Snow snow snow!
Well, we got our snow last week, and a heck of a lot of snow for here it was! We got 12.5″ of snow on Thursday, shattering an old record of 7.8″ for that date. It started earlier than they thought; it was supposed to rain during the night and then turn to snow by noon, but instead, it started snowing around 5:00 AM and continued snowing until about midnight.
It wasn’t so hard driving around on Thursday because the snow wasn’t sticking so much on the road although it was accumulating on the ground. Cars and trucks were playing it safe, though, and were driving slowly. A few cars ended up sliding off the road, but mostly because they hit large patches of slush.
I have to say, it was pretty. the snow sticking to the trees, bushes, and fences. It was a perfect photo opportunity for those of us that don’t get much snow where we live. I did grab up my camera and take photos, once again, mostly out of the kitchen window of the back yard.
Friday morning’s commute to the VA Hospital was a bit more trecherous, mostly because I had a hard time getting us out of our subdivision. Thursday evening I parked the car on the street because I knew I couldn’t get it up the driveway. A few brave souls had traveled our street, giving me a track I could follow once I got away from the curb, and that made it relatively easy to get out of the subdivision. And after I got out, it was easy because the main streets and highways were fairly clear. Had to watch for black ice, though, but it was warm enough that there wasn’t that much of it. Already the snow was beginning to melt, but it still gave me time to take more photos.
Driving around our little town, I was very surprised to see all the trees that had been damaged by the heavy snow. Nearly every tree in the Target parking lot had broken branches and limbs. Around town there were a few awnings that had come down, and in the neighboring town a major auto paint and body shop’s roof collapsed and part of the building caved in. It’s sad because they just did a major overhaul of their building.
And so, the great snowstorm of 2010 has passed leaving us cold and wet but with respect for Mother Nature and memories of the record snowfall.
Posted in Weather by Jason with no comments yet.
Winter
When I was a kid I loved winter, and I grew up in a “snow” state. Because of family circumstance, I did have to help with the shoveling, but for most of those winters we had a snow blower, so it was more snow blowing than shoveling, although I did have to shovel to break up ice. But, even still, I loved winter. The snow, the cold, the icicles hanging from the eves and trees – all held a beauty of their own.
Sadly, though, I had not yet discovered the joys of photography; from those years of living in Iowa I have no “record” of the beautiful winters that I experienced.
And now, I live in Texas and our winters are of rain and mud and cold winds that penetrate to the core. The trees are bare of their foliage leaving them looking like forlorn skeletons begging to be embraced by Spring and Summer. Only the evergreens seem to welcome the cold and rain.
This year we are experiencing an El Nino winter, which means we’re having a lot of much needed rain, along with a lot of cold. In recent years we’ve seen a few rainy days and cold snaps, but this year our temps have barely made it in to the 60’s and we’ve seen rain nearly every week, sometimes for days on end; our lakes and water reserves have been refilled.
It’s hard, though, with all of the rain and cold, to grab up a camera and head out and shoot photos, not that there are a lot of “subjects” around this area to photograph. This year in particular I just don’t have the desire to venture out in the cold, maybe because it is so wet and penetrating unlike years’ past and my arthritis is finally reacting to all of the cold. That leaves me with few things to photography, and those few things are my dogs and the birds at the feeders, and most of the bird photos are taken from the warmth and dryness of the kitchen.
I am so looking forward to our trip to Florida next week so that I can find some warmth and “new” things to photograph. I left Florida in 1996, well before the age of affordable digital cameras and when I moved to Texas I couldn’t really afford film and processing. The age of digital photography opened up a new world for me and my brief return to Florida for vacation will give me the opportunity to explore places I enjoy there in a new way – from behind the digital lens.
Posted in Weather by Jason with no comments yet.