weather in the garden # 138

Weatherman said they measured 16 inches in Lexington, just counting the snow overnight to early this afternoon. It is starting to blow now that it's dark out. I went out to buy gas and batteries earlier today. The blowing was bad then too, but we didn't know at home because we live in a valley that is quite protected but for the taller trees that were swaying. The snow outside is way too deep to walk in except for a trail to our woodpile that DH has blazed with the snowblower on a daily basis. We're kinda enjoying the beauty of it too. Our bikeway and some sidewalks are being kept perfectly clear, too clear even for skiing. And we're loving all the phone calls from warm climates where they think they're rubbing it in.

Gosh Bill, be really really nice to Cindy after what she had to do. Good thing you're back. All is well, just as long as it doesn't turn deadly.

lazy day here today, -13 windchill

I will probably have to up the total as Ipswich, the next town north of us had 22 inches. some of that is probably in their area next to the ocean.

I am in Boston area dog sitting and found a little snow to deal with while up here. I didn't dig out the initial spot for my car but did spend a few hours shoveling the latest white stuff to keep it clear. It was just like digging a new flower bed and kind of rewarding. Amazing Icicles everywhere. My little dog friend is a rescue from Mississippi so she isn't terrible fond of the cold.

Great pic depicting just how buried we are here in Mass!!

I remember when I rescued my first which tzu in 2001. It was one of the coldest winters and she was not house trained....we went out every hour in January..ouch! But she was worth it :-) I'm sure your little charge is not a very happy camper!

Stay warm, everybody.....it's -2 degrees here and wind chill 30 below......BRRRRR!

Welcome to our area. Brave of you to come. 0° bright sun & still some attacking wind.

Great photo, Patti! Those icicles are wicked! No icicles here, just a lot of snow & blowing wind......minus 8 again this morning......the plants are really being stressed.

Large, lazy flakes coming down......have to get Nicki up to the town north of here for her haircut.......hoping the flakes stop by then.....

Had about 4".

Nice pic, Patti. Nice to see both of you are dressed for the cold, too. Deadly icicles though, as long as niether of you engages in the latest Boston sport of jumping into the snow from second floor! It makes no sense since poeple clearly don't know what's underneath them.

We have horrible icicles at our house too. Interestingly, an article I wrote a few weeks ago about icicles ran today. It got much more serious than I knew it would! I was just casually gathering info a month ago about ice dams and stuff, but little did I know we would have the mother of sll ice dams at our tiny house, I think some areas get more icicles than others.

Nice article, Carrie! I've heard to put de-icer crystals into panty hose and throw it on the roof to create some channels for run off. Problem is, the stores are completely sold out of road salt.

What a winter for you MA folks......not nearly as much misery here, but it was minus 3 this morning, & getting much colder tomorrow & Fri. Can't remember my house ever feeling this cold......the thermostat is set at 70, but the house, during these frigid days & nights, only gets to 63.......

10° overcast I have not heard the weather report as yet.

Brrrr, Robin. A small dusting is predicted for overnight here. It was decently warm and above freezing for a change today here, with honest to goodness melting to a small degree.

We learned that the way to clear snow off one's roof is to start at the peak and work down. Otherwise if you start at the gutter, you are losing the snow's insulation benefits that allow melting underneath. If too much at the bottom gets cleared without clearing the top, the ice dam might move farther up the roof when the water inevitably freezes again. Since that sounds very treacherous to work with , DH is plotting how he can tie himself up on the roof. Course our kids are real mountain climbers, but we neither have any of them nor their equipment around.

Always the way....kids never have what they need at the time! Tell your DH to be very careful, Rosemary......I was on the porch roof during the 10-11 winter shoveling off snow....never again! Cold for the next few days & then snow, freezing rain, & rain.....what a mess!

dusting of snow last night. current temp is 0. wind chills -15, no schools open

Not a good idea to try roof cleaning yourself & all the liecensed roofers are busy. DH has shoveled a path across the yard for the oil truck hose so they don't have to back down the driveway.24° & he us digging down on the front porch. Says it is warmer to work, better than the single digets we have been having.

