{"id":21401,"date":"2018-02-10T23:26:28","date_gmt":"2018-02-11T06:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=21401"},"modified":"2018-02-10T23:27:09","modified_gmt":"2018-02-11T06:27:09","slug":"prairie-lights-waiting-for-a-chinook-enjoying-the-snow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2018\/02\/prairie-lights-waiting-for-a-chinook-enjoying-the-snow\/","title":{"rendered":"Prairie Lights: Waiting for a Chinook, enjoying the snow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"slides-21401\" class=\"navis-slideshow\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slide-nav\">\n\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"prev\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"next\"><\/a>\n\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slides_container\"><div id=\"21401-slide1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-Howl-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-Howl-1-of-1-771x460.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Heavy snowfall makes some people scream in agony and others howl in delight. Judge for yourself how this snowbank on Third Street West felt. Click on the arrow at top right for more photos.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-Tree-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-Tree-1-of-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A symmetrical tree on Rimrock Road took on a fine coat of snow.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide3\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-Fred-1-of-1-771x513.jpg*771*513\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-Fred-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A lot of snow fell on Billings lately. Also, a lot of snow fell on the statue of Frederick Billings in front of the Western Heritage Center. <\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide4\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-Buried-1-of-1-771x489.jpg*771*489\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-Buried-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>But for the rear-view mirror, you could hardly tell there was a car under all that snow on South 32nd Street.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide5\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-Rear-view-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-Rear-view-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A similar scene, with a similar rear-view mirror, on Miles Avenue.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide6\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-Boat-1-of-1-771x488.jpg*771*488\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-Boat-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>This car and attached trailer and boat at Ninth and Howard will probably be sitting there awhile.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-dog-1-of-1-771x431.jpg*771*431\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-dog-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>It wasn't easy walking through Pioneer Park, not for the dog or its human.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide8\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-ducks-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-ducks-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Competition is keen for an open patch of water this time of year. This scene was just off Virginia Lane near Parkhill Drive.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide9\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-Graves-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-Graves-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>At Mountview Cemetery, every tombstone had its cap of snow.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide10\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-Pigeons-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-Pigeons-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>On top of Western Security Bank in the Heights, pigeons flocked to warmth of a roof leaking heat.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide11\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-roof-1-of-1-771x473.jpg*771*473\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-roof-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>It wasn't all that cold Saturday, but snow blowing off a warehouse roof on Charles Street sure made it look that way.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide12\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-Summit-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-Summit-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>On Beverly Hill Boulevard, some intrepid climber apparently summited this heap of snow.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide13\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-Shovel-1-of-1-771x471.jpg*771*471\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Snow-Shovel-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Just down the road on Beverly Hill Boulevard, there was an even taller stack of snow.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide14\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-Windrow-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-Windrow-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A windrow of plowed snow on Aronson Avenue in the Heights looked like a formidable barrier.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide15\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-Sled-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-Sled-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Behind the upper parking lot at MetraPark, these four were having fun \u2014 and a few spectacular falls \u2014 sledding down to the Alkali Creek bottom.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"21401-slide16\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-River-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/SnowDay-River-1-of-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A snow-covered hill looms over an icy Yellowstone River at South Bridge.