I Saw Snow Once
I’m a Gulf Coast girl. I saw enough snow to build a snowman in 1973 and that did it for me. It was a lot of fun, glad it doesn’t happen too often.
Look, I pay a heavy price for living in the south – Texas in particular – but not having snow almost makes it worth it. We have had a freeze this year. It lasted a couple of hours while I was in bed.
So, my heart goes out to everyone who lives in the northeast today. Well, except for Chris Christie – I don’t heart him at all.
If you live there or hear some reliable gossip about the weather, share it here.
There’s a live camera in New York City.
You can send me pictures of your neighborhood and I’ll post them here.
Click the little ones to get the big ones.
Here’s Don A’s parking lot at 1:30 Texas time. Don’s in Pennsylvania. This is at Penn State near Beaver Stadium.
I remember that snow. I was living in Pensacola at the time, & it was a Big Deal. I think we got around 2 inches. NO ONE knew how to drive on the stuff, & of course, there was no way to clear the roads.
My oldest son was a toddler & he ran right out into the snowy yard wearing nothing but a diaper. He ran right back in, too.
The funniest thing was my Manchester Terrier mix. Fawn would go to extreme lengths to avoid touching wet grass when she needed to relieve herself. But the snow? She was romping & frolicking like nobody’s business.
1We escaped this one only 1-5 inches. But cold tonight, below zero cold.
My kids in MA though…20-30 inches.
Good luck to all those who have to deal with this. Stay safe and warm!
2We shouldn’t get much near DC, but I’ve seen the prediction maps for NYC and Boston. Yesterday morning they said 18-24″. Yesterday afternoon they said 24-36″. My husband sent me a new one this morning and remarked, “Snow totals that start with 4 shouldn’t have another digit after that.”
Good luck to our friends in MA and everyone else up there (yeah, except Christie)!
3Must be a big one coming, birds emptied the feeder in just two hours. They must know we’re not hauling out snow shoes just to feed ’em. Well I’m not anyway, can’t speak for lazrguy.
4Just a dusting so far by me (north of NYC) but got a call from the electric company warning of possible outages.
I grew up in Colorado so I’m used to -40 and lots of snow. What bugs me is people who have lived in New England all their lives and never learned to drive in winter. ]
5Hey, people! It’s been snowing in NY every winter for the last 25000 years. Get with the program! 😀
Let it snow
6Let it snow
Let it snow
No snow in sight, should get some tonight however only 3-5 inches, no big whoop for Northern Vermont, and whatever we get will stick around because it will be cold, not unexpected here.
7Other States find the Supermarkets get low on Bread and Milk when the snowstorms hit, us, we get low on Beer and chips!
Tonight I will be watching Julian Castro on the Daily Show, something to really look forward to.
I remember it snowing at least twice in Houston in 1973. I was one of the few kids who went to school that day. Now I live downwind of Lake Erie. When we have a bad winter, with 200+ inches of snow, it doesn’t get a footnote in the national news.
8New Haven girl is under orders to text her Momma when she gets home and parks her ‘new’ car safely (not in a place where a plow will take it out). I was her age for the Blizzard of 78, and remember that adventure too well. I appreciate better now that Mommas do worry, no matter how old they are!
9Only about 5 inches here, south of Pittsburgh, with light snow continuing. The snow I can deal with, but losing power and heat is scary. Hope that doesn’t happen to anybody.
10Just 16 miles south of D.C. We are experiencing “mizzle”, a cross between mist and drizzle. At half past noon I noticed the rain was turning into exceptionally tiny balls of sleet, and yes, the temp is dropping. I still strongly expect that it will snow here overnight. As I am from the great Far North Country, I’m the one who giggles at the first snowflake.
11So far, in DC it’s just cold and nasty. I went to Whole Paycheck early in the afternoon and basically had the bus to myself and the sleet/rain had pretty much let up by the time I got to the store.
The weatherpeople keep hedging their bets on how much, if any, snow we will get by the time it all ends tomorrow. Certainly nothing like the folks further north.
12You don’t have to be in the Northeast. Here in the Panhandle of Texas we get several snows a year — and last week got slightly over 10 inches.
13All those cars with the wipers straight up. that will make it hard to scrape/brush the snow off off. I lived in Kansas, Nebraska, and Massachusetts. More snow in Mass, but much colder in the Mid-West. -40 and 30mph winds make for a miserable time.
14My late husband used to complain bitterly about the news coverage of a blizzard in Mass. He felt we could look outside and see what was happening. He hated the interruption of his TV shows!
I don’t like blizzards, but seeing a gentle snowfall and watching the whole world turn white over several hours is calming. Great time for a good book, comfy quilt, and a couple of cats snugging on my lap.
I think I’m trying to make myself believe that when I move back up to NE I won’t mind the cold so much.
Stay warm, all!
Jan, the photo shows the wipers standing up and away from the windshields. I don’t have a clue as to why they do that around these parts. Maybe it’s to keep the blades from freezing to the glass? Who knows?
15Snow? I remember that.
16We did have an inch or two of snow last week north of DC the likes of which I don’t recall seeing before. It looked like the fallen snow had been sprinkled with little dots of styrofoam, maybe half a dozen per square inch. I examined a dot and it was a little pinhead sleet ball covered with snow.
JJ, if you want snow, maybe somebody in MA or NY can mail you some.
17No offense but it was in the 50s here in iowa today. We had an inch of snow Sat night. There are still good sized drifts in fencelines and ditches.
18Indeed, we park and pull the wiper blades up so that they do not freeze to the glass and get damaged when in the attempt to pry them off.
