Buried by the Blues

Last winter, we barely got 6 inches of snow combined. In the massively hyped Snowpocalypse 2013 that slammed into the Northeast yesterday and overnight, we easily quadrupled that.

We were supposed to get close to a foot a couple of weeks ago and then the storm completely missed us, so I was skeptical of this one at first. But as we got closer and the forecasts got definitive, I made sure we at least had extra beer in the house. And I'm glad I was able to get a good 7-mile run in yesterday morning before the storm hit. I worked from home yesterday so I wouldn't have to deal with the traffic, and they closed the office at 11:30 anyway just as the snow started to fall. The governor banned all "non-essential" motorists from the roadways, ridiculously threatening anyone who dared drive with jail time.



By the time I went outside with the girls around 6 p.m., we had about four inches on the ground and it was blowing hard out there. I got both driveways shoveled and came in for dinner, then went out again after 11 to find almost a foot on the ground. I shoveled a little but it seemed a little pointless at that time so I came back in. Our house was shaking from the winds and we were hoping the power wouldn't go out; the lights flickered around midnight, but that was it.

This morning I went out to find close to 2 feet of snow everywhere. Deb's mom had to work today at Salem Hospital, so I cleared out her driveway and car, and then got the end of ours before I was pretty close to exhaustion. The snow drifts were crazy in our backyard; in one corner, there's a 5-foot drift and just a few feet away you can see the grass. The fence creates some serious swirling winds back there. It's supposed to warm up on Monday, getting into the 40s and raining, so there could be some flooding around here. Tomorrow we're going to try out the snowshoes we got two Christmases ago, so that'll be fun. And knowing New England weather, I fully expect it to be in the 50s by next weekend.