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How are you all doing from under a blanket of snow?

 
pollinator
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Location: Oz; Centre South
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Not meaningless drivel, but where else to post the question.
Woke this a.m. to news of widespread snow across the USA in places where it isn't normally found - so how are you all coping?  According to the weather map there is snow all the way south to the Texas border level, with a few clear patches spotted through the central areas.
 
gardener
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Our 3-6 inches of snow are coming to southern Tennessee on Friday. My daughter can't wait! Panic will hit the local grocery stores tomorrow morning...
 
pollinator
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Location: MD, USA. zone 7
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Good here. There was about 12 inches on the ground before sunrise, but by lunch it shrunk to 5 inches of surprisingly easy to shovel snow.
 
steward and tree herder
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Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year
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We don't get much snow here either, but this week has been our week for winter - just an inch or so of snow and frosty - so pretty with mostly clear blue skies. It wouldn't have been so bad if more snow and then freezing rain hadn't fallen on top of the snow. I rang my husband before walking home on that, just in case I ended up with a sprained ankle half way. Actually it wasn't too bad as the rain turned to solid ice again - the half melted stuff is the worst!

Back to wet and windy on Sunday
 
Posts: 9268
Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain
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We are up to 9" total...it's a lovely, quiet and peaceful day.
In the past we've had livestock to tend no matter what the weather and although I miss those sweet goats, rabbits and chickens, we're happy to be able to stay indoors and relax during the worst of the winter weather these days.
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gardener
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It all went south of us. We only got a dusting. The middle of the country stole our snow :)
 
Rachel Lindsay
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Our snow came and it's beautiful! After lunch my daughter will be out sledding with her dad. I hope it lasts all weekend!
 
master gardener
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Location: Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods
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Meanwhile, in northern Minnesota we haven't had a snow worthy of the name yet this year.
 
Rusticator
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Right now, considering growing health concerns with my hubby, I'm seriously wishing I had fewer livestock. Trudging up the steep hills with buckets of water, for this many animals, to the barn, paddocks, & the muscovy run is truly NOT my idea of a good time. If we were 30yrs younger, no problem - but, we aren't, and I'm now trying to decide which 4leggers I will sell off, as soon as I get them chipped (to be compliant, for legal livestock sales). I love them. They're more pets to us, than 'livestock'. But, something has to give, and I'd prefer it wasn't me.
 
gardener
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5" of snow on top of ice early this week. Kids had a whole week of AMI and they are building snow igloo outside.  I make sure birds big and small are fed.
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Bird feeder busy
Bird feeder busy
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Everybody is having fun in snow
Everybody is having fun in snow
 
K Kaba
pollinator
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Carla Burke wrote:Right now, considering growing health concerns with my hubby, I'm seriously wishing I had fewer livestock. Trudging up the steep hills with buckets of water, for this many animals, to the barn, paddocks, & the muscovy run is truly NOT my idea of a good time. If we were 30yrs younger, no problem - but, we aren't, and I'm now trying to decide which 4leggers I will sell off, as soon as I get them chipped, to be compliant, for legal livestock sales. I love them. They're more pets to us, than 'livestock'. But, something has to give, and I'd prefer it wasn't me.



The simplest path to that might be fewer critters. But it might also be worth musing about the current systems? Water storage locations, passive water heating, critter "winter home" options,  maybe something wheeled to make a hill easier, or an afternoon of someone's time to change that hill. I dunno? But like you said, there's love there. And it's easy to get caught in answers that worked a decade ago that don't work now.
 
Carla Burke
Rusticator
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K Kaba wrote:The simplest path to that might be fewer critters. But it might also be worth musing about the current systems? Water storage locations, passive water heating, critter "winter home" options,  maybe something wheeled to make a hill easier, or an afternoon of someone's time to change that hill. I dunno? But like you said, there's love there. And it's easy to get caught in answers that worked a decade ago that don't work now.



Thank you for your kind thoughts. Our beautiful land - all 29acres of it, is ALL steep hills, ridges, & ravines. Leveling out the actual geology is impossible. I *am* also considering a 4wheeler of some sort, but there's a lot more $$ in that, than I have available, even used - at least what I've found, so far. I truly wish that 6yrs ago, when we bought this place, we had applied our brains more than our hearts. Word to the wise...
 
master pollinator
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Location: Due to winter mortality, I stubbornly state, zone 7a Tennessee
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We got about 5 inches. The grocery stores sold out of milk and bread before the snow began to fall. The whole town shut down. Snowmagedon. They do this every time the white stuff falls. Weird.
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gardener
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Six inches on top of about an inch of sleet & freezing rain.
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Joylynn Hardesty
master pollinator
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5 days after snowfall, the neighborhood was clear of snow. Except in my yard. WTF? Though this is usually the case, I am always flummoxed. My trees can't be the full explanation. Other yards have them too! See next door under all the pine trees?

