Weather is a funny thing here in the mountains of western North Carolina. Some folks say that if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes, and it will change. Yesterday afternoon, I pulled out the lawn mower for the first time this year. I changed the oil and did other maintenance, and then mowed. Today, it snowed, and as I write at 8:30 pm on Sunday evening, it is still snowing.
This got me to thinking about other snow storms - real snow storms, in the Toe River Valley. I pulled out my copy of Arthur’s history of western North Carolina, and dug out a few references.
February 8, 1835 - "The Cold Saturday"
pre-1850s - a big snow that "obliterated all evidence of fences and shrubbery..."
June 5, 1858 - a freeze occurred that "killed corn knee-high, and all fruits, vegetables, and white oak trees" between Boone and Jefferson
July 26, 1876 - frost in Blowing Rock
December 2-3, 1886 - snowed three feet in Buncombe "and surrounding counties."
June 10, 1913 - snowed in Haywood County
Of course, in our own time, there was the snow in the late 1960s, and the blizzard of 1993.
We had no good snows this year. Maybe five or six inches twice. I guess that is a good thing. Otherwise, someone would have needed to meet me at the bottom of Hawshaw Mountain to take me to the store.
Is it not interesting, of all of the big weather events that Arthur mentioned, no one remembers them today? They have passed out of out collective consciences and are but mere words on a page in a book that some may deem antiquated or quaint. Arthur’s book is a treasure trove of information, if you have the patience to dig out the material you need.
I just checked outside - there is a little skiff on my deck.
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