My morning has been filled with the sound of spinning tires. Not mine, thankfully, but those of my neighbors' cars as they try to get out of the drifts in the parking lot and onto the back-roads that will lead them to the main road and maybe the sight of a snowplow.
The weather service says we got 7-10" here. Less than the 8-12" they were predicting for my part of the world, which is disappointing, but then again, if I hadn't been expecting a foot, then 7" certainly would have inspired awe.
Although we did get thunder snow just after midnight last night and that was pretty freaking sweet. I wouldn't have believed what I saw (probably would have blamed it on a fluctuation in electrical lighting) if I hadn't seen the Weather Channel reporter in Chicago talking about the same phenomenon earlier that evening.
Although the most amusing news out of Chicago was probably that they had put not only their nearly 300 snow plows on the streets, but that they'd retro-fitted some 150 garbage trucks with plows.
The university here posted a Feb. 2 closing last night. Most of my neighbors are college students, but I can see why they think it's time to go out. The drifts are deceptive. From my warm and cozy apartment, I can see my car. The roof and windshield are clear of snow. But the back passenger tire is more than half covered. There's a row of 16" bushes against the far building. One has about four inches of its base covered. The one at the far end of the row has only three or four inches of bush showing.
The roofs and trees aren't well covered. It makes it seem like there's not that much snow. But there is.
There's a sedan in the parking lot half in, half out of a spot. Looks like he tried to back out and leave then gave up ... and couldn't pull back in.
This might not be the snowmageddon we were expecting, but it's certainly enough to shut everything down for a day. But those damn high expectations have me feeling let down. Then again, maybe I'd be thrilled if I knew I had to wield a shovel. The mix of snow that fell is not the nice fluffy big flake kind. It's heavy wet packing snow, that at times came down as sleet, pinging into my window.
Oh! a snow plow just came through my neighborhood! Hello private contractor!
