38 degrees and the girls are foraging

[pdmattox]

I guess I never really observed what temps the girls fly at but was suprised that they would fly at that cold of temps.

[Cindi]

Dallas, now isn't that rather amazing.  We had some sun the other day and a few of my bees were out too, I don't think it was that cold though, unreal, eh?  Have a wonderful and best of this day.  Cindi

[JP]

Dallas, you sure its 38F no offense but I checked your local weather and it says its 47 currently. 38 just seems too cold for them to be flying.

No offense intended, JP

[Burl]

Its -35 C or F here right now .  Nothing is flying .  Brrrrr .  Time to put another log on the fire .                     ---Burl---

[pdmattox]

Jp I got a indoor/outdoor wireless weather station and checked it against a temp probe on a fluke meter which is nist caliabrated once a year  and both temps are within 2 tents of a degree of each other. Weather bug is reporting 42 right now for zip 32025. no offense take as i double checked before I posted.

[tillie]

Maybe the girls think they're in Florida so the weather must be about to be warm!!!  By the time they've flown out and back the temp will be up 15 degrees!

Linda T in Hotlanta

[annette]

Could you calibrate it to Placerville. No one ever seems to agree on what the temps truly are.

You look on the internet for Placerville and it says 48. I go up to the knoll where the bees are and it is almost 60

[BeeHopper]

If you look a little closer, the fuzzy little hairs on their bodies serve as sweaters  ;)

[dpence]

Our girls were out flying yesterday, I don't know the exact temp but was around 50 here in northeastern Missouri.  I was tickled to see them active, hope our spring here isn't like last year...sheeeez. 

[Brian D. Bray]

Our girls were out flying yesterday, I don't know the exact temp but was around 50 here in northeastern Missouri.  I was tickled to see them active, hope our spring here isn't like last year...sheeeez. 

I've noticed for years that the 50 F temp for bee flight is relative.  I've had mine, as recently as a week ago, fly at temps near 40 F when the weather is clear.  The worse the weather the highter the temp before the bees fly.  So hearing that bees fly as low as 38 F is not surprizing to me, I would bet, though, that the weather conditions were clear or only slightly cloudy at the time.

[pdmattox]

Brian you hit the nail on the head. it was very clear and warming fast. these hives get very early sun as well.

[buzzbee]

Dallas,
Keep up with those temps and you''ll be wanting to migrate North with those bees. 
I have seen them take short flights in temps near that ,but as you  said,bright sun calm wind!
Glad to see you venture out in the "Cold" :-D :-D

[Michael Bush]

It's not all about temperature.  On a sunny day I've seen them fly when it's pretty cold.  The sun is keeping them warm and they aren't going far.  But on a cloudy day, it has to be warmer.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesscientificstudies.htm#temperature

I suppose it should be intuitive since we experience similar things.  On a 40 degree F day with the sun shining and no wind and low humidity it can feel much warmer than a humid, cloudy, windy day in the 60s F.

[NWIN Beekeeper]

[  38 degrees and the girls are foraging  ]

If it was 38 here, my bees would break out the lawn chairs and be drinking Mohitos.

God I hate being the towel boy.

-Jeff


PS - it was '2' degrees here this morning and we had a night with 45+ MPH winds.

[KONASDAD]

a few were out today after an extended stay indoors. Just a few, w/ gust of wind above 25 too. The went straight to heather which is blooming. About one or two per minute at landing board.

[Jerrymac]

Complain complain complain.

We've been having sustained winds up to 40mph and gust up to 66mph the last few days.

[Understudy]

I go to Dallas, TX and it's 30F/1C. I don't want to go outside in that weather.

I am back home it was almost 80F/26C and I am happy to be outside and so are my bees.

Still need a bit more rain though.

Sincerely,
Brendhan