More Snow, Different Weather Prediction, Many Pictures!

One of the wonderful up sides about where we live is that we live in a fantasy forest. Right now it is wearing its winter wonderland regalia.

There are many pictures below the cut as a warning for those with slow connection.

So, we  had a bit of a discovery. We knew that there was more snow where we are than in the valley near us where our friends lived. We'd had a few experiences where the predictions and what came down were hugely different and were wondering why. I have been using weather.gov and the lady of the house has been using wunderland.com. As we have approached this storm the two of them had widely divergent reports of what would be hitting us. We were confused about it, and I defaulted to trusting weather.gov because it has usually been more accurate in the past. As you can see, the 4 - 6" prediction of weather.gov was wrong.

In the past was when we were living in the valley. When the lady of the house did a bit of research on the weather sites we were using and found something interesting that I completely neglected to even look at. Weather.gov was using as their weather prediction point an area in a valley in Central Massachusetts, almost 100 miles from us as the crow flies! Wunderland.com was using a point less than 5 miles from us. No wonder their prediction was so much more accurate. The moral of this story isn't simply that I'm wrong, it is to look at where your weather is coming from and make sure you pick your prediction sites well.

 We have learned from the past storms and didn't make the same mistakes. We have not been able to afford a snow blower yet, so we still had to do things the hard way. On the left you see the results of our work, and getting the car down and then back up the driveway. This time we shoveled many times, and instead of shoveling, lifting, and throwing the snow, I tried a new method. I used the shovel like a plow. I scraped it along the ground, pushing using my hips against the handle, and my hands to guide it only as far as I could. This produced a wake of snow, leaving plenty off to the sides, and some falling behind. I would lift what was on the blade, and throw it off to the side. I would then go back and do the same thing again, sometimes a total of three times. All in all, getting the tire tracks shoveled and clear enough to use despite the continuing snow took a total of about 7 hours of overall work, and I am still functional. The first time we had a major snow took over 9 hours of work, and my hands were shaking so badly I couldn't do anything, much less type a post afterward.

For those of you interested, this is the new car. Also, clearly not a power house to just forge through the drifting snow, the car requires a bit of a clear path or driving is not the easiest thing in the world. Over all though, dealt quite well with the messy conditions.

Another gratuitous shot of our beautiful winter wonderland.

All Photos Copyright Michelle Vigeant 2012