Does this help explain?

In Minnesota, weather consists of extremes. We are in the middle of a large continent and do not have an ocean to moderate our weather. The general weather pattern is from the west to the east. We do get weather from the north and northwest. Guess what that is like; yes, generally cold. In January we frequently call it a Siberian Express or Polar Express. We can get hot, humid weather from the south in the summer; it seems to follow the Mississippi River north.

During the night Friday, we had rain and the temperature dropped turning the rain to snow. The snow is gone now. During the coming week we may get more snow but it will probably not last long. Not only will the sun come out to melt it but the ground is not yet frozen so it will contribute to the melting. The lakes and streams are still not frozen; we need colder temperatures for a more extended period of time to freeze the ground and water. We are hoping for more rain as it will be infinitely better for the ground to freeze with moisture in it. If the topsoil is dry, the soil will be dusty and may blow away. It is also good for spring planting if the soil froze with moisture in it.

The tomato and pepper plants are frozen now. Actually, so is everything else. Over night, a few trees dropped all of their leaves in a circle under the tree. Right now, we are pulling all of the annual plants out of the gardens and cutting back all of the annual ones. Some of our plantings must be covered for the winter so we will rake the leaves off the lawn to do that. A rather large branch in one of the apple trees died during the summer. We have marked it and will cut it off during the winter.