The "We Really Didn't Need This, You Know!" Story

The morning newspaper's headline.

It was an ordinary day.  Ordinary perhaps if it were the middle of winter, but this for heaven's sakes is the first full day of Spring.  You know...spring flowers, getting the lawn mover ready, getting the outdoor furniture in position, etc., but not an all-time record for most snow!!  This goes back before I was born...back when they first started keeping weather records.  The headline on the LNP newspaper this morning read, "RECORD BREAKER".  For some parts of the world having close to two feet of snow in the beginning of Spring is ordinary, but for those of us who live in the "Garden Spot of America"...well, that's just not right!  

Beautiful Winter scene in my back deck.  Only problem...
it was Springtime!

Heavens, I had just put the snowblower away a few days ago when the tempera- ture in Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania hit 80 degrees.  And over the past weekend I took my new electric hedge trimmer my son Tad had gotten me for Christmas and spent a few hours trimming are beach grasses that had grown close to five feet tall this past summer.  And now we have a record snowfall!  It just can't be.  I had to use the snowblower twice yesterday, since the snow had accumulated at one point close to the maximum the blower could handle, and the TV was calling for at least six to eight inches more.  

After a few more hours of snow.

The morning paper declared a record, but couldn't give an exact amount because it was still snowing at press time and the snow total, which now stood at 16 inches, would grow.  I can still remember the spring of 1989 when my son was a member of the Manheim Township High School baseball team and we had close to a foot of snow in early Spring.  All team members and their families were asked to report to the field a day or two later with shovels to remove the snow from the entire field so the team could practice since the first game was only a week away.  Well, the official record total ended up being 17.5 inches according to Eric Horst, head meteorologist at nearby Millersville University. Eric was once a student in my photography class I taught at Manheim Township and if I had known he would do this to me, well who knows what grade I would have given him.  

My total after the snow had stopped: 12.5".

This official total came from following National Weather Service protocol of using a snowboard to take hourly measurements.  Snow depth, or a measurement of snow on the ground, came in about 14 inches at Millersville University, but since the snow was so heavy, it compacted  over the hours it fell.  By taking hourly readings it ended 3.5 inches more than the total on the ground at the storm's end.  And, it seems the snowfall didn't break the record, since Millerville University recorded 18 inches on March 13, 1993.  Now I just have to hope that the weekend will bring temperatures close to the 80 degree mark so I can back to my Spring chores.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

A few brave birds arrive at the bird feeder.