Winter is Coming 2019/2020

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First Snow


Yesterday morning as Hubby and I were drinking coffee, I glanced out the living room window and  could see a flake of snow falling, here and there, very intermittently.

"Look honey, it's snowing!" I exclaimed. He turned from the TV to take a look.

"Look at that, it sure is." he replied. "I'm going to go hunting tonight."

"Ok."

And we went back to watching television like it was nothing. Less than a week ago we were on a boat in 70 degree weather, and now it's snowing. That's how weather goes this time of year.

This morning we woke to actual snow on the ground and I took some pictures.


It's not snow the way we have snow in the real winter, but the contrast of the fresh white with the fall colors lit by the rising sun just made my morning. It's a chilly 34 degrees right now and I could see my breath as my fingers got cold taking pictures.


My poor marigolds are done for the season. They had quite a presence in my backyard garden. I have to say goodbye to them anyway. Hubby and I are moving into a new house in a nearby town and we've got maybe a week or so left in this one. There will be plenty of space for fresh marigolds in the spring.


We're leaving our fire pit too- Hubby built this one with large rocks he found in the area. The whole region is old abandoned mining operations, so there's plenty of large waste rock laying about. I think he plans to build a new pit at our new house too. We intend that one to be our forever home together, so while this one is going to be difficult to say goodbye to, the new one is full of opportunities. There will be more about the new house in another post- moving while pregnant- yikes.


WINTER PREDICTIONS

 So since winter has announced it's intentions to start, I like to make some winter predictions. My great-grandpa used to be scary-accurate at this (spoiler alert, I am not). He'd spend all fall watching the squirrels and chipmunks as they gathered nuts. He'd keep tabs on where the leaves would fall in relationship to tree trunks and how the wind blew. I have no idea what his formula was- and this is all conjecture by my dad. Great-grandpa, Nick, died before I was born so I never actually met the man. I get the impression he became larger than life after he passed- mostly from stories like this. Then again though, them old timers back then really had their stake in how the weather affected their lives. Grandpa Nick raised ten kids and fed his family with things they grew themselves. Our growing seasons around here are not exactly bumper crops.

Continuing in the tradition of Grandpa Nick, I'm going to make a few predictions about this winter. I haven't studied any woodland creatures, I make my predictions by gut feelings. And baby is kicking right now so my gut isn't exactly sure what we feel.

- The fall is going to be rainy/snowy and dreary (lack of sunlight)
- First snowstorm will be in mid-November
- My dad won't get a deer this deer season
- There will be a weird thaw in December
- There will be snow for Christmas (this is a free-be, we've never not had snow for Christmas)
- January will be snow every day, not always a lot, but every single day
- Spring will be late- early May, though there will be several false springs beforehand
- Snow total will reach approximately 312 inches


I'll come back to this post and update in the spring. We'll see how accurate I am. Do you have any snow predictions? What do you think the snow total will be? Tell us below in the comments.

Until next time,
Emma Leigh



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