As I type this, it is snowing heavily outside. We have had a great deal of snow this season, so much so that there was still a heavy coat on the ground after a few relatively warm days. But today it has returned with a vengeance. I went outside just now to take some photos.
The snow is very thick and heavy. This will be difficult to remove, even with the snowthrower. I don’t know when it began to fall, but it is already 4 or 5 inches deep (over the top of my boots) and shows no sign of slowing. The trees and bushes are burdened by the weight; the plough has not yet cleared our road. I can only wonder what KLS’s drive to work was like.
The entire season I had not ventured into our backyard due to the very thick (~2 feet) coat of snow. Just now I did.
It is utterly silent when the snow falls like this. The only thing I could hear was the crunch as I stepped through the drifts, and occasionally the sound of a flake falling into my ear as I looked up to take a photo.
Everything is coated with snow. From the smallest stalk to the tallest tree. Even the power lines are weighed down with a thick coat. There are no signs of the squirrels or birds or any other creatures that up until yesterday had carpeted our backyard with their footprints in the snow.
It isn’t very cold, maybe just about freezing. As I explored the snowfall increased in strength, and even began to get uncomfortable. I could feel it freezing over on the top of my head.
The above is a closeup of our cherry blossom around the side of the house. In only a couple of months that will start to bloom, and shortly afterwards will be laden with flowers. Right now the branches are weighed down with snow, and the trunk is 1-2 feet deep in snow and ice.
As I was heading back inside I stepped closer to the two bushes you can see in the above photograph. All of a sudden a sound – the flutter of wings. I meekly peeped, and could see birds inside. They are safe there in the dense foliage, under their snow-cap. I couldn’t make out what types of birds they were, or even how many. A few little ones. I hurried away.
This is the best kind of weather. This is Earth at it’s most beautiful.
Although I have seventeen American winters under my belt now I still love the snow, especially an impressive fall like this one. I wish all my Australian readers could experience exactly what this is like.
Great pictures. What camera?
What about your Californian readers?
There’s been talk of freak snow in San Francisco. If it happens it will be a disaster. And we’d get nothing like the amount of snow you have there.
As much as I’d love to play in the snow it’s 45 F outside now, about as cold as it gets here, and to be outside is intolerable.
I used my Sony TX1 to take these shots.
The snow continued all day, and we were absolutely covered in the stuff by nightfall. Can’t wait to go outside and check it out 🙂