Back to Winter

Well, those of us who kept our fingers crossed that this storm wouldn't sock us with a lot of snow should have saved our effort. We awoke this morning to masses of heavy, wet snow on everything and it has snowed very steadily until about noon, and then began tapering off. Now it is settled into flurries, the temperature has risen from about 30 degrees to almost 40, so there is a little melting going on. I took these pictures from my living room window to show you what greeted me as I lifted the shades this morning!

The snow is wet and very heavy. I measured a strong 9.8 in.  at about 8:30, and we have added at least a couple more inches since then. I won't measure again until tomorrow morning, and I believe the forecast is for more snow later today into tomorrow. Not how we had hoped to begin the "new season" ushered in by Daylight Saving Time.

Not only is there a ton of snow weighing down tree branches, the road is a mushy mess. Plows have been through, but with mud under the new snow and no freezing temperatures to firm up the road base, it is really pretty bad. There is very little traffic on the road. Nobody wants to put their car through that punishment unless absolutely necessary - unless they are clueless.

Jamie and Marie came early this morning to clear my driveway and help me shovel the deck. Jamie used the snow blower for some of it; he says that works better than trying to move massive amounts of such heavy snow with his truck plow. It is, after all, a small size pickup, not an industrial size plow truck like the town uses. Marie is a super-shoveler. She says she actually enjoys it! I certainly appreciate appreciate her enthusiasm.

We have had spring-like weather off and on all winter, and that simply amazes me. When I was growing up here years ago, our winters were better defined than they are today. We had lots of snow with deep cold periods when temperatures were well below zero for days, sometimes beginning before Thanksgiving, but always by Christmas; and sometimes there would be a "January thaw" when we'd tet a preview of spring, but then we were plunged back into winter for weeks, gradually warming but seldom crazy warm like recently. Around town meeting day farmers began to look forward to sugaring, but there was always the danger of a really big "March storm" that would add to the snow depth. With plenty of snow on the ground, tapping was done by men on snowshoes, and breaking roads in the woods for the horses to get around with the gathering tank had to be done. Sometimes the snow was so deep in the woods it took a lot of time and effort to be ready. During
sugaring season, we looked forward to seeing patches of bare ground developing in the surrounding fields. I remember sitting outside of our sugar house on the big stone step, feeling the heat of the sun and being excited to hear a crow in the distance. With luck, the pattern of nights below freezing and warm, sunny days would last for two or three weeks and sap runs would be good. If it got too warm, the trees would start to bud and then sugaring was over and it was time to wash buckets and stack them for another year. When there were only patches of snow left on the ground and then we'd get another snowstorm, most farmers would say that the new snow helped to melt the old snow faster.

During a big sap run, my dad sometimes had to stay all night at the sugar house  to keep the evaporator going because the holding tank was full. A few tmes I got to go by horseback to take his supper to him, and that was such an exciting time for me - riding one of our work horses a couple of miles to the sugar house in late afternoon and then coming home, usually after dark. The horse knew her way home and was always eager to get back to the barn, so the trip home in the dark was always exciting - I was literally just along for the ride, and usually we made it back in record time, mud and snow be damned. (Pictures of family and my dad during sugaring, 1935.)

We had a lot of bare ground before this storm. Now there is probably about as much new snow as there is ice on Joe's Pond, so will this new batch of snow melt the old snow (and ice) faster? Nobody knows for sure. The last report I had was several days ago and we had only 18 inches of ice. Since then, there has been open water stretching between the narrows into the middle pond and the smaller pond in West Danville. Most of the fishing shacks have been removed and I expect most of the fishermen have quit for the season. So when the flag will go down and stop the clock for this year's Ice-Out Contest is a question that we can only guess at. One thing is certain: tickets have been gobbled up this past week and a lot of people are realizing they'd better get their picks in sooner rather than later. Good luck with your guesses!

I leave you with some interesting articles from NASA Earthdata. I don't understand a lot of it, but some is very interesting. (Photo below is from Cousin Ora in Rhode Island.)