We too saw/heard on the BBC the news of your extreme weather. I know it looks pretty but I'm sure you will be glad when it has gone. This year our low-lying SW England got about 3 flakes of snow but our Winter and Spring so far have been murk and fog with about one sunny day per week . . . I note these days as I am able to hang the washing out on the line, not that it dries much but I kid myself it smells nicer.

Yvonne, beneath the snow do you have any early flowers coming through? Here the snowdrops are gone as are most of the crocus but the daffs are just showing brightly through this morning's fog. I wonder if any will be left for Easter?

OMG Yoyo, I saw an earlier post from you where you said you'd had 18 inches and I thought that was a lot! You all stay warm! Do you have good drainage for all the melting snow?

I'm in central FL and it's cold here, too - in the mid 40s with a pretty stiff wind blowing. My DH is not loving his pressure cleaning job today!

Donna

Donnamarie......this is really light fluffy snow and when it melts it will not be equivalent to 28 inches of water, thank goodness. If the temperatures warm slowly there is a condition ( I am not certain of the scientific term ) when the snow melts into a kind of foggy situation and slowly disappears. Anyone know the term for that ?

Locals call it " snow fog ".

Wow, what a day you had, Yoyo! And yes, we all need to be thankful for those kind angels. And we need to be them too.

To put a fine point on the extent of his kindness, out drive is 250 feet long and uphill, then takes a dogleg for the length of a regular drive to our garage.

No small task for a moderately small size snowblower.

They were telling us to expect 18" to 24" and we got about 10". It was windy and our power went out about 7:30pm and didn't come back on until after midnight. Fortunately, I had gotten most of my computer required work done and made pie for pi day before the power outage. I spent the evening reading by the light of the camping lantern.

Aha ! I found the term...it is called SUBLIMATION

Here's the Weather Guys' article :

How Much does Snow Evaporate?

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Weather Guys Editor

I notice that when the snow builds up in my patio, it starts to evaporate after a few days, even though the temperature is still below freezing. On average, what percentage of our snowfall each year evaporates back into the cold, dry air?

The transition of water from the ice phase (or snow) to the gas phase (or water vapor) is called sublimation. Sublimation is a common way for snow to disappear in Wisconsin winters.

On warmer days, when temperatures are above freezing, we can see the melting process as snow leaves water behind on surfaces, which then evaporates or gets absorbed by the ground. We do not see the sublimation process because the snow goes directly into water vapor without first melting into liquid water. However, we do notice that the snow amount is decreasing, so snow sometimes seems to disappear on cold winter days.

The rate of sublimation is a function of the weather conditions. It takes a lot of energy to turn ice into a gas called water vapor: about 7 times the amount of energy needed to boil that water. The energy needed to sublimate the snow off your patio comes primarily from the sun. So, sunny weather is the best weather for sublimating snow. Windy days are also good, as the wind helps to remove the water molecules once they leave the snow and enter into the atmosphere. A low humidity also helps to increase the rate of snow loss. So, the amount of snow that sublimates back into the air depends on the typical winter weather for a given location.

I'm envious of those of you who got some decent snow out of this storm. I live in the mid-Atlantic along the Chesapeake Bay. My community is always on the rain/snow line. Even though they were predicting my area would get 3-6" of snow, with the rain/snow a wee bit south, we ended up with maybe 1' of snow, and the rest was sleet and freezing rain. YUCK! I just went to my son's tutor, who lives about 12 miles north of me, and they had several inches of snow. The upside is, that after a very mild winter, my kids had their first snow day, dh worked from home and built me a fire first thing in the morning. I stayed in my pjs all day, and spent most of it reading! I finished one book and started another, A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine aka Ruth Rendell. My mother has read most of her books over the years, and this one was her favorite. It was hard to come by - my local library system didn't have it so I had to borrow from our state consortium. And today, the weather is much colder than yesterday - below freezing and wind chills in the teens. If only the storm arrived here today rather than yesterday. And to think a week ago it was 74 degrees.

