Avalanche!

 

The snowy weather continued.

This drywall ruler might be hard to read-- but it we had about 20" of snow.

 I was a bit worried about all that snow on the roof falling off. We were hoping for a slow melt. After all the porch roof was just rough plywood, not slick metal.

 I was more afraid of falling icicles.

View from inside. It was cold, but nice to be up in the house and imagine what it would be like to be seeing the snow from an insulated, sealed, warm abode with plumbing and electricity. I called the electrician about this time but he said we weren't ready for wiring yet. 

 

 We had windows ready to be delivered, but they would be delayed two months because of the snowy, hilly roads in our neighborhood.

 We watched the snow break off and hit the porch roof in chunks.

Our road is cleared by volunteers driving snow plows. When the drift is on our side, it is quite a thing to climb over!

More chunks.

A visitor.

One day everyone was in the RV for lunch. I was going to go up to the house with my son, but was delayed for a couple of minutes. Providentially as it turns out, because as soon as we opened the RV door to go up to the house, CRASH!

Like a crack of thunder, the rest of the snow came off of the roof, onto the porch roof, and down the hill all at once. A few minutes earlier, we would have been under it and had a broken neck or arm! I was so glad the children were in the RV and not playing outside.

This is after it had been trampled down a bit... the "snowballs" that settled on the driveway were around three feet in diameter. 

This has made me re-think the simple design of our porch roof. At least a gable over the steps is a must for this country. And some kind of snow clips or snow bars over the rest.

And can you believe, we are still trying to figure out which snow clips/snow barriers to buy and have not put any up at all! It is a project that, if done cheaply, might damage the standing seam roofing. If done expertly, will cost almost as much as the roof cost! We would like to have avalanche prevention before another winter. If anyone has any experience with snow clips, please leave a comment!