The Snows

A couple of weeks back we had a prolonged Easterly blizzard. It was late March and unusually cold with strong Arctic winds. Where I live is 130 feet above sea level and we got about one foot of snow at most. But it was quite different in the low hills behind my house. These hills are 500-800 feet high and were soon very deep in snow. Many hill farms were cut off and much livestock was lost as lambs had only recently been born.

 

 

After some days many of the wee roads were opened by snow blower, farmers were able to move around by tractor and some livestock were rescued. On a journey that took me into the hills, I went through snowdrifts that ranged from 5 to 10 feet deep.



 

 

Two weeks later, all the snow around me has melted but on the hills and mountains it is still deep. The main road through them has now been closed due to the avalanche risk. Over 8000 farm animals died in the snowstorm.