Friday, December 16, 2016

Halfway Thru' the Storm

We already had a foot of snow on the ground on Wednesday, but then the 'polar vortex' plunged down over southern Ontario, dropping temperatures, and setting up strong lake effect streamers off Georgian Bay and Lake Huron.  We got 12" overnight, and starting after I got that cleared away, we got another 12" during the day Thursday.  Today has been fine, but tonight part two of the storm arrives.

This snow was just the second half of the storm.  The car was in the garage overnight, but I have to move it to get the snowblower out.  By 4 p.m. the clean car was decorated with a foot of new snow.

I headed out in the morning to snowblow the driveway, but quickly realized it was both colder and deeper than I thought.  So I came back in, put on all the warm layers, and got out my good old mukluks.  They measure 13" high, and the snow was 3" over the top as I walked to the garage!  It took me an hour, (my snowblower is 4 feet wide and 18" high), but I got the driveway clear.


Then the lake effect snow streamer arrived.  It was a long and very heavy band of snow, and it stalled in that position for nearly 6 hours, dropping an incredible inch of snow every 30 minutes.

These pix show the view out back during the snowfall, not a lot of wind, but just heavy ongoing snow, turning the world completely white!  I can't recall ever before seeing 24" of snow accumulate in 24 hours.

I tried various ways to get pictures of the falling snow.  The blizzard of snowflakes the Chickadees had to deal with seemed to illustrate it as well as anything.

By nightfall we had another foot, after this deck had been cleared completely earlier in the day.  That's just a path to refill the bird feeder I shovelled.  At the far end you can see where I remove one glass panel for the winter; then I can just push the snow over the edge.  It forms a mountain down below.

Today we woke to a winter wonderland, and actual blue skies and sun.


My little ornamental fence was nearly buried; only the top railing showing in places.


Compare this to a photo from just 6 days ago.

Surprisingly, the plows had not been around to clear our local road this morning, the first time I remember that happening since we moved up here.  I guess they were too busy on the more important roads.  One pick-up truck did drive down the road, but otherwise it was nearly 18" deep.  Even though I had cleared the driveway three times by this point, we couldn't get out if we wanted to.

So now this is us, quite well snowed in!  Winter is here for good.  Time to get out the snowshoes and skiis!






26 comments:

  1. Impressively beautiful. I remember a couple of snowfalls like that in the distant past.

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  2. Oh my goodness ... that is an awful lot of snow!

    All the best Jan

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  3. It is beautiful but I'm just glad that we are not there. We are getting pommeled with high winds and the temp will freeze tonight but at least there are multiple colours to look at.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  4. WOW! That's a lot of snow. We got quite a bit but nothing like this. And your photos are fantastic. They are perfect as postcards or greeting cards!

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  5. You guys are really getting slammed up there. Your photos gave me the shivers and I had to go put on my touque and an extra pair of heavy socks. As beautiful as winter can be I sure do not miss those bad snow days like you are having right now. Our day will come soon enough when we have to spend winters in Ontario again but until then I'm quite content to sit here 2500 miles away and just look at your pictures.

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  6. We been buried early this year as well. It looks so lovely in the pictures. And it isn't even winter yet!

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  7. Wow! That's a lot of snow. Us prairie boys would just lie down and cry if we got the much snow . Sometimes we don't get that much in a year.

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  8. My feelings go out for you guys , I'm real sorry to see that you got all that snow
    Us poor folks down here in Florida only got to 77 And we had to put an extra T-shirt on and socks under our flip-flops
    Just think of it as Canadian winter climate control
    You may want to think of ditching the snowblower and getting a ski Doo Ski Mobile

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  9. Just to make sure you know we are way down south, about 24 C today. Love those photos of the cleared path on the deck. Those birds must know where their food is supplied.

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  10. That's an incredible amount of snow! But it looks so beautiful. Now you will have to get out skiing.

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  11. As much as it is cold and inconvenient it certainly is beautiful. YOu have Christmas card scenes to last a lifetime.

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  12. We don't miss the snow either, looking at your pictures brings back memories. I like the warm sunny dry weather much better.

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  13. It's so beautiful! But yes, it's quite a problem to navigate through. Time for the skis and snowshoes! :-)

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  14. Oh boy.. now I realize how lucky we have been just getting the wind so far. Supposed to get some snow today though, but probably not much.

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  15. Wow! What winter! That's a lot of snow.

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  16. Your last photo looks like a Christmas card I did for my place a few years ago!
    Don't over do my friend. The snow will still be there tomorrow. My guy has to go out for a service call this afternoon (he is the snowblower repair man!) but we have to wait for the snow plow to go by, then he will take a run at the head of the driveway with the tractor bucket. We gave up using a snowblower a few years ago and bought a tractor.

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  17. It does look lovely but take care when shovelling that snow. In Switzerland the news is always full of warnings not to try to move too much at a time. I'm sure you get the same.

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  18. That is an amazing amount of snow! We got about 10 cm here in the city last night.

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  19. brrrr beautiful sight. here for us at the moment it's a very hot Summer, completely the opposite.

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  20. Now that is real snow. What we got was like powdered sugar sprinkled on a chocolate cake. But it's been nice for a change. The last two winters we got next to none. - Margy

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  21. Beautiful snowy pictures. We haven't gotten any decent snow here yet. Our temperatures are all over the place. Yesterday 3 today 52. Crazy!!
    I'd like a nice foot or two of snow. : )

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  22. Wow!! That is a lot of snow in 24 hours. It certainly looks beautiful but keeps one busy clearing it all away. Your house looks very pretty snuggled under that white blanket.

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  23. Man... those lake effects don't help. I sympathize as your snow is probably heavier than Lovely Ouray's :).
    Box Canyon Mark

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  24. Sufficed to say, odds of a white Christmas at this point are pretty good. Beautiful shots!

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  25. it's just so beautiful, you sure do have a lot. we have the same conundrum with our snowblower and the vehicles!!!

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