Snow is magic!!

Title says it all, as far as I am concerned, snow is magic!

I write this at the 2:00am hour in hopes of seeing the most intense part of the storm that is supposed to hit us.  Thus far, 2026 has been a bit of a disappointing winter for me, what with 50 degree days!  I WANT SNOW AND LOTS OF IT!!

This last week the forecasts promised lots of snow.  The weather channel put us in the 12”-18” band, but I don’t see it yet.  At school, our admin was wringing their hands about possible school closures while I was leading the chorus of students itching for a snow day!  Actually I am probably worse than the students, the absolute worst person at the whole school when it comes to chanting for snow enthusiasm.  As they left on Friday, I told them that their homework was to “GO PLAY IN SNOW!”

But now I sit here wondering if we will really get the snow at all.  There is a little, perhaps a couple of inches, but the weather channel promised at least a foot. Yesterday I got my tractor ready.  I attached the blade I use for snow, filled the tank, and plugged in the block heater to ease starting.  And then I got all my snow clothing and I got all dressed up but nowhere to go.  So far I am a bit disappointed, but apparently yesterday was the appetizer and today the main course!  So I sit here by the fireplace, looking out the window and waiting for the storm to overtake us!


Happy Snowstorm everyone!!!


Eric

WAIT WAIT WAIT….

We might actually be getting some respectable snow now!  Yay!!  It is 3:30am and it is finally snowing heavily,  I used my brightest flashlight (my daughter calls it the blinder because it is so bright!) and it shows heavy snow falling in the darkness.  I tried to take a picture, but two handed operation was limited so I attached one that was just a little less dramatic.


Eric

nice photos Eric!
We have somewhere around four inches, not the 12 we were 'promised'...I like snow although I'm not enjoying the low temps that are coming with it...nice and cozy indoors though!

I remember winters growing up in old drafty Illinois farm houses...I think my folks were heating with coal back then?  I'm not sure how they kept the pipes from freezing although one house did not have indoor plumbing.

I hope you get all the snow you wish for😊

*edited to say our last measurement (around noon) of snow with a layer of sleet and topped with more snow was a full seven inches!

Where I live I would have to say that ice is magic .. though it is no fun.

Tree limbs bent and threatening to break.

And a cat who spends her day going in and out every five minutes.

Thanks for sharing what it is like in your part of the world.

Anne, I have no love for ice.

Last winter we lost a beautiful shade tree to a bad ice storm.  Ice ruins roads much worse than snow and it just isn’t as much fun to have around.  One can learn to drive on snow and it becomes almost as easy as driving on asphalt, but ice is always ice.  My area is prone to ice storms more than snow and with the hills, an ice storm is especially dangerous.

Nope, I will always hope for snow over ice!


Eric

Judith,

Ahh, yes, those Central Illinois winters in the 70s.  I am just old enough to remember the winters of 77, 78, and 79.  Those were some epic blizzards!  The roads became canyons with walls of snow.  The roads had to be cleared with earth moving equipment.  At the high point of the blizzards, with no power at home, my parents would take my sister and I on a walk to the nearest highway—which was of course closed, and the roads became canyons on which we walked was an old hilly country road that was also closed.

We walked perhaps a quarter mile to reach that country road.  It is hard to estimate because we didn’t even try to follow the road to that country road (it was winding),  We just walked overland and through the snow till we found the country road.  From that point, we turned south and began our journey—about 1.25 miles to the highway through heavy snow, thoroughly snowed over and heavily drifted blacktop and very strong winds.  This was the very definition of blizzard conditions and today people are urged to stay inside, never venture out.  But my parents wanted to go on a little snow adventure,

I don’t remember how long it t, but the 1.5(ish) miles out seemed much longer than normal.  There was no traffic, no tracks from cars or people.  The only sign of life ahead was the occasional deer track or other critters that crossed the too.  Visibility was low and despite the wind, the road was guarded by trees and old bushes—mostly Osage—that grew up along the adjacent barbed wire fence.  And therefore we experienced long periods where the high winds turned to a gentle breeze.  At these points the snow got very deep and we really had to climb over it.  But once over, the air was quiet, ambient sounds muffled by the snow in the air and on the ground.  Indeed, speaking to each other took effort as we were so bundled up that words barely escaped our snow gear only to disappear into falling snow unless we yelled.

