Old Man Winter came a-knocking on Spring’s front Door

Old Man Winter came a-knocking on Spring's front Door this morning! Click to enlarge image.

Old Man Winter came a-knocking on Spring’s front Door in southwest Yukon overnight to the tune of 8″ (or 22 cm for my Canadian friends) of nice fresh white wet snow to remind us he wasn’t done with us just quite yet.

The 2-4 cm actually contained in the weather forecast was woefully short of the mark we’ve actually been gifted with to receive, that’s for sure! But that’s not unusual for most weather forecasters these days either, it seems.

Residents in our little community awoke on the morning of May 16, 2012 (which is supposed to be a Spring day, right?) to the sight of a thick blanket of this gorgeous white winter stuff covering and weighing down every branch and electrical wire in sight – with an equally thick curtain of it continuing to flutter down from the skies to add depth and measure to what had already arrived.

To add a little pomp, spice and minor insult to the occasion, all the previous winter snows had already melted and the ground was bare and dry the night before in every direction you could throw your eyes – except for the mountain tops of course which still held their heavy Spring mantle of white waiting to begin their melt.

In case you doubt my words for any inane reason, have a look at the photo accompanying this post taken by my wife from the front window this morning  – you’ll see our two vehicles parked outside the front door liberally decked in the white stuff as snow continues to fall.

For followers of my posts you’ll also be aware that I began my fire-watch work season on May 14th – two days ago. In fact I was supposed to drive up the mountain today to move into my summer cabin at the fire tower located there. That truck you see drenched in white was all loaded up and ready to go, even.

But of course that’s not going to happen today. In fact it might not happen now until sometime next week. If we’ve got 8″ of snow on the ground down here at our elevation, the odds are there’s at least 12-14″ of it covering the top of the mountain where I’m supposed to be – and it might even be necessary that the road leading up to that site will need to be plowed again just to enable access.

Or it could be too that the rain forecast for later in the day – and the warmer daytime temperatures also forecast over the days to come – will melt it all quickly in a rush of waters that might surprise us all. In typical northern fashion we’ll just have to wait and see. We’re used to that.

One thing’s for sure though. When Old Man Winter came a-knocking on Spring’s front Door this morning all previous activity plans were given a reprieve – including mine.