Winter, Where Art Thou?

Winter Used to Mean… Winter

I love winter in the mountains. The entire landscape changes from earth tones to otherworldly winter white, there are different birds flitting about… even the sounds change. Everything gets quieter, more muted. You can see better at night! These are all things I love about winter. And up here, it’s still winter in spring… as depicted in this image, from last April:

But Now…

This year it’s another matter. There’s no snow on the ground at all right now, as you can see from an iPhone photo I took only yesterday, whilst strolling along the shores of Lake Tahoe, California. Elevation 6200′.

I can see snow off in the distance, at much higher elevations, but not enough to fist pump about. Seems the jet stream pattern is to consistently arc up and over California, missing us altogether… then land right around Utah & Colorado as it continues east.

A Mere Couple of Years Ago…

By contrast, here’s a video my husband took a couple of years ago, about this time of year… and yep, that’s me blowin’ snow around the house after a typical snowstorm dump that year.

I don’t have a pithy conclusion to these musings. Only that we’re a bit low on water. Our snowpack supplies most of California – largely southern CA – and without much of a snowpack for a few years, it’s gonna get interesting.

I said to my husband the other day… “If we decide to move, let’s pick someplace with water, ‘kay?”

California was ALL a complete desert at one point in time… it became a lush state in more recent history.
I suppose everything goes in cycles. This one has me thinking it might be good to be ahead of it somehow!