Another very bright day

Lots of sun again today. Our panels are loving it! We'll produce about 37 kw/hrs before sunset. That's one of our best days ever. The only drawback is how bright things get because of the snow remaining on the ground. We need to wear shades inside! During a walk today, some big moose tracks in the snow were followed for a while. Also, planning for this year's brush cutting and forest thinning was done.

Solar hibernation has ended!

The panels have had two great days. Very bright sun produced more than 60 kw/hrs for us since sunrise yesterday morning. That's the first time we've had that much on consecutive days since Sept. 9 and 10. Our meter is 34 kw/hrs less now than 48 hours ago. The bright days with lots of snow still visible make birches shine like never before.

4 down and counting!

In typical weather forecasting, that were revised even as the storm blanketed NH. Our snow total was about 4 inches. We are pleased to report that it was plowed yesterday without incident. Today, the tractor went out and cleared a snow drift that was largely blocking the road. Dare we hope that this is all the snow for the season, especially since spring is arriving on Friday???

8 to go, but 5-10 to come!!

Similar to this time last year, we are expecting a significant snow fall over the next few days. Right now, the forecast is for 5-10 inches of snow here in the North Country of NH with lesser amounts in the southern part of the state. Yesterday the tractor got a little warm-up run to clear drifting snow that had piled up along the north side of the road (the part that the town doesn't maintain -- of course!).

9 Days to Spring!!!

With the wind howling outside and more snow in the forecast for this weekend, we are counting down the days until the official start of Spring -- 9 to go!! (March 20 6:45 PM is the Spring Equinox) We can definitely see the effect of melting over the last couple of days -- I can now see down the hill a bit from my office window (previously there was a wall of snow from where it piled up and then slid off the north roof). We've noticed a few small trees that have come down over the winter -- Firewood!!!!! Yes, the wood stove is continuing to work hard. Earlier this week we had a day with only 1 fire (rather than a morning and evening fire). Still, lots of cold days left even after spring has officially sprung.

Panels starting to clear

Sun, wind, and 40+ degrees has started the snow slide from our solar panels. Our last day of production before today was Jan. 26. We're about 300 kw/hrs behind last year already because we got lots of snow and the temps didn't help with any melting. Not all of the array has cleared yet, but our first sliding from the panels started this afternoon. We hope for full clearing by tomorrow. More snow projected for this weekend. Spring is inevitable. To start our outside work preparations, the new saw blade was put on the brush cutter today!