Snow Falling Short

Um... No!

So far the season has been as mild as we could have hoped for with little snow and reasonable temperatures. There have been a few questionable days when the ice caught everyone off guard but nothing in comparison to the frozen deluges that we experienced last year. This has been the story of the season up to this point.

However, beginning late last week the story that dominated the nightly news has been that of the storm that was making its way across the country set to veer northward as if in a sudden drunken rage. We all knew that the dry time that we have been enjoying would have to come to an end at some point but it is still an unwelcome shift in the seasonal demeanor. Of course, that is a rather mild summary of the predictions that dominate the television, internet, and radio.

Just like every other instance of any significant precipitation, it is cast as though Armageddon will be bearing down on us. The stores were bombarded yesterday leaving my wife and me to change our plans and head to an alternative place to shop. Snow removal supplies were dwindling all across the region. It was the usual effect stemming from the worst case scenarios that have been promoted for days.

Because of the ominous sky and the preacher-like warnings broadcast throughout the previous evening and early morning, the roads were a little lighter than usual allowing me to make good time to the office in the morning. During the day we heard much of the same from the various media outlets with an additional suggestion to purchase supplies for the specific purpose of making life sustaining French toast. An interesting suggestion given the warnings of possible power outages.

I managed to leave the office a little earlier than usual but still later than most. We put off plans and appointments earlier in the day so I was able to get on the highway and enjoy the sparse traffic all the way home. There were a few slightly slick spots along the course of my commute and the snow picked up here and there but nothing like the blizzard conditions that were being called for.  

By the time my wife headed off to bed this evening the snow had nearly stopped with a little more than a dusting falling from the sky less intense than Ally Sheedy’s artistic flair in The Breakfast Club. As I finish this post the night is nearly clear with a forecast now predicting nothing more than cold air and a white landscape. I guess Armageddon isn’t that bad after all.