Another Morning After ... All Day!

In case you hadn't noticed what the weather man has been telling you about the state of US weather, the north-east had a major snow-storm last weekend. Well, we dug out on Sunday and got a second hit from a second major snow-storm yesterday and all today. Here are some pictures.

[Snowmageddon (Snow 2)]
This was last Friday and Saturday. The federal government was closed on Monday as a result. These are pictures from afterwards.

I went out in the snow, cleaned off the car, drove around a bit, and went back inside. Two hours later the snow stopped and I had this much more to clear - and that was the end of the snow!



So I went back up the way between the houses. It all looks very peaceful (left) until you realise just how much show has fallen!








And, of course, it warms and cools, so the next day the buildings have all grown icicles. Then, on Monday morning, there's a terrible banging and you think that the house is being demolished. You go to the door and a man with a very long pole yells at you to close the door and stay in, just as a heap of ice hits the path in front of your toes! He's going around knocking the icicles off the houses.




Of course, the icicles above the balcony were too high, so they survived.


A few more hours.





[Snowpocalypse (Snow 3)]
So all that left us feeling rather blasé about snow. We'd already had over a foot in December, just before Christmas, so another 18" was respectable, but certainly within our ability to withstand! Monday night we started seeing dire warnings about the next few days and snow. Tuesday dawned sunny and it really wasn't until about 4 pm that the snow-laden grey clouds started rolling in and hazing the sun.

So we went and met friends in Haddonfield for Stitch 'n' Bitch and the snow wasn't anywhere to be seen. I went for food and returned and was in the middle of saying
"it hasn't started yet" when one of the others broke in to say "It has, you know!" and pointed out of the window.


















And she was right! In just a few seconds it has gone from a cold damp night to a night full of falling white bits.

---

It snowed continuously all day today. It started, like last night, with great big heavy wet flakes, weighing down the trees.





Obviously, this appears to be my Brief Blue Period! The predominant colour reflects my feelings about the weather at 7 pm this evening - very fed up with snow!
































So much for the Blue Period! Three hours later the snow was still falling, although for only another hour. The total is reckoned at about 16". On top of the 18" or so just three days ago.

TTFN

Climate is what you expect - Weather is what you get

Despite the combined wisdom of all the professors of climate science, who tell us that the annual mean temperatures are going up, Robert Heinlein came out right once again - he usually does! In fact, I think that the prediction that the weather will get more extreme as the mean temperature rises is a better prediction than the apparent expectation by most people that everything will just get warmer. As evidence I offer the last summer - nice, but not wonderful, and definitely rather muggy for quite a long time - and this winter - well, the last 6 weeks of it, anyway - with two snowstorms that have dumped around 40" of snow on me so far and look to be bringing more soon.

The snow is pretty - don't get me wrong - as some photos here should show.

The first is a footpath, not a road, and is only about two feet wide - about as deep as the snow on either side!







Where people leave tables, etc., out for the snow can result in some fun images











[Food]

I'm sure the AG will consider this in terrible taste, but both I and The Spawn considered her Spaghetti Carbonara (recipe from Ruth Reichl, the former editor of Gourmet magazine) really excellent. She always claims that she's incapable of cooking, and then produces something so good! Such a modest woman [grin]!









[Tech]
I'm nose deep in revising SSIS this week - re-learning all the bits I've forgotten over the last year or so - before starting to drown in a SQL Server DBA course. About half-way through these courses I always get to a point of thinking "what am I doing this for - I'd much rather be tucked up in a nice warm bed!" but it's always fun in the end.

[Life]
We stayed in almost all of yesterday - except for going out to sweep the car, which was a waste, as it was totally covered again in two hours - and so I had the unexpected luxury of getting to watch England beat Wales at Twickenham. BBC America TV was so nice to bring this to me, and should be doing a Saturday match every week for the next few weeks! I think it'll be France vs Ireland next week, which should also be great - no prizes for who I'll be supporting (sorry, mes amis!). Still, 30-17 was a nice score to see, despite the fact that Wales almost grabbed it ten minutes from time. I was amused to see the royal presence - Wills and Harry so obviously on opposite sides - well, you could hardly expect the Prince of Wales to cheer an English try, now could you? [grin]

More photos of snow next time, I'd predict!

TTFN