And yesterday morning it began to sprinkle.
Drizzly little bits of water falling on below-freezing ground equals VERY dangerous roads. Especially when many of the roads are never plowed, and you had about a foot of snow land on it a few days prior. What was a 3 inch layer of packed snow on a road swiftly becomes a 2 inch layer of ICE.
There is an article today, that it is the first time in over 30 years that the Fairbanks area has called a full day of no school due to weather. And not because of a blizzard like you might expect in Alaska....but rain. You can see that --> HERE.
So I braved the roads today, because the roads are mostly just really slushy, and I HAD to go to the store and get some groceries to begin my Thanksgiving preps.
When I came home, I decided to take advantage of the warm weather...a balmy 35 degrees, and move some of those huge piles of snow, so that the next snow we got, we could have a place to pile it.
Along the driveway, I packed the snow down in the middle, creating a trough to hold the next snow.
I did the same by the garage.
But take a look at this driveway.
That pretty, shiny blackness is not water, because our driveway slopes.
That is a 1/2 thick (or more) sheet of pure ice.
When I came out of my garage with the shovel, I took ONE STEP and swiftly landed smack on my hip and elbow. It has been years since I fell on ice. Needless to say, it took me about 1.5 milliseconds to go in the house and put these on.
I grew up in Wisconsin, and never wore these until now. I felt like a mountain climber in my driveway, hehe! (Although mine are a brand called "Kahtoola - Microspikes." and not "YakTrax")
But take a look at our road.
Tonight it is only getting down to 31 degrees, but tomorrow night the low will be 22, and a high Thursday of 10 degrees with a low that night of 2 degrees. On top of that, the rain is to continue, and turn into snow, continuing through the weekend. That standing water is going to be NASTY.
On the upside, I now have a naked snow man in my front yard, because for the first time, we can really pack the snow!