There is nothing to envy about 30 inches of snow.

It's paralyzing. I'm still unable to get my car out of our garage. A plow can't even get close to it.

I suppose this isn't a good time to complain because the frost last night made my daffodils droop?

LOL !!

Carolyn, that IS worse than 36 inches of snow ( this is the figure on the weather channel now) .....because once a daffie is done for, you have to wait an entire year to see it again. I may only have to wait three more weeks to get my car out of the garage !!

Thank you , dear heart , for the much needed laugh :0)

You can keep your snow! I have no desire (unlike one of my good friends who lives in Queensland) to have to cope with it.

I hope all of you who _are_ coping with it don't have too many problems.

Right now we are in Bali on a week's holiday and it is about 30°C (85°F) and humid.

It was declared yesterday afternoon that this is a HISTORIC storm with BInghamton NY setting records for snowfall amounts now at 36 inches. The National Guard and other outlying plows have come in to help move this snow. Apparently we were at the epicenter of Stella. Lovely. :o(

yoyo, our 'weathermen' tell us that we will be getting your leftover storm remnants in a few days, although they will arrive in the form of winds, rain and squalls rather than snow.

Thank you!

You are quite welcome !!

Vee, this will give you an idea what you'll be missing ! For some reason everyone spells Binghamton with that P....which makes it sort of British, doesn't it !! :

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/binghamptom-new-york-gets-nearly-3-feet-of-snow/

Even down here in SC out temps went down into the 'teens". Today it will only be in the 40's.. That's quite cold for this far South. We got spoilt 10 days ago by a warm spell that brought out many of the flowers and leaves.

4kids4us, where on the Chesapeake Bay do you live? I moved here from Tidewater, VA and used to spend a lot of time on the Chesapeake Bay part of VA. It's a lovely part of America!

It's unusually cold in the DC area too - the famous Tidal Basin cherry blossoms are mostly frozen and brown by now!

Connecticut got a lot of snow, but nothing like what Yoyobon has! Adding insult to injury, this mess dropped on us after weeks of high 40's, low 50's (F) spring-like weather. I should know by now that if February is mild, the snow will come in March and April :). We have more weather coming in on Saturday, but I'm hoping it will be more rain than snow. The DH, on the other hand, is absolutely thrilled and is off to NH to snowmobile. As for me, I'd rather be in Bali!

As I continue to plow out, I'd rather be somewhere very snowless and beachy.

Yo yo, I suppose I wouldn't want 3' of snow, but we don't get much snow here so we love a good one that forces us to stay home and enjoy the time out from our normally busy schedule and take advantage of some sledding and street hockey.

Woodnymph, I am at the top of the bay from where you used to live. I'm live a few miles outside of Annapolis, in a small community along the Bay. So while not the same as Charleston, I'm in another charming historic waterfront touristy town! When we visited Charleston, we took a side trip to Beaufort and its surrounding area. I could easily see myself living in one of those lovely homes just a few blocks from downtown and when I needed some "urban" culture, riding up to Charleston. Dd and I are looking forward to our trip next weekend!

yoyo, just had an interesting 'look round' at Binghamton and note that it is the 10th wettest place in the US, the cloudiest East of the Rockies, its inhabitants speak with a 'Northern cities vowel shift' and that you even have Morris Dancers at your summer festival 'though no mention of record snow-fall (as yet). With all its interesting weather, and if I were to visit, how long would it be before the authorities booked me into the New York State Inebriate Asylum?

Only kidding! I know it has got plenty of good stuff going on. ;-) And you are right we have quite an array of 'hamptons' over here. Southampton, Northampton, East and West Ham and probably more.

Listen below to an appropriate recording of one of Edward Elgar's most beautiful choral compositions . . . there are better eg's but this one gives you the words.

Snow by Sir Edward Elgar

Vee, I don't know about a "vowel shift" but we sure do have what we call a " flat A " and it drives me crazy.

