For over a week now, we have been bombarded by dire predictions of a “monster" snowstorm destroying Washington D.C. this weekend; and of Donald Trump or Ted Cruz winning in Iowa. I’ll take the snow any day! Meanwhile, Regee is in Manila, complaining about the heat. It is all relative.
Somewhere under that big red blob above is little Falls Church, VA. They are now calling this storm “Snowzilla” to distinguish it from the 2010 “Snowmageddon". In the Washington D.C. area, we are promised up to 24 inches of snow--not quite the 28-inch record of 1922. It will be brought to us by a blizzard from the south-west, packing winds of between 45-60 mph. They said that the snow would start here in Virginia at 1PM today but they were wrong. I was driving along Route 50 on the way home from D.C. when I noticed the first snowflakes at 12.59PM. You would think they would try to get it right.
All joking aside, the many different computer models have all been scarily consistent; and, so far, deadly accurate. They also said that we would get about 2 inches of snow this afternoon (correct) but that the real blizzard would start up after 10PM tonight. It is about 8.30PM as I type this and the wind is rising. The snow is supposed to continue until 6AM Sunday morning. Did we do something wrong? I mean, Trump and Cruz are up in Iowa. It’s not our fault.
Naturally, one has to prepare for an event like this and I have spent the last two days busily getting ready for the “Storm of the Century.” Here are some of the essentials that I have managed to gather together so far.
Actually, the real fun started on Wednesday evening when we got the forecasted “dusting" of snow all over the area. Unfortunately, the temperature was 22F and that inch of snow immediately turned to ice and caused havoc on the roads. Click on “Read more” below to have a look at my little photo essay on the preparations undertaken. I will keep you up to date on the storm in further blogs when the real thing happens later this evening.
Let’s start with Wednesday evening. I was cooking dinner at Jane’s house because Sarah gets home late on Wednesdays. I had noticed a bit of snow outside but thought nothing of it. Sarah was supposed to be home at 8.30PM but we got a call at about 8.25PM to say that there was chaos on the roads and that she had only got as far as Potomac School, normally a 5-minute run from her office in McLean, VA. I was a bit flummoxed and said: “Is that anything to do with the snow?” The answer was incredulous: “Daaaaaaad. Of course it’s the snow. It has all turned to ice!”. Oh boy.
She called again about 10PM and said that she had parked her car in Georgetown (about a mile away from Jane’s house) and was walking home because she could not get up the hill. Jane and I set out at 10.15PM to meet up with her and were just horrified to see the road conditions. Cars were slipping and sliding everywhere (we watched a car slide down a hill and smash into a parked car); and a Circulator bus was blocking 37th Street. A neighbor told us he had taken 1.5 hours to do less than a mile. Jane and I were also having a hard time standing up--and it didn’t seem to be related to the red wine. We found Sarah and she said she had slid into another car in McLean but that the guy had just waved her on. Too dangerous to get out. She had crawled along the George Washington Parkway and had had great trouble getting up the ramp to Georgetown.
Sarah wasn’t the only one with a problem. President Obama had arrived at Andrews Airforce Base at about 8.30PM and then got stuck in traffic for over an hour trying to get into D.C. What’s the point of power if you can’t get through traffic? One of Sarah’s colleagues at her office in McLean did not get home until 1.00AM; and many people further out did not get home until 3.30AM. How will we survive more than one inch??
Back to my preparations (in photos) below:
The Snow Storm from Hell
Somewhere under that big red blob above is little Falls Church, VA. They are now calling this storm “Snowzilla” to distinguish it from the 2010 “Snowmageddon". In the Washington D.C. area, we are promised up to 24 inches of snow--not quite the 28-inch record of 1922. It will be brought to us by a blizzard from the south-west, packing winds of between 45-60 mph. They said that the snow would start here in Virginia at 1PM today but they were wrong. I was driving along Route 50 on the way home from D.C. when I noticed the first snowflakes at 12.59PM. You would think they would try to get it right.
