First snow of the season on Halloween morning
We had the first measurable snow of the season on Halloween morning. Granted it was only 0.2 inches, but still it’s a sign of things to come. Followed by a hard freeze on Halloween night, this is probably the end of the growing season, or at least the end of the lawn mowing season. Yes, it’s time to test start the snow blower!
We had a round of severe weather pass through the area on Monday June 30, 2014. I left work early (just after 4:00) because I didn’t like the look of the weather radar. I was more worried about severe weather (hail or high winds) but there is always the potential for flooding on University Ave between Midvale and Campus Drive.
It was raining when I left work, and it was raining hard when I got home. Most of the severe weather passed around the Madison area, but we got a lot of rain. After the storm passed, we had a double rainbow, which I did not get a good picture of because it was already so dark – it was around 8:00. There was also a very unusual orange sunset:
An amazing orange sunset after a storm
front yard at 3:30 – over 12 inches had fallen at this point
We had our first major snow storm of the winter today – it started snowing last night around 9:00 and continued through this evening. As the snow fall decreased, the wind began to pick up so we have a blizzard warning until midnight tonight.
The snow was heavy and wet this morning so it was a pain to clear the driveway even with a snowblower. I think when I buy a new snowblower in a few years I will spend the extra money and get a two-stage one. My single-stage works fine but it requires me to push it pretty hard in these kind of conditions. Still, I can’t complain – it’s a lot easier to push a snowblower than it is to shovel.
Most schools in the area canceled classes for today – some even made the call last night before any snow had fallen. My employer chose to keep the office open, though I spent the day working at home (when not pushing the snowblower). It just would have been smarter to close the office – the advice from local governments was to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary.
this was the second time today that I had cleared the driveway
back yard view – i won’t have to ask the neighbors to trim their trees next summer
view from the front yard as the storm begins
Today we had our first snowstorm of the season. We wound up with over 3 inches of snow before it turned into rain. Many places to the north and west had much more snow – we caught only the southern edge of the storm. It was kind of a mess, especially with the fog we had in the morning. Traffic was snarled in a few places at the peak of the storm, as people have forgotten their winter driving skills. The snow turned into light rain by the middle of the afternoon, so it was a heavy mess by the time I got around to shoveling. But we really can use the precipitation because it’s been such a dry year.