I'm always glad when the big storms hit on the weekend and are pretty much finished by Sunday afternoon. This one was a doozy, with wave after wave of lake effect squalls hitting my area. The ski resorts love the snow that comes from those storms that pass over the warm water of the Great Salt Lake. It produces a particular kind of powder that Utah is famous for.
As for me, it produced at least a foot of white stuff to be shoveled off the driveway. I have made a total of four passes now, all together. It's snowing again now--great big fluffy flakes--but the driveway is clear and with temperatures just above freezing, it mostly melts when it hits the concrete. I hope I'm through shoveling. At any rate, here is a series of pictures taken yesterday and today.
Saturday morning, we've had maybe 10 inches. It's bitter cold. I fill a bird feeder and bird bath and wait for the storm to subside a bit before shoveling.
Saturday afternoon. things have let up enough to shovel the driveway. It took two passes and then another one later in the day. One more on Sunday (at least so far).
Trees are weighed down. Some parts of the valley have power outages due to trees falling on power lines.
Sunday morning, there is clearing to the west. But there were more squalls to come.
By Sunday afternoon, we keep getting clobbered. Here a 2-point buck suddenly runs into my shot as I grab of pic of the blizzard.
The squalls pass quickly.and don't seem to be sticking to the driveway any longer. The roads now are clear and just wet.
From my Facebook post following the latest outing:
While
out shoveling snow, was treated to a fly-by of about 30 TUNDRA SWANS.
Slightly off-course, I think, due to the lake effect squall also passing
over. Heard the squawking first and then they appeared just visible in
the snowy sky. Thrilling sight and sound. Luckily, I had iBird on my
phone and I immediately looked up the call to be sure I had identified
them correctly. A rare reward for my hard work.
UPDATE:
Imagine
my delight after seeing the Tundra Swans in the heavy snowstorm earlier
in the day, to just by chance see them returning as Jenn and I were
driving up the hill. I made Jenn pull over and I grabbed a very marginal
shot with my phone. Still, how cool is that!? Of course, it wasn't the same ones. The swans are migrating right now, numbering in the hundreds of thousands. They will be here for awhile.
2 comments:
That's the kind of snow i like to see from a distance, beautiful, fluffy and yours. Tundra Swans, never saw them, would like to sometime. Years ago I would be waxing my skis.
Every year we have to get used to the snow all over again. Once we're acclimated, we do fine. The number one adjustment is remembering how to drive in snow. I am a fanatic about good snow tires. It was so cozy yesterday to use the new fireplace. I don't recall how long the Tundra Swans are here -- weeks, I think. Hundreds of thousands of them are here in Utah this time of year.
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