19In S. CO and we got up to 71 here today and tomorrow could be more of the same and then it starts going downhill again. On Wednesday the 21st, it snowed all day long to the tune of about 6 inches and today … most is melted. The snow doesn’t hang around too long where I am and I kinda like that.
20Well, I’m hoping those that need to can get in out of the cold and snow and have shelters they can get to. If folks have a home, apt., or regular abode … they’ll be just fine. It’s the folks who aren’t so well situated that I worry about!!
OK. I hit the link to watch the snow cam. I was awaiting a white city and sparkling lights.
It’s more like watching screaming vehicles with sirens in Times Square.
21Maggie: I’m in Prince William County outside DC. Where are you?
To all those in the Northeast: It’s just snow people. Not nuclear fallout. Chill out already. Come July 4th and a blizzard happens THEN you can go crazy, m’kay?
22JAKVirginia, yeah, but there is a difference between six inches and eighteen or twenty-four inches. The higher numbers mean longer until your street is plowed, and longer until the store is restocked, and longer to dig out your car. When the stuff is so deep that you have to shovel by throwing it over your shoulder, that’s not a fun day.
23Windshield wipers sticking straight up and away from the glass is standard procedure when it’s cold in Alaska, and yes, it is to keep the wiper from freezing to the glass.
That being said, we’ve had record rain in Southeastern Alaska this winter. I haven’t heard the numbers yet for January, however here are a couple of weather links from this past week.
http://www.adn.com/article/20150121/southeast-alaska-rainfall-breaks-records-prompts-landslide-flood-advisories
http://www.krbd.org/2015/01/21/rainwindhigh-tide-flooding-evacuations/
We live in interesting times.
24I guess I should clarify…the wipers aren’t sticking up when we’re driving (but you knew that). Just parked when they could freeze and not be available when we need them.
25At this point in California we will take precipitation in any form it wants to come. That said, there is little more beautiful in nature than a landscape coated with enough snow to frost it without hiding its basic forms.
I guess whether it’s enchanting or not depends on how much of it you have to shovel.
26Frozen water belongs in cocktail shakers, not on the street!
27I’m in Minnesota, but none of us have suffered from a blizzard like The Children’s Blizzard in 1888. It happened in the Dakotas, MN and Nebraska on January 12. A cold low pressure from Canada dropped the temperature 18 degrees in 3 minutes. By midnight windchills were down to -40. Hundreds died.
It was called The Children’s Blizzard because so many children died. Teachers didn’t know how bad it would get, so they sent their students home from the one room schools. Hundreds didn’t make it because the cold and snow got so bad so fast.
A well written book about it is written by David Laskin and published in 2004. I recommend it.
28Here in NYC, Manhattan near the George Washington Bridge appears almost curb high, around 4-5 in. Some maybe drift of course because of buildings. This is at 0125 hours, Tuesday Jan 27.
29Woke up this morning (Tuesday) and looked out my window to check the snow progress, and no new snow. Here in Northern VT near Burlington we usually don’t get the Nor’easters but the Southern part of the State was hit, here, nothing.
30Checked Radar, hardly any clouds in sight.
It would seem the Blizzard of ’15 has been a major bust! But, I guess it’s better to be prepared, in case it does go as forecast, rather then not preparing at all. There will be those who are so happy they didn’t get snowed in, and then there will be those grousing because the forecasters are never right!
Ya just can’t win for losing sometimes!! :op
31Pittsburgh up to about 8 inches and my dear little beagle is having a rough time navigating through it. I’ve had to shovel a tunnel through the backyard so he doesn’t get buried on his way to “make a deposit”.
32If God had meant Texans to ski, He’d have made bullcrap white.
33Evidently the blizzard is not a total bust … Massachusetts is still getting blasted and other places up around Mass. So, I apologize for jumping the gun on that one!!
34North central Massachusetts here. Hard to tell how much snow we have because of the drifting – three inches in one spot, then a four-foot pile. I’d say 18 inches and counting. Still coming down hard, with a very adamant wind, but the electricity is on and the worst of the storm was last night. I hear from friends that things are pretty ugly on the coast. And John Conquest, darlin’ – I’m a Texan born and bred, even though I’ve lived in and near Boston for 20 years, and I am SO going skiing tomorrow.
35I tried to read “The Children’s Blizzard in 1888” and had to put it away; the stories were just too heartrending.
We’re having the beginnings of a drought here in WA because the rain is less than half what is customary. Climate change is here, folks.
36I’ll take all the snow mother nature has to give up here in Pennsylvania as long as you keep Louie Gomert down there in Texas. Unfortunately Louie’s political reach is more expansive than his brain!
37I was in 7th grade in 1973. It was the first time in recorded history that Houston had 3 measurable snows in one winter. We got off school for the first two, but they made us go for the 3rd one. They paid for it with snowball fights in the halls between classes.
As far as I know, last winter was the first time in recorded history that the Texas Dept of Public Safety HQ in Austin had 6 late start days due to threatened ice/sleet. We’ve got a Director who actually cares what kind of road his employees drive on and actually makes the decision early enough that most of his staff isn’t already on the road (as opposed to an earlier one who usually made the determination at 7:59). Those of us that made it in early on those days got comp time. Those that couldn’t get here regardless were not reprimanded (though they had to use vacation after the official start time).
I’m lucky. It’s 4 miles to work, with no highway and no major bridges between home and the office. It has to be pretty bad before I can’t make it in, though I didn’t mind the late start days.
38Snow has its fun side: http://www.boredpanda.com/creative-snow-sculptures/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=Newsletter
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