Snön har äntligen smält bort och dagstemperaturerna kryper numera för det mesta över 10-gradersstrecket. På de här breddgraderna betyder det vår. Våren i Norrbotten är tyvärr en kort och rätt färglös period mellan snösäsongen och sommaren. Inga skogar och fält fulla av vårblommor här inte…
The snow is finally gone and most days the daytime temperatures now reach above 10 °C. At these latitudes that means spring. Spring in the Norrbotten region is unfortunately a short and rather colourless period between the snow season and the summer season. No fields and forests full of spring flowers here…
Nu spricker knopparna och årets nya löv börjar titta fram.
Bud burst. This year’s new leaves are starting to appear.
Här uppe har björkarna inte släppt ut sitt björkpollen ännu. Inget jag som björkpollenallergiker ser fram emot.
This far north the birches have yet to release their pollen. Something that I don’t look forward to. Birch pollen allergy is one of the most common types of allergy here, and unfortunately one that I suffer from. 
Barksprickor formade som ruter på spelkort är typiskt för vårtbjörkar (Betula pendula) men ska inte förekomma på glasbjörkar (Betula pubescens).
Cracks in the bark that look like playing card diamonds are typical of Silver Birches (Betula pendula) but should not occur on Downy Birches (Betula pubescens).
Vet inte riktigt vad som har orsakat det raka strecket av färskt, grönt gräs mitt i allt det gamla, bruna fjolårsgräset.
Not sure why there is a single straight line of fresh, green grass in the middle of the remains of last year’s dry, brown grass.
Snön har som sagt smält bort. Eller ja, nästan all snö i alla fall.
As I said, all the snow is now gone. Well, most of it anyway.
Fotona ovan är tagna 2016-05-06 i Älvsbyn.
Kolla även in andra trädföljare på The Squirrelbasket (internationellt).
Looks like you’re ahead of us. No buds bursting on my birch though they’re a bit green, and we still have snow off and on. Maybe altitude beats latitude.
Maybe so. The small town of Älvsbyn is less than 100 meters above sea level and the local mountains are at most a few hundred meters high. In fact, the highest mountain in Sweden (Kebnekaise) only reach about 2100 meters above sea level.
Also, when you compare the climate at same latitude in North America and in Europe, Europe is much warmer. At least Western Europe which is close to the Atlantic and the warm Gulf Stream.
The weather around here is very unpredictable at this time of year and we can get single snowy days as late as in early June. But by now any snow that falls melts within a day.
Hooray! Leaves at last!
The bark looks a bit like silver poplar, except I think yours are cracks while the poplar’s are ”lenticels”.
That green line of grass looks like a path!
I’m glad it’s a bit warmer there now 🙂
Yeah, me too.