Winter Storm Linus

We got our first snow of the season on November 1st.  From then, it would snow on and off, stick around for a few days, and then eventually melt, since we still maintained a temperature just at freezing.  After a snowless Christmas, it started to snow at the very end of our winter break on January 4th and I haven't seen my back yard since!  Through January we continued to get colder.  We would have snow showers of an inch or two every other day or so that slowly accumulated.  It was just enough snow to enjoy all the winter activities, but not so much that it would be a problem.  Jacob would plow the driveway in the morning and it would be good for a few days.

Then on February 1st Winter Storm Linus came.  Over the day the storm dumped snow across Sarnia.  We had areas of snow drift that were as deep as 4 feet.  That's when we learned how hard it really is to deal with winter.  Jacob couldn't even get the snow plow out of the garage because of the mountain of snow that had drifted between our front door and driveway.  He spent the pre-dawn hours trying to dig our way out of the house.

Our back patio is built about 1.5 feet off the ground due to the basement.  Because of the way the snow drifted there was about 3 feet of snow on the back deck and you couldn't tell where the patio ended.

After Jacob got the driveway cleared and the men on the street worked together to get our street open, it was time to play!  School was canceled since the buses couldn't run and Brenna was itching to get into all that snow.

 

Brenna trying to walk through our front yard.

Of course all that snow is still with us along with at all the rest that has fallen since then.  February has been extremely cold with our lowest temperature reaching -29F and wind chills are consistently sub-zero.  I wouldn't go as far as to say that I've acclimated to the climate, but we have learned how to better manage things.  You never leave the house without weather-rated coats and boots.  Scarves, toques, and gloves are all a necessity.  Brenna has practically spent the last two months snow pants.  The trick is no exposed skin.  Even still, Brenna did suffer her first case of frost-bite after she took a nose-dive on her toboggan and ended up with a face full of snow.

As of now, I'm ready for winter to be over.  We've been at or below freezing for nearly 3 months and the cold is getting to be very tiring.  I would be satisfied if we could get warm enough for the snow to melt.  By the time spring gets here 40F will feel like a heat wave!