This Relentless Cold Is Keeping The Snow Around

It has been cold here in Northwest Lancaster County recently. It has not been the coldest I remember, but it has been relentless. We have had one of the more prolonged cold periods that I can remember.

We had about a week when it didn’t get much above the lower 20s. After that, there was a brief warmup. The warmest it got then was the upper 30s, and that only lasted something like two days. Today we won’t get above the upper teens after having a few days that it only got into the upper 20s or so. Today featured very gusty winds too. We haven’t had much wind this winter with the cold.

Normally these arctic shots seem to last a few days, then we get a nice break. That hasn’t been the case this year. It has been a unique winter for sure.

Due to the large amount of sleet on top of the snow and the deep freeze, the snowpack on the ground doesn’t even look like it has settled or melted much. It looks pretty similar to when it first fell. Maybe a few inches shallower, but not that noticeable. That is helping to keep it colder too.

Another interesting and surprising aspect of it is there are plenty of areas that I can almost walk on top of where the crust isn’t broken yet. I walked through it last night. That was something that really surprised me, and I don’t remember that lasting so long. There is even still ice on some of the sidewalks that the lazy people couldn’t bother to clear.