Fall in Colorado

[Pilgrim]

It was 77 degrees yesterday, snowing tonight with a forecast of 3" to 6" of snow and 30's tomorrow, then back into the 50's by Thursday.  The operative phrase:  "Welcome to Colorado".

A quick phone photo of the bushes in front of the house - only started snowing about an hour ago...(@9 PM MT)

[Highlander]

Cool (literally )...

First sighting for the season (reported) of the aurora on the home Island and across the Highlands was this Monday and Tuesday nights... anything on any of the other Northern latitudes...?

Cloudy and wet here some significant flooding in some UK locations and Dublin has had some deaths... a PC washed away in the river Liffy trying to keep people off a dangerous bridge location...

[Pilgrim]

SO.....last night, 3 to 4" of snow between 9:00 and 3:00 AM, when I was up and knocking snow off the smaller trees at 3:00 while listening to pistol shot sounds around the neighborhood as branches broke off trees.  The snow is very wet, and most trees haven't lost their leaves yet.  I had branches up to 4" diameter actually leaning up against my car, which I had backed down the driveway to the end.

Got up at 6:00 and found that an elm tree in our yard about 20 feet from the road had split in half and was blocking one of two routes out of the neighborhood.  Two of my neighbors were already working on it and asked if I had a chainsaw...which I did.  Damn thing ran, chain jumped, ran again, chain jumped, and on the third try jumped off the drive sprocket.  It's only 40 years old!!!  Guess a new chainsaw is on the agenda for today.

So far we're in $400 to have the downed half of the tree cut up and removed, and to chip all the small branches and remove them.  We still heed to have the tree taken out.

It's still snowing and we will probably get 3 inches more today.

The tree:



A shot of our driveway this AM after I made a path for my wife to back out of her side of the garage:




After cutting back the tree enough to get traffic by:



Picnic table on back purch:



Another driveway view....I got real lucky because two large branches were touching my car this AM but neither actually hit it.  Close calls!

[Dave W]

Tough luck there, Al. And you pay a premium for removal at times like these.

[TBird1958]

So Al.............Perhaps a move up here to Seattle, "it's a nice day for a warm winter" 

[Pilgrim]

Thanks Mark, but at least people don't go nuts here when it snows!

More photos from the next street over where there's a heavy canopy overhead....

Note tracks going around this:


Lotta stuff on the ground between these houses:


One of the less severely affected trees...also good visual evidence why you don't want to walk under them:


One neighbor's branch collection:

[Highlander]

I vote for the picnic table pic for your Christmas card this year...

... possibly enhanced by the family in shorts sipping long drinks...