Arctic dipping south

[Kathi]

We woke up to 10" of snow this morning. Schools are closed but it's the first time in 3 years. East bound I-70 is closed over Vail Pass as is Loveland Pass. Predictions are for heavy snow all day today until 5 am tomorrow. The radio announcer is giving snow depth reports for the ski areas and he's saying this is the "good news". 1-2 feet is expected by tomorrow.

Yes, we're used to it here and CDOT does an awesome job of keeping the roads clear. However, there's only so much they can do with the blowing, drifting snow on these passes. Usually, the passes are closed due to accidents and all truckers are required to use chains and are fined if they don't have them. The problem is when the passes are closed there is no alternative around them so motorists are stuck on the highway or in the few small towns.

Since winters have become so mild most Americans have forgotten what winter is like. I heard somewhere that in the past it's common to have winter's like this about every 10 years. That hasn't happened for awhile though. I lived in Cincinnati in the late 70's when the Ohio river froze and people could walk across it into Ky. I was a teacher and schools were closed for 2 weeks. I don't remember how much snow we had but a couple of Mormon kids from Utah helped me dig the car out. The main street near our house was frozen solid and I walked down the middle of it (actually slide down). I remember driving back from Michigan to Cincinnati at Christmas through snowstorms in Indiana. The worst was the ice storms, pretty but dangerous. We always had our snow days until the 90's. Then it got so we were lucky if we got 1 day off.

Enough for now, I'm going skiing. It's a powder day!