November 29, 2014: It's only just Thanksgiving weekend, but winter has come early this year, to most of the USA. Here, in the Southern Tier of Western New York, we have dodged the bullet on one major storm already: a Lake Effect Storm that dumped 6-7 FEET in 3 days, on areas just south of Buffalo.
Compared to that, we've had it pretty easy here. There's never been more than 5 inches of snow on the ground at once. Mostly it's thaw, melt, snow-a-few-inches, thaw, melt, snow-a-few-inches. Relatively easy to handle so far. The temps have gotten down as low as 9 degrees at an hour when we are normally go out walking. But we've invested in proper cold-climate clothing, including face masks, ski hats and down mittens, in addition to our long johns. When properly dressed and no wind, the morning walks are as pleasant as they were all fall. But the really cold temps make it tough to walk the trail after a thaw-refreeze; not only is it slippery, but the refrozen slush and footprints make for tricky navigating. On those days when the trail is especially rutted, we walk the St. Bonaventure University campus, as those sidewalks are kept clean and salted. But we always prefer the Allegheny River Valley Trail whenever possible.
Here are some photos from November 2014:
First dusting of snow on November 1-2 (less than an inch)
Cold River View
Two days later (11/04/14), it was a nice autumn day again,
with no sign that we'd had our first snow
Gray & Cloudy 11/05/14
Sunny with long shadows 11/10/14
Another dusting 11/13/14
On the Trail 11/14/14
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On the Trail: Red Shed Across the River 11/14/14
On the Trail 11/14/14
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The view at home on 11/14/14:
that sugar maple in the front yard is still giving up it's leaves,
that sugar maple in the front yard is still giving up it's leaves,
creating a yellow blanket on two inches of snow
So on 11/14/14 we went out to rake in the snow. It must have looked pretty funny to be raking in the snow because an Olean Times Herald photographer was passing by and stopped to take our photo. He said the photo would be in Monday's paper. We'll see...
Later that day, we had a Lake Effect Warning for more snow,
and this is what it looked like out the window
Next morning, we walked in the snow.
It was our first significant snowfall and it was beautiful:
It was our first significant snowfall and it was beautiful:
a true Winter Wonderland!
11/15/14: Having fun in the snow!
11/15/14: Red Shed Across the River
11/15/14: Snowy River View
And sure enough, there we were in the
Olean Times Herald on Monday 11/15/14
Noticing shapes and angles of the trees: 11/16/14
And more snow: 11/17/14
Our new trail friend Dave, and his sweet beagle, Sierra
often walk with Bob and I
Sierra leads the way!
Pine Bough
The day after Buffalo got 6-7 FEET of snow (11/19/14),
temps dropped to single digits here:
Valley scene from Lillibridge Road in Portville 11/20/14
Due to a very icy trail,
we walked the St. Bonaventure Campus on 11/22/14
11/23/14: what a difference a day makes!
Today we walked the Constitution Ave portion of the trail and
took some fun photos along the way:
11/25/14
11/26/14
Red Shed Across the River: 11/27/14
Doe and Juvenile Deer in a cornfield 11/27/14.
Don't they know it's hunting season here???
11/30/14:
The snow has melted again.
Temps rose to 50 degrees today.
The cycle starts again!
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