last blast?

The second major blizzard of the season wrapped up this morning as I busted my way through 2 foot plus snowdrifts in my driveway with the tractor mounted blower. Though it was hard to tell through the 45 mph winds, the National Weather Service indicated we received 10.5" of new snow in our area over the last two days. All of the remote sensors in the region indicated far less accumulation, but that is likely because the snow quickly drifted away after falling, if it even reached the ground at all. Regardless, there's still 24" of snow on the ground, the wind is pounding at 18-25 mph, and with an air temperature of -10°F, it is putting the windchill in the upper -30°s. My face definitely took the brunt of it this morning while clearing snow.

Views from the dashboard, late afternoon March 10, 2009:




The good news to all this is that temps have been forecasted to break freezing this weekend and through next week. The NWS expects the spring snow melt to commence. Was this was winter's last hurrah? I can feel it's icy grip loosening with each passing day. It's possible that we may be snow free by the end of the month. Even though area lakes will not clear of ice until May, spring is not so far away; there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Time to get geared up for fishing.