That's Snow

IN IRELAND, THE LOCAL papers contain notes of remembrance for those who died years ago. I think about my dad whenever I page to the back sections of the Tipperary papers, remembering his death four years ago. We buried dad under 22 inches of fresh snow (evidence at left), nearly falling with his casket when slowly trudging through the cemetery. It seems that on the anniversary of dad's death, snow beckons us to remember. Today, the village of Redfield in upstate New York's snowbelt, figures it got more than 11 feet of snow last week, an all-time record snowfall.

The proper way to measure snow requires taking readings about every six hours. It's very important with lake-effect snow, the kind that fell in upstate New York, around 180 miles from where I was born. From snow banks melted long ago, I learned that the first flakes can be light and fluffy so you could get stuck up to your neck when it's still falling but a few hours later, when it's time for high-speed sledding, the snow packs down on its own.

Thinking about New Yorkers digging out? You should listen to David Ippolito in episode 199 [29.1 MB 192 kb MP3 file]. He's hungry for shout-outs for the 200th episode--a real milestone.

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William Kates -- "Village may set N.Y. mark for snowfall"

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