Nature

A Jolly Good Storm

45 Comments

Not long ago, on BBC News, I heard a reporter state that President Trump had had “a jolly good rant.” That certainly was one way of putting it.

“Jolly good” has stuck with me, and Clif and I now use it to describe various things, such as my kitchen after I am done cooking—a jolly good mess—to yesterday’s first big storm of the season. Hence the title of this piece.

This particular storm—named Harper, I believe—swept across the country from the West to the Midwest. Harper then headed to the Northeast, leaving lots of snow and ice, delaying flights, and bringing the usual mayhem that such a storm delivers.

The predictions for central Maine were dire: up to eighteen inches of snow, followed by wind and freezing rain. As I’ve noted before,  Mainers dread hearing the words “freezing rain,” which can cause power outages, sometimes for a week or more.  We can take the snow, but oh do we hate to lose our power, especially when it’s very cold, as it was yesterday and continues to be so today.

Back in the day, in the 1960s and 1970s, when I was young, ice storms were very uncommon in Maine. I can remember one, when I was eleven or twelve, and I was so enchanted by the sparkling branches that I rode on my snowmobile and took pictures of what looked like a fairyland to me. (I’ve always had a fanciful mind.) If we lost our power, it didn’t make an impression on me, so it couldn’t have been for very long, if indeed we lost it at all.

How different from today, where every storm in the winter brings the potential of freezing rain. Fortunately, most times there’s just a thin glaze of ice, but still, we hate and fear freezing rain.

I am happy to report that while Storm Harper brought sleet, which ticked against our windows, he did not bring freezing rain. Also, we only got eight inches of snow, well below the predicted amount of eighteen inches. I know this is bragging, but for most Mainers, eight inches of snow is nothing to worry about, especially if there isn’t freezing rain.

So all in all, it was indeed a jolly good storm.

Still, there was clean-up to be done. Even with only eight inches of snow, getting out the front door was not easy.

Our shovel, which we keep handy,  was tucked in the snow, as were our blue buckets of sand and salt..

Once outside on the deck, I could survey our winter wonderland.

Finally, here is Clif with Little Green.

Today, we have a bit more cleaning to do. A couple of inches of snow fell last night, and as it always does, the town’s snowplow has left a ridge of snow at the end of the driveway.

Winter is definitely here.

45 thoughts on “A Jolly Good Storm”

  1. Sounds like we have the same totals. The wind today has been packing a punch, and I am trying to get up the gumption for a walk. Who knows how far I’ll get before I bag it? 😉

  2. Thanks for the beautiful pics and sharing of a happy childhood memory. I know cleaning up is a lot of work, but freshly fallen snow is so beautiful. I can only imagine the fresh air mingled with the smell of pine…enjoy!

  4. Such a different scene in Maine – it has been snow-free and mild here, but colder weather is on its way. I love the description of your childhood memories – the first time I ever saw freezing snow was last March – it was lethal but utterly magical to look at.
    I’m interested to hear that you listened to the BBC News – was that a one off or do you often tune in.
    Hope you have some ‘jolly good’ days ahead! 🙂

    1. One of the wonde4rs of the blogging world is to get snapshots of other places during the seasons. Love it! Yes, magical but lethal is a good way to describe freezing rain and snow. I listen to the BBC every day. Our National Public Radio (NPR) offers it at various times during the day. Wonderful to get a different perspective on the craziness here.

      2. it is really interesting to me to know that you tune in to the BBC. I sometimes feel they are very biased towards ‘the establishment’ and in the pay of big money, so I take what they say with a pinch of salt and listen to political discussion programmes for more balance. The media, in general, love to feed off and feed into the negative, so I also try to go for a more healthy diet of Positive News, if I can find it!

      3. I don’t exactly tune in to the BBC. At various times during the day, BBC is played on Maine Public, our local public radio station, and I often listen. Interesting to get your perspective. From my point of view, BBC journalists are far more hard hitting than our American journalists. But perhaps the bar isn’t very high. 😉

      4. Love these conversations about life either side of the Pond. Fascinating and feels good for us to be on the bridge bringing us closer – letting our respective politicians carry on with their nonsense! ❤ 🙂

  5. Glad to hear you were spared the freezing rain Laurie and it’s great to see Clif and little green work their magic again 😁 Still no snows here. Hope you all stay warm and cosy! 🤗💖 xxx

  9. We were lucky and only had a few inches of snow, but I would have taken a little more snow over the below zero temperatures and wind chills. The clean up is never fun, but your winter wonderland is beautiful.

  10. I grew up down on the Connecticut shoreline, and remember a lot of ice storms back then. They sure are beautiful, but so disruptive and dangerous to go out in. I hope you don’t get much freezing rain this winter. We get them here in my part of Oregon from time to time. That’s when I start losing trees.

    1. Lavinia, you got that right about ice storms. And with climate change, your Connecticut weather is moving north. Ice storms are now the norm in Maine. Sigh.

  11. I think we got the snow you didn’t get–18 inches?–and it was SO windy–we have very deep drifts. I think the wind-chill last night was 30 below . . . .

  13. Much the same here! Though when you say we “only got eight inches of snow”, I smile, remembering another post from a friend in Paris: for that city, getting 2 inches of snow was big news!

  14. Magical and wonderfully informative post. I love seeing Clif clearing snow with the faithful Little Green. As always Joni’s song comes to mind. Which remids me that her birthday party will be on Great Performances PBS sometime this year but also 1 night at theatres in CA. I think Feb 7th. So check your theatres and maybe you can see that beautiful concert still…you will have a better view than I did! ❤

    1. Joni’s birthday party will be coming to our favorite art cinema, but I don’t think we’ll be able to go. I’ll have to wait for it to come on PBS. Even with a poor view, it must have been quite the concert. When I was a teenager, Joni was my absolute favorite. She perfectly caught the angst of unrequited love.

  15. Wow those photos of the snow are impressive…. especially as we swelter through a heat wave here in Australia. I think on balance you have a tougher call. Best wishes to you and Clif clearing the massive snow pile.

  17. We certainly do not have that weather here-but we have had ice storms before-beautiful but the worst kind of things. Lovely pictures, save I felt sorry for the shoveling-Jolly good post! love Michele

Comments are closed.