Well, its been snowing since 7:00 am here in SW Colorado, some sticking, 3 inches on the ground, but it isn't that cold and the roads are snow-packed but aren't frozen. We'uz supposed to get hammered this evening and tonight, and they are talking about 2-3 feet of snow in the mts along with 40+ mph winds, something a bit less spectacular down here.

We'll see. DW, who is in San Diego, says its been pouring rain there for 8 hours straight and all that usually heads this-a-way........

It is surely cold! I expect this in February, I wasn't quite ready for this much cold so early. I hope everyone stays warm and well.
Barb

ItÂs 8 here in Thornton right nowÂwas down to 5 last nite! ItÂs been in the single digits overnite for several days now, and itÂs starting to feel like itÂll never end! CanÂt wait to see the gas bill next month!

They predicted weÂd get an inch or two of snow during the day today, and it never materialized. Now theyÂre predicting 1-3" overnite and 1-3" tomorrow. It used to be 3-5 overnite with 3-5 more tomorrow, so theyÂre already downgrading it. And thereÂs still not really anything worth worrying about on the radar! I got 5-6" on Saturday, which was as light as a cloud with the cold, and I was able to easily sweep it off of the deck and walk in the backyard, and it was so easy to shovel off of the walk out frontÂand I even easily shoveled half the driveway, which I donÂt usually do. The front of the house faces south, so it usually melts off in a couple days, but this time it was supposed to stay COLD, with more snow possible today and tomorrow, so I figured I better shovel it just in case we really did get a lot more!

IÂve been watching your blizzard watch down there for the last couple days, David, and it looked like you were really gonna get dumped on, but now they seem to be backing off on the snow for you too. Hope theyÂre rightÂfor both of us!

Stay warm everybody,
Skybird

So far we've gotten around 5", but it's still coming down. Plus, with lows in the single digits, and highs below freezing, I don't think it will melt anytime soon.

We have company coming this weekend from Florida, and they were hoping we would have snow while they were here. It looks like they are going to get their wish!

Bonnie

It's just before midnight and zero degrees on my back deck. We only have an inch or so of light fluffy snow and they say 3-5" tonight I think. Colorado Springs looks like it got a bit more snow than we did out here.

I saw on the news that Great Falls MT (where I used to live) was -10 today. That was either at noon or 4:30, I forget which now.

We are at a foot of snow now, and the radar shows more on the way. They actually closed the schools here, which never happens. The temperature is at 17º, but the winds are picking up, and are expected to reach 30 mph.

Glad I picked up milk and bread yesterday : )

It's 2° here as the sun makes it's way above the horizon.

Single digitS' from 6pm yesterday on (but I wore my socks to bed ;o). We aren't suppose to get any blanket of snow for 5 or 6 days.

Yep, I understand that Great Falls is in the icebox. And, it now looks like NW Colorado is living up to the story from Sunday TV.

digitS'

Along about 2 am, at least a foot more snow, 40+ mph winds, at least one tree broken in half, and the only thing moving on the roads is a snow plow that goes by about once every 3 hours. Schools and mountain passes closed. The wind has slowly been dying down, and now, at 11 am, snow has stopped and its breezy, but nothing like it was before. Even brightening and clearing up a bit.

Drifts? I got your drifts right here. I'll try to get the car out and run up and down the drive way after I dig, priority wise, a path to the wood pile, a path to the pantry, then a path to the garage.

Tally ho. 3º tonight.

yesterdays high was -8F ,this am low was -29F today about same -9F, clear skies and decent snowpack of about 16" most left over from the 29" a couple weeks ago supposed to get back above zero in a day or so....but chilly tonight again...still at least its not as bad as 1983! now that was a cold december

Okay, I'll stop whining now, mtny, LOL!

Ouch just thinking about that! ThatÂs waywaywaywayway too cold! No more complaining about my coming gas billÂand, my sympathies on yours, mtny!

Thinking warm thoughts your way,
Skybird

Current temp - 12º

Wind chill this morning -36ºF with -12ºF temp in Aurora, little new snow to speak of. Looking forward to the 40s later in the week...

The cold frame right now is 48ºF with outside temp 3ºF. I'm afraid to look under the hoops.

Dan

It was -10 here in Thornton overnite. SunÂs out now and itÂs up to +5. Just heard on the weather that it was -17 at DIA last nite! ThatÂs what happens when youÂre out there on the plains halfway to Kansas! Only supposed to get into the teens today, but at least it looks warm since the sunÂs out!

Since Saturday IÂve only gotten an inch or two more snow totalÂjust a little bit now and then over the last couple days.

IÂm amazed your cold frame is that warm already, Dan. Let us know what you find when you get up the nerve to look!

How did you make out down there, David? Did you get dumped on?

How much snow did you wind up with, Bonnie?

Happy sunshine,
Skybird

It's important to keep these things in perspective: historically, it's been worse.

Last year, we didn't have a snow cover either, until some 20 inches fell on the 17th and 18th, then the temps dropped to -18° on the 20th. What followed was record snow accumulations.

You sure it wasn't December of '82 when it was so cold, Mtny? That was the time when ice built up on the inside of the greenhouses so heavy I was afraid to walk near the north walls. It could have been December '83, tho'. My sewer pipe froze that year.

The winter of '75/'76 was a cold one (or was it '76/'77?). That was the winter I found a hen hanging upside down from the roost in the barn, froze solid. Or, maybe I disremember.

Now, '68 was SOME winter, just after Christmas . . .

It was '62 when the pipes in the wellhouse froze.

Dang cold in December the year I was born, too! I remember it clearly.

Steve's digits

Here is a link that might be useful: wind and winter calculator

Skybird, we got over a foot where I am, increasing with higher elevations.

My greenhouse didn't freeze, maybe right along the south windows because the trays of basil I brought in from the summer and lined up there look a little peaked. But my, it has been so nice to go out and pick a wad of basil for a sandwich, and we had a pesto the other day.

Right now, at 7 pm, its 5º, and headed south quickly. Minus 3 this morning.

I should pass along a tidbit of useful info:

I get to watch the Canadian News Channel via our TV translator association, and I noticed that every time they show someone shoveling snow, they're always using these scoop things. And so I asked some Canadian friends, and they explained how to use them, and I found one at the local hardware store.

Pretty cool. I just shoveled well over 100 feet of sidewalk with 12-18" snow in 15 minutes. It's a whole lot easier than anything I've done - sort of slide the thing under the snow, tip it up on a balance point and sled it back, then push it off to the side on a 'ramp' you make.

Here is a link that might be useful: snow scoop

for digit pretty sure it was dec 83 could have been 82 but pretty sure...it got down to -53F a day or two before christmas , still the coldest I have personally experienced here... I'll have to look it up I have kept weather phenomenon notes in one of my gardening books since late 70's...although my personal memories go back to 60's here ....foggy though they may be with passage of years

Well, the spinach is still going strong ('Harmony') and some of the lettuce made it too, not sure about the others until one more day...

Looking forward to having a cattle panel hoop setup so I can have two layers of poly and a good covering to get better survivorship and some cabbage.

I can't say I've ever done -53º, but I remember one night in Michigan in the early-mid 1970s where our breath turned to ice in the air and glided down to the ground, glinting in the moonlight. Hope I never see that again...

Dan

I think you are indeed thinking of 1982, Mtny. And, I figure anything within 20 degrees of those extreme temperatures would just about kill me.

Montana averages and extreme temperatures

I see that Montana had quite a few records set 1 or 2 days before Christmas that year. 1982 was also cold but those records were set in January and February.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Comparative Data for the Western States