And it did finally snow

[altivo]

06 Feb 2008 Snow 1
Originally uploaded by Altivo

Still coming down in fact. Maybe eight inches so far, so the estimate of a foot may not have been so far off after all. The weather service was very insistent that there would be an extremely heavy snowfall in the area, but nothing materialized overnight as they'd predicted. This morning they were still saying it would come starting at mid-morning. People could easily have ignored them, and probably many did. The schools, however, took it seriously and all of them around here are closed. The library is closed as well, so I'm off on a Wednesday. (Yay!) I'd hate to be driving in this.

Browse additional photos starting here.

Comments

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

Wow, can you send some of that my way? I miss snow though I would bet that folks in the north that get it all the time hate it. :P

Anyway, glad to hear you didn't have to go to the library in it. Heh, I was going to say you didn't have to go to work today but when on a farm there is always work isn't there.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, at noon when I'd normally go in on Weds. there was probably three inches on the road out front. That's a county road, and they are supposed to be kept clear. With this now predicted to continue until sunset, I can just imagine what getting home would be like, especially after dark.

Always work indeed. Snow makes work. We have to create open paths between house and barns so we can get to the animals to care for them, and the driveway has to be cleared enough so we can get in and out if necessary. Gary plowed out paths with the snowblower (because I hate snarly engine things) while I cleaned stalls, shoveled areas near the house where he can't go with the machine, and then made lunch. At the rate it's falling, we'll have to repeat that again this afternoon so it doesn't get too deep to handle.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Yes, sign me up for some, too... arctic wolves need their snow! :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Alas, I can't afford the shipping and neither, I think, can you. There is an abundance here now, though. About a foot on the ground in most places, and of course piled four or five feet high where it has been shoveled or plowed.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

That sounds lovely...

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

lovely photographs - thanks for sharing

keep warm, both!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked them, though I know you see enough of this stuff where you are. No problem with keeping warm right now. The outside temperature is just barely below freezing, and of course doing chores in this stuff can make you sweat.

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

it's just that YOU take good foties

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Actually I'm not that good with a camera. I just know how to use my photo editing software to advantage. Crop, scale, gamma adjust, sharpen...

[keeganfox.livejournal.com]

Pretty snow, and nice pictures. But I am glad I don't have to shovel it, or walk in it, or drive in it, or de-berm my driveway after the plow piles up a 4 foot high ice berm because the driver is too lazy to work the blade control. Nope. Don't miss it at all.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I don't really mind any of that. It only happens two or maybe three times a year here as a rule. This year has been a bit exceptional, or else the last seven have been unusually dry and mild.

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

I think the predictions were weird. They were so focused on what was happening yesterday (which was noteworthy, especially the storms to the south), that they barely covered today at all until late. So the snow we're getting here today is a bit of a surprise. Either that, or it's the snow we should've gotten overnight, just delayed.

Also: Oooh, pretty snow photos. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It's the snow you should have gotten overnight according to yesterday's forecast. Here too. There was a bulletin full of technical mumbo-jumbo about "deformed bars" and "inversions" on the NOAA web site early this morning that said they still thought the snow would hit. Here it has hit in about the degree and at the rate they predicted for last night, just came eight hours later. In the past that's been a commonplace issue with Chicago area forecasts.

It's still coming down outside, I was just out shoveling again in areas we've already cleared once, and at least three more inches had fallen in the last three hours. So that fits their "one to two inches per hour" rate estimate pretty well.

Now the wind is picking up even though the snowfall rate is slowing. The wind is dislodging huge amounts of snow from the treetops. We have hundreds of trees in the 50 to 60 foot tall size range, so that's a lot more snow to once again cover the areas we've cleared. I don't think we've had snow like this in many years, perhaps not since 1999 or so.

Snow.

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Whinny, Rider.

Very pretty photos. Now we are getting it here this afternoon. Vicksburg is very difficult driving and Bear is coming home via 94 and I heard it is blocked due to semi jacknife accidents so dunno when. I have the cell phone right beside me.

Of course I lived in Alaska for over 36 years so know too much about snow. Yes it is beautiful at times. Amazingly and breath-takingly so. But it is heavy and wet and cold and backbreakingly hard to remove from paths and driveways and streets and highways. I always grin at the horses' snow moustaches and amazed the loads they often carry on their backs (good coats their body heat does not melt it sometimes). They endure and, I suppose, so do we human... er... well I am going to pretend I did not say that.

*whinnyshake snow off wings and body*

You take care and let Gary run the snow blower all he wants. Clear areas result and that is good.

Keep warm and please consider finishing your wolf and fox story. *wink*

Your friend and that means warm weather for flying....
Imperator

Re: Snow.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

From last night's radar images it looked as if you were getting plastered then. Was it rain instead? I think that's what happened to a good chunk of the snow here; we had drizzle instead.

Yeah, you'll notice I don't moan and groan about how horrible it is. After all, I know you're going to read it and make fun of me. But actually, I don't think it is horrible at all. I never have. I don't get why people are always so bent out of shape about a little snow. So you put off some things and it melts after a while. Big deal. Go read a book. ;p

Hooves crossed for Bear to get home safely. During the brief blast we had yesterday afternoon that was just a sampler, I was coming south on IL23 and noticed flashing lights ahead. Already going just 25 mph so I kept on. Sure enough, there was a big SUV turned completely upside down in the ditch beside the road. Looked like the driver had gotten out OK, and there was a pickup truck that had stopped and had his flashers on. Amazing what airbags and seat belts can do, but I hope that driver learned something. Four wheel drive may let you get going up to speed on slippery stuff, but it doesn't improve your control when you are going too fast. Dumb. A little farther along the road I was passed by a sheriff's car coming from the other way, headed to the site of the accident I'm sure.

Let's save the flying for better weather. Come sit by the fire and have cocoa with me instead?

Heh. No rest for the wicked. Just got my feet dry and now time to go put horses to bed.

Hugs,
Rider

[heavens-steed.livejournal.com]

Very pretty. I wish we had some decent snow this year.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You aren't all that far from mountains with snow, are you? I didn't think the coast area got much snow, just lots of rain.

[heavens-steed.livejournal.com]

No, I'm not far from the Cascades, but where I live I am at 500 feet elevation which makes snow possible but unlikely. Around here, 500 feet is about as low as the snow level gets. Usually during the winter the snow level goes down to around 1000 feet but rarely does it go below that. Unfortunately I am more likely to get freezing rain and ice than snow. And you're right, the coastal area hardly ever gets snow.

It snows in the Cascades all the time but I like it when it snows down here because that makes it more special :)

[tinbender.livejournal.com]

Eventually the meteorologists were bound to be right

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes. In fact they are always right... except when they're wrong.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

You get what every kid wants. A snow day! But you get it better, your an Aydult! You know what to do with that day! Slept prolly. ^_^;

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Actually, no. Started by putting a "weather closing " notice on the library web site, then feeding the horses, sheep and ducks, then breakfast for us, then clearing snow and cleaning barns, then a lunch break, then clearing more snow because another 3 or 4 inches fell while we were breaking for lunch, then bringing in firewood, making supper, and finally collapsing. Not much of a day off, huh?

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Preeeetty *goes out to have a look and dips a paw in the snow then zooms back inside and goes to the window to look out* Preeetty.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*laughs at the snow stuck to your whiskers*

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Ack frozen whiskers!