And not just here. This December seems to be particularly nasty in much of North America and Europe. Vicious, even.
Today, storms are rampaging all over California and the U.S. Southwest. They are saying that same storm may clobber the Northeast with snow during Christmas weekend. Europe is trying to dig out after heavy snows and wind. Airports are trying to recover after getting shut down by the storms. Seems that the European airports don't have the snow-clearing equipment that's in the States.
Along with all its many other effects, it put the kibosh on my plans to visit my friend N today.
It would have been our first visit since mid November. The usual agenda: dinner, a few movies and stay up a little late. I had picked out some funny stuff, since that's what she likes best, and she likes my taste in comedy.
But this morning, while my wife and I were having breakfast, my phone rang, and it was N. Things are looking nasty here, she said.
Our area was hit by a snow system on Tuesday, leaving four or five inches of snow around our area. I braved the snowy roads to drive to a girls basketball game Tuesday night--but Wisconsin 70 was a little too white for my liking, so I took U.S. 2 back west after the game. (The Michigan highways have rumble strips that sound off when you veer out of your lane--they rumble very nicely, even when snow-covered.)
It snowed all day, finally ending about midnight. When I saw it wasn't snowing this morning, I assumed my drive this afternoon would be no problem.
But N lives in far northern Wisconsin, not very far from Lake Superior, and her area gets a lot of lake-effect snow. The snow machine was working today, she told me. I said I would check into it and talk to her later in the morning.
The weather radars were not indicating snow streaming south from Lake Superior. But that doesn't mean it isn't there--just that the radar isn't detecting it. Her forecast talked about snow showers. Doesn't seem too bad, I thought. We're still on.
About a half hour later, we were off. She called and said it is really snowing hard here, and now it is turning to sleet. Roads are getting dicey. And the county where I would do most of my driving doesn't clear the main highway that well. She said she didn't want my two-hour drive to last four or six hours.
So we called it off for this time and will try to set something up in January, if the weather cooperates. After back-to-back nights of basketball, I had an unexpected quiet night at home. To celebrate, we gave the cook the night off and went out to eat.
****
An earlier (unfinished) incarnation of this post had the working title "Schadenfreude." You know what that is, don't you? It's when you take pleasure at others' difficulties.
I suppose it's wrong, but it's also human nature. Most of the time it's harmless. I live in an area that indulges in a little schadenfreude from time to time, especially when the snow starts snowing and winter starts blowing. During December, we have been indulging away.
Most of the derision (let's face it; that's what it is) goes to the local authorities who just aren't prepared to deal with the kind of weather that we have to deal with routinely in winter. It also goes to the drivers who just don't know (or forget) how to drive in the stuff. We can deal with it: Why can't you?
We had our big storm about a week and a half ago. It was a dandy, but it's already fading into memory. Just another big storm. Shovel yourself out and get on with life.
This was the storm that collapsed the roof of the Metrodome in Minneapolis. In fact, Minnesota and western Wisconsin got a lot more snow than we did. We just didn't measure up, but we got a good dumping, nonetheless.
It snowed all day on that Saturday. At our place, we wound up with 10 inches (25 cm) of snow. That's how much of the white stuff my wife's yardstick sank through to the porch Sunday morning. At that point, most of the snow had ended but a lot of wind was to come. Ten inches is a lot to shovel, but many other places got a lot more.
Here's how it looked like out the back door Sunday morning ...
It was deep snow. Here's what 10 inches looked like on the porch ...
... and on the porch steps ...
After using the camera and the yardstick, I put them away and picked up the snow shovel. First, I took care of the back sidewalk. Then I cleared the snow around the car. There was some urgency with that, because I knew the plow guy would be arriving soon. Once the snow stops, the plow guy starts making his rounds.
I parked my car on the next block, along the street, and by the time I walked back home (just a few minutes), the plow guy was already at work. A guy in a truck with a plow can clear much more snow much faster than one old guy swinging a shovel ...
(As for our snow last night--we wound up with about five inches. It was snowing when I went to bed at about 11 last night but had stopped when I got up during the night. While waiting for the alarm to go off later, I thought I heard a truck doing some work outside. Sure enough. The plow guy had cleared off the lot at about 5 a.m., very carefully clearing out the area around my snowy car.)
I didn't have to shovel out the front walk--David came over Sunday afternoon to watch football with us, and he took care of the sidewalk for me. Very nice of him, and I told him so.
The following Wednesday morning, I had to go to an early meeting. The temperature was -22F (-30C) when I left and -26F (-32C) when I got back. That news impressed B up in Alaska. Of course, everything is relative, even cold. I checked their weather the next day, and the temperature stood at -40F (-40C) at noon.
Now that's cold!
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