Looks like winter

We have plenty of snow cover this November. Snow accumulations have been all over the map. Temperatures have been hovering right around the freezing mark. A few miles or a few hundred feet in elevation make all the difference. We've mostly gotten snow, with the exception of rain last Sunday. Ski areas are pretty happy. Even the cross country trails near me, that rely completely on natural snow, are fully open.

Personally, I think a little snow on the ground looks better than the normal dead grays of a typical northern New Hampshire November.

The last storm didn't affect our grid power, but we lost Internet service for about 18 hours. The heavy snow is taking a lot of trees down. All my hazelnut trees have been flattened. I wonder how well they'll bounce back in the spring?

I've been really fortunate that my daughter and son-in-law have come up to clear my driveways. I am blessed. With the van sold my winter parking spot is now freed up for my car. I've two winter parking spots. They are on the same level as the road. My summer driveway is an uphill climb from the house. That's not great in winter. Worse, it's the side that the town's plow dumps most of the snow on.

Heavy November snows are not unheard of, but we don't get them all that often. When I was a kid my dad and uncle were stuck at the hunting camp because of a sudden three foot snowstorm. The camp was eight miles up a logging road, then about a quarter mile down a fire road. My dad and uncle had to shovel the whole fire road to get their car to the logging road. It took three days. The logging road hadn't been plowed either, but a big logging truck had gone down it. By staying in the truck's tracks they were able to drive out, but they often got stuck and had to do more shoveling. I remember how totally exhausted he was by the time he got home.

Of course, this was back in the day before cell phones. We really didn't have any idea how they were doing until they got out. While we were concerned, we knew they had supplies for a couple weeks. Years later some friends and I got stuck at the camp due to a sudden ice storm. The cell phone service was just barely strong enough to connect. We were able to tell everyone we were fine and just going to sit it out an extra day. What a difference communications can make. Nobody was worried.

At any rate, the snow season is starting off with a bang. Good thing it's pretty.

-Sixbears