monadnocks

This afternoon I was in New Ipswich, NH between 3 and 5-ish. All the south and east facing car windows had a fairly good coating of ice. The long pine needles were visibly iced too.

As someone who is going to have to go from AFN to ORH on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I'm really OK with lower snow totals. Sorry folks who want another snowmaggedon but the higher storm totals would make life harder and/or more expensive for a bunch of people.

I'm further east in the Monadnock area but you're spot on describing my the temperature and snowfall too. There's usually a good ten or more degree separation between here and Nashua or Concord. Spring flower bloom a week earlier in downtown Wilton. And the elevation changes are significant. I used to live across from Crotched Mountain Ski area and the snowfall was noticeably higher than the center of town, and that's not a huge elevation change. A bunch of us were already thinking that there might be no snow, or at least afterschool activities on Wednesday.

I'm usually completely good for interesting weather but next weekend has a ton of things going on where I'm going to be partially responsible for a bunch of teenagers. And you might say "Well, they should understand that walking home from the school in -10 isn't going to be fun" or "You definitely need to be visible walking by the side of the road in a snowstorm" but that might be an exercise in frustration. I'm so glad that D8-9 is often just a dream.

My trees are definitely coated in about .25 inch of ice.

Congratulations on a Christmas to remember!

So if you have any who believe in bragging to friends about the epic cold, you might have a win there. Otherwise, I'd just recommend you make sure that everyone has (or will have) hand / foot warmers, neck gaiters, hats, long johns, etc. If any are interested in names on gear, you can get some really nice technical winter clothes that will make them smile. And with the exception of the sleigh riding, they'll be moving so they'll be getting warm that way. Good sunglasses or ski googles are probably a must too. If you remember what it's like to come in from a morning or afternoon of skiing, you'll remember that they will be ravenous! I would make sure that you plan on making sure they've had enough to drink and eat at fairly regular intervals. Getting a headache from not hydrating enough will put a damper on any fun. If all else fails, make sure that there's plenty of other young adults to interact with. The power of distraction is intense!

Trees on the lines on fire in Harrisville. Trees on the lines in Swanzey. 31.5 degrees here at about 800 feet. Fun times!

You know that a Prius is not known for it's snow handling, right? We have 3.5" here with 19.6 degrees.

Yesterday I had to drive down to Wilbraham for a family thing. I think there was a bit of snow around the Quabbin but once we descended to Belchertown, nada. Meanwhile, we still have snow, the driveway is a mix of ice, frozen dirt (dirt driveway) and packed snow. And while we may not get enough ice to take down trees or branches, we may get enough for someone to slide their way into a tree or power pole. We filled the extra generator gas cans today.

This does not thrill me. I'm not traveling but will be hosting family and a couple friends. Planning for no one to come? Or planning for them to end up staying?

4.5 inches here.

Great photo! It's 36 and raining here. No photos from here.

Know any neighbors with large chest freezers? We have one and if the power's out for a while, our neighbor's start knocking on the door. During the ice storm, I stored 2 or 2 neighbor's frozen food. If you end up with a homeowner's claim, the lost food can be added into that. All I can say is that I'm glad we had our roof redone this fall! It really needed it and instead of just picking up lots of branches, I'm sure I would have been finding shingles on the lawn too.

Power came back on here around 5:30. I expected school to be closed because our district still has significant outages. But it’s on with a two hour delay. I hope the roads aren’t too bad.