Snowpocalypse or Déja Vu All Over Again

Well, here we go again. On December 19th we had an historic snowstorm here that we all thought was gonna be in the record books for quite awhile. Little did we know that we would get an even bigger snowstorm in February!

This storm came with 35-40 mile an hour winds though. With the wind comes snowdrifts. It snowed from Friday afternoon just before 4:00 p.m., thru Saturday afternoon. Sometimes it was real light snow and sometimes it was almost a blizzard. This is the first time I remember being under a blizzard warning here in Delaware.

We got a total of 22" of snow here at the house, but we heard stories of some places in southern Delaware that got over 30" of snow. And some places around Baltimore that got over 3 feet! (During our December storm we got 21"- look in my December blogs [on the right] for pictures of that storm).

Last Saturday, we got 5" of snow and on Tuesday night we got another 3.5" of snow. Now there is talk of another storm on Wednesday and possibly on the weekend too. So stay tuned for more information on those events.

We are in a strange weather pattern this year and we are getting a lot of the snow New England usually gets. We usually don't get a lot of snow. Last year our first snowstorm was on March 2. The year before, we just got a trace of snow. By the way, my favorite weather website for great information is Accuweather. I also like WeatherUnderground.

I went to Walmart on Wednesday evening to pick up a few things to hold us through the weekend. The place was a madhouse. On Thursday evening, Heidi, Katie and I went to BJ's (like a Costco) after our weekly dinner out with Heidi's mom. The place looked like it was Christmas Eve with tons of people and full carts. They were just about out of milk and other things.

At my work in Dover (25 miles south), we are under the flight path of one of the runways at the Air Force base. All day long on Friday they were busy flying planes out of the area before the storm. On my way home from work all the parking lots for the grocery stores were loaded.

We were under a state of emergency beginning Friday night at 8:00 p.m. There was a driving curfew that began at 10:00 p.m. on Friday night and didn't expire until 8:00 p.m. Saturday night. As I write this blog on Sunday afternoon, we are still under a state of emergency.

During the snowstorm, the state even pulled snowplows out of service because of whiteout conditions. Some of the snow drifts were 4 to 5 feet deep. Some of the snowplows got stuck and had to be pulled out with other snowplows.

Friday evening we were out visiting friends and on the way home around 9:30 p.m. we saw two accidents caused by the weather conditions. The roads already had several inches of snow on them.

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So, Thursday evening, before sunset, I took some 'before' pictures. I took some 'after' pictures today with the snow. The snow in the 'before' pictures was leftover from the Tuesday and Saturday snowstorms.

Here are some more pictures of the snowstorm.

This is one of the windows on the third story.

The wind plastered the snow onto the windows and screens.

The snow stacked up on everything.

This is the frame from our summer tent/gazebo.

The top of our gazebo on the deck.

More snow resting on everything.

Cortez, assuming the usual position during a big snow.

The snow is so deep he needs a chair to be able

to look outside.

Another picture of Cortez with cabin fever.

Luckily the snow didn't drift against the slider.

I 'lost' the ruler again that I use to measure snow.

The snow depth made the ruler disappear,

just like our December 19 snowstorm.

So I got this hot-pink yardstick to use.

This one will be hard to lose.

Snow drifts along the north side of the house.

This is the same snow drift from the opposite direction.

On the right, behind the green bushes, it is about 4-5' deep.

The driveway and sidewalks before shoveling today.

Have a seat!

So Heidi, Katie and I began shoveling the driveway this morning.

A neighbor came over and helped us.

Then the neighbor from down the street cam down

and asked me if I wanted to use his snow blower.

Uh...YES!!! That's a no-brainer!

He showed me how to use it and how to maneuver

it in the deep snow. It worked great!

I even got to do the sidewalks in front of our house

and the next door neighbor's house.

"I've been workin' on the driveway"

I am so thankful for my neighbor letting me use the snow blower.

If I didn't have that to use, I think we would still be outside shoveling.

So I asked Katie to make two plates of brownies for

both neighbors that helped.

And this is what Katie has to say about shoveling snow.

This is taken from the circle at the end of our road.

Our house is the one on the left in the foreground.

The sidewalk in front of our house after

the snow blower made a few passes.

A picture of me when all the shoveling is done.

That pile of snow behind me is over 5' high.

No, I am not tired of snow. I love all types of weather

and I love winter. To me, shoveling snow is just the

tradeoff for enjoying a snowstorm.

(I grew up in southern California, where the

weather is BORING!)

The snow on the roof on the back of the house.

This side of the house faces southwest,

so it should melt pretty quick.

Check out some of the pictures of the roof on the

front of the house. The wind blew all the snow

off the northeast facing roofs.

Snow piled up on the roof of the shed in the backyard.

So far this winter, we have received about 5 feet

total of snow! And we still have several

weeks of winter left.

The End.