This is for my own uses as I try and acclimate to the climate here in upstate NY. This week was the first real storm of the season – about 3 inches of snow followed by sleet and freezing rain, then thankfully extended rains to wash it all away. The roads were terrible one night, otherwise this was a minor storm.

In roughly 12 years in Maine I never really got used to the fact that Spring doesn’t show up until May. It was April when I was a kid. We’ll see where it is here in the Adirondacks. So far the winter here has been really mild. I was hiking up above 1500′ in the tongue mountain range on sunday in ~50 degree temperatures. I think this is national but it’s definitely at odds with the average winter in Maine, where by this time of year the temperatures were routinely below freezing.

Anyway to close this off I’ll also observe that my new car is terrible in the snow. I intentionally took the roughest back road home to test how things went. The impending arrival of my new dog and the expenses related to same have left me dead broke, which means no snow tires for me. My conclusion? I will be creeping along at 5MPH a lot this winter, and the chances of me getting stuck are very high. Ugh.