Snowmageddon

 [Sunset last night]












Nothing has been posted for some time, not because of sloth or disregard by Mr. Fuzzy - there simply has been no occurrence worth your time in reading. That abruptly changed a week ago, however, when a near record set of storms dropped 22-26 inches of snow on Floyd county in just 36 hours. The National Weather Service in Blacksburg noted it was the third deepest single snowfall on record for both Blacksburg and Roanoke. Floyd county was the recipient of 22-26 inches; there has been no official weather reporting station in the county since 1941 so there is no data to determine the status of this within history.

  The center "bullseye" included most of Floyd County. The snowfall was so intense that all of the cats, including Buster (of Norwegian Forest Cat heritage), decided to take a two-day cat nap rather than romp in  the snow.

The first storm, the major contributor of snow, began on Wednesday afternoon and lasted until about midday Thursday. A brief respite raised false hopes then the second storm struck with substantial winds and several more inches.

[ominous sunset with the second front coming]

[my county road after being plowed by a neighbor the day before, drifted over by winds of storm #2]







Clearing the 1,700 foot driveway was a major task. The Ford 1700 tractor is small but possesses four wheel drive. However, the snow was so deep that multiple passes had to be made, skimming about 10 inches of snow at a time - otherwise it just came back over the top of the plow blade. Every fifteen feet or so, the the accumulated snow had to be pushed to the side (while being certain the tractor didn't go over the embankment with it...). Very slow going. It took about six hours to open the drive after the first storm.







After the second storm, with new accumulation and considerable drifting, there was a new problem: the

snow banks created by the first clearing prevented pushing new snow off on either side. Now the snow walls had to be skimmed THREE passes at a time and the new snow pushed off the track. At the head of the driveway, where it meets the county road, the drifting was over three feet deep - the tractor simply sat too low to clear it. Thank goodness for neighbors - the same gentleman who plowed out the country road came back to reopen it and made a short diversion onto the driveway to open the last fifty feet. Bless his heart and his diesel!









There were surely abundant photographic opportunities but Mr. Fuzzy was too worn out from snow clearing (much had to be done with a shovel around the car and the turn-around) to walk in the deep snow. Below are a few images which may be enjoyed by the reader...