wildernessVoice

For those wondering just how big an impact these snow and wind storms have had on us, I thought I’d give you a little perspective. See the road under my car? Well, that section of road is known as the Saddle. I didn’t know that until today as I kept hearing it referred to as that. It apparently gets that name from being high in the center and then dropping downward on each end.

You see, this road is the only access in and out of our little valley above the north shore of Carter Lake. With all of the snow we’ve had, this section of road has been some of the easiest to navigate. The snow just doesn’t build up here. At most, we’ve had to deal with a little ice, but nothing too big. Okay?

Well, between Sunday night and Monday morning, this section of road was completely buried in snow due to the wind blowing the snow from all of the high points of the mountains into the lower points. The end result was the greatest accumulation of snow occurring here, at the Saddle. If you take a careful look, you can see how the plowed snow is well above the roof line of my car. But take a look at how far down the road these snow walls actually go. This is why we were completely blocked in today. That wall on the left hand side is just as high, if not higher, than the wall on the right. And now you may have a better idea of why the plows couldn’t get through.

Okay… now that we have all of that setup for you, I’d like you to consider something. All of this snow is fairly rare. With each conversation I have with folks, I get a little more detail on the weather trends. I’ve been told that there are essentially 3 days per year that this area actually gets enough snow to keep you locked in. That’s not too bad. But we’ve had more than that in just the last couple of weeks. But for the last few weeks, the one place you’ve been relatively safe to walk on has been the low areas, where the roads are. The snow has been piling up and filling in the ditches and it has accumulated on the hills and mountain sides. But with three snow storms in 3 weeks, the accumulation has been so great there has simply been no real way to clear it all. Now factor in the 100+ mph winds of last night and this morning. All of the snow up high has been blown down below and has filled in the “crevices” if you will. It was an awful day, today. And yesterday was pretty bad to drive around too as now was constantly flying in ones face. But this afternoon, I noticed something. The streets were remarkably clear– clearest they’ve been since before Christmas. The snow has been cleared and is finally beginning to melt. And despite the big walls that you see in this photo, the bulk of the drifts have been reduced to knee high mounds. And the ice on the roads is gone.

We’ve been told that a fourth snow storm is to hit this Thursday. Just what we need, huh? But had all the snow not been blown down, I’m not sure how we’d be able to cope with another storm. I honestly believe this was perhaps an answer to prayer. We just couldn’t see the snow melting fast enough between storms to keep the accumulation from getting worse and worse. Now, things look manageable. But it took being shut in for the snow to be cleared. So be it. Seems worth it to me, though it was certainly scary at times.

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