UPDATE 10 FEB 2017

Our cold winter has finally broken.  We got above the freezing mark by quite a bit and have had lots of rain.  So now we have melting snow and water running every where.  There are quite a few roads that are flooded and people sand bagging around their homes down in the valley.  We have a pretty good sized lake down in the meadow.   Yesterday our ski resort had 27 inches of new snow for our "powder Thursday" but it was raining when I got up there.  Skied with my friend Dale but we did not ski very long.  The visibility was terrible and the snow conditions were worse.  Lots of layers in that 27 inches and very inconsistent snow.  We skied until about 1130 and went in the lodge for a cocoa.  Decided to just throw in the towel.  At the bottom it was raining, but on the top it was freezing rain.

You can see they have quite a bit of snow piled up around the lodge.  It is at the bottom of the windows now.  Those are my skis and poles leaning against the rail.

Visibility was bad on top but better at the bottom.

Dale in his gortex hunting gear to keep warm and dry in the rain.

You can see the ice on my coat.

This is "breakup" in Montana. 

The snow is going fast.

Hardly any left on the lawn.

After the rain lots of raindrops on the pine needles.