The Mother of All Storms.

12-27-10 SHORT HILLS: That was a very impressive storm. The east coast, the New York area, and especially northern NJ got socked, blasted, drifted, buried and snow covered. In the morning, I measured 22 inches on the roof and 20 inches on the hood of my car which sat outside for the storm. The issue with measuring snow depth at the end of the storm is that the weight of the accumulating snow compress the bottom of the pile, falsely lowering the true total. Anyway, it was a lot.

I was fearful that there would be damage to the evergreens, especially the broadleaf evergreens, but most of the trees shed most of the snow. I think it was the cold, dry snow, and the very strong wind that blew it off the branches. I did clear snow off of junipers and a couple of hollies this morning. I do it, but there is as much a chance of doing damage and breaking branches as there is of helping. Skies cleared about noon, but the wind continues to gust into the forties. After we were plowed, I got the car cleared off.

I almost forgot, Alison’s family and Dylan and Bette and Lonnie were here for Judy’s gala Xmas Eve party. Xmas day was fun with presents, sloppy joe’s and “True Grit”.

VT tomorrow if the roads are OK.


Last night after a few hours of snow, this table top drift had formed. North, and the wind, is to the right.


You can see the side mirror under its own pile of snow and the door handle.

That's the hood. The roof had more.


That's a three rail fence.


The feeder was busy all day, and then everybody cleared out all at once when this guy appeared....

Sorry about the poor photo, I think it's a red-shouldered hawk.