This week’s been all about Winter. After a couple weeks respite from snow and bitter cold--we even had a day up into the 50s--Jack Frost came back with a vengeance. The thermometer plunged into the low teens and tens. The wind brought the feels-like down into the negatives. Worst of all, we had three days of Lake Effect Snow.

Lake Effect Snow is a phenomenon here in the Midwest where cool air, usually from Canada, moves across the relatively warm Great Lakes resulting in increased moisture in the lower-bands of the earth's atmosphere. That moisture forms into clouds which can dump 2-3 inches of snow per hour. Here in Northeast Ohio, this snow usually hits the eastern portion of the lakeshore the hardest with counties on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border suffering the most.

Since I live somewhere in the middle of Northeast Ohio, I don’t get the worst of it, but I do get my fair share. My driveway is large, with a light incline narrowly snaking between my house and my neighbor’s. Since I’d rather not hit a house, that means I have to get out there and clear any snow if my fiance or I want to drive anywhere. I’ve been clearing snow most days this week, but after a particularly large snowfall Monday night, Tuesday’s plowing proved to be too mighty for my snowblower. Midway through a stretch of light snow, its auger died.

The next day, my dad came over and he was able to briefly get the auger working again. I remember seeing the blades spinning from my kitchen window thinking I’d wasted his time having him drive out, but after a few minutes of pushing it around, the gearbox imploded.