February 9

The snow was still coming in earnest this morning, and while the wind continued to shape drifts outside, I noted that the barometer had started to rise slightly overnight. The nor'easter must be moving off shore of Boston, evident in the wind shifting to the north and pressure on the rise.

The door to the porch from the sunroom was nearly impassable, with snow having drifted in to the midpoint. Snow is abundant, having fallen steadily throughout the night as a light fluffy blanket made living in the swirling gales which created false mountains and eddies. The wind is a seeming living thing, picking up spindrifts of snow and sending them across the yard, around the barn edge and fleeing to the lower gardens.

The news reported 30 inches of snow here, with drifts to four feet in places, still accumulating steadily at midday, though periodic breaks appeared in the fast-moving cloud cover. We watched it move and shift across the front yard all day, leaving small patches of bare grass in the lee side of trees.

There’s no sense in digging out just yet. We’ll have to clear the driveway when the wind abates, otherwise the snow will simply drift in again.

By late afternoon, I noticed a tractor moving in the driveway of Cournoyers. Sure enough, the wind let up enough to make plowing a sensible project.