> Kentucky is only marginally part of "the American south" when it comes to > weather. We get some occasional snows here in south-central NC - probably > averaging 1-3 snowfalls per year, usually less than 2-4" accumulation, > although we sometimes get over a foot.
i spent five years living in baltimore, which is even more marginally "south", and the city shut down like a frightened turtle even when the snow didn't stick. seattle's the same way. i confess i don't get it. lexington (where gudmar's farm is) seems to average five to ten inches a month, about fur months out of the year. during those same months it's getting two to three inches of rain, which tends to do away with snow. the average daily high is around 40F even in the coldest months, and the average low scarcely below freezing, which will tend to keep snow from sticking around for very long. north reading has freeze/thaw cycles on daily average during the winter, as well as an average of several big (over a foot) snowstorms every month, as well as a couple inches of rain. this is a fantastic recipe for ice, esp. in stjarni's paddock and our riding ring, which are downhill facing north. i think i've ridden in the ring once maybe since december, when we had a full foot of fresh snow to cushion the underlying icepack, and we did not go faster than aa tolt. the footing in the forest is a little better, since some of it is south-facing and some of it is protected by trees, but it's not very predictable. and of course, stjarni was not kept at gudmar's for seven years; he had two owners along the way. i believe one was in tennessee and one in georgia, although i don't know the towns to look up. i suspect the best metric would be the cities' annual snow-clearing budgets. --vicka
