Thursday, February 18, 2010

Have shovel will ...well, shovel!

We got another 2" PITA snowfall after dark last night. There wasn't enough to use the snow blower but too much to let lay so Terry and I went out with the shovels and cleared the driveway after I returned from getting the mail. As I've said, I'd much rather have a 6" snowfall on which I could use the snow blower followed by five days of sunshine than have 2" ever other freakin' day.

You would think being more than 100 miles from lake Ontario would mean NOT being affected by lake effect snows but guess again. Even the Finger Lakes can, and do, produce lake effect snows when the wind is blowing right (?) as it was last night. When it's out of the north, it comes right down the length of Seneca, Cayuga and Keuka Lakes. That can produce a plume of snow down wind that extends for miles. Of course, here at the Aerie, we are also on Armenia Mountain which forms a considerable ridge running roughly east-west and blocks the south bound winds forces them upwards where they cool and the contained moisture (from Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes) condenses, and--voila!-causes snow. (That's where the persistent Blue Blob on the radar screens comes from.)

******

After a bit of a gloomy start to the day, the clouds have thinned and the sun has made sporadic appearances. This has driven the temperature above the 32 degree mark and started melting some of the snow that remains atop the gravel in the driveway. With luck, the sun will get things down to almost bare ground where we shoveled.

AccuHunch seems to have hedged their bets on the pending storm originally scheduled for early next week. Now things have been pushed back to Wednesday but they will, according to the *ahem* experts continue through the end of the month. Since Terry is planning on going to New Jersey on Friday (the 26th) for some SAGA classes with the Princeton Pleaters, she was not happy to hear this. I tried to tell her not to worry. They haven't gotten tomorrow correct all week, why should they be right about NEXT Friday? We shall see.

Oh well, I've had my Ibuprofen and my lunch. Time for a bottle of Sam Adams and to watch the snow melt.


3 comments:

Cassie said...

Haha! Sam Adams,Ibuprofen & lunch. Sounds like you are ready to watch the snow melt!!

Cassie said...

Oh btw my mom's area hasn't had as much snow as you, but they had lots of flooding. The furnace guy has been busy in Sullivan County,PA!

joated said...

Funny snow distribution this year, Cassie. If I've got the area correct, your mom's only a short distance to my southeast. She'd be far enough north to miss the big snows that dumped on Philly and New York City, but far enough south to also miss the lake effect that can reach me.