It has not been the apocalypse. Not “Snowmageddon.” Nonetheless, as I write this, we are approaching three feet of accumulated snow. It’s not over, either. Depending on who you are following, we’ve got quite a few hours more of storm to navigate. More snow on Friday and maybe more on Monday. An awful lot of white stuff.

So let’s do good news first.

Snow is crystallized water. When it melts, it usually does it slowly enough to be absorbed by the aquifer. Snow is better for the water supply than heavy rains.

This snow, though huge, came late. We got through most of January without any significant snowfall. In one more month, it will be the end of February and three weeks after that, the vernal equinox. In other words, spring. Winter arrived with a bang, but it will be a brief season. Not like the years when it starts snowing in November and we don’t see the ground again until April. No matter how much snow we get between now and whenever, they can’t take away the extra weeks we got where the ground was clear and the landscape was not a frozen wasteland.

The unfortunate part is self-evident.

A lot of snow means a lot of snow-removal. We hope we can find someone to plow us out. Eventually, I’m sure we will, but we are poor, so we are not high on the rankings of places to plow first. The guys with plows will dig out people with fatter checkbooks before they get to us. I could complain about that, but I also understand the economics which apply. Some of these guys depend on the money they earn in the winter to keep them through warmer months, so they hustle while there’s business.

Someone will help us. I just don’t know when. Meanwhile, it’s beautiful. A bit arctic. The snow is deep. This is the most snow I’ve ever seen from a single storm. It may be a record for the region. Still, there’s no arguing with how pretty it is.

Categories: Blackstone Valley, Nature, New England, Photography, snow, Winter

Tags: blizzard, New England, Photography, seasons, snow, vernal equinox, winter