Snow ... Snow ... Snow ... Snow!

[dawn_felagund]

Okay, you have to imagine me actually singing (on-key) in harmony with Bing Crosby for that title to work. :)

We are in the beginnings of what is predicted to be a record-breaking snowstorm for our wee southern state. (Okay, yes, we are just south of the Mason-Dixon line--Bobby and I can nearly spit on it from our front yard--but to all the northerners who like to give us a hard time for panicking about snow, yes, we are still a southern state! We got a total of about 7 inches [18 cm] of snow last winter, even here in Carroll County! That was a low year, but accumulating snowfalls are about a thrice-per-year occurrence for us. I've lost track for this winter already because we've gotten so much.) The last report Bobby read to me predicted 26 to 32 inches (64 to 81 cm) total accumulation for Baltimore, and we generally get more than Baltimore up here in the foothills of Appalachia.

Apparently, the record to this point was 26 inches (64 cm) in February of 2003. I remember that snowfall very well. We were over my parents' house and my dad--who was the only person who couldn't shovel on account of his bypass surgery--didn't bring the snowblower out from the shed because he had developed the superstition that getting out the snowblower meant that we would get no snow, and he was getting irritated by moving it back and forth all of the time. Of course, that left Bobby, my mom, my sister, and me to rotate duties with our two snow shovels, unburying my parents' lengthy driveway from more like three feet of snow. (Official records be damned, it came to my thighs, not my knees!) That was one of the most miserable things I have ever done. I also developed snow blindness for the first and hopefully only time in my life!

This storm is supposed to surpass that one in 2003. Bobby and I are prepared; we stocked up on food yesterday, including stuff that can be cooked on the woodstove if we lose power, and Bobby picked up our dairy and eggs and meat for himself from the farm this afternoon and rolled a wheelbarrow full of firewood to the top of the basement stairs. Schools closed early, so we went out for a late lunch at O'Lordan's for one last taste of freedom. (I did not intend that bad pun--ouch!) It was just beginning to stick on the roads when we were coming home.

Well, I could use to be cooped up for a few days to get some work done. I'm currently in that wild-eyed omg-first-week-of-school-must-get-three-weeks-ahead!!! state of mind, in addition to trying to tie up the last straggling ends of preparing for Back to Middle-earth Month next month. Bobby is thrilled by the storm. He told me this afternoon that it is a dream come true for a weather nerd, and he is a weather nerd. He follows weather blogs ... I did not even know that there were weather blogs! And he has been getting National Weather Service notices on his iPod Touch. He is in the proverbial high cotton.

Comments

[dreamflower]

Stay warm and safe, dear! I hope you don't lose power! We were lucky the last time out...

[dawn_felagund]

I hope not too! Reading by candlelight becomes un-romantic really fast. (Reading by uber-bright battery-powered lantern is worse--it is never romantic to start! :D) When we first moved here, we lost power pretty much once per week, but they've really improved it since then, so I'm hoping for a cozy long weekend in with all the conveniences of modern life. ;)

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

Heh, I really do feel for you. I'm glad that you're stocked up and ready though. I used to love snow when I was a kid: Snow, Yay!!

How I feel about snow now:
www.charlierussell.org/lastofthe5000.htm

[dawn_felagund]

I rather agree! That painting and London's "To Build a Fire" ... *shivveerrr*

I used to like snow as a kid too. I still like it, when it gets me off from work! :D

[lilith-lessfair.livejournal.com]

Stay safe, warm and dry!

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you--so far, so good! We're up to two feet with about twelve hours left in the storm.

[frenchpony.livejournal.com]

Snow! Wheeeeeee!

Be sure to go outside and make snow angels. And then go inside and make cocoa.

[dawn_felagund]

I might let Bobby make the snow angels while I make the cocoa! :D

Dawn, wimp in the cold

[frenchpony.livejournal.com]

Now, this may just be the New-Englander-who-moved-to-Chicago in me talking, but if it's actively snowing, then it's only somewhere around freezing; it's not really very cold at all. You need to put on a coat and warm pants, of course, but going out when it's actively snowing can be kind of pleasant.

[dawn_felagund]

Yes, that is definitely a New-Englander-who-moved-to-Chicago talking! :D I think that temperatures below 50F are inhumane.

I can tolerate the cold, if I must. I've made plenty of 45-minute hikes home from my classroom observations when it's colder than it is now. But the snow gets in my eyes and ... yeah, I'm just going to stay inside, enjoy my time off, and count the days till Spring!

I guarantee you, though, that Bobby will be out in it.

[frenchpony.livejournal.com]

See, the temperature that makes me think that just staying inside and drinking cocoa is a good idea is closer to 10F or 5F. And even I'm not crazy enough to go outside in below zero unless I absolutely have to.