Although the road was one we traveled daily, it felt like unexplored territory with all the snowdrifts.  I felt like we were exploring unknown territory.  Reaching the highway at the apex of our trek was a bit of a letdown—there was no more virgin snow to cross, no explored territory to discover.

Despite the letdown, our trip back was just as much an effort and still something of a discovery as the road looked so different going north than south.  The further north we walked, the more our tracks were obscured by falling snow—it fell so fast and drifted so quickly that soon we were covering brand new territory again.  It was exciting!  I never got cold, in fact, quite the opposite.  All that work while bundled up meant that I got hot!  I started to unzip clothing and remove some pieces.  

I was getting tired but didn’t know it.  My child’s body only had so much energy in it and I was getting close to zero.  We eventually made our way home, the best part being that the last portion we left the road entirely and just walked over open fields.  This was a perfect child adventure.  

Once home all the snow gear fell onto the floor and anything that might be wet got hung up.  My mother got some nice, warm chilly for us to eat.  Soon after we sat by the big window in the living room and watched the storm continue to dump snow and the wind blow it into uniquely shaped drifts.  The house gently howled from the high winds outside.  Of course the power was out so the furnace didn’t work but we had a gas stove—the only source of heat.  We all dressed for cold anyway so a chilly house didn’t matter—it was part of the adventure.

My Minnesota native parents instinctively acquired excellent snow gear for my sister and I, and to this day, I still have this drive,  I find myself telling my students how to properly dress for snow as they just don’t know how to do it themselves.  Sometimes they try.  I recently had a student who left Carbondale for the U of I upon graduation.  A Champaign winter, solidly in the central Midwest, is a far cry from a Carbondale winter which borders the South.  I told her that the way to dress for cold, blowing snow was to dress in three layers.  The first layer sits close to the skin and keeps you dry,  the second layer adds bulk and keeps you warm.  The third layer blocks wind and water,  I told her that yoga pants probably do a decent job at the first layer (and it would be something she had).  The second and third layers she might have to acquire.  But what did she do—she wore yoga pants (good), but then jeans covered by sweatpants.  The wind blew right through!  I grew up prepared.  I hope I can get this to rub off on my students.

Ultimately, it was snow adventures like these that shaped my love for snow.  I may live in the border South but I will never stop being a Northerner at heart.

Let It Snow!!


Eric

Interesting weather. As you know, I sit maybe 50 miles  NE of you (straight line).  Saturday it was snowing at 6:30 AM and continued snowing all day.   It looks like it snowed all last night as well.  I am not sure if we got a foot, but I haven’t seen this much snow since the early 90s.

Checked with a ruler on the roof of my car.   There is more than a foot of snow.

Hi John,

By now (1:45pm, Sunday), I measured just overall 8.25 inches about an hour ago.  The snow has picked up again and I bet it is at least 8.5” by now.

I have seen some 11” and 12” in the last 20 years, but the last one was a while ago.  By now it is looking like decent snowfall.  And the temperature is between 11 and 14 degrees per our thermostat thermometer (I think it reads high).  As a result the snow is nice and dry.

I went out and cleared snow down our neighborhood road and cleared a couple driveways.  I might go out later and do a bit more.




Eric

Today the river was frozen in places. In one place a dam of ice had formed, and there was a waterfall. The river ice seems to me more interesting: all the different sorts of crystals, gigantic ice slabs, etc. that are forming. There is also "anchor ice" which I didn't know could happen, but is apparently very bad for the aquatic insect life. There were stones suspended within it. It was so strange, but I'm sure these sort of things happened all the time back in the day!

It is snowing here, but not a lot.

No snow here, but we are getting freezing weather which required the hassle of shutting down our whole outside water system. Luckily I had prepared for the inevitable by moving some birds to a place I could care for them more easily, and we made sure we filled buckets with water in key places so we wouldn't have to spend time doing more messing than necessary for several days. I may have to move water from the house to the lower field for a day, but hoping there will be just enough water to avoid that chore.

So as much as I agree that snow is magic and beautiful and cheery if the sun comes out, I am glad it's not on our menu.

