Clearing Storm, Yosemite, photo by Harold Davis. View this photo larger.

« Mais où sont les neiges d’antan? » wrote 15th century ballader François Villon. This plaint was famously translated by Dante Gabriel Rosetti as

But where are the snows of yesteryear?

The lament continues :

Why does life fade so quickly?

We all share this melancholy feeling from time to time: that our time is running out, and that things were bigger and grander in the past.

In the era of global warming, it also seems to be literally true, at least in Yosemite, that snow storms are not what they once were. But, as this photo shows, we certainly found a big storm last weekend.

Route 120 over Crane Flat was in full chains required white-out blizzard mode. I was driving into the valley with Julian. The wipers were freezing and large wet gobs of snow were turning visibility to nothing.

Then, all of a sudden, rounding the bend and beginning the descent, the storm began to lift. I parked, got out my camera, and began taking pictures while Julian made snow angels.

I’m on the road again tomorrow, so this one photo will have to be a teaser until I get back!