The secret is layering. I had to mention that to a new acquaintance of mine who is from South Carolina and is spending her first year of graduate school north of the Mason-Dixon line for the first time ever, aside from a year in Scotland, where their climate is still not like Chicago.

[dawn_felagund]

When we were at Deep Creek Lake a few years ago, the temperature dropped to 4F, and my response was to run as quickly as I could from cabin to car screeching like a Ringwraith.

I have learned the value of layers this year; my car crapped out in November, so I have been walking to and from my classroom observations much of the time. The tricky part is not only layering but doing so in such as way as to give the impression of being at least somewhat professional and put-together upon walking in the front door of the school! :)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

I thought so too until... the weekend before Christmas, when we had a snowstorm even though it was -21°C. Now I know that there are people on this planet who don't consider -21°C that cold, but it is 21° below freezing... which is really very cold in my books!

Not that going out when it's snowing wasn't fun anyway, as long as my warm living room isn't far away ;)

[nelyo-russandol.livejournal.com]

Three feet??? Earlier this year most of England ground into a halt with less than one. I hope power stays on, good luck! ;-)

[dawn_felagund]

You all are even less prepared to deal with snow than we are, though. :) (My sister and sis-in-law live in England, and when my ever-curious family asked about snow, got a pie-eyed look of panic!) Maryland also tends to come to a halt for anything over three inches, though we get moving again soon enough. This though ... we're just not equipped to deal with this. The town twelve minutes to the south of us is registering 26 inches already, and we still have twelve hours left to go in the storm!

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I rolled my eyes at my husband who insisted on shoveling our driveway whenever there were about 10 cm of new snow, even when it was still snowing and likely to go on snowing for another few hours because - what's the point?
But with all the masses that fell, it was certainly easier to go out seven times to shovel 10 cm away than to wait and go out once for shoveling 70 away. No matter how annoying it was...
I dug out my car the day before yesterday and the roof was dented because the snow got so heavy. Well, and because it was hit by a roof avalanche, that probably didn't help either. >_>

Hope you'll be fine! The worst of the snow seems to be over here (...for the time being, anyway), so now it seems to have wandered over to you?

[dawn_felagund]

It seems so! :) So are these sorts of snowfalls just as atypical for you as they are for us?

A town to the south of us is currently reporting 66 cm, and we have about 12 hours left to go, based on the radar.

I appreciate your husband's tactic! :) Most of ours came overnight, so ... yeah, at this point, we're just screwed, with about two hours of digging out ahead of us. We do park at the end of the driveway so that we only have to dig out a few meters and a path down to the clear space. I dug out one long driveway once in my life and don't want to do it again!

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Well, it's hard to speak of "typical" or "atypical", I guess - in the Little Ice Age this would've been normal, according to the records, and winters like this seem to have been frequent even in the mid-20th century - but in my lifetime we've only had snowfall like this three times. (Although thrice in 27 years isn't too shabby, statistically...)

But people around here are certainly not used to that kind of snowfall! ... then again, people are surprised that there's snow at all every winter. I mean, every winter people don't have winter tyres when it starts snowing (because clearly, you can't expect it to snow in December). And have to buy snow shovels, anti-frost and road salt in PANIC because nobody seems to... like... prepare. Then again, people are stupid. ;)

Now in Cologne (30 km from here), this kind of snowfall would certainly be very atypical. They had "the worst winter in the past 30 years", too, but in their case it meant *drumroll* 15 cm of snow. I cannot take my Colognian friends' weather panic seriously at all. It's like, I dunno. Showing the host of Fingolfin a frozen lake and saying LOOK! LOOK! SO MUCH ICE!...

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

This sounds rather epic :) Tell Bobby that I am looking forward to his snow swimming dolphin's vid ;)

[dawn_felagund]

Bobby promises you a snow dolphin video! :D He was already out once with the camera and the Goldens. A nearby town is reporting 66 cm and we have about twelve hours to go ... so, yes, epic describes it well! :D

[surgicalsteel.livejournal.com]

That's enough snow to impress this resident of Maine! ;)

Funnily enough, it looks like this is yet another snowstorm that's going to miss us. It's cold, goodness knows, but cold and clear and OMG dry.

[dawn_felagund]

It seems our states have switched identities! :) I've lost track of how much snow we've had this year. If we get three feet this time, though, it will be five feet from two storms alone--yikes! That never happens here!

[albreda.livejournal.com]

That's a lot of snow by ANY standards! Yikes! Not too cold though, so it should be enjoyable, as long as you don't lose power for too long, but - hey - you have a woodstove, so you'll be all set! Sounds great! >:)

(Yah, I live in VT for a reason. Too dang hot down your way! BTW - you are definately in a Southern State - I'd never heard that 'in high cotton' expression before, proverbial or not!)

