The Mountain-Ear
The voice of the Peak to Peak
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| Blog: Wind and Weather |
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| Wednesday, 04 November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Janette K. Taylor Sometimes the aftermath is worse than the event. We had a good 2 – 2 ½ foot snow up here last week. It was beautiful, made for some scary driving, and formed a great excuse to hole up with a book by the fire. However, what followed wasn't so fun – high winds for three days, which re-drifted the snow, and made our driveways look as if they hadn't been plowed yet. The problem is, when the snow stops falling, one is expected to get out and do one's usual work, and yet being outside was substantially more miserable after the storm than during it, thanks to the wind. When people talk about harsh winters up here in the mountains, they usually talk about the snow. But it really is the wind that is the hazard, since it creates the quick melting/freezing cycle that puts ice on the roads, and makes the wind chill so very cold. I remember one time, when I was working in the bookstore in town, and a Realtor brought an eager young couple in, showing them around the town. They cheerfully informed me that they were going to move to Nederland, and how excited they were, and how confident they were of dealing with the winters. I looked at the Realtor and said “did you tell them about the wind?” She looked daggers and me and made hushing gestures. I guess she hadn't told them. I wonder if they stayed once they found out. There is still talk about “wind madness.” When Nederland was essentially a tent city during the mining heyday, people spent much more time outside than they do now. Weeks upon weeks of high winds would drive people crazy. It's not hard to imagine why. One of my neighbors tells me about moving up here and within a day or so we had two weeks of “horizontal snow,” and they found themselves wondering what they had done. Well, today is calmer, and most of the snow has blown off of the trees, and while there is still white on the ground, the town is languishing in the aftermath of a big snow storm – which means lots and lots of mud, occasional gusts of wind and 40s and 50s in temperature. Now we need to gear up for the next winter blast, which the weather experts say is just around the corner. Welcome to the mountains, newcomers. It takes some hardiness to get through the long winter with cheer.
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