Snow Facts

When we first bought the Hawksbill Cabin, there were large support poles attached to the beams in the main part of the house. One of them is shown here near the fireplace. These old beams and structures came out of the house after we found the termites and had to tear the roof off of the place, replacing it with a modern structure (http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2007/12/wtf-moment.html ).

During the winter of 2007 and 2008, there wasn’t much snow – certainly not enough, it seemed to us, to justify the expense of these support poles, even if the previous owners had known about the condition of the roof. An article by Carl Quintrell in the PN&C last week provided more insight.

The four Page County snowfalls in December 2009: 6.5 inches on the fifth, .25 on the ninth, 18 inches on the 18th and 19th, and another inch on the 31st, combined to make it the snowiest December since 1942. In fact, the average snowfall during December is 4.26 inches, according to Quintrell. Adding the rain and freezing rain that fell during the month, there was another 4.85 inches of precipitation, on top of the heavy snow.

The article goes on to report that the average annual snowfall from October to March is 22.74 inches, with the heaviest falls in February, at 6.36 inches, and January, at 6.20 inches. Comparatively, the 2007 snow was only 17 inches, with only a light dusting after we bought the place. In 2008, there was only 5.85 inches, and we never saw it during our weekends out.

However, the average figure of 22.74 inches is certainly enough to justify those snow poles in the old roofing system. We’ve modernized and upgraded that system now, so there is no danger of a collapse, and we added insulation up there to reduce heating costs. Maybe it would be nice to have the old beams back, but I’ve no complaints about our successful renovation and the character of the new ceiling.