Snow Day

Our detached garage as viewed from the driveway this morning.

We got our first big snowfall of the year last night (about four inches). When we woke up, the landscape had been transformed, with soft, plush piles of snow clinging to the trees, roof and driveway.

To longtime Ohioans, snow is a pain in the ass to be dealt with as they clear sidewalks and driveways, or drive (very carefully) somewhere. But we’re still not used to living with snow, even after more than two years here, and our first reaction is: Wow, it’s so beautiful!

The Second Day of Winter

Lake Hoof

Some cold weather has moved in, bringing ice and a little snow. Here’s a picture of a low spot in our front yard that gets inundated whenever we get any kind of significant precipitation. I affectionately call it “Lake Hoof.” You can see the ice around the edges; hard to tell from the photo, but the center is also covered with a paper-thin, sheer layer of ice.

The Year the River Froze

Many miles of the Ohio River froze in 1977

The Cincinnati Enquirer published a classic photo today of the Ohio River where it passes downtown Cincinnati, frozen solid in the winter of 1977. It’s amazing to think how cold it must have been to form a thick sheet of ice on the mighty Ohio, which is more than a quarter mile wide at this point. As you can see in the photo, people ventured out on the ice that year to walk from bank to bank. A few people actually tried to drive cars across the ice but apparently failed (no word on their fate in the chilly water).

There’s been nothing approaching this big freeze since the winters of 1977-78. The National Weather Service says the river has frozen only 14 times in 138 years of documented weather conditions.

Thoughts on the 2012 Back Yard Timeline

A few things stand out to me as I look over the pictures of our back yard over the last year:

Although the dates for the pictures were initially selected randomly, it’s amazing to see how many of the days turned out to be sunny. Yes, it rains a lot here relative to Southern California, but it’s sunny – or at least, partly cloudy – often as well.

It’s also surprising to me how quickly some of the seasonal changes appear, especially in the spring and fall. The differences between the photos for March and April, and October and November, are striking.

It’s also flat-out astonishing to me how lush things get in the May-August months. There’s a profusion of life here in the warmer months that’s beyond anything we experienced in California.

Lastly, it’s a little unusual that December’s picture doesn’t have any snow in it. By all rights we should have had a snowstorm by now that would have left snow on the ground. But it has been a mild winter so far – as it was last year – and maybe we’re in for more of that in the future with climate change.

Remember, you can click on any of the pix to enlarge them and see them in closer detail.

The Back Yard: A Complete 2012 Timeline

January 2, 2012

February 10, 2012

March 10, 2012

April 10, 2012

May 10, 2012

June 10, 2012

July 10, 2012

August 13, 2012

September 10, 2012

October 10, 2012

November 12, 2012

Dec. 11, 2012