Super Saturday Snowstorm of 2009

So about a week ago there was talk about

a huge snowstorm for this area, if everything

aligned just right. Well, it did, and we got a huge

snowstorm for the Mid-Atlantic area.

The storm started after 1:00 a.m. early Saturday

morning. By about 10:00 a.m. we were just shy

of 10" of snow. At 6:00 p.m. we had 18" of snow.

At 10:00 p.m. we topped out at 21" of snow.

That's the most snow from one storm since we have

lived here on the East Coast. Most locations broke records

for the most snow in December.

Here are several pictures I took during the storm

on Saturday, and today during storm clean-up.

Saturday morning.

I have a wooden 12" ruler that I attached to a

scrap 2x4 a few years ago to measure the snow.

The ruler is that little blue thing sticking out

of the snow in front of the patio chair.

Here is is a close-up of the snow gauge

showing about 10" of snow.

Uh... Houston, we have a problem!

I can't find my snow gauge.

So, here is a shot of the house across the street

during a heavy burst of snow.

The cat was getting cabin fever, especially since

he couldn't see outside because of the deep snow.

So we put a chair by the sliding door so he could

see why we were not letting him outside.

I found a new snow gauge.

I have never had to get a taller snow gauge

for Delaware snowstorms.

I know it registers just under 20", but I took this

picture at around 9:30 on Sunday morning.

So I will attribute this lesser than 21" amount (that

I mentioned above) to the snow settling overnight.

The only thing this pot is growing is snow.

That lump of snow in the foreground is a mum.

The lump of snow in the background is a patio chair.

The lump of snow on the shelf is a plant.

The snow piled up against the sliding door.

I took this picture from an attic dormer window.

Lots of snow everywhere.

That cleared out path is from Heidi this morning.

She had to work today to make up some time.

She had an officer pick her up since our cars

were in the garage, snowed in.

That is about a foot of snow on the driveway.

And that is after I shoveled the driveway of about

a foot of snow yesterday!

It took me a couple of hours to shovel snow during

the storm yesterday. And when I was done, the section

that I started shoveling had about 2" of new snow on it.

Note the snow on the roof of the house across the street.

I will talk about that below.

The circle at the end of our road. The town plowed

this real good. The problem is that down our street

they just made one path, and of course it was closer

to the other side of the road.

Oh boy, that means more shoveling for me!

So when I opened the garage door to go out

and shovel snow this morning, this is what it looked like.

Where is that dang Brian!

He picked the wrong winter to go on his mission.

Brian is a great worker, and we worked side-by-side

shoveling the driveway over the years.

My back really misses him this weekend!

The front walk after I got done shoveling it.

That pile of snow is about 3 feet high.

Another view of the front walk.

Those are solar lights buried in the snow on the left.

The front porch.

Even though it is covered, it did not

escape the snow.

Some of the front yard and front walk

with more of the snowy porch in the background.

Proof that Katie actually helped me shovel snow

for awhile. A couple of the neighbor boys helped too.

One of the boys was sent over by his dad. He helped me

quite a bit. I had Katie make some cookie bars and take

them over to him for all his help.

A picture of me standing next to one of the

several huge snow piles made from the snow

we shoveled off the driveway.

One sidewalk down...

... And one to go!

Part of the finished project.

Uh, no mail today.

Another angle of the shoveled driveway.

Finally done!!!

That little patch of snow on the left side of the road

is gonna stay put. I am too tired, and it is from the

snow plow. It is all compacted and full of ice.

That mountain of snow on the left is almost 6' high.

Ah, the sidewalk on the other side of the driveway is done!

A snowdrift. Lots of wind with the Nor'easter we got.

I don't think I will be using this gate anytime soon.

And no using the swing set for a while either.

Good thing I don't need anything from the shed!

A view from the other side of the deck.

The snow sure was deep in the backyard as I

was getting these pictures. I am not sure the deck is

the best place to measure snow. It seem much deeper

out here on the lawn, although I didn't measure it.

I'm thinking that maybe the house creates a

snow shadow for the deck.

No takers for the birdbath today.

So much for taking a shortcut under the arbor.

A front view of the house.

Not much snow on the roof.

The house faces northeast, and that is the direction

that the storm winds came from. All the west sides of the

houses have tons of snow, including ours.

That is okay by me not having little snow on the front roof.

That means less chance of ice-damming. Ice damming allows

puddles of water from melting snow to seep under shingles

and penetrate the house. We had that happen years ago and

fortunately Heidi was home and able to take care of it.

We did have water leaking from our master bedroom ceiling.

Some people will come home from work and find their whole ceiling

soaked and on the floor.

Another angle of the front of the house.

Maybe some Christmas card material for next year.

Looking up our street.

Though you can't see it, our house

is on the left in the foreground.

And one final picture of the house.

Good thing December is usually a light snow month

around here. February is usually the snowiest.

I think it's gonna be a long winter.