Jan Skrentny

Starting a week before Christmas this last year and continuing steadily through Christmas Day, a series of winter storms rolled into the mountains that brought in over three feet of snow. A storm of this magnitude is called up here a 30 year storm because that’s about how frequently they occur.

When my wife and I first moved to the mountains and built our home, three days after the county inspectors had signed off on the construction, the March Miracle of 1991 occurred. After seven years of dought conditions, 20 plus inches of rain fell, filling lakes and resevoirs, nourishing trees and replenishing underground springs.

In 1991 the mountain communites were shut down for weeks. Power was disrupted for days. Residents were captitive of their mountain homes as work crews struggled to clear main roads and side roads.

By comparison the 2008 storm, almost as great in snow fall, was a testimate to how much better public services have become in the mountains. Power was barely interrupted in the week’s period. Plowing crews kept the main roads open and even the back roads were plowed within the first 24 hours.

The best advice in those situations I can offer to perspective new home owners in the mountains when a storm of such magnitude rolls in is — stay home, light the fire place and enjoy it. There is unparrelled beauty out every window as the world is transformed. With proper clothing and footwear a walk outside will be an event you will long remember.

And if your children and grandchildren can come up to enjoy the sledding and snowman-making… it is beyond comparison. A true delight. 

Their faces light up viewing the transformed surroundings. So does mine. Every time.

There is something significant to say about the change of seasons that so few Southern Californians know anything about.

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