The weather cold-spell has apparently broken and temperatures are well above freezing. In fact, last night around 10pm it was about 38F (which means I could finally put my license tabs on my car - two months late). But all the glorious snow is now melting...
This morning I was startled by a thunderous banging on the south side of the house. It sounded as if a section of the wall had fallen off (which wouldn't be a huge stretch of the imagination in that old house) and crashed into several things on the way down. It sounded quite destructive.
Turns out it was merely several tons of ice melting and then letting loose from the roof line and falling onto the roof on the first level. There were several massive chunks lying in the snow and thrown up against the neighbor's house. Good thing nobody was standing underneath.