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><script>jQuery( document ).ready( function() { loadSlideshow( 21401, 'https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2018\/02\/prairie-lights-waiting-for-a-chinook-enjoying-the-snow\/', 16 ) } );<\/script>\n<p>I might be singing a different tune by late March, but it sure feels good right now to be experiencing a bit of real winter weather.<\/p>\n<p>After living in Montana for four decades, I still can&#8217;t quite get used to the regular, rapid disappearance of huge quantities of snow. The first big snowfall I saw in Montana was in Missoula in the mid-1970s.<!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18715\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 140px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-18715 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/1Kemmick.mug-copy-50.jpg\" alt=\"Ed\" width=\"140\" height=\"182\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ed Kemmick<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I think we were hit with something like three feet in 12 or 15 hours, and I, being a broke college student, saw an opportunity. I didn&#8217;t own anything as useful as a shovel, but I figured most homeowners did, so I set out, knocking on any door that lay at the end of an uncleared sidewalk.<\/p>\n<p>Not surprisingly, a lot of people were relieved to be offered a way out of shoveling all that heavy snow. I would explain that I, ahem, needed a shovel, and we&#8217;d work out a price, based on how much work lay ahead. I think I charged a buck for an easy job, on up to $2.50 for a corner lot and driveway.<\/p>\n<p>That might not sound like a lot of money, but in those days you could get a six pack of Bohemian Beer for $1 at Freddy&#8217;s Feed and Read. So I shoveled snow for five or six hours, until my pockets were bulging with a fortune that might have topped $20.<\/p>\n<p>At the last house where I plied my newfound trade, I finished up just as the sun was going down, and all the sweat that had soaked into my clothing throughout the day was beginning to grow quite cold. When I was done, the homeowner not only paid me, he gave me a little more than we&#8217;d agreed upon and then invited me inside for dinner.<\/p>\n<p>A home-cooked meal was even rarer than a pocketful of money at the time, so of course I said yes. It sounds like the start of a bad joke, but it&#8217;s true: my patron was a pastor, and joining us for dinner were his wife and his two beautiful daughters. They pretended I didn&#8217;t stink and I pretended I wasn&#8217;t starving and we all got along famously.<\/p>\n<p>If the pastor had served up some alcohol my bliss would have been complete, but even as it was I could hardly believe my luck, and I couldn&#8217;t help thinking what a story it would make if I ended up marrying one of the pastor&#8217;s daughters. But no. After we ate we lingered a bit and I took my departure, with many thanks, never to see anyone in the family again.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"well\"><div class=\"dfad dfad_pos_1 dfad_first\" id=\"_ad_652\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/mjhWkW\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/201703_capeair_variable.jpg\" alt=\"CapreAir_Variable\" width=\"510\" height=\"180\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18069\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>But I was talking about snow, and what I will never forget was my shock the next day, when a warm, strong Chinook came scouring down the valley and disposed of almost all that snow in a single day. I remember thinking how wise I had been to go out in search of my fortune as soon as the storm ended.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, I&#8217;ve seen countless repetitions of the same phenomenon, something I don&#8217;t know that I had ever seen growing up in Minnesota, where in a normal year (and it was easier to speak of\u00a0 &#8220;normal&#8221; before climate change settled in for the long haul) the snow from the first storm might still be on the ground, though buried deeply, at the start of spring thaw.<\/p>\n<p>Which is why, living here in the land of Chinooks in the era of climate change, I have taken such pleasure in the thick blanket of snow, especially on Saturday, when the sky was a brilliant blue and there wasn&#8217;t a cloud in sight.<\/p>\n<p>I should also say, speaking of Chinooks, that when I moved to Billings, in 1989, it was still the unofficial policy of the city of Billings to plow a small number of the most heavily traveled roads and nothing more. It was always assumed that a warm wind would arrive soon enough, and usually it did. In those rare years when it snowed heavily and the Chinooks did not come, well, the deeply rutted side streets were the next best thing to bumper cars.<\/p>\n<p>Now we&#8217;re becoming a big small city, where people expect things like having their residential streets plowed. And so we have a city <a href=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/2018\/02\/city-rapped-for-hauling-snow-twice-wasting-time-money\/\">experimenting with new ways<\/a> of dealing with all the snow, and snowplow crews working seven or eight days in a row, on 12-hour rotations.<\/p>\n<p>We owe them thanks, and some forbearance. They&#8217;ll get the job done eventually, if the Chinooks don&#8217;t get here first.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, since we don&#8217;t know how long the snow will be around, I offer up (above) a gallery of photos of the aftermath of the latest big storm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I might be singing a different tune by late March, but it sure feels good right now to be experiencing a bit of real winter weather. After living in Montana for four decades, I still can&#8217;t quite get used to the regular, rapid disappearance of huge quantities of snow. The first big snowfall I saw [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[6749,6750,5354],"class_list":["post-21401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prairie-lights","tag-chinooks","tag-plowing","tag-snow","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21401"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21421,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21401\/revisions\/21421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}