Winter has made a comeback here on the Palouse. After several weeks of warm weather into the 50’s, the temperatures have cooled down, but the precipitation remains. The snow began Monday night, giving us only an inch or two, not much to worry about. But the snow continued throughout Tuesday dropping another two inches on Moscow. However, for every inch of snow that Moscow gets, Deary gets 2-3 times that, and so we had about 6 inches on our driveway when I got home Tuesday night. I got to use our new snow blower for the first time to clear the driveway. The snow continued Tuesday night with a light dusting, and continued Wednesday and into the night. When I woke up this morning, there was yet more snow on the ground. I shoveled our little patio twice last night, but it made no difference. The driveway might be deep enough to bring the snow blower back out.
The Palouse is pretty again with its blanket of light, fluffy snow. Our week’s accumulation at the house might reach 12 inches, though that’s a stretch. I’m more excited about what’s happening in the higher elevations. Silver Mountain has reported 24 inches of new snow in the past 48 hours and is reporting a snow depth of over 100 inches at the summit. All this fresh powder is begging me to utilize it while my bank account is holding me back. So I’m hoping the cold weather lasts and that by Spring break, maybe I’ll have recovered enough funds to get one more ski trip in before winter leaves us. Until then, I may also put my snow shoes on and find a few peaks to ascend.