We need some snow. Looking up into the mountains, they’re a lot less white than they should be by this time. That has ramifications that’ll last all year.
And it’s not just a lack of snow. The temperatures have been higher than we’d like to see them, and there’s not a lot of ice out there anywhere. All the ice anglers I know are getting a little grouchy about not being able to go fishing, and to add insult to injury, there have been a bunch of ice fishing derbies canceled for lack of ice.
With the winds we’ve been getting, the temperature’s going to have to drop well below freezing and stay there for a good while before any ice’ll ever be able to form. Any body of water bigger than a bathtub has had permanent whitecaps on it for the last couple of months. Heck, even my toilets in my house are getting tidal waves from the air pressure caused by the wind blowing over the vent pipes.
The lack of snow and the wind may be helpful to the wildlife, at least in the short term. The critters aren’t having to dig through as much snow to find something to eat, and in a lot of places, they’re not having to dig at all. And where there is snow, the wind is helping by pushing that snow around, letting them get to the goodies underneath. But if we don’t get some moisture soon, there won’t be enough water to grow the food they’ll need when they start dropping babies around the woods.
We need that snow, but I’m a little worried it’s all going to hit us at once. It kind of has the feel of it building up out there in the distance, just waiting to drop six feet on us in the space of about an hour. And if the wind doesn’t let up, that’s the makings for a blizzard of Biblical proportions.
But I’ll take it. Bring on the snow. Please.
