Snow in Covington - 12-11-08

December 11, 2008 will go down in weather history as the day that South Louisiana received several inches of snow. The snow began to fall before dawn at about 5:00 a.m. and it continued falling heavily throughout the morning. We received over 4 inches at our house in St. Tammany Parish and the yard looked like it belonged on a Christmas card. The log feeders had to be cleared of snow each hour so that the birds could eat. Soon the heavy snow began to take a toll on the Pine and Water Oak tree branches. They began to break and fall. One fell on the patio, just grazing the edge of the roof while others fell in our road to the river and all over the parish. The electricity went out at about 9:00 a.m. and the phone followed at around 10:00. Our pet cockatiels (that live on the back carport in our winter “greenhouse”) had to be moved into the house so that they wouldn’t get too cold. The fireplace really saved the day and we used the wood from some of the trees that went down during the hurricanes. The snow stayed on the ground for 3 days. We now understand how devastating snow storms can be, but we also are glad that we were able to experience the beautiful sight. The phones were back on in a few hours and our electricity was restored some time during the first night.

What is amazing is the fact that the lettuce, broccoli, turnips, radishes and carrots in our sustainable fall garden and the Satsuma (Citrus) trees, which were heavy with fruit, are relatively unharmed. The snow insulated both the vegetables and the fruit and since it only froze one night, all are still doing fine.

Today we saw Tree Swallows flying over the pond. In most parts of the country, Tree Swallows nest in bluebird boxes, but here in the south, we only see them in flocks during winter. In some places huge flocks will congregate and it’s quite a site to see them spiraling down to their roosting spots at dusk.