Yep, we've gotten plenty of the white stuff, but it's s(no)w record
Let's talk about the snow.
It's obvious some people have had it with what is now being called "white fungus."
There's a bunch of snow, no doubt, but we aren't close to a record:
CLIP THIS TO THE FRIDGE!
This information is gathered at the University of Idaho Research and Extension Office and has been since the early 1900s.
Snowfall records for Sandpoint area for winter months (November through February):
? 1915-'16 … 192.5 inches
? 1968-'69 … 118.5 inches
? 1996-'97 … 125.6 inches
? 2007-'08 (through Feb. 6) … 102.9 inches.
With leap year, we have one more day to accumulate snow this year so it's possible to catch 1996-'97's effort but heaven help all of us if we pick up 91 additional inches.
It wasn't your imagination, we had buckets of snow in January — 55.2 inches to be exact. That's a lot, but no record. Snowfall records for January:
? 1969 … 68.8 inches
? 1954 … 68.6 inches
? 2008 … 55.2 inches.
Close, but no toboggan.
How about snowfall records for an entire year?
? 1964 … 172 inches
? 1969 … 92.4 inches
? 1990 … 96.5 inches
? 1996 … 120.2 inches
? 2008 … 67.05 inches
Remember, this is January through December measurements. This count was taken Feb. 6 so we have nearly 11 months to break the record. A freak snowstorm in July could really help.
Dr. Dan Barney, who is more famous for his huckleberry research than weather expertise at the UI Research and Extension Center, notes there has been a change in weather pattern this year.
"It started snowing in November and stayed cold," he said. "The snow that came, stayed." There has been no thaw to lower the berms or smooth the roads.
Barney said this winter pales in comparison to 1996-'97 for snowfall and severity.
"We don't get the frigid temperatures like we used to here, either" he said.
Today's forecast called for snow last night, and that we will have some snow today and it looks like there is some more snow tomorrow.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow …
Speaking of snowed in …
Colette Swenson, 75, should be going crazy by now.
Her home (OK, igloo) is in the photo accompanying this column.
The photo was taken last week before she spent many hours shoveling out. The dark hole on the right is her main entrance to her home on Bear Trail Road.
"I couldn't see out of my kitchen at all and for a while the snow was so deep I couldn't hear anything outside," she said. The normal-sized home also has five large windows that have never been covered with snow in the six years Swenson has lived there. She could barely see out of just one of them before she shoveled out.
"I'm going to be buff this summer for the rototiller," she said. Swenson did mention she has some of the best neighbors in the world and they have helped her out a few times.
Her two Jack Russells, Buffie and Guy, have gained some weight because there is no place for them to run off all of that Jack Russell energy.
Let's talk about the snowfall.
This year is bad, there is no doubt …but in the winter of '68-'69 in Sandpoint:
? Students only went to school for four days in January.
? Doctors were forced to make housecalls on snowmobiles.
? At Schweitzer, the ski resort received 78 inches of snow in 78 hours and that forced the ownership to restrict children to just the lower run.
Schweitzer also asked people to ski in pairs in case one skier disappeared into the snow never to be seen again.
Nobody disappeared, according to Jim Parsons.
Do you have any snow stories this year or any snow memories?
Drop me a line at 263-9534 or e-mail me at dkeyes@bonnercountydailybee.com. No cussing, please.
Coming next time … a snow berm decorating contest? More amoosing moose stories?
? David Keyes is publisher of the Daily Bee.