Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Oh Yes, I remember now what Idaho winters

are supposed to be like.

We got four inches of snow here on the valley floor two weeks ago, then it froze up.

Another four inches last Thursday, and four or five inches more today. It is supposed to hit thirty degrees tomorrow with more snow and then dive back into the low twenties for the next ten days.

This is the most snow I have seen on the ground, and the longest it has gone without getting rained off in about twenty years.

I had to chain up the 2wd Toyota to make it into town today, and then a couple of places were still sketchy. Two rigs in the driveway are wearing chains right now.

The interesting thing though, this would have been a very typical winter in the 60's and 70's. We used to sled on the snow packed driveway for weeks when we were kids.

Heck, my grandkids hardly even know what a sled is. But I expect they will learn a bit about it this weekend.

January might just get interesting this year.

NWS was predicting a tough winter earlier this year. Might be right.

We have some snow predicted up north here the next couple days.

Good luck in Idaho!

A yr ago and five more days SE NM had 4-5 foot drifts.

24 years, actually, IIRC.

I am loving it. A regular dose of real winter weather helps keep out the riffraff. I dream of a winter like '82, where all the amateurs park it 'til the snow melts. That would send a few buttercups south.

BTW - a word for you and your Toyota....Blizzak. Amazing tires!

I grew up in Boise and well know what winters used to be like in the 60's. I haven't lived there since '70, though. Having an inversion?
We live near Twin Falls now and we sure haven't had the winters recently that we used to.
We slipped out of town on Thurs and are now in Albuquerque for a week. We pretty much had bare roads all the way, even over the mountains in UT.

Too damn cold up there

RC,
No inversion yet. Steady weather. I got a couple inches more snow last night after I parked the rigs. KTVB says 3.9 inches more today, with intermittant snow through the next 7 days.

We will probably see the inversions and the deep freeze sometime in January.

The old 4020 diesel starter will not even click. Now that it is daylight, I am headed out to pull the batteries and go to town for new ones. We will soon see if the county has gotten any of the roads plowed yet.

RC,

We must be on the same wave length. I came down to Albuquerque just before Thanksgiving and am heading back home next week (Custer County), reports from there say about 18 inches on the ground and still snowing. Makes it hard to leave here.

drover

Supposed to be 52 here in ABQ today. We're taking the grandkids sledding up toward Santa Fe after while.
It was 5 at home a few days ago so I bit warmer doesn't bother me much. At least we don't get the deep cold like the upper midwest gets.

Just helped get a front wheel drive passenger car unstuck.

There is about 8" of fresh snow on the ground in Boise this morning which isn't too bad, everything is very Christmassy looking. The main roads are mostly plowed and the snow packed down but they've pushed the snow up against the curb including the entrances to some parking lots. One young woman turning into the lot tried to finesse her way through that piled up snow which was the exact wrong thing to do.

She got stuck and those front tires just spun uselessly forwards and backwards. Several of us watching pitched in to push and got her back onto the street, then another young woman who knew better took over the driving. She backed up, got some forward momentum and ran right through the piled up snow into the parking lot.

Then she let the original driver take over who promptly got stuck again trying to ease her way through the fresh snow in the lot. She asked the owner of the business if it was okay to just leave it parked where it was stuck.


Added: I sure do like my AWD Honda CRV in this stuff. I used to have a 4WD Ford F150 which was okay but I think I like this little Honda for driving in snow even better. I plowed right through that built up snow that stopped the car above and it handles really well on the unplowed side streets.

As I recall, back in the late 'fifties and early sixties, a white Christmas in Boise was pretty hit or miss. Not so for us; we lived in Worland, Wyoming or north Idaho and, later on, in Ft St John B.C. Still and all, it does look like this may be a bit of an "old-time" sort of a winter. You know the sort; when we walked two miles to school through a blizzard and it was uphill both ways. At least this year we might not have to travel in order to use the snowshoes.
When it comes to driving, many today would find it hard to believe we drove on snow and ice all winter long and did so in 2wd vehicles. GD

My car and my wife's car will stay in the garage for a day or two. Guess my old 1975 Ford F250 4x4 will have to do.



Bought it new in 1975 and with only 97,000 actual miles on it, it just keeps purring along.

L.W.

my wife has been freezing the last couple of days. It's down to in the 50's in phx. Even the cactus is shivering.

Aww c'mon guys, it's warmed up to 32 degrees today and I have been getting around in a old Nissan Sentra without winter tires. Wife has been committing to Boise this week in a honda Accord. We do have excellent winter shoes that one.

I do agree it has been a dandy compared to what we have been having, 32 here right now is the warmest it's been in well over a week and forecast is under freezing into January. I liked last winter much better.

My son and I were wrenching on my car today wearing shorts and a tank top. I really miss my Idaho winters.

Sure 'nuff, I beat the plows to the road this morning. Four inches of fresh stuff all the way to town. Toy did alright with the chains on back.

Got the new batteries installed in the old Deere, and cleared about 12 inches of accumulated snow off of 1.5 miles of dirt/gravel between me and the pavement.

In the morning, I will clear the parking area around the house. Christmas with ten grandkids and all their folks interfered with chores today.

By this evening, all the county roads were plowed. There were even a few spots of bare pavement where the salt was working in the intersections.

All this snow is great, but the winter arrived pretty late this year and it has been 100+F from June to September around Boise and and still 80 degrees in November so definitely a climate change / global warming as far as I can tell.

Mile and a half? A complete different situation than the 20 feet I need to reach the pavement.
It is a mess out there in places, hope no one took that post anything beyond a little kidding ya, and if I was going very far the Tacoma 4x4 would be the ticket.
Merry Christmas everyone.

I've got over a foot on the ground here on the Clearwater with a 1/4 stretch before I get anywhere near what you'd consider a plowed road but my little Taco just keeps on chugging along....

This pic of my drive is from a couple years ago....I've got three times that much right now....it's sure pretty but I'll tire of it shortly...



Weatherman says more snow tonight and for the nest 4-5 days....

Yep, its my spam filter. I have not seen the MIL out here in fifteen years grin

I have about 600 yds to the next neighbor's house at a T in the road. East 5/8 mi is the mailbox. West 5/8 mi is the paved road to work or town. So yes, it makes for a mile and a half to plow.

And then there is my cousin/buddy's house down the road three miles. Got the tractor running and the blade on, might as well run on down and clean his drive as well.

Oh yes, it is an open station tractor. No cab. No heater.
But it was a beautiful day, about thirty degrees, and even saw a bit of sunshine.