We’re currently experiencing our first major snowstorm since the “Snowmageddon” storms of 2010. It started snowing yesterday (Friday) noon in this area and has been snowing steadily ever since. I’d like to hang out in front of the TV and call for pizza delivery but with the roads covered in about 18+ inches of snow, I don’t think any pizza delivery person is going to be making the rounds for any amount of tip.
We started seeing the weather forecasts last Sunday of 12 – 30 inches of snow coming by Friday but no one locally wanted to believe them. We continued watching forecasts as the week went on pretty much the same way I used to watch hurricane forecasts when I lived back in Mississippi. Disbelief slowly gave way to resignation, and then about Wednesday morning panic set in.
I began hearing reports of stores selling out of snow shovels about Wednesday evening, which led me to wonder what the hell people did with the snow shovels they had from last year? Then I began hearing reports that supermarkets were selling out of groceries and had to wonder what people were expecting that I was missing. I mean, roads around here get plowed pretty quickly so how much extra food do you need to tide over one day in the house?
Whatever. Winnie did her emergency shopping Thursday on her way home from work and we had a really nice pre-storm dinner Thursday evening. As Hurricane Katrina survivors, snow isn’t all that exciting to us other than the exercise we get from shoveling. By now all federal Government offices in DC had announced they would be closing noon Friday. Everyone who worked in the district was encouraged to work from home.
So Friday morning I worked from home while Winnie had to drive to work in her Nissan Versa. Before she left I told her I’d pick her up in our new 4×4 Jeep Cherokee if the roads were bad when she came home. At noon I went out to do a little home-improvement shopping at our local Lowes. It was an event. The main floor area was packed with boxes of snow shovels and people were streaming out the door with their purchases. Rock salt was already sold out. The snow started as I was making my way home and while I was heading for home Winnie called to let me know she was driving home as well.
We did our usual Friday evening dinner and movies routine, occasionally looking outside to determine that yes, in fact, it was still snowing.
This morning we woke up to about 12 inches of snow covering our world. After breakfast we went out to clear off the boat and shovel a path to the driveway. We had to go out through the garage because the front door (screen door opens out) was blocked with snow. We managed to clear the snow off the boat and shovel a path from the door to driveway and decided that was enough. It was still snowing so we knew we’d be back outside again… Some neighbors were already out shoveling out their cars, for reasons unknown. The road hadn’t been plowed as of yet and I could tell even my 4×4 wasn’t going to get very far from where she was parked.
We finished and went back inside to warm up and wait. The snow let up a bit about noon, then picked up again with strong winds. At the time I’m writing this post it’s snowing a pretty good clip. I’m starting to wonder if maybe we shouldn’t have stocked up on additional groceries.
The weather predictions have been pretty accurate so far, and current forecasts show the snow stopping about 10PM tonight. It appears that we will end up with about 24 inches of snow from this storm. If the fallout from 2010 is any guide, Washington DC will be mostly shutdown until midweek at least and I get to work from home a few more days.
I’ll be sure to follow-up on this breaking news story from the Virginia edition of the Charest family adventures. I can’t help thinking about summer weather and being out on my boat.
