The Calm before the storm

So, today dawned bright and beautiful. The temp never dropped below freezing last night so I was able to remove the glacier that had formed on the rear deck.

That is a priority for my safety and Jesse’s since he often leaps before he looks. I’ll grant you that the look on his face when he can’t stop on the ice is funny. But he’s still growing and I’d like to prevent him straining his hips or shoulders with a fall on the deck, or worse yet a tumble down the stairs.

After I finished that chore, we went for our morning walk.

I figured it was a good time to tease you skiers. Conditions are pretty good right now the snow isn’t too packed and you can’t beat 40°F.

I should caution you… Before you grab your gear and come running up the mountain. First off it’s very windy. Second off by 7PM it’s supposed to be snowing. “Great!” You think. Uh not so much, before the snow it’s supposed to be raining. With the already icy conditions adding rain means that the roads will become like greased glass. Then the snowfall prediction is anywhere from 11″ to 17″ altitude dependent.

This means that chain requirements will be in force, and low slung vehicles probably won’t be able to make it up the hill. This storm is supposed to last into Saturday and I’m sure that the snow plows will be doing their best but turnouts may be blocked off by piles of snow so you won’t be able to pull off the road to put your chains on even if you’ve got ’em. Those little cable things are probably not going to cut it either.

I’m guessing that the I-15 will be closed at some point during the storm and that Sunday the roads up here might be passable. But do you really want to spend 5 hours sitting in traffic so that you can ski on crowded slopes, or play in the snow for a few hours, then spend another 5 hours getting home so you can go to work on Monday?

I didn’t think so…

As for us locals, we’ll we’re all making runs to grocery stores and picking up stuff that we’ll need to hunker down. We’re doing errands and trying to take care of little things before the storm hits.

I’m heading out myself in a few minutes to join the fray.

I’ll leave you with these peaceful pictures so you’ll know what you’re missing.

Yeah, I’ve got a bit of a cruel streak.