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Friday, February 21, 2014

Blue Skies and Snowbanks

Hope you've enjoyed my seasonal detour back to last spring and more southern latitudes, but it's time to return to winter.  In spite of yesterday's rain, we're getting some beautiful sunny winter days that are just ideal for being outdoors. 

And I thought I should record some of our bigger snowbanks, just for the record.  It really has been astonishing how much snow we've accumulated.  I think this is the tallest snowbank I"ve encountered, reaching just below the telephone wires, and well over twice the height of a car.

There hasn't been much new snow (until last night), so there's been time for the plows, the giant snowblowers and the large front-end loaders to get out and push back the worst of the drifts.  Once a small drift gets started, it just continues to grow as the blown snow drops in the lee of the drift.

The big front-end loaders have been working at this one (and the top one above and the two below), lifting the worst of the snow off the road and piling it back as far as they can reach.  This is slow work, and you need a break in the weather to do it.

There's one road nearby that is closed because of winter drifting so often that they have permanent signs which they just have to turn on.  This pile is well over 15 feet, nearly reaching the lower wires and continuing down the road for half a mile.

And just around the corner is another very long drift, also a good 15 feet high.  There's one particular region where all the biggest drifts and snowbanks seem to accumulate, high on the upland north of us, where there is more open farmland, before you drive down the escarpment.

This is at an intersection where the stop sign was virtually buried.  Here they've used the giant snowblower to cut back the drift, leaving a vertical wall of snow 8 feet high.  We locally refer to this stretch as the 'tunnel'.  hope you enjoyed my tour of local snowbanks, under sunny blue skies.

Linking to:
http://skyley.blogspot.ca/


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14 comments:

  1. barbara l. haleFebruary 21, 2014 at 3:46 PM

    Looking at your photos make me think that people around here ought to quit there bellyachin'. Those drifts are quite something! But the beautiful blue skies make it all bearable...at least to me.

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  2. rochefleuriegardenFebruary 21, 2014 at 4:11 PM

    This is serious snow! It reminds me of my childhood. Once my father had to get out though a window to clear the snow in front of the door.

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  3. sunshineFebruary 21, 2014 at 4:15 PM

    Great photo but to much snow.

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  4. Pamela GordonFebruary 21, 2014 at 4:19 PM

    Amazing snowbanks! I remember as a girl the snowbanks being so high the teachers had to warn us not to climb them as they were too close the the power lines. We used to get some major snow in Moncton back then and of course, they didn't have all the big snow clearing equipment they do today. Moncton still gets a lot more snow than the rest of NB. There's barely any snow cover here in Calgary right now. Just a bit of frozen dirty stuff along the streets in spots. It's very dirty and dusty here with the wind blowing it all over the place. Cars are quite disgusting looking. Not much point in washing them. :)

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  5. MontanagirlFebruary 21, 2014 at 4:32 PM

    That is some serious snow - and high tunnels! We don't have much snow here right now.

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  6. JoyfulFebruary 21, 2014 at 5:20 PM

    Those are beautiful snowbanks. I too remember them as a child. Mostly we don't get them that high anymore. I've noticed the weather has changed a lot. Though it is clear some places do still get a lot of snow these days.

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  7. Spare Parts and PicsFebruary 21, 2014 at 6:21 PM

    Wow, amazing snow banks! And when the weather warms, that's going to be a huge amount of water.

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  8. William KendallFebruary 21, 2014 at 7:42 PM

    Those snowbanks are breathtaking!

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  9. Betsy Banks AdamsFebruary 21, 2014 at 8:28 PM

    Woooo--that is a HUGE amount of snow... How many total inches have you had this winter? I cannot imagine that much snow... Wow!!!

    In June of 2011, we visited the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. The higher in elevation we went, the more snow we saw. Their banks looked similar to the ones you have shown us here....

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  10. Pearl MapleFebruary 21, 2014 at 8:58 PM

    That sure is a lot of snow and kind of amazing to think that spring is only a few weeks away

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  11. RedFebruary 21, 2014 at 9:02 PM

    That's some snow. Drifting snow can pile up in a hurry. Thanks for the photos.

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  12. Far Side of FiftyFebruary 21, 2014 at 10:12 PM

    Those are some tall banks alright! They keep pushing ours back..just as well or we would be in tunnels too:)

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  13. SharkbytesFebruary 22, 2014 at 9:56 AM

    Great photos! We have places like that here, but I haven't gone to get pictures.

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  14. HappyKFebruary 22, 2014 at 2:31 PM

    That is certainly some HIGH snow banks!! Great photos too.

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