One Week Post-Blizzard

It doesn’t get any prettier, it just melts away.

One week after the biggest snowstorm on record, and there’s still a lot of snow out there (big surprise). The temperatures have been pretty warm, so the good news is it’s been melting off of the roads. Many of the two-lane roads were reduced to one and a quarter lanes earlier last week because of so much snow on the sides of the road. The huge snow piles are also shrinking out of the parking lots.

Today was 55° and sunny, and the remaining snow mountains at home were still fun to climb up, slide down, and dig through.

Bright and Snowy

The snow removal crew cut a path this morning. The news said our area got 27″ of snow. That felt about right!

Interesting how the wall of snow is taller on the right. You could also tell when walking–it was deeper in some spots. This is because of the high winds creating snow drifts. It depends on which way the wind blows, and around which obstacles. You could also tell with the cars in the parking lot. Some had more snow than others (mine was almost completely covered!)

The sun was bright and the wind was gone, so shoveling out the cars wasn’t too bad.

This huge pile was made by the plow. They push the snow up into the grass and out of the lot.

I have never seen so much snow deposited from one storm. This usually doesn’t happen here. We’ll usually get several storms, sometimes even one per week, with a few inches here and there. Sometimes the snow will pile this high if we have several big storms in a row, but very rarely getting this all in one shot.

To make it even more strange, this is the first major snow of the winter. We’ve gotten flurries twice this month. So to go from 0 to 27 inches in a day is a pretty dramatic change!

For more views of the snow, check out my post about my walk through the blizzard yesterday evening.

A Walk in the Blizzard

From inside you can see the snow blowing in the wind, but you can’t fully appreciate it until you step out into the blizzard.

With my camera tucked safely in a plastic bag, I took a walk in the afternoon. Or, I should say that I took a trudge through the snow. It came halfway up my shin with some steps, with others it was up past my knees. I wanted to walk to the corner, but the wind was blowing icy snowflakes in my face so I skipped it.

I have taken pictures of this gazebo in spring and in fall.

An icicle hanging off of the gazebo light

As evening came, the light started to look blue.

Snow on pine tree branches

Chilly electric meters

This tree looks like a giant bird about to snatch me up. Probably wasn’t the smartest move to stand under it….

A row of cars covered in snow

A row of trees in the snow

With the wind whipping the snow into drifts, it’s difficult to know how much we got. I think it’s safe to say about a foot.

Here’s the best part about going out in the snow: coming inside and warming up!

Hourly Snow Forecast

Eeeeeeee!!!

We’ve gone from no snowstorms yet this winter to a blizzard. Like an actual blizzard warning from Friday night to Sunday morning. Way to bring it!

I’m excited now, but I also feel that the power could go out at any second. Then the party’s over, and I will be furious with the snow.

But for now, it’s enchanting.

Time to get the kids mittened up and go play. I don’t think we’ll last long out there. It’s extremely windy, that must be what they mean by “blizzard.”