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pollinator
Posts: 86
Location: Deep South, Zone 9
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It is so fantastic! We received about eight inches. The children have played and played. It is so lovely! Hoping the veg garden is going to come out ok!!!
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Lots of cabbages and carrots and garlic hidden under the tarps and snow.
Lots of cabbages and carrots and garlic hidden under the tarps and snow.
 
Suzette Thib
pollinator
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Joylynn Hardesty wrote:We got about 5 inches. The grocery stores sold out of milk and bread before the snow began to fall. The whole town shut down. Snowmagedon. They do this every time the white stuff falls. Weird.



Do yall get snow often? It's about every decade for us here!
 
Joylynn Hardesty
master pollinator
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Usually a couple inches once or twice per winter, the neighborhood melts in a day or two, mine takes an additional day or three to go away.

2025 has been a blizzard year. Our county has almost no budget for snow mitigation. Just salt on the main roads, and plows intended for the state highways only. We're 2 miles from an occasionally plowed road.

I think the above snowstorm closed all but Walmart and my work place. We brought in $178 retail.
 
Judith Browning
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Suzettte,
beautiful snow!
I always think the snow insulates things from the cold.

We are in the Ozarks and get snow every winter, sometimes ice also.
This photo was at our favorite river locally.

Joylynn, could it be your house is shading the ground and preventing melt?  Here the front yard (facing southwest) is melted but the back yard shaded by the house facing north east is still snowy as is a 6' strip along the northwest side.
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Joylynn Hardesty
master pollinator
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Yes, my house does shade my yard. But the neighbors' yard is also shaded by their house at the same times. Soooo.....
 
Suzette Thib
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No snow this time around but very very cold temps for us for this time of year. I know that we just got bumped to a warmer planting zone, but it really isn't reflecting very well this winter. lol My new favorite crop is red russian kale!
 
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Joylynn Hardesty wrote:We got about 5 inches. The grocery stores sold out of milk and bread before the snow began to fall. The whole town shut down. Snowmagedon. They do this every time the white stuff falls. Weird.



The same thing happened when I lived in south.  (In the past, before freaky weather warfare was common.)  At just the mention of the possibility of snow, grocery stores always sold out of milk, water, bread, and beer.  I always got a chuckle out of that and wondered what folks did with all of it when they realized the next day that an inch of snow didn't leave them stranded?  And why did only those things sell out?  Is there a secret recipe for Creamy Southern Beer Bread Soup that the north doesn't have?  (Like Milo's, Duke's, or Nehi?)    At most, folks stayed home for a day or two with no risk of starvation.  When we get snow here in the north, even a foot of it, grocery doors don't sell out of anything.

However... now that I'm older and wiser, I understand a whole lot better why this happens.  The south doesn't have the infrastructure or budget to deal with snow on the roads because it doesn't happen regularly.  That means even a little snow, when driven or walked on, gets compacted and turns to ice.  No one is good at driving on ice.  Not to mention that in some parts of the south, it's called "snow" but it's really sleet/ice.  

But, folks in the south have their day, too!  They laugh at northerners when it comes to heat and humidity.  I've been laughed at for saying how hot I was at 95°F and humid.  I was told, "You don't know what hot is.  It's 102°F here!"  But, really, is there really any difference at that point?!  (To be fair, anything over 72°F and I'm as baked as an Easter ham!)

Life Lesson I Learned about Weather:  Weather is the most talked about subject on the planet.  But weather isn't a contest.  Nobody wins for being hotter, colder, snowier, more humid, or more anything than anyone else.  If someone says they're cold and wears a heavy coat, a hat, and gloves at 55°F while I'm still in shorts, t-shirt, and flip flops at 24°F, then THEY are colder than I am.  Cold is cold if you feel cold.  Hot is hot when you feel hot.  And empathizing is always better than "winning."

I hate beer but I still want to try that secret Creamy Southern Beer Bread Soup recipe! 🍺🍞🥛💧
 
Eric Hanson
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We got 7” of snow!  That’s actually quite a lot for this region.  And it was cold, dry snow with just a bit of wind that actually caused some minor drifting!  This reminded me of the type of snow that I grew up with!!  And I love it.


Obviously school was canceled—the region does not tolerate snow well, and single digit temperatures worse.  The morning after the storm passed through I started up my tractor to clear a path so my wife could get to work.  This meant clearing our 500’ driveway, then about 700’ down the road to the stop sign.  One other truck had tried to drive through the snow and made it but not without driving off the road as it was almost impossible to see exactly where the road was, and the road is not perfectly straight.  It was even difficult for me to see where to go, but I made it.  From there, I continued to turn right and keep clearing snow on the intersecting road down a hill and just past a sharp turn at the bottom.  After I returned back I cleared out three neighbors driveways and all the way down the road of our neighborhood.  Basically, I went out and played in the snow with big boy toys!!

But I didn’t exactly go alone.  My dog Gracie absolutely LOVES to play in snow.  Wherever I went, Gracie broke trail ahead of me while bounding through the snow.  I was out for about 1 hour and Gracie was pretty worn out.  We came back inside and I drank hot chocolate.

It was a good day!


Eric
 
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