More Snow for Maine

Another day, another snowstorm in Maine. This winter has been almost unbelievable after the limited snowfall of the last few years. The thing that made this storm different was that this snow was light, fluffy, and easy to move out of the way. With another four inches of snow though, where are we supposed to put it?

The snow started late in the afternoon. By midnight, I decided it would be a good idea to start shoveling, in case tomorrow it would get soggy and heavy like in several of the past storms. I was nothing less than delighted to see that it was very light and easy to move. There was no loss of power, and no real problem driving. All in all, this was a tame storm. It seems that every time a storm is expected to be big, Maine gets the lighter end of it.

The whole house rumbles and rattles when the plow truck drives by. The only part of the truck visible over the snowbanks is the flashing yellow lights. The most important thing they're doing, as far as the road conditions go, it spreading sand and salt on the road. Most people are unaware, but dirt roads tend to get terribly icy during storms and after them. There have been times when the road was completely covered by a thick layer of ice sheer enough to give my car no traction at all. When fluffy snow is added on top of that sort of ice, like in the driveway, it makes it much, much more slippery. Proof of this lies in the imprint of my posterior in the snowbank next to my car. We don't have much driveway left by now, anyway.

By the time the snow ended, it was still dark. It glittered in the light like the millions of tiny ice crystals it's made of. It's the perfect kind of snow for winter sports lovers. Ski slopes will be nicely groomed and snowmobile trails will be even better than they were before. Proof positive of the snowmobiles is that I've been hearing them all day and well into the night from right in my living room!

As we near the end of winter, we hear about records broken, but as far as temperature goes, this hasn't been a very cold winter. The precipitation has been what it was years ago, and Mainers will get used to this being normal again. Everyone who sold their snowmobiles in the last few years, disgusted with the lack of snow, will start buying them again and ski resorts will not have to close, if the trend keeps up.

So, Mainers wait for the thaw to start, for mud season to begin (we don't call it spring he-ah!) and to be able to see past the snowbanks at intersections. With any luck, March will bring thawing and not more snowfall, though that wouldn't be unheard of.

Photos were taken during and after the storm, and display the snow and the lack of places to put it, now that there's been so much.