Shoveling snow with my Ariens Snow Blower - NOT!

Shoveling snow with my Ariens Snow Blower - NOT!

Heavy snow spread across the Killington region last night, following up a small clipper system that passed through the area late yesterday afternoon. To listen to the weather forecasters, you would think that a snowy version of Armageddon was going to take place today. While the snow fall has been significant, at least at Killington the total amount thus far has not lived up to the hype generated on weather channels great and small.

At 11:00AM this morning, the snow stake at the inn stood at 24 inches. This is a net increase of 6 1/2 inches from the Monday reading of 17 1/2 inches. The snow stake reads the actual snow on the ground, not the snow accumulated by any individual storm (except for the first storm of course!). 6 1/2 inches of net new snow read at the the inn's snow stake could translate into several more inches of snow measured on a virgin snow measuring platform used to measure snow fall from individual storms. In addition, snow accumulations on Killington Peak are also usually larger to due elevation increase. The snow stake at the inn is at 1850 feet, whereas the peak of Killington is 4241 feet.

While it is fun to know the total snow fall amounts from individual storms, the total snow on the ground is the real number that is important to skiers and riders.

You will notice in todays picture I am using my 2 year old 9HP Ariens snow blower to move the snow around....NOT. The snow blower was purchased from Home Depot in Rutland in December 2008. The snow blower came with a 3 year warranty. Ariens warranty policy for purchases from Home Depot was to return the product to Home Depot, which I did on December 29th, 2010. Home Depot in Rutland sent the snow blower to a repair depot in Massachusetts, where it still sits waiting for a part from Ariens, which was supposed to ship from the factory on January 31st. At least I am getting some good exercise on my upper body to keep it strong for golf this summer. You have to look at life from the bright side...so it goes!

....Let it snow!