-- On US Route 1A in Hamlin, Maine during the storm --

Thursday, 1:50 pm: The National Weather Service says a “blizzard”; they’re right. This morning at 8:00 am when I telephoned in my snowfall amount to the NWS office in Caribou I reported about 13½ inches since the start of the storm yesterday. We’ve received another inch or so of snow. A lot of the white stuff is blowing around and it is difficult to sort out what’s from the sky and what’s being blown around from the ground. And the temperature has been steadily going down from a relatively warm 24° (F.) at 6:00 am to a current 8.5° (F.).

-- Downtown Van Buren during the storm --

I was up as 6:00 am and fired up our snow blower. Two hours later I finished and now it looks like I may need to make another few passes to keep our driveway and paths clear. I’m pooped! My noggin is telling me to take a siesta before going back outside. We’ve already have been to Caribou to pick up a friend from “day surgery”. We drove through one white-out, saw an oncoming car slide into our lane but missed us, and a car slid off to the side stuck in a snow bank. That’s enough for one day.

I like the term “blizzard” it has that sort of Doctor Zhivago-ish ring to it; bleak, white and very cold. Sorry, this blog isn’t in wide-screen Cinerama. Failing that here’s the weather.

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 8.5° (F.)

Wind chill: -1° (F.)

Barometer: 29.920

Humidity: 77%

Wind: W at 5 mph highly variable

Visibility: < ½ mile variable due to blowing snow

Precipitation: ca. 14½ inches snow

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 8.2° (F.) at 1:07 pm

High wind: 21 mph at 1:01 pm

Low wind chill: -3° (F.) at 1:07 pm