Snow Stories

[kevin_standlee]

Yesterday was time to clear snow around the house.



I took a few nice pictures of the House and the East Lot. Snow-covered fields look good. If you're curious, the snow covered-vehicle tracks at left are from the NVEnergy meter reader coming by between storms, while those at right are from Lisa's Small Orange Pickup and the utility trailer that was carrying the last load of firewood.



The birds took cover, but did return later in the day when I set out more birdseed.



When the snow subsided the previous evening, I cleared the porch and the sidewalk that runs between it and the garage. I salted the concrete sidewalk to prevent if from icing. Lisa applied grit (Oil-Dry absorbent) to the porch and other wood surfaces to make them safer without destroying them the way salt would do.



I had left this section of sidewalk uncleared, which left the 6-10 cm accumulation to freeze overnight. This was an unfortunate decision by me that made my work harder, as chipping the icy snow away with the snow shovel is more of a hassle than moving it when it's still relatively powdery.



However, I did eventually get it cleared, despite nearly slipping several times on the icy sidewalk. I put down salt here, of course. I'm close to running out and need to go buy another bag of the stuff.



I left the front yard to take care of itself. This is what it looked like early this morning.



I broke the heavy push broom while clearing wet, icy snow. I might be able to replace the handle if I can pry out the part the broke off inside the broom head.



However, as Lowe's didn't have any replacement handles that looked to be the right type for the old head, I bought a new heavy-duty push broom to deal with the next storms.

The forecast is for another 1-2 cm of snow overnight, after which we should have a run of clear but cold days. It was very clear last night and the temperature went down to around -10°C. I know that's nothing for some of my friends, but it's cold enough for me.

Comments

[solarbird]

Here's the good news. Look at all that snowpack! <3

[kevin_standlee]

Yep, that's great news. The less good news is that most of the state's reservoirs are still only about half full. (There are a couple in the Bay Area, however, that are 100% full and have topped their spillways.) Now if this snowpack continues to grow and then releases the water slowly in the spring, we'll on the right path. We need several more years like this, however, in order to make a dent in the badly-depleted groundwater supplies.

On my side of the mountains, I hope that a lot of water comes down the Truckee River (not enough to flood Sparks!) and that much of it can be diverted over to refill the Lahontan Reservoir, and maybe help recharge the aquifer on which my city gets most of its water.