Northwest Montana winter 2016-17 and its not over yet !

Hi All;  As anybody in the N.W. knows we are having a "Real" winter this year!  Lots of snow & cold like it used to be.  Temps fell and the snow started just at the close of hunting season . Other than a few days when it went over 32 F  for a few hrs it has been below freezing and quite often below zero all winter. One phenomenon I have noticed is that even with a good pitch and a metal roof, snow is not sliding off like it normally would. As a result I am seeing quite a few caved in roofs ... mainly wood sheds and outbuildings . There is also I thriving roof shoveling business going on as people try to keep their poorly designed house additions from caving in. Here in western sanders county  before the current storm I had  apx 30+" of snow in the yard , my buildings had 18"-24" stuck to the roofs. Starting Friday and continuing thru sat evening I received an additional 22" of powder snow  ... Saturday evening it warmed up and turned to ice and RAIN ! Sunday morning now and its still raining ! My roofs are built to take this ... many are not ! This morning my shop building has 3' plus of sopping wet snow on it , for me because of the strong construction that is extra insulation, for many it would be a panic shovel job or a caved in roof.  When I was a youngster this kind of winter was the norm... everybody knew it and built buildings with this kind of winter in mind. Now after a decade or two of warmer, dryer winters. There are many new transplants from warmer places that are are shocked and scrambling to save their buildings. There has been lots of coast style construction here in the last few years,  I'm  predicting many homes being repaired and going up for sale this coming summer...

Yep.  We're feeling it out here.  It took me four hours to shovel half my roof, and it just keeps coming!  Makes me wish I could have put more of my earthworks in place last year to catch this awesome spring runoff.

Bozeman and Big Sky haven't quite gotten hit with this amount of snow as North West Montana but we got a good amount yesterday. It sure has been awhile since we've gotten snow like this!

Well I guess I posted/boasted about my "built to take it" buildings around here too soon ...  Working out of state all week I come home this weekend to find my piggy barn roof failing !!  The 45 year old 2x6 on one side failed ! This building was here before me ... guess I thought it should last forever. Just don't make them 2x6's like they used too!