The Big Snow

The Big Snow
2/11/2010 7:27:01 PM
Midwesterners - and we used to be among them - smugly think they have a high tolerance for foul weather; especially frigid temperatures and wicked snow. Well, the mid-Atlantic just got a wallop of winter that would shake even the most hardy prairie veteran. This past weekend the D.C. area got a total of 28 inches of snow!! Chicagoans often remember the 'great snow of '67' as a benchmark for all other storms. But that was only 23 inches. This has broken all kinds of records. The schools are out all week. The government has been closed all week. As we dug out, sidwalks and driveways became huge canyons and bulging mounds of snow covered cars whose owners had clearly given up. Though the plows did an excellent job of keeping the worst of the storm off the streets, the main arteries were still covered with a layer of packed snow that made travel slow and potentially dangerous. The worst part was - as soon as we'd dug out -- another storm yesterday dumped 8"+ on us with blizzard winds. All the work everyone had done was wiped out as the next storm blew snow back over the roads and drives. Though most folks charged out during and after the first storm to keep ahead of the accumulations, the second was too blustry to work in. People looked out their windows this morning with a sense of fatigue. Another day of shoveling. The kids still stuck in the house. Maybe some cabin fever setting in. Today all five of us - the boys and I - shoveled our drive and front walk; then did the next door neighbor. A nice team effort. Eventually this stuff will get shoveled away or melt.....but it's going to be a long time before we see the grass again and springtime can't come soon enough.