrow. 

But even without that, we've been below normal temperatures for this month. The ambient temperature last night was in the single digits, and tonight it's supposed to be 14°F. The daily highs, at least, have been above freezing most days, but we haven't had an overnight low above freezing for a while, and I don't see one in the forecast through the next 10 days.... well into April.

If we get another 3.5" of snow some time before the end of this winter, we'll be in the top five all-time seasonal snowfalls in the Twin Cities. It seems as though we will make it.

Here are some non-spring photos. 

First, this is the last chance to prune fruit trees, so I was out pruning my cherry tree. While doing that, I saw twig ends that had been gnawed off on an angle, which is a sign that it was done by rabbits:

That would not be noteworthy, since rabbits are rampant in these parts, but these twigs are more than 6 feet off the ground. Yes, the snow around the tree was that tall, and the rabbits were able to hang around on top of it and nibble the branches to their hearts' content. 

Second, my backyard path is in deep shade cast by a building, so it's several inches thick with ice that formed from packed snow. I was fascinated to see that when leaves later settled on the ice, the dark color of the leaves caused them to melt into the ice, even though they, like the ice, are in full shade:

It was hard to photograph the leaves in ways that show how deep they are in the ice, but it's at least an inch. 

I don't understand why the leaves would become warmer and melt into the ice, since they're also in shade, but clearly, they did.