Southern Blizzard

Snowmageddon. Epic Snow. Southern Blizzard. I am sick of snow! We normally have a few flurries here and there and maybe a couple-inch snow once or twice over an entire winter here in our area. Only three weeks into the winter season, we have already had snow 3 or four times! We had a white Christmas here for the first time in more than thirty years, and right now we have almost a foot of snow! It started snowing a little past midnight last night, and this morning, we measured 11 and a half inches on the ground, with much deeper drifts. We’ve had flurries off and on all day, so it’s probably a foot by now. No power outages so far for our area, but the trees are bending under the weight and we are still under a winter storm warning until tomorrow morning. And, oh joy, freezing rain and sleet is expected as well…
Here are a few snapshots I took from the windows and porch — the snow is too deep to venture out into.

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A chickadee on a snow-covered suet feeder earlier today.

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Looking across to the woods from front yard.

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Snow-covered outdoor furniture.

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Gazebo covered in snow, note all the birds in the surrounding trees.

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Snowy woods.

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Snowy hemlock, buried front steps, slope behind house.

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Only 68 days till Spring!

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The Big Snow

It started snowing around 4 pm here today. Since it has been warm and rainy here for a few days, a lot of the snow is melting as soon as it hits the ground. (Click on any of the photos to view larger versions.)

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Snow on redtip shrub

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At times throughout the rest of the evening, we had heavy wet snow sticking to the trees and the local weather station was already reporting power outages in surrounding areas.

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Heavy snow falling

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By dark tonight, as the temperature dropped, it looked like we were going to have a blizzard. I took these photos (below) around 7:30 pm, the snow was still falling then and we had a little more than 3 inches already on the ground. The snow looked bluish-purple in the outdoor lights.

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Snowy woods under an outdoor light

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Snow-covered woods and gazebo tonight

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Nearing midnight now, we have about 4 inches on the ground. The temperature has actually risen a little though and the snow has turned to mostly sleet and rain here. We still have power (although it has been flickering all night), so hopefully the worst is over for our area.

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The big snowstorm that wasn’t

(Click any photo to enlarge)

It looked promising when I took Samantha out last night well past midnight… the wind was howling high up in the mountains, and big snowflakes were softly falling to the ground and clinging to the trees. She’s a twelve year old Lab-Chow mix, and she was excited. It rarely snows here, and she seemed rejuvenated by it, running and frolicking in the driveway and in the secret garden, pushing her nose through the snow. I watched for a short while and took a few shots of the falling snow in the dark, then brought her back in and went to bed…

 

…fully expecting to wake up this morning to a rare, major snowfall here. Only it didn’t happen. Our local news had hyped this up like it was going to be huge, predicting a foot of snow for our area, and total blizzard conditions… spurring crowds of people to run to the grocery stores, the DOT to begin salting the roads early yesterday, and everyone talking about this big storm.. The major snowfall turned out to be around an inch, and it was already mostly gone in sunny spots by the time I got up this morning. Snow remains in the woods in shady areas, but it was barely enough to fully cover the ground. Maybe someone else got a huge snow? It sure wasn’t us.

 

A major winter snowstorm?

 

Today, the sky is blue and the sun is shining, and although it is very cold, the snow is fast disappearing in the spots warmed by the direct sunlight. Now, I don’t enjoy bitter cold, windchills in the teens, howling winds, ice and blizzard conditions.. but I must admit, I was a little disappointed to get up today and see not exactly a winter wonderland. Oh well.. maybe next time. :)

 

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