[dawn_felagund]

My maternal grandmother was from Alabamie, so I've definitely got my share of Dixie expressions. ;) Although "in high cotton" would, I think, be understood by most Marylanders. Also, no one has told the majority of people in Carroll County that this is Maryland and not Georgia, and northern Maryland at that, and that people in this area were Union sympathizers and so flying Confederate flags does not make much sense. ;)

Sounds great! >:)

I'm going to surprisingly agree with that! :D I could definitely use the time for schoolwork without being distracted by the possibility of going out and having fun.

[pandemonium-213.livejournal.com]

So how much accumulation do you folks down south have? I should ask Mr. Pandemonium (almost as much of a weather yenta as Bobby) what his estimate is, but so far it looks like we have about 8 inches, give or take, of snow. Not horrendous but enough to slow things down.

The Sardonic Hobbit (colleague and happy hour pal) went down to Baltimore on Thursday night to conduct an audit at Johns Hopkins for one of the clinical trials that we monitor there. I doubt that he returned to Jersey last night!

[dawn_felagund]

I can pretty much guarantee that he did not return last night! :D At 9 AM, Westminster (12 minutes to the south of us and the "metropolis" of Carroll County--we even have a tourist center! :) was reporting 26 inches. That seemed about what we had, judging by the pile on our patio table, and it's been coming down steadily since. It's up to the Goldens' shoulders; they don't know what to do! Bobby had to shovel out a potty place for them, but I think they've been too miserable to use it!

[pandemonium-213.livejournal.com]

Twenty-six inches. Holy cow! And still falling?

At the risk of schadenfreudery, I have to say the image of the confused Goldens is funny. :^D

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

I (living in a real southern state! ;) am jealous. We've had a lot of snow this year, too...But, that's not saying terribly much. But, it COVERED THE GRASS!! And more than once, so...that's a lot, for here. :D

I still wouldn't mind a big winter snowstorm though! I would love for there to be 2-3 feet of the stuff! Sure, it might send the state into massive panic, but...

Official records be damned, it came to my thighs, not my knees!

Isn't it weird how that happens? I swear they find the lowest spot of snow to measure! "Oh, you silly people panicking, it was only 3 inches!" Lies. ;)

[dawn_felagund]

OME, if Maryland panics at a storm like this, what are you trying to do to your poor fellow Texans?? :D

I swear they find the lowest spot of snow to measure!

That is so annoying! Part of our problem is that 1) we tend to get lumped in with Baltimore, but Baltimore is almost an hour away whereas we can see the mountains from our house, and 2) we are just a short stroll up the road from the highest elevation in Carroll County. Sometimes, coming home from work after a warm day has melted all the snow away everywhere else, we'll find that we still have a good couple inches in the yard! I am also convinced that the mere act of turning into our driveway drops the temperature one degree on Bobby's car thermometer. So we tend to take our own snow measurements and go with that, though I sometimes wonder if my employers think I'm crazy or lying when they get a "light dusting" in Baltimore and I'm claiming seven inches up in Manchester as the reason why I can't go to work! :D

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

Give them a month off from school/work? :D

I am also convinced that the mere act of turning into our driveway drops the temperature one degree on Bobby's car thermometer.

A similar phenomenon would occur in CO! Only it was the act of turning onto a certain road. The temperature would suddenly be significantly colder. By magic, I swear.

[trekqueen.livejournal.com]

hubby just read out the totals to me as of today. lol he was wondering how my east coast friends are doing. :D *hugs*

[dawn_felagund]

We're doing well! :) The snow has stopped, though I have no idea how much we ended up getting; that's for tomorrow! The poor Goldens have had a time of it; the snow reaches their shoulders, and more than once Bobby would open the back door and they'd just stare out with this panic in their eyes like, "You want me to go out ... in that??" Poor Lance didn't pee for almost a day. But Bobby's dug them out a little potty space, and they've blazed some trails through the yard.

Thank you for thinking of us! :) *hugs*

[trekqueen.livejournal.com]

hehe poor puppers! it sounds like our week when we had the nonstop rain, Reagan had a little... *accident* on hubby's comfy hang-out sweatpants. :O

[fanged-geranium.livejournal.com]

One year in Michigan (which I'm told wasn't even a particularly snowy year) was enough to make me never want to see snow again, except perhaps for skiing.

[mistrali1.livejournal.com]

Bobby is thrilled by the storm. He told me this afternoon that it is a dream come true for a weather nerd
*giggles*
Weather blogs?! Maybe you should give him a snowglobe for his next birthday...