Some Early Springtime Pictures

[NCB]

I know this is an urban development site, but how about some rural nature!

All of these pictures were taken from my family's property a couple of miles outside of Covington,LA. Most of them are a bit overexposed because of the sun, but oh well. There wasn't much color in the flowers and trees today, but I've always loved the greenery that Spring brings to the area.

Two Cypress Trees

With some of these pictures, it's hard to believe your only 40 miles away from one of the most densely urbanized cities in the country.

A bee hard at work on a rose

Rose

Another greenery shot

Some White Roses

A shady and sandy spot under some Cypress Trees

Looking up a Cypress Tree with the sun peaking through

And to finish it off, instead of looking up a skyscraper, lets look up a red oak!

That's it for these pictures. I hadn't posted any new pics on UP for awhile, so I guess it was time for anything, but hopefully I can get back out and get some urban shots soon!

[tombarnes]

Great shots Nate! What a beautiful place you have!

[NCB]

Great shots Nate! What a beautiful place you have!

Thanks, Tom!

The property itself has been in the family since the early 80's, but the house is owned by my parents.

[alon504]

Nice shots...it's good to see the green back in the City...things have particularly brown this past Winter with the hurricane. The oaks on St. Charles don't look nearly as bare as they did!

[Mith242]

Nice shots Nate. Things sure are green down there.

[dimebag1980]

I agree with what everyone else has said... it's looking green and beautiful once again. I love the Springtime, especially down here in the south!

[richyb83]

I agree with all that has been said ! Great scenery NCB.

[dimebag1980]

I agree with all that has been said ! Great scenery NCB.

The thing about Louisiana, and the south in general, is that we have tons of lush greenery in the Springtime. I've gotten so tired of looking at bare trees. I know I shouldn't have been, but this morning while zipping along the freeway I couldn't help but gaze off at the greenery. It's so nice to see. Now if only my grass wouldn't grow so fast...

[NCB]

Now if only my grass wouldn't grow so fast...

Haha, yea, there are some downsides to the coming of Spring.

[dimebag1980]

Haha, yea, there are some downsides to the coming of Spring.

Yep. Downside #1: since I lived in apartments for nearly 3 years prior to buying my house, I still haven;t bought a lawnmower, weedeater, or anything else. I haven't even spent $20 on a waterhose. We've been buying crap like a full bedroom suit, new couch, etc. So because of all this, I spend $40 every 2 weeks on lawn service. I'm a retard.

[Tennesseestorm]

Great photos! Spring comes early there! Everything is green and lush. Some of our trees are fully leafed out, (peach, pear, willows, etc), but we still have a little way to go. Usually late April before our scenery looks like that...... By late April, all of ours are typically fully leafed out. In mid April, our trees rapidly leaf out, regardless of temperatures. Sometimes fully leafed by mid April if March is unusually warm, in the 70s.

Those are great photos of the bald cypress trees. Mine is just starting to leaf out, but I am in northeast Tennessee @ an elevation of 1600 ft. However, with temperatures in the 70s and 80s this week (mid 80s by Saturday), it, as well as all of the trees will rapidly leaf out, especially with all of the recent rains with the thunderstorms and the strong April sunshine.

I will post some updated ones tomorrow.....

[dimebag1980]

...with temperatures in the 70s and 80s this week (mid 80s by Saturday)...

Sounds like your weather is going to be very similar to what it's been like down here. I don't know about New Orleans and south Louisiana, but I can only imagine since it's been HOT here in the 80s since March. If this is any indication of Summer in Louisiana this year, I think I'm going to take a long vacation this Summer!

[Tennesseestorm]

Yeah, everyone here is ready for it, as we have had spells of unusually cool weather here over the past two weeks. Last part of March was well below normal, after being well above normal for early March. Everyone had spring fever.

Still, our normal high for today is 67*, so 70s and 80s are above average for us. Our warmest average high is 86* and does not occur until July, but several days of lower to mid 90s are not uncommon around here.

Typical 70s average highs occur in late April / early May around here. Earlier further southwest into the lower valley toward Knoxville, where 70* is the normal high already.

BTW - the past two mornings we have had a frost on all of the new greenery, as unusually cool and dry air headed down from the north, after that system that brought all of the deadly tornadoes through Tennessee. The frost did no damage however. That was likely our last frost. Too bad the same cannot be said for the tornadoes that hit west and middle TN. Those areas were ravaged.

Sounds like your weather is going to be very similar to what it's been like down here. I don't know about New Orleans and south Louisiana, but I can only imagine since it's been HOT here in the 80s since March. If this is any indication of Summer in Louisiana this year, I think I'm going to take a long vacation this Summer!

[dimebag1980]

Yeah, everyone here is ready for it, as we have had spells of unusually cool weather here over the past two weeks. Last part of March was well below normal, after being well above normal for early March. Everyone had spring fever.

Still, our normal high for today is 67*, so 70s and 80s are above average for us. Our warmest average high is 86* and does not occur until July, but several days of lower to mid 90s are not uncommon around here.

Typical 70s average highs occur in late April / early May around here. Earlier further southwest into the lower valley toward Knoxville, where 70* is the normal high already.

BTW - the past two mornings we have had a frost on all of the new greenery, as unusually cool and dry air headed down from the north, after that system that brought all of the deadly tornadoes through Tennessee. The frost did no damage however. That was likely our last frost. Too bad the same cannot be said for the tornadoes that hit west and middle TN. Those areas were ravaged.

A frost? Man, that seems unreal to me since it's been so warm here. But then again, 2 years ago I was in Illinois for Thanksgiving, and it was in the 10's and 20's and snowing, but it was in the 70's down here and raining. Go figure.

