GARDEN VALLEY, Idaho — It seems we're in the middle of a break when it comes to the weather and that is good news for Idaho's mountain towns trying to dig out.
After a dry January, the month of February has been anything but. Snowfall the last couple of weeks measured in feet, not inches.
So how have those communities been handling it?
The town of Crouch has a pretty good handle on the recent snowfall.
The Garden Valley area gets an average of a little more than 5 feet of snow per season.
However, when you get almost that much snow in just a week's time, you kind of have to step up your snow-removal game.
Winter in Idaho's mountains is usually a permit to play, but this year, in places above Garden Valley, it's also meant a little more work.
Laura Hill, who lives in Terrace Lakes, could see her driveway a week ago.
“Just a week yeah, and we had this thing totally cleared. It was like 'oh my God,'” said Hill.
Which is why a morning workout with the snow shovel was in order.
“So I said it's a good thing I didn't renew my gym membership,” remarked Hill.
Down the hill at Terrace Lakes golf course, Tyson Wardle takes an easier approach. But it's been an almost daily attack.
“It's been a crunch, it's hard to keep up,” said Wardle.
That's been the difficulty. Not so much the tally, but the timing.
“This is about a normal year for us, it just kind came all at once, with some rain in the middle of it, didn't get break days, it was just constant,” said
There isn't an official count in this area, but according to some anecdotal snow totals, higher elevations have seen almost 7 feet of snow this season, with 40 inches falling in just the last week.
“I don't measure it I just deal with it I guess, you know, it is what it is,” said Fire Chief Jon Delvalle.
He says those are numbers that make locals look back on the record setting winter of 2017, as some call it "snowmaggedon."
And with more snow expected, it's just what mid-winter mountain dwellers should expect as well.
“They should, if not they're fooling themselves,” said Hill.
Garden Valley schools have been closed for a week because of sickness and power outages, but mostly because of snow.
They expect to be back in session Tuesday but by Wednesday morning they are expecting more snow.