DH is up on the roof now. I guess I should be late for work just to keep an eye out. Yesterday's thaw made some serious worries about the roof going forward. The worst area for ice is near the fireplace chimney, naturally.

Minus 10 this morning.....bright sun should get the temp up to 10 above......not a nice Feb.

8° bright sun Water dripping along the window.

Schools in DE were closed today because of the cold.

Sorry for the rest of the country ahving to endure arctic cold. We expect rain and 40 degrees sometime tomorrow. Very bad for many roofs.

Should be all snow here.....3-6" is what is forecast.....Sudden thaw & rain really bad for roof that's covered with snow....like mine!

We have one ice dam leak. Have a pot where it can catch the splash. 21° here. There has been some melting outside because the tailboard under the suet feeder is out of the snow.

Everyone's roof around here has too much snow and many many icicles, although we did see a lot of roof clearing (by people) yesterday. We used to say "if EVERYONE's roof is frozen then ours can't be so bad." Now I'm not so sure.

Can't find the link where a home inspector tries all different ways of clearing ice dams!

This message was edited Feb 21, 2015 12:16 PM

Some people fill pantyhose with ice melting chrystals & throw them on porch roofs.

In this link, he tries that and it doesn't work! He tries a lot of different things.

I believe the ice crystals would be useless on a roof if one doesn't also shovel off the snow. However, we know that these salts do melt ice, so they must have their place in the arsenal of fighting ice dams. And ice dams do cause roof leaks when too much melts at once.

We have rain predicted, so shoveling off the roof has been an urgent task. As I write this, we are resting up for a trip to find some salt crystals for the roof. then tonight, we'll feel we can use our fireplace again without fear it will create a giant ice dam up on the roof.

2 ice dams here. Difficult to clear snow from a 2 story house. We did get oil delivered. DH had dug a path across the front yard so the truck could deliver from the street & not get stuck in the driveway.

Gosh, yes. This weather is a pain, isn't it? Please stay safe, everyone.

I couldn't do what DH does, but his family, and thankfully our kids, seem to have mountain goat genes which I can only hope don't fail them. Our neighbor told us how worried they are for DH. We bought our house from a family whose 80 plus yo parent had fallen two stories onto the driveway while clearing leaves from the roof.

Fine misty stuff that is hard to call snow is falling now. One report for this area said as much as four inches of it may fall overnight.

great x-country skiing today - hoping for mostly snow here - hope everyone's roof holds

Wetter snow tonight should make the ski trails pretty slick!

Sigh! About 5" has fallen here....view from my 2nd story spare bedroom window.....awful about the previous owner falling off the roof!

Definitely snowing so far.

Unusual times and it's easy to remember tragic history. This is true of the people whose conditions I see professionally too.

We have a lot to be thankful for. Yesterday we drove home a new Subaru Impreza for the kids to share. It handles snow like a champ. When DD drove it back to college she texted there were bad road conditions toward the western part of the state, but we didn't worry as much as usual.

We can't find salt crystals to purchase, with or without calcium in them. DH reported that in some corners of our roof--we have several gables--there were drifts as high as seven feet. Snow on the ground looks to be a generous four feet deep in the shallower areas, but this time, it is quite compacted. Our dog still can't walk over our 6' high fence because he sometimes falls in. He is more alert than usual, guarding us, so he wouldn't leave his post anyway.

34° a couple of inches of snow last night.

Our temp managed to hit 40 yesterday....It was like summer here, I shoveled & chopped ice in a vest & was warm......this morning, we're right back into Arcticland, temps in the teens all day with a nasty wind......NO SNOW in the the forecast for this week! I only hope it's true!!!!

24° nasty wind is with us also. overcast

artic blast here today, -13 wind chill.