Snow Days of Winter

– Posted in: Weather
4 comments

Not the Valentines Day love-in I was expecting, this was a storm for the record books. Under a state of emergency all day and through the night, my county was closed down and everyone was told to stay off the roads. When it was over the snow totals came in. My little, almost unknown, town of Roseboom “won” the snow total race with an “official” 38 inches.

“Yeah, right,” I thought while looking out the window. Maybe if you were lucky to only have that much. Many of my neighbors and myself had more and it depended on which side of the street you were living. It is days later and I’m still trying to clear away some areas and, of course, the daily wind blow. And don’t even ask about getting my truck stuck.

But I was fully informed for a storm of this size because I have a secret weapon: weather radio.

My town is equidistant – roughly 60 miles – from three metropolitan areas and none of them provide accurate or specific coverage for where I live. The Internet is equally lacking, trying to give me information from those same metro zones.

Sponsored by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), weather radio is my solution and has proven itself in giving me timely and reliable forecasts. In addition to snowstorms, it also gives me alerts for thunderstorms, flooding, wind warnings, and other weather events. A special radio is required to receive forecasts. Mine came from Radio Shack but there are other sources here.

So far it’s been doing its job of keeping me safe and relatively sane, even if nature decides to bless me with more snow.

About the Author

I started in 1977 growing plants at wholesale nurseries and a wholesale seed company in California. In 1992 I started volunteering (in the nursery, of course!) at Strybing Arboretum in San Francisco where I met my wife. My wife is originally from upstate and we moved here in 2002. It took at least two years of living here for me to fully understand our property and to take advantage and work with our microclimate. Although growing zone maps show us to be in 5, we are realistically a 4b. I am inordinately proud, in a smarmy kind of way, of how many of the plants we brought with us have thrived. Coming from a zone 9 has been quite an adjustment for all of us. But we are thriving and enjoy the beauty and what the land gives us everyday. USDA Hardiness Zone: 4b/5a Location: rural; Central Leatherstocking near Cooperstown, New York Geographic type: riverine valley Soil type: Chenango alluvial – shallow clay and highly stony Experience level: 28 years professionally wholesale and retail, no longer in the business Particular interests: native plants and ecosystems, flowering and berry producing shrubs, home-grown foods, maples, birches, willows, ornamental grasses, filipendulas, iris, ligularias, persicarias, asclepias, artemisia, asters, arisaemas, hardy geraniums, euphorbias, eupatoriums, origanums, lysimachias, eryngiums, lilies, and visiting nurseries

In the end, this may be the most important thing about frost: Frost slows us down. In spring, it tempers our eagerness. In fall, it brings closure and rest. In our gotta-go world–where every nanosecond seems to count–slowness can be a great gift. So rather than see Jack Frost as an adversary, you could choose to greet him as a friend.

~Philip Harnden in A Gardener’s Guide to Frost: Outwit the Weather and Extend the Spring and Fall Seasons

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John September 9, 2007, 12:41 pm

38 inches of snow…. I Live in the leeward side of the Rockies…thus making great Garden Statues of sorts… But we don’t get that much snow..

jb

Marie Suzanne March 17, 2007, 1:03 am

I love the snow pictures! Because we live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, we have just as much snow as in your area. In fact we have use for all that snow, Michigan Tech University students make statues out of it and people come to see them for miles around. Nice tourist attraction! But I can’t wait for Spring.!!!
P/s the sunset picture “Lucy in the skies picture “made me feel warmer!
I think we are about the same age since you can remember that song! Marie Suzanne

kerri February 25, 2007, 7:14 am

We had our fair share of snow (we’re a little NW of your town), but you beat us! Do you have any photos to share with us, or were you too busy digging out?
Your weather radio is a handy thing to keep you well informed.
I guess if we had to be snowed-in, Valentine’s Day is a good day for it. Except for the poor florists 🙂

Kathy Purdy February 18, 2007, 2:33 pm

I was wondering how you made out, as I was pretty sure you were in the snowiest part of the storm. But I thought what you got for weather information when you type your zip code at various internet weather sites would be the same as what would come over the NOAA channel. Aren’t they all getting their weather from the same source?