We had the snowiest December on record up here in NH. I thought we wouldn't see the ground again until April and maybe even May rains washed them away. We were talking about what we would do on our ski trip with the guys at the shop and I suggested ice skating. One of the guys piped up and said that would be a bad idea. He works for us but also his family's dairy farm, as the town's animal control officer, plow truck driver, and as our volunteer Fire Chief so we all tuned in. Apparently the warm September and October then sudden deep snow in November meant that the ground had not had a chance to freeze. Nor had the lake waters. The snow was acting as an insulator he said. This puzzled me since we had had two to four feet of snow on the ground for nearly two months. This stuff usually takes forever to melt and the ground has always been as hard as a rock underneath. His theory was put to the test this last ten days. We had our January warm up that comes most years. It got up to the forties, then a few days in the fifties. We usually enjoy this time to clear the roads, wash our cars, and catch up on the store's scheduling. This year was different. All of that snow we had? Melted. All. Of. It. I have never seen that out here. We had rain and flood warnings. Walking on the grass was like walking on a soaked sponge.
Today is the day that is put to bed. It is a Nor'Easter (like the eighteenth this year I think...) that will dump about 12-16 inches on us today. Then snow again on Friday, and a drop into the deep below zero freezer starting again on Sunday. Now I have to recut the cross country trails and load up the boiler again!
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