Whoohooo! Our first BIG snow of the year!
Mr. Athena and I already cleared the driveway. He got to use his new snowblower, which seemed to work just fine. He’s off at the store buying salt at the moment, and it started snowing again despite blue skies not an hour ago. It’s coming down so hard that I can only see about a block or so outside my window.
It’s WINTER! Yaaaay!
I hate you.
I’ll send ya a box of snow if you want, Opal. 'course, it might not come through in the same state I send it in…
On another note, my neighbor has been outside shovelling for a good 4 hours now. He goes in on and off for a bit, then comes out again. He’s currently out with his yooper scooper doing the end of the driveway (again).
At this rate, he’ll be out there all winter. He’s lived here his whole life. He must just like moving snow.
Oh yeah, before people ask:
Just wait until the snow’s deep enough you have to excavate your mailbox before the mailman will deliver to you…in fact, I remember a few times it snowed heavily enough we couldn’t use the snowblower…
Mailbox is on the covered front porch, so that ain’t a problem. We do, however, have to keep the porch and steps clear so he can get to 'em.
They have gone around and put looooong orange/yellow plastic sticks on all the fire hydrants. Mr. Athena looked a little pale when I told they were so the snow plows and fire trucks could find the hydrants in the winter.
If I had half a brain, I’d be at the ski hill right now.
We got 15 centimetres of snow in one night…
Where I live, theres basically 4 months at the MOST without snow.
I don’t like snow much.
Move away for a bit. That’s what I did, and I found I missed it. Not that we’re as bad as you are - we typically only have snow on the ground 6 months out of the year.
Places without snow seem to have very dull seasons. There’s no real difference between summer and fall, fall and winter, etc. I’ll probably be back to hating snow by this time next year, but for now, I’m extremely psyched. From late last night to right now, we’ve gotten about ten inches, and the end isn’t even in sight. It’s supposed to snow every day for the foreseeable forecast.
We had a welcome-to-Minnesota party for some friends that just moved here from Pennsylvania. One of the locals was all happy, saying, “Winter is coming!” Kate, newly-arrived from PA, said, “Winter is here!”
We all laughed.
One of my professors happens to be from Puerto Rico. He said that one of the things locals made fun of mainland Americans for was the perception that we sat around all day talking about the weather…as a bourgeois frivolity. You see, in Puerto Rico, the weather is really a non-topic (according to him). It’s sunny, sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn’t. Nothing serious unless there’s a storm coming. Then he came to Michigan and realized you pretty much have to talk about it or you’ll die… 
Wow, we could have used one of those flags. I also recall times when the snow underneath our mailbox had packed so hard, we had to take an adze (if you don’t know what one of those are, consider yourself lucky) to the hump so the mailman could get his car close enough to our mailbox…fun.
Of course, this is all probably old news to MM8B who officially beats us out for hardcore weather. I bow to the master…
Athena, wanna trade? I’d kill for some snow right now… ohh… cold, glorious, cold!
Meanwhile, I’m offering a high 70’s, hot and sunny kind of day right now… believe you me, its all yours.
I was just thinking of you, Athena, and this thread as I drove back along US-64. The trees are just past their full color and the early-shedding ones are beginning to lose leaves, and it was only in the mid 60’s; you need a light jacket most of the day. We might even get a little snow this year, in late December or January, if weather trends continue the way they’ve been going.
Jealous yet? 
If she isn’t, I am! Friday afternoon, I received an e-mail from a couple of close friends headed “Help!” They needed moral and physical support packing boxes before they move. As a result I wound up driving about 30 miles through rain changing to snow to a house whose driveway is affectionately referred to as The North Face. I’ve got to admit, though, the next morning the woods were beautiful with about a half an inch of snow on the ground, and it gave me an excuse to stay the weekend.
Polycarp, keep this up and I will torture you with the Hawaiian description of cold weather!
CJ
Nope. After 11 years in Colorado and it’s wimpy winters (we were near Denver, not in the mountains) I have absolutely no desire to go back to anything less that Full Fledged Winter. I love it!
oooOooooh, Hawaii! I love Hawaii! I’m not ready to trade yet, but how about a week in February? What island are you on?
Snow?
Interesting concept. It was 40C (105F) here yesterday, and was still 30C (85F) when I was driving home from work at 10pm. Today will be nearly as hot.
This year’s bushfires have started too (actually they started months ago), and it’s not even officially summer yet. Thanks to the El Nino weather system, we’re in the middle of a severe drought, and atmospheric humidity is almost non-existent. There was a blanket of smoke across the city last night from grassfires in the outer suburbs. A few homes have already been lost this year.
The beer’s cold, though.
It’s just after 9:30am here and the current temperature is 34°C (93.2°F).
Yesterday, it reached 43°C (109.4°F) here, and it’s likely to go higher than that today.
And did I mention that’s it’s also very humid?
::waiting for the neighbours to give me a lift down the road so that I - too - have cold beer::
I should have mentioned that the biggest concern about this kind of weather is that it tends to attract storms which produce lots of lightning strikes but no rain; needless to say, the bushfire risk is extreme.
there maybe a bit of snow here on tues night/wends am. not much though.
i thought about moving to mackinac island when i read they get appx 100" of snow per year! i really enjoyed my time on that island. it is on my “i’d move there in a flash” list.
