On Tuesday, Glen Arbor and its surroundings woke up to the most astounding 30 inches of snow I’ve witnessed in my half century in the north. It was powdery like the stuff the mountains get. It was picturesque like the wildest north woods. The morning was calm and quiet, and while there was barely anywhere to go, it felt so good to be outside.
When the official snow totals were in, Glen Arbor had 30 inches and a few hillsides had 38 inches that left us all stunned while working to move it out of our way. Thankfully, the top two thirds of the snow was light as a feather to shovel. I high stepped and sunk, and high stepped and sunk, through a half block of powder to join three workmates who were already shoveling and snow blowing out our many paths around our wintry campus. Ninety minutes later than usual, we opened.
The snowfall that started Monday morning wasn’t predicted. It was isolated to about 30 miles off the western Lake Michigan shoreline. Twenty miles east of the storm was a normal November day of falling leaves and glimpses of sun. But for the coast, frigid arctic air moved south across the relatively warm Lake Michigan, dumping lake-effect snow along its path.
Here are some photos that I took of this exciting snowfall. Enjoy!
Colebrook and Hawthorn woke up on their snow day and headed outside to help shovel. Soon they were over at a friend’s house and then back tunneling caves in a huge pile of snow the plow left in front of our house.
Here is the thigh-deep snow between my house and the Glen Arbor store. Look at how beautiful the campus looks covered in snow (and fall leaves).
I climbed on a rooftop to dig out a furnace smokestack. It was buried in a four-foot drift of snow.
I went telemark skiing Monday and Tuesday. The snow was so deep, I could only ski down the steepest of hills. As I floated down the hill, even my knees were buried. Here are some deep beautiful tracks I left.
