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.

I remember SE Idaho winters... drifts in the road that were taller than my head. Of course, I was 5 at the time.

As a teenager, we'd sometimes get headed down our drifted road, as fast as we could go. We'd hit a drift, the car would shudder, and some of the drift would go over the top of the car. As long as you could keep momentum, you could make it. If not, there was always the farm tractor to pull you out.

Dear Lord, me too... I was freshly graduated from college out of state and working for Morrison Knudsen in Boise, when I met my future wife at BSU. That winter, leading up to our marriage in July '83 (and 33 years strong!) was the happiest of my life... Thanks all for the memories...

Oh yeah - winter of '82......Started snowing the day after Christmas and never stopped until the day after New Years. Shut the whole Treasure Valley down. It was awesome.

Roads plowed, but now drifting over again in spots. Had to pull a nephew out of a drift. I'll be fetching grandkids in the morning, 'cause they're drifted in at their home too much for the mini van.

Woke up this morning to an absolutely clear blue sky, 18 degree temp to bring a snap to the air and bright sunshine on all that pure white new fallen snow.

Couldn't ask for a more beautiful Christmas Day.

Hadn't thought about this for a long time...

My sister and I brought our families home to Mom and Dad's place for Christmas when my kids were small. That would put the time about 1974 or so.

The power company had recently put in a new line that supplied several communities, but they had not properly tensioned the wires. We got a cold snap, and lost a lot of power poles as the wire contracted. We had three days with no power, and two kids with measles.

Still, it was a great time. We had a fireplace to keep warm, good company, plenty to eat, and the roads were open so we could drive in to Idaho Falls for supplies.

The only time I was ever pulled over by the law was during that time in '82. Fired up one of the sleds and pulled ours and all of the other neighborhood kids. Somebody didn't think it was safe and called it in. Only received a warning because the LEO got stuck on our street and I towed him out to the main street.

That winter of '82, I actually missed out on the storm. I had left to visit friends in California just as the storm was ramping up. By the time I was half way from Marsing to Jordan Valley, it was getting pretty deep. Stopped to pull a retired couple who were on their way back from visiting family on Christmas back onto the road (I was driving my 1/2 ton GMC 4x4 with skinny traction tires).

Got stopped at the Oregon border along with a line of vehicles because OSP were there and not letting anyone continue without chains. Guy in front of me in a Toyota 4x4 came up and after a short discussion, he says "If you and I go together, I bet they can't stop us or catch us". I agreed, and we did. We got ignored, and kept right on going.

Spent the week near the Cali coast (constant rain) and left for home on Jan 2. Pulled several cars back on the road on the way. Attended a wreck (left blankets with family of injured) until medics arrived near Burns Jct. Road from Marsing in was just recently plowed (I think they had to use a blower) and it was cab-high on the sides. Hardly any other vehicles were moving in Nampa.

Had I known how it was going to go that week, I would have stayed for the whole show. OTOH - I never asked for any payment, but all but one driver that I pulled out of the snow on that trip insisted on paying some for the favor (retired couple bought me lunch in JV). I literally made that trip for free. The one guy who didn't offer any money (or even a thank you) was also driving the most expensive car (a Mercedes). Skiing was great that year.

That's funny. I met my wife the fall of 82. I remember that winter very well, but it ain't snow that I remember. We got married 2-13-83.

Well I do remember the roads a bit. I was clocking about 115 miles a day to work, my folks home, and fiances house. I had just bought a new 82 Toyota 2wd pu.

Wasn't it 84 that set the record for the longest the ground was continuously covered in snow Boise?
IIRC the worst freezing rain I ever had to drive in was that winter. Was going 10 or 15 down off the bench and didn't think I was going to be able to stop before I slid out into cross traffic, pucker factor four, no doubt.

We have about a foot in the front yard here, I had to use the 4x4 today to get where i needed to go. Two wheeled car would have never made it.