The blizzard of 2015

This morning I woke up to calm conditions and nearly clear skies, with a thin layer of high altitude cloud and bright sun shining through it............. after a 24 hour blizzard. Horizontal snow from the north east, leaving drifts many of which are 4' deep in wild patterns through my front yard, and completely burying my 2010 Subaru Outback. Temp is a comfortable 5 deg F (with the sun). The weather was so bad yesterday, I never left the house except to go out to the shed to crush grain to brew with. What better way to spend a 24 hour blizzard at near zero temps and winds gusting up to about 40, than brewing??
Fortunately the temps being close to zero, the snow was fairly low density even though it was drifted. A little while ago, I set out to bust out while the snow was still fresh, the best time to do it. Backing out, I managed to bust through several deep drifts before getting bogged in deep snow and having try to return to my original position. "Vehicle Dynamics" was messing me up before I thought to switch it off (on by default). With my foot in it, I managed to spin my way back up to the house and was ready to make the final dash for the road without vehicle dynamics messing with my throttle to prevent spinning, when my friend and neighbor showed up with the real deal. His John Deere 8440 with a Dengleman dozer. Here's a photo of an identical tractor & dozer.

http://4873243b380905b4e738-e1a31d54592383ac84b0789311581a78.r64.cf2.rackcdn.com/large_9094350.jpg

It pays to have friends!! He had me liberated with a single pass of course, and cleared the entire town in a few minutes. My own 3 yard Allis Chalmers TL 645 loader like this one: http://www.lucasplantsales.co.uk/uploads/lrg/14-8097396.jpg would have done the job had I plugged it in, but a bucket really doesn't handle snow plowing well. I regret not having taken photos before the mess was disturbed, but oh well!! I've seen a lot worse. A number of years ago we had just over 3' on the level with no drifting, and back in '78/'79 it snowed and blew and snowed and blew for months, and we were driving on hard packed drifts over fences, etc. In the sub zero temps the drifts would pack down like concrete.

I find it hard to get excited about winter anymore.......... H.W.

 

pics of snow?

 

we're still waiting on winter here in Ontario. It'll come, it always does

 

Where?

 

It's still brown here. Had a few inches of slushy snow a couple weeks ago, but the 40-plus temps since then made it all disappear.

Actually, I don't mind this. A few months less winter is fine with me.

 

South Central Montana, north of Yellowstone Park about 80 miles.

 

I really don't mind it either, I just want it to get cold out so I can do some ice drinking... errr... fishing.

 

Had mid 50's up until about yesterday. Got cooler overnight. Besides a few inches a few weeks ago, it's been pretty mild here. Not sure we're going to see a White Christmas.

 

Been in the 70's since the weekend. 72F and blue sky today!

 

Inb4 passedpawn shows us another pic of his pool...

 

We had two days of pretty steady and heavy rain. Fortunately, temps were at all-time highs. If it had been snow, we'd have a couple feet.

 

No socks today. Still short sleeves weather.

 

This system hit Western Oregon and Washington this weekend, it's probably hitting Minnesota and Wisconsin today..... or maybe Saskatchewan ?? It dumped most of it's moisture between the coast and here I suspect.


H.W.

 

still fall here in Pennsylvania.. My daughter is disappointed that we won't have a white christmas.. i remember looking back on my facebook recently and by this time last year we already had a bunch of snow.. at least i waited an extra month to put my snow tires on!

 

It's gotten cooler here, but after 2 days of "cold enough for snow" starting today, it's going to get warm again. Extended forecast looks like a green Christmas. (well, kind of a yellowish brown, really...)

On the plus side, I won't have to shovel for the visitors.

 

i hate you, lol. Its been in the teens for a week here. Snow yesterday, and snow in forcast for next 3 days

 

Which is why you should park your Subaru out back.

 

That's just not right, man.

 

Out Back would be in the irrigation ditch........ Perhaps I need a Subaru Out Front instead ;-)

H.W.

 

The wind has been relentless here, and the temp between zero and the low teens. Woke up about 3:15 this AM thirsty, so I had a beer. When I turned the water faucet on, I got nothing. Checked the pump house and the stock tank, and narrowed the problem down to where the water comes out of the ground under the house. I diddled about for about half an hour getting the pipe thawed out..(took about 2 hours to get the job done, during which time I had another beer, and read the morning news on my Ipad. temp was right at zero, and blowing about a 30 mile per hour breeze straight out of the north, which occasionally results in freezing. After nearly 40 years in this climate, I'm pretty used to dealing with freeze ups, but it's still annoying. 2 pints of 7.5% beer left me feeling pretty good ;-)......... who needs water...... except to brew with!! 3:15 AM is probably the earliest beer I can recall ever having.......the sun wasn't even beginning to lighten the horizon, much less being over the yard arm.

H.W.

 

Minneapolis here. Almost green still, actually.

 

The bullets of winter have been firing in our direction here in the northeast, but so far, we've managed to dodge them. This month, Buffalo recorded both historic highs and lack of measurable snow. Some erroneously suggest that the 7' of snow that got dumped on us @ 'Snow-vember' last year along with the relentless, blowing, bitter, sub-zero temps and continuous FEET of snow through February would somehow give us a pass on this year. But, most WNY'ers are smarter than that. It's taking its time, but it's coming. Not in time for a white Christmas, but maybe a white Fruitcake Toss Day, Jan. 3rd (yeah, it's for real in case you have one to get rid of).

@Owly55, nothing worse than frozen pipes --- second only to frozen fingers.