I do agree with up-thread: Ice is *far* more dangerous than snow. Those who read this who are in freezing rain territory, or who will go through the risk of it forming during the snow melting cycle, *please* *be* *careful*. Broken bones or worse are no fun and are much more common from ice than snow.

We have over 3 feet of snow in some areas. The temp has been very cold. Usually -15 to 0 fahrenheit at night and 0-10 in day. It’s quite unusually cold. Although I don’t really mind it, I have been having to cut a lot of extra firewood to keep up with the cold.

We are easily over a foot here.

Nice, light and powdery snow in this area. It isn't the worst to shovel but it is rather cold outside on any exposed skin. As soon as I get some space shoveled, there is a new film of snow formed. I've taken a couple of whacks at it but won't stress about it any further until morning.

This is one of those events where taking a personal day from work feels warranted if you are looking to take a day. I appreciate all the essential personnel out there that are making to do their jobs. There might be a bit less stress to rush around if instead of a worky job I could be homesteading full time. That of course is assuming nothing goes sideways during the storm.

My family in NJ/PA has a foot or so. My mother in PA is saying that there is ice on top, either falling right now or having recently fallen this morning. That, combined with the fact that it's apparently supposed to be colder today, means it's going to be very dangerous outside. I'm glad she plans to stay home- in her area a lot of things closed just in case.

(and I sure don't miss this. My husband and I were talking about how he used to dread snow, as the able-bodied young man of the house we used to live in in New England. I had no idea. The shoveling wasn't the problem-- moving all the cars off the street for the plow was much more of a headache. Ideally, you would have your car a few blocks away in the municipal lot when the snow started. Easy enough if it's just your own car, but in practice the older residents never got around to it and we ended up having to do it last minute for them, in the snow, with little kids in tow)

15”.   After the ruler went under, I notched a stick to mark the depth.  I measured the stick today.

Its funny weather world wide.
Its 41C at my place Bendigo, Victoria, and 48C about 300 km NW of me at the moment.

No snow for us yet this year, we don't get that much, some years we get flurries and that's it, some years we get a couple of days of it.  Occasionally we get a big storm and have 8 in. on the ground for a week.  I like snow for a couple of days and then I'm done.

We didn’t get the dreaded half inch of freezing rain to knock out our power but we did get 2 inches of snow covered by two inches of sleet.

They were originally calling for 12-18 inches of snow for us here in central NC

This weekend they are calling for more snow and only snow.

Free to a good home, have too much. Come and take.

We're north of the precipitation system that whacked half the country. But it was -30 on Sunday when our furnace stopped working, so that was fun! And our daughter is at my dad's place in St. Louis helping him and his fiancé recover after an accident, so she got to do some serious snow-shoveling there. (We've had a serious snowblower for most of her memory, so shoveling is just for tidying up around the edges and doing the deck-stairs and stuff.)

But it snowed in November and that snow is still our base-layer on which our periodic snows keep piling up, so we do get the magic of snow.

I have been busy playing in the snow—which means cleaning roads and driveways.

Naturally the first driveway I clear is my own.  Recently I installed a block heater on my tractor and I have it plugged in so starting was simple despite temperatures that never got higher than 10 degrees.  Whenever I clear my driveway (400’), I use a 3 pt grader/scrape blade with an offset.  This allows me the ability to really wing the snow off the side of the road.  It’s a great snow removal tool, but it works best on a long run because wherever you stop, there is a pile of snow gathered by the blade but waiting to be flung out.  This means that once I start, I go as long as I can,

The road on my neighborhood is a .6 mile long dead end.  I sit near the end near the intersection, but since the blade works so well on long distances, I just clear the whole road, going both down and up.  I also clear a couple of driveways on the downside, including my retired mechanic neighbor who has quite a large asphalt driveway, but that makes it easy.   And we do these things for each other anyway.

I also clear a little bit of the intersecting road, including two neighbors who sit side by side.  One neighbor is a married pair of pastors with five children—two biological and three adopted.  It just seems neighborly to help them out since I am doing this anyway.

