Everything in extreme.
That has been the story of winter in the United States. No exception here in upstate New York, where normally February is something I dread. Below zero wind chills, ice and snow, with no respite.
Except for this year.
Exhibit 1: the website of the Golden Snowball award, a friendly competition between five upstate New York cities for the most annual snowfall. Mind you, we are PROUD of our ability to withstand snow. We might as well be proud - there's nothing we can do to stop the snow.
Back to the Golden Snowball, the person who runs the Golden Snowball website almost cancelled the contest this year (and I'm not sure he was kidding), claiming he had nothing to write about.
Exhibit 2: a recent blog post about a road trip, complete with my pictures of Southern Tier non snow.
We are on the edge of the New York snowbelt, and although snow has mainly missed us, it has not missed the snowbelt itself. Yet, even they are below average.
I did find snow on that trip to the Syracuse area. So as a public service so we don't forget what it looks like, I want to share some of my pictures now as a Winter Wonder. (People living in Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas, among other places, feel free to avert your eyes. You've suffered enough with your severe weather.)
LaFayette, New York.
A Trader Joes food store in a Syracuse suburb has a snow pole, where they gleefully post their cumulative snow totals.
As for us in the Binghamton, New York area about 70 miles from some of these pictures, just remember that Golden Snowball chart.
May it continue that way. So many of us are wondering when the "big one" will come for us. I won't be surprised if we are pounded with snow in March. We keep saying "it has to come, eventually."
How has your weather been recently?
We haven't had any snow to speak of since before Thanksgiving. Lots of rain yesterday. Fluctuating temps. A really weird winter so far in southeast Michigan.
ReplyDeleteGood job on this thank you for sharing
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of winds... Oh man. There were a couple days of gusts. There are still broken trees everywhere. Seriously. There's one picture on FB of a huge tree that clobbered a van. I guess the guy in the van is okay, but hospitalized.
ReplyDeleteGosh! Those are pictures that really make me freeze.
ReplyDeleteSo, my post complements yours today. OK. There's an E in that word- not an I.
ReplyDeleteThe country side where i reside now is growing hot day by day and i see this pics and wish for some snow fall here aswell
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. It's great that you made the best of the extreme weather!
ReplyDeleteI dread cold but I love, love snow. :) I loved that snow picture above. We had only a drizzle of snow one weekend and that was it. I am not complaining, considering how bad it can get when it snows non stop. :)
ReplyDeleteLove that picture with snow and the house- it sure has its beauty - howeever cold and freezing it might be... We have snow too, but sun in between, so its pretty nice. Im getting ready for spring though..
ReplyDeleteI used to love icicles as a kid. The bigger, the better - you know the really deadly ones that get about 6 inches in diameter at the root? :) I never understood why my dad freaked out about those. Now that I have kids, I look at pictures like the one you posted, and gasp - I get it. Heavy ice daggers, just hovering over your child's head like that. OMG. We thought nothing of them as kids. I still remember the taste of them - another thing that curdles the grown-ups' blood, if you think too hard about where the varied flavors come from. "Eau du roof," or "Eau du rain gutter"? Snow forts, snow huts, snowball fights - I miss being a kid in snow. I am not sure I'm eager to learn to DRIVE on the stuff. (Hey, at least you don't have to mow the lawn! Wait, at least I don't have to shovel the snow out of the driveway!)
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