The Pacific Northwest Snow and Ice, January 2012

Well, here's how it started, all soft and pretty. A nice change from our usual rain.

Our front yard looking out to the frozen lake. We only got 4 or 5 inches of snow.

Then we got the ice storm on top of slightly mushy (now frozen) snow. It clung to the branches and power lines and it all got very heavy.

This is our front yard. You can see the first downed branches.

This has an ice cap now

 

 

More branches down  

And my ice encapsulated car

My husband pulled part of the ice off the back of the car

This was a very tall stand of bamboo in our back yard. It's spread out like a big full skirt now.

 Close-up of bamboo

Close-up of snow under ice on a tree branch

That's not melted snow, it's more branches down in our front yard. 

The lake is still frozen in the background.

A lot of the south Puget Sound area looks like this now. This is in our front yard, too.

A lot of this is very pretty, but more than 250,000 people (including us) are out of power, and the devastation to the trees and power lines and poles - and property as a result of falling/breaking trees, limbs, power lines and poles - is pretty amazing. So lots of people have been working to get this all cleaned up. Fortunately we know someone who has power and is letting us (and our dog and a friend and her 2 dogs) stay for a few days. (Thanks Lorna!)

It's been a disrupted week, and we're very grateful we are warm and dry. Wishing you the same.