All-in-all we had 9 inches and the temperature has remained below freezing all week.  It actually looks like a winter outside!!  And we got a snow day!!  Or two.  Or three.  Nah,  we got a whole snow week!!  Growing up, 9 inches would absolutely never get us out for more than two days.  But the area is just not well equipped or experienced at clearing snow so these events are something of a minor natural disaster.  Ah well, I never turn down a snow day!!


Eric

hi Bob, check out the snow we got here in toronto the other day...
its not all that uncommon ... still nothing compared to when mel lastman called in the military to help
my nephew loves the snow and we always make a toboggan track in the backyard and ice it up like a luge track
the pic of the toboggan run is from before the big snowfall we got... still need to get out there and clear it off and build up the banking in the turns
we also make a huge pile out front and tunnel into it (far from the road)

dont have pics at the moment but i snowshoe in to an island further north and shovel of a roof each year... sometimes more than once
the snow up there is amazing... makes up for how exhausting the trek is!
lots of lake effect snow up there

Eric Hanson wrote: Nah,  we got a whole snow week!!  Growing up, 9 inches would absolutely never get us out for more than two days.  But the area is just not well equipped or experienced at clearing snow so these events are something of a minor natural disaster.  

My area is getting better at coping with snow, but mostly they took existing equipment the Municipalities owned, and bought bolt on snow clearing tools, rather than what I was used to in Ontario, where they took snow seriously.

It will mean a lot of catchup work for the students, but better that than loosing some of them to ice/snow induced car or bus accidents.

Not only is it good that you pitched in and helped neighbors, I hope your community as a whole made sure essential staff like nurses, were able to get to and from work, and the sick were able to get to the hospital. Snow isn't magic if it stops you from getting essential medicine! During the worst snow storm this area had in several hundred years, people with snowmobiles were delivering pharmacy orders. Normally, snowmobiles are banned on local roads - but we're smart enough to know an exception when we see one!

Jay,

The area does have plow trucks, but perhaps not enough, and while the major roads get cleared early, some of the winding back-roads get poorly cleared if at all.

As far as my neighbors go, since I am out and doing this, I may as well help out my neighbors.  Like I stated earlier, the blade I use works best on a long run.  So as far as I am concerned, helping my neighbors is just an easy extension of clearing my own driveway.

And to touch on something else you said, at times I have thought that maybe a better way to clear these back roads is to contract out sections of roads out to people who already own trucks w/plows or tractors with snow removal equipment.  Perhaps they would be paid and expected to keep clean a section of road near their homes.  But in the meantime, I basically have to do this anyway to get my wife to the main road.  I have sometimes wondered if I was out clearing snow and for some reason aw enforcement were to show up.  I have not been certified in any way and I would hope that I would not be fined for helping people out of the snow.  But I have heard of people running exactly into this problem.



Eric

Hi M. Phelps, I seen you guys had a good dump. I read Barrie has been in a system for quite some time and have accumulated of 6.5 feet so far. I lived in Emsdale for several years while I was working on a project in the area. We got hit pretty hard there too, that would be more than 30 years ago now.

Up here in my promised land I would conservatively estimate 3 feet accumulation for the winter so far, in a bit of a snow belt here too.  I thought I would cut into some of the area I want to garden with my snowblower to get a head start, but it is several inches deeper than my big ariens front end and might be a little too much for it. I suppose if I want to make tunnels too with it, it would be all good.. LoL

I know I get a bit excited to see snow—I feel like a kid again.  This last week has been unusual for the area in that not only did we get a respectable amount of snow, but it has stayed a week, with temperatures never getting above freezing and typically not getting much higher than about 15 degrees.  Consequently, the snow layer has stayed around and the area has done a halfway decent job of looking like the northern country that I miss.  I decided to add some pictures.


Eric

Are the electric cars having issues because of the extreme cold?

Best winter since 2013.

hi Bob,
the place i snowshoe in to is not far from where you lived!
here are some pics from last year the 2nd time i went in there to shovel off roofs

John Ludwig wrote:We didn’t get the dreaded half inch of freezing rain to knock out our power but we did get 2 inches of snow covered by two inches of sleet.

They were originally calling for 12-18 inches of snow for us here in central NC

This weekend they are calling for more snow and only snow.

Hopefully not too late for a condescending northerner to send help your way...