The Linda Letters by Gabriel O'Sullivan: Four Seasons In One Day

11 January 2024

1102

R. Linda:

The day before yesterday we were under a winter storm warning that sounded like the fury of hell was about to be unleashed. Extremely strong winds with freezing temperatures, 16 to 18" of snow possible, flooding from overly saturated ground, followed by torrential rain that could leave 4" to 6" of water that could turn to ice over the snow, and the next day sunshine with warmer temps.

Our weatherman usually gives us the Denver, Colorado weather so we never really know if what he says is true for us. This time it was. Yes, he had a hit after how many years he's been doing the New Hampshire weather which is really the Denver weather? This once!

We heard that there was torrential rain to our south with tornados brewing and water spouts between the southeastern states and the midwestern ones, with snow and ice mixture to the northwest of us. All of it coming our way and turning into snow by the time it gets to us.

Like every weather watch or warning, the locals left for the local Market Bucket to stock up because we always get power outages and that's the only given ever. The hardware stores put out shovels with all types of handles for those who felt they needed to stock up. Snowblowers were in the larger hardware box stores and the large freight stores had ploughs for your vehicle if you so needed one of those. Oh yes, everyone skurries around like Chicken Little and then nothing comes of it and all these implements of help are returned to the stores the next day . . . until the next snow alarm and it is Groundhog Day all over again.

Now I have shovels with the usual straight handles, and one each for the three kiddos. I don't have a snowblower because I have a gravel walk and driveway, but I do have a plough, a snow plough on a beat-up old car that is only good for ploughing. The driveway is like two football fields long, and if I don't plough it, we go nowhere.

I was all set (as I usually am) and half believing the weather predicted would come, but hoping not. Well, we started off with hazy sunshine that turned to ominous dark clouds for most of the morning, which was broken up by big fat snowflakes that the locals tell me are a sign that nothing much will accumulate. That didn't come true because those flakes suddenly disappeared and a steady stream of hail started hitting the roof and decks and this stuff was being bandied about by the winds which were gaining strength. That didn't last long because then we got steady snow all day into the night (accumulation 14") with freezing temps, winds gaining strength (35 to 40 mph and in some cases 60), and if you looked out the window it was a white out until it got dark and then still you could see nothing of what was happening outside.

The electricity started to flicker, I had the presence of mind to get wood in for the fireplace and started that in case the power went out, though I have a generator so that wasn't a big concern. The winds howled like banshees around the house the entire night and let up some the next morning, but then it clouded back up and the wind returned with a vengeance, snow was falling again. I got one lovely next morning photo and twenty minutes later, we were back in the mix. Around 3 a.m. the whistling winds stopped and a pounding was heard on the decks. The rain had come in, and the temps had gone up, but the in-between mess of a mix of snow and rain made ICE! The rain took over the snow and it poured like a tsunami had washed over the land and you could hear the ice crashing off the roof like bombs going off. I tell ya it was not a night of restful sleep.

The next morning the sun was out, the ground was flooded, the snow was melting, and the temperature was getting warm! It was the craziest thing to live through. We had all four seasons at once, including a rainbow in January with snow on the ground. Unheard of. Are we done now?

Apparently not, more weather coming in Friday into Saturday and mid-week more weather just as horrible and diverse as what we just witnessed. But the locals say it isn't global warming, nah, it's just the way it is. OK then.

Here are some pics for you: