Snow!

The winter storm arrived Thursday, with the warmer air of a low pressure system, the temperature rose, and we were supposed to get rain.  But we never did, just brief periods of freezing rain, as the temperature stayed lower than expected - fine with me!   Then a slow accumulation of an inch or two on Friday morning, til things looked really white.  And the temperature has plunged to well below freezing, and is forecast to stay there.  I hope it doesn't rise til March!

But then the wind picked up, while the snow continued.  Last night it was howling wildly, and by the time I ventured outside with the dog after dark a serious drift had accumulated across the front of the garage, while further out, the driveway was blown bare, right down to the gravel.  Our walk was pretty short in the blizzard!  Quite a bit later I spotted flashing lights out back, and went out to discover a pick-up in the ditch.  Tow truck was soon there, and off they went.

By this morning the snow had stopped, and the sun started to come out.  We have 6" of fresh powder snow everywhere - except where the howling wind blew things bare.  Snowblower came out for the first time, and I blew away the drift in front of the garage, and the ridge left by the snowplow at the top of the driveway.  Meanwhile, the branches of the pines are laden with white.  It's actually deep enough to get the snowshoes out - 3 cheers for real winter, though there's still a bitterly cold north wind.