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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Apr 21, 2007, at 12:43 PM, Lynda wrote:

> Years ago you could count on being snowed in for 2 to 3 weeks at a  
> time on
> and off all winter.  Again, unless you are up in the Alps section,  
> you might
> get snowed in for a day but that's it.

Lynda's post reminded me of a visit to Heartwood about fifteen years  
ago by a lady then in her forties. She said that as a child she had  
lived upholler for several years; her father had run a portable  
sawmill. In fact, the engine that powered that sawmill came out of an  
old car, the remainder of which still sits at the edge of the woods.  
Anyway, I commented that she had had a long walk to school, about  
three miles, up and down two pretty steep hillsides, and that would  
have been especially onerous during snow time. She replied, "It  
didn't snow then."

During the years between her residence and the current time I have  
seen hard winters where the snow stayed on the ground from about  
Thanksgiving until sometime in March. In recent years it is rare to  
have snow that stays on the ground for three days. I offer this as  
information that may support the premise that what we are calling  
global warming may in fact simply be part of yet another normal cycle.