When I was at college in central NY state most students seemed to be from "The Island" as they referred to Long Island . They have a most distinctive way of talking and would always make fun of the "flat A " sound from upstaters. One example was how to pronounce "hairy" vs " Harry". There should be some distinct difference but with a flat A they both sound the same : bad. ( which , by the way , would either be "ba-a-d" or " bay-ud " with flat A )

So I chose to pronounce each properly, according to the Long Islanders.....and when I came home it was looked upon as sort of "affected " !!

Yes, we have a hideous local regional accent, not as bad as around Boston, or some of the southern accents.......or perhaps it's just what you are used to :0) I can say that I do no love our accent.

yoyo, I make no difference in pronouncing hairy and Harry. Can you draw me an online picture?

Oh dear.....well........when we say hairy, the "air" is fulling pronounced so it's " h-AIR-ee" with a certain nasal quality, but when I would pronounce Harry it would be with no "air" and more of a "Haa-ree" but not too much 'ahh'. Like if you were pronouncing the word sari ,,,,,sort of but with less of ah. ???????? Oh, Carolyn, can I bake you some cream puffs ??? That would be soooo much simpler !!

And.,,,,it's not actually the way that our local accent is, it's just the way the Long Islanders would pronounce it !! Anyone here from Long Island,,,,,help me out !!

Yoyo, I'm from Florida and "hairy" and "Harry" sound the same here, too. :) Though my mom spent years trying to get me to say "Flah-rida" and not "Floor-ida" (she didn't succeed LOL).

Donna

There are SO many accents in our great country ;0) ! The only one that irks me is our local flat A.....especially when it is spoken in commercials or by local tv new reporters. We have a local weatherman who has the worst flat A I've ever heard. A truly cringe-worthy "flay-yut" A .

We got 20+ inches here in PA, and I spent the day working. Oh, how I would love to reach out and "thank" the person who invented the internet and, through which, has made it possible for me to work through a snow day instead of READING through a snow day. Ditto the WIFI inventor guy/gal. Shame on both of them for ruining the time-honored tradition of having a day off due to weather.

Happy first day of spring, all in the Northern Hemisphere... we made it!

PAM

The cryptoquote for today was :

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. - Henry Van Dyke

We probably won't enjoy actual spring for a least another month or more.

'Tis how 'tis.

Yoyo, if you want to warm up you can come visit me! It was hot enough yesterday (mid 80s) that I wondered what July will be like.

Donna

You are so kind !

The problem with northern-born people is that we are accustomed to cold and adapt quite easily. Not so with hot temperature ! I find that I cannot tolerate high temperatures especially when accompanied by humidity . It seems cold is so much easier to deal with.

re hairy v Harry. I guess that Carolyn's pronunciation of those words is how I say 'hairy' . .. with an emphasis on 'air'. And the way I say 'Harry' rhymes with tarry/carry/marry but I've been taken-to-task before by the odd US RP'er for not speaking English properly so . . . who knows!

Yoyo, clear bright cold days would be fine, were we to have many of them. Too much damp here, bad for chests, aging joints etc. Humidity for me is unbearable.

As I write this the TV weather forecast is telling us to expect cold, snow and ice in the North and maybe some sunshine by next w/end.

Vee......my pronunciation is the same as you've described.

Have we all reached that point where weather and joints are the topics of interest.....and not the type of "joints" from the Age Of Aquarius !!

Funny, my Dad referred to bars as beer joints.

I pronounce all those words with the "air" sound. We also used to say beer joints before we all got so pc. BTW, I adore cream puffs. Do you make snow cream?

My scale says I LOVE cream puffs. I usually fill them with homemade vanilla pudding and top them with a chocolate ganache.

What is snow cream ?.

If it requires snow as the main ingredient I'm good to go !!

And since we're beating this topic to death, how do you pronounce EGGS ?

I say : eh-ggs

My DIL from CA says : A-ggs ( very long A), she also says " crans" for " Cray-ons".