All joking aside, the many different computer models have all been scarily consistent; and, so far, deadly accurate. They also said that we would get about 2 inches of snow this afternoon (correct) but that the real blizzard would start up after 10PM tonight. It is about 8.30PM as I type this and the wind is rising. The snow is supposed to continue until 6AM Sunday morning. Did we do something wrong? I mean, Trump and Cruz are up in Iowa. It’s not our fault.
Naturally, one has to prepare for an event like this and I have spent the last two days busily getting ready for the “Storm of the Century.” Here are some of the essentials that I have managed to gather together so far.
Light and liquid refreshments at the ready
Actually, the real fun started on Wednesday evening when we got the forecasted “dusting" of snow all over the area. Unfortunately, the temperature was 22F and that inch of snow immediately turned to ice and caused havoc on the roads. Click on “Read more” below to have a look at my little photo essay on the preparations undertaken. I will keep you up to date on the storm in further blogs when the real thing happens later this evening.
Let’s start with Wednesday evening. I was cooking dinner at Jane’s house because Sarah gets home late on Wednesdays. I had noticed a bit of snow outside but thought nothing of it. Sarah was supposed to be home at 8.30PM but we got a call at about 8.25PM to say that there was chaos on the roads and that she had only got as far as Potomac School, normally a 5-minute run from her office in McLean, VA. I was a bit flummoxed and said: “Is that anything to do with the snow?” The answer was incredulous: “Daaaaaaad. Of course it’s the snow. It has all turned to ice!”. Oh boy.
One inch of packed snow and ice gave
us “Southerners" big problems.
us “Southerners" big problems.
She called again about 10PM and said that she had parked her car in Georgetown (about a mile away from Jane’s house) and was walking home because she could not get up the hill. Jane and I set out at 10.15PM to meet up with her and were just horrified to see the road conditions. Cars were slipping and sliding everywhere (we watched a car slide down a hill and smash into a parked car); and a Circulator bus was blocking 37th Street. A neighbor told us he had taken 1.5 hours to do less than a mile. Jane and I were also having a hard time standing up--and it didn’t seem to be related to the red wine. We found Sarah and she said she had slid into another car in McLean but that the guy had just waved her on. Too dangerous to get out. She had crawled along the George Washington Parkway and had had great trouble getting up the ramp to Georgetown.
Next morning at 11.30AM all the snow had gone!
Sarah wasn’t the only one with a problem. President Obama had arrived at Andrews Airforce Base at about 8.30PM and then got stuck in traffic for over an hour trying to get into D.C. What’s the point of power if you can’t get through traffic? One of Sarah’s colleagues at her office in McLean did not get home until 1.00AM; and many people further out did not get home until 3.30AM. How will we survive more than one inch??
Back to my preparations (in photos) below:
Lots of the shelves were empty in the Giant supermarket on Thursday
A good choice of snow shovels at Home Depot
I baked Coconut Cream Black Cherry scones early
this morning in case of food shortages
this morning in case of food shortages
In case of power cuts, I have my BBQ ready
for a bit of indoor cooking--just joking!
I have food for the birds and squirrels
but may need it myself if things get bad
A full tank of gas is recommended
in case you need to get to the sunshine in Miami
I had to rush to a friend’s house to “waterproof”
his basement window. How come he is in Malaysia?
This is what it looked like at 4.50PM. No more than 2 inches.
It is now 9.20PM and I can hear the wind rising...
Here I am in my pajamas and ready for bed.
Man, its cold up here! Where’s that hot water bottle?
Stand by for further updates tomorrow. Will we survive the night? Will there really be a blizzard? Will we get more than 24 inches and beat our own 28-inch record? Frankly, I will be quite happy to get just 5 inches and just start worrying about Trump and Cruz again. El Ninnies are the cause of all this bad weather anyway....
Dad, you were prepared!! Although the booze and the indoor barbecue sound like a dangerous combination!!
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