OK, Now Where Is That Off Switch Again?

Snow Cornice

Just finished clearing another foot of snow off the driveway and the sidewalks.

We’re in the middle of an unusual fall/winter here in my part of Metro Denver with over 80 inches of snow since mid-October and over 60 inches since Thanksgiving. We’re averaging ten inches of snow a week for the past month and a half. We had back to back blizzards just a few days apart over the holidays.

Driving is Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and black ice rules the roads. Supermarket parking lots are filled with 15 ft. piles of snow pushed up by overworked bulldozers. Looks like another storm is coming in next Friday.

The weather here is normally beautiful and winter has become one of my favorite times of the year—lots of sunny days in the 40’s that are perfect for getting up in the high country. And because I’ve never been around snow before the whole thing makes me feel more like a kid than an adult. But not this year. The shine has gone off the icicle.

I think we’ve officially moved beyond El Nino into El Diablo.

Long time Denver natives have been playing it stoic until about a week ago. We native California weather weenies were told to shut our complaining pie holes and were then fortified with stories about epic past winters and kids losing fingers and toes on the way to school but still not missing a day in the classroom.

One storm after another after another, however, has reduced even the most leathery Coloradan to questions about the fairness of the universe.

The upside?

I don’t have to hear any more stories about how back in ’57 great grandma froze solid in her car on the way to the post office but bounced right back after a nice warm bath :^)