Re: the "air" discussion.....the flat A creates a sort of " A-yer" rather than a smooth "ehr " ( it is impossible to easily write a pronunciation !! I have developed a deep respect for whoever goes to all the trouble in Webster's . )

A friend in PA says haw-spital and I say ha-spital.....that would have to do with hospitals , not phlegm !!

Hospital in nearly all parts of the UK is said with no 'a' sound. It is like Hoss (think Bonanza!) Possibly if you come from London you might leave out the 'H' as that letter is often seen as superfluous "'arry where's yer 'at?" "'anging on the 'ook in the 'all."

'Beer joints' are pubs (Public Houses). The word 'bar' describes a room in the pub ie 'Public Bar' 'Saloon bar' back in the day when a range of 'classes' of customers would stand/sit in separate areas and pay slightly different prices, though mostly gone now as pubs have had to modernise and landlords/breweries usually opened up the buildings so one bar area can serve everyone.

The word 'bar' went up-market and used to describe a wine-bar and now is often used for a café bar where food is served plus drinks at over-inflated prices.

When taking Italian this fall I learned that the word "bar" in Italy refers to a place where you go to get coffee, espresso and possibly a bite to eat. No alcohol served.

So what is the Italian name for what we call a bar?

Vee, I would guess it would be "trattoria." Although that may be the word for "inn" as well.

A trattoria is a small restaurant ( famiy run).

La birreria.....pub, beer garden

l'osteria...small restaurant

ristoranti............restaurant

An albergo is a hotel, not sure if there's a word for inn.

Recipe for snow cream: Whole milk, vanilla, sugar to taste, and enough snow to make it thick like ice cream. Now that I know you make your own custard for cream puffs, I may have to come for a visit.

I say eggs and hospital as you do, crayons as cray-uns with syllables accented equally.

Carolyn....... okay, as far as I can tell, you're perfect :0))))))

And I say cray-ons not cray-uns, similar to the way I would say carry-on in reference to luggage. I have a bit of a Pittsburgh accent but it is not strong, more of a nasal intonation than the way I sound the words. I don't like it, but fortunately I do not hear it myself! My sister Rouan has much less of it than I do. Our parents were slowly losing their childhood New England accents as we were growing up which partially neutralized what we heard away from home. The two influences came close to canceling each other out. I call my parents' sisters ahnt, not ont or ant, and certainly not aint, all of which I have heard in various parts of the United States. I pronounce the word 'our' exactly like 'hour', and not at all like 'are'. My DH, also from Pennsylvania, pronounces the word 'color' as if it were 'keller', very common in the Pittsburgh area.

A friend from Belfast in Northern Ireland once told me that she thought that some of the Pittsburgh pronunciations were similar to those of Belfast. Odd, because I had never heard anyone who spoke as she did. However there were a lot of Scots-Irish settled in Pittsburgh (along with Italians, Germans, and central Europeans). Apparently they left their linguistic mark upon us.

Rosefolly

As I have lived for long periods of time in both the UK and Australia, I have to contend with English friends and family saying that I have an Aussie accent but the Aussies know that I am English!

A couple of ladies said recently that I remind them of the actress Margaret Rutherford in looks and speech. I can't say I felt flattered about the looks though.

Years ago I was likened to the actress Joyce Grenfell. I must have a typical English long-faced look about me...

Rosefolly, there are lots of folks from Pittsburgh in the Orlando area (I wonder why that is?) and they tend to have a lift at the end of their sentences, so they all sound like questions. :)

Donna

I've noticed that the end of sentence lift is very common, especially in teens.

Donna, people from Pittsburgh frequently retire in Florida to escape the dark, cold winters.

All, that lift at the end of sentences is a modern trend that has become widespread. It is called uptalking. It makes the speaker sound tentative rather than assertive, as though he would be willing to change his mind if you didn't like what he said.

Here is one of many articles about it: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/caveman-logic/201010/the-uptalk-epidemic