Snow-maggedon (again!) in Northern Ohio!

View out the front door

The deck in back

Note the snow on the picnic table!

Another view of the deck, from floor level

Trying to snowblow the front walk

Moi, freezing!

Short Memory Needed in Ohio's Snowbelt!

Short Memory Needed in Lake and Geauga Counties

Yesterday, the last day of March, the temperature soared

to 54 degrees in Chardon and first crocus appeared--

I forgot that the very day before, I slept through a blizzard

and woke to 5 inches of wet snow.

My late late winter short-term memory is short indeed,

a requirement to live in the Snowbelt of Ohio!

Bob Coughlin / April 1, 2014

October Snow in Chardon, Ohio

An October gift of Lake Erie. Life in the Snowbelt!

What Chardon Looks Like on March 22, 2013

This is what the early-spring lake-effect snow has brought to Chardon and Hambden Township:

Looking out the front door. Hambden Township, Ohio. 22 March 2013.

Penniman Drive backyard, Hambden Township, Ohio, 22 March 2013

Snow on the deck, Hambden Township, Ohio, 22 March 2013

Chardon, Ohio Snows--January 2013

Last week, Cleveland had about an inch of snow. Hambden Township, just east of Chardon, had about 2 feet of snow. As the bird flies it's only about 35 miles from Cleveland Hopkins Airport, where official measurements are made, and Chardon. But it feels like two very different climate zones, two different worlds. In Hambden we average about 110 inches of snow a year. Chardon might be in the Snowbelt. But Hambden is the Buckle of the Snowbelt. We think of Clevelanders and even Chardonites as wimps!

Winter in Chardon, Ohio

Linda shoveling the snow after a "lake effect" in Chardon, Ohio.

In a typical year we might get 120 inches of snow in the Lake Erie Snowbelt. That means a lot of shoveling and snow-blowing. We probably get double the snowfall that Cleveland gets.

Cold Rain, Sleet, Snow, Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth

On Sunday, October 26, I rolled my snowblower from our shed, in the way-back of our yard, to our garage because of the ominous weather forecast. The prediction was for bitter cold rain, sleet, snow, dark of night, and weeping and gnashing of teeth. In other words, the normal late October early November forecast for Northeast Ohio's snowbelt. We didn't panic--we are used to this drill.

Last night I heard it--the pounding of wind-driven sleet on our windows. This morning there was just a small amount accumulated on our roofs and lawns; the temperatures are still too warm for the sleet and snow to hang around very long. That will change, we know. We have stiffened our necks and girded our loins. This is what makes us snowbelters tough! We still vividly remember November 10th-16th of 1996 when about 6 feet of snow fell on the Chardon-Hambden snowbelt. We are ready for anything!