I hated to hear about all those tornadoes on the news. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

[Mith242]

A frost? Man, that seems unreal to me since it's been so warm here. But then again, 2 years ago I was in Illinois for Thanksgiving, and it was in the 10's and 20's and snowing, but it was in the 70's down here and raining. Go figure.

I hated to hear about all those tornadoes on the news. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

We had some frost up here in northwest Arkansas this weekend as well.

[NCB]

Sounds like your weather is going to be very similar to what it's been like down here. I don't know about New Orleans and south Louisiana, but I can only imagine since it's been HOT here in the 80s since March. If this is any indication of Summer in Louisiana this year, I think I'm going to take a long vacation this Summer!

I guess its been hotter up there than it has been in SE Louisiana. Around New Orleans, the last few mornings have been in the low-mid 50's, and the temperatures normally go up into the mid-70's during the day.

[dimebag1980]

I guess its been hotter up there than it has been in SE Louisiana. Around New Orleans, the last few mornings have been in the low-mid 50's, and the temperatures normally go up into the mid-70's during the day.

Really? Damn, that's hard to believe.

Here's the next 7 days' forecast for Shreveport-Bossier...

[NCB]

^We may be getting into the low 80's later this week, but I don't think we have a high above 82 in the current 7 day forecast for New Orleans.

[richyb83]

Yep , that looks like BR's extended forecast too ! (High 85 Sun &Mon) Except we may go down to 59 tonite . I notice sometimes this time of year the warm air comes from Mexico, across the Rio Grande into Texas . Normally Dallas and San Antonio will begin to warm-up; the high-pressure to the east tends to keep it a little cooler for places like BR and NOLA. But around here, it don't take long for the warm weather to win .

South LA. in a near drought here(below I-10), not even a rain chance thru next week. So far this year BR is supposed to have 17"inches of rain; we have less than 7" now;over a 10" deficit . Had it not been for the 11" of rain w/ Rita in late Sept. Our yearly deficit (since last April)would be close to 25" !

[Tennesseestorm]

Yeah, I was surprised too- especially considering that the daytime highs those days were in the 60s. I was a little concerned when I saw the frost on those two mornings, but then I remembered that the frosts typically do not harm any of the new growth here, especially since it did not go below freezing. I went ahead and covered up my newly planted Washingtonia pamletto to be safe. Its hardy down to 12*, and it dropped to 34* here, but I did not want it to go into shock, after being in a warm greenhouse.

Yeah, that Chicago winter can be something else. My uncles in-laws live just north of there past the Wisconsin border and they said it was very cold there when they went last week, but I think they are now in a warming trend now too.

It was a complete turnaround for us this week. Last night it was in the 40s and will be in the 50s tonight, after a high of 84* here at my house today! 77* was forecasted. Still 66* at the airport at the midnight hour and 63* at my house.

Looks like we have even warmer (slightly) temperatures forecasted this weekend than the above forecast (at least for Saturday). They are forecasting 84* here on Friday, 86* on Saturday and 85* on Sunday.

Mith242- I bet that our weather in northeast Tennessee is very similar to that you have in northwestern Arkansas. I think we are about due east-west of one another and probably about the same elevation. Our elevation in NE Tennessee ranges from about 1150ft in the western metro area (about 1550ft here at my house) to over 4000ft to our east on the spine of the mountains on the Tennessee-North Carolina border.

Sorry - not Lousiana photos, but here are some today I took in the Kingsport area (northeast TN). As you can see, we are well on our way, but not as green yet as you folks down in LA. The lower photo was taken on Interstate 81 heading southbound toward Kingsport.

A frost? Man, that seems unreal to me since it's been so warm here. But then again, 2 years ago I was in Illinois for Thanksgiving, and it was in the 10's and 20's and snowing, but it was in the 70's down here and raining. Go figure.

I hated to hear about all those tornadoes on the news. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

[dimebag1980]

Yeah, I was surprised too- especially considering that the daytime highs those days were in the 60s. I was a little concerned when I saw the frost on those two mornings, but then I remembered that the frosts typically do not harm any of the new growth here, especially since it did not go below freezing. I went ahead and covered up my newly planted Washingtonia pamletto to be safe. Its hardy down to 12*, and it dropped to 34* here, but I did not want it to go into shock, after being in a warm greenhouse.

Yeah, that Chicago winter can be something else. My uncles in-laws live just north of there past the Wisconsin border and they said it was very cold there when they went last week, but I think they are now in a warming trend now too.

It was a complete turnaround for us this week. Last night it was in the 40s and will be in the 50s tonight, after a high of 84* here at my house today! 77* was forecasted. Still 66* at the airport at the midnight hour and 63* at my house.

Looks like we have even warmer (slightly) temperatures forecasted this weekend than the above forecast (at least for Saturday). They are forecasting 84* here on Friday, 86* on Saturday and 85* on Sunday.

Mith242- I bet that our weather in northeast Tennessee is very similar to that you have in northwestern Arkansas. I think we are about due east-west of one another and probably about the same elevation. Our elevation in NE Tennessee ranges from about 1150ft in the western metro area (about 1550ft here at my house) to over 4000ft to our east on the spine of the mountains on the Tennessee-North Carolina border.

Sorry - not Lousiana photos, but here are some today I took in the Kingsport area (northeast TN). As you can see, we are well on our way, but not as green yet as you folks down in LA. The lower photo was taken on Interstate 81 heading southbound toward Kingsport.

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Not Louisiana, but gorgeous nonetheless! Nice hilly terrain as well. Looks like it's starting to come around to the "green" side.

I'll be up in Hot Springs, AR in late May. I have to go up there at the same time every year, because when you look off the mountains everything is so green down below. It's also gorgeous in the fall as well, but I love it when it's just recently turned green.