I love storms. The pressure of the the air-mass as it approaches and passes over and the quiet anticipation before it starts, the breathlessness of a strong wind, or the tang of ozone and blazing power of lightning. New, soft snow muffles and insulates, bringing an almost eerie hush to the world.
Today brings the first real snow we've seen this year, and it's a blizzard predicted to be the biggest since 1978. Here the accumulation is between 2 and 3 inches per hour, more for other regions. It's been snowing and windy since yesterday morning, but the real storm started last night around 10 and is predicted to remain strong through late tonight.
It's not that we've never had so much snow here, it's that this amount all at once and for so long is unusual. It can also be dangerous, snow drifts blocking furnace vents, trapping carbon dioxide exhaust in homes, wind and heavy snow taking down trees, tree limbs and power lines, leaving people without heat - in some cases for weeks. We are so dependent on our power grid here near the cities, most people have few to no strategies and resources for if the power goes out for so long. In 78, they were not expecting such a situation so had no plans for when the infrastructure of the whole region went down for days. We do have those plans in place now though, and if anyone is not prepared then they've been shut in a room with no access to any media or any communication at all. Being prepared and in a safe space makes it easier to sit back and enjoy the storm.
We're lucky in that so far we've lost internet and TV service, but not power yet. I'm posting this using my phone, and if it works better than my last try, I may try and use more often. LOL Still, I have fond childhood memories of sitting out storms without power, reading and chatting by lantern and candle light, a fire in the fireplace so rarely used... part of me quietly hopes the power does go out, for just a little while.
So I thought I would try a kind of time lapse series. These were taken with my phone camera, so aren't as great, but I have no other way to upload pictures, so am using my phone.
These are the views from my back door onto my deck as of 10 last night:
This was from my front door to the yard and street:
When I woke up this morning, I expected to be able to work from home, but by then the Internet was out. Forced holiday, then. Can't really complain.
Here are the same views and some from outside, 12 hours after the start of the real snow, 10 am.
Back Deck:
This is out my front door and yard - the snow had piled over a foot up against the door when I opened it:
The snow outside my front step is just past my knees when I step out:
It's drifted to partly cover two of one my neighbor's windows in the corner here - in that far corner above the awning there is a window behind the white stripe of gutter you can see coming down from the eves. Thankfully the wind is so high there's not much build up on the roof.
Check out another neighbor's fence... =D
It's 2:20 now, and the storm is blowing harder and harder. (Actually, now it's 4. Turns out posting with pictures is not all that easy on only a hand held device. Surprising, really, you would think it would be easier...)Must be starting to peak. (Or not. 2 hours later, it's still going strong. LOL) I'm sitting next to a window with a blanket, watching the storm as I write this and grinning like a fool. The first real storm of the season is always the nicest, (after a few months it loses much of its charm), and it's rarely one that's such a show.
To my friends and family in the thick of this or other storms, keep warm and safe. If I owe any of you a reply to an email or message, my apologies, I am working on catching up. My love and apologies for this bit of frivolity.
