Lyn

I have seen several Christmas days in Denver when it was 50, 55, and once it
even was 60 degrees.  We rarely have snow on the ground during Christmas.
Our two biggest snow months, normally, are March and April but it gets so
warm during that time, it melts in two or three days.  This winter started
out with a bang.  We got 24 inches here but other areas of Denver had three
feet and the wind was so bad, drifts were up to 5 feet in places around
town.  The airport, an all weather airport, closed for two days and screwed
up thousands of people's Christmas holiday trips all over the country.  then
a couple of weeks ago, our temps droped to 18 below, another record, and it
stayed just below zero for about four days.  Again, rare for Denver but it
is probably due to global warming, haw.  The biggest snow fall I have seen
in the 35 years living in Denver was 32 inches in 24 hours but again, it was
in April and in a week, it was nearly gone.  We have not topped 30 inches of
snow in a single season for about 15 years.  Our normal snow fall each
season is 60 inches but again, 50 and 55 degrees in Denver feels like summer
due to the direct sunlight so everything normally melts within days before
another snow comes.  Of course, if you go to work without your coat and
happen to step into the shadows, you suddenly remember it is winter but in
the sunlight, it is wonderful and feels great.  Most water pipes are only
burried 3 to 4 feet deep because the frost line rarely gets more than a foot
or 2 feet deep here.  Where I grew up in Iowa, some winters the frost line
would be 5 to 6 feet deep.  I preached in northwest North Dakota once many
years ago and they could not burry people who died in the winter do to the
deep frost line below six feet.  The pastor of the church said the graveyard
had a building on it that housed the dead untiol winter was over and then
they were buried.  I decided I didn't want to die in North Dakota.  That's
why I wear a cowboy hat.

Phil.