A Snow Event
I'm not sure why I love snow so much. I guess maybe it's because I'm channeling my childhood, where we'd sit by the TV, waiting for the weatherman to announce the school closings, giggling at the way the new guy butchered the pronunciation of towns with names like Pushmataha, Pottawatomie, and Tahlequah.
Until our December storm we hadn't had a good blizzard in almost 7 years. Warmer than usual temps in the winter and either a lot of rain or no rain (we had a serious drought that lasted nearly a year) left us with little to now snowfall. But we do get snow. And occasionally, we get dumped on.
I moved to NoVA on October 1st, 1987. On November 11th, we were hit with the Veteran's Day storm. Coming from Oklahoma where ice storms were the norm, the almost foot of snow we got was definitely the most I'd ever seen. I'd also never seen snow that early in the year so I thought it was the norm. I'd eventually learn that any snow in November or December was a fluke. DC gets most of its snow in January, February and up to the middle of March, although more than once it has snowed on my birthday.
The best snow storm ever was one the "superstorm" of March '93. I'd just bought my townhouse and was stuck inside with nothing better to do than paint my kitchen and watch a Richard Basehart movie marathon on AMC. When it was all over, we got 18" and the snow blew into drifts so high on my front porch that I had to go out the sliding door and climb over the fence and dig myself out. I'd never in my life seen that much snow and probably took 50 pictures. I still have fond memories of that snow storm.
The next significant snow event was the Blizzard of '96. The back to back to back snow storms (yup, three of them) dumped something like three feet of snow on the region and should have been fun. But no, I was stuck in my house with my annoying roommate, her doofy boyfriend, and my boyfriend. Four people in a two-level townhouse. For a week. There should have been blood. And the worst part was that the whole region was paralyzed with everything shut down. Snow plows were unable to get to the side streets, which were completely impassable, so people took to walking to the store. Unfortunately, trucks couldn't get in so store shelves were empty or dwindling. It was probably a good week before people were able to get back to work and I think it was a month before the stores were fully stocked. My roommate moved in with her doofy boyfriend not long after and I swore I would never, ever again have roommates. Ever.
2003 was the President's Day storm and the last blizzard since December '09. I was in L.A. over President's Day weekend. I remember sitting in a hotel room in Santa Monica watching Washington Week in Review and hearing them talk about this blizzard that was hitting DC. I hadn't caught the news while I was in L.A. so I had no idea. I remember staring at the TV and thinking, "I'm not going to get home". I flew out of Long Beach (awesome airport, btw) and got as far as Phoenix. All flights into DC were canceled and my options were to go camp at the airport and hope to get on a flight once Dulles opened, or book a guaranteed seat on a flight leaving Wednesday. I chose Wednesday, called my boss to say I was stuck (she said nothing was moving so no worries), called my neighbor to see if she could keep feeding the cats, booked a hotel room in Scottsdale, got a rental car and enjoyed 70 degree temps. I had mixed emotions because I hate missing a good blizzard but did I mention it was 70 degrees in Scottsdale? I had a great time but felt bad that my poor neighbor had to shovel about two feet of snow to get to my house. I brought her gifts. Lots of them.
The "significant" snow they are predicting to start on Friday will be the third snow storm in a week, I think, and there's another one right behind it on Tuesday. If we get over a foot from the storm this weekend, I win a bet with my dad. I told him we were in for another big snow. Hope he ordered more snowblowers.
Until our December storm we hadn't had a good blizzard in almost 7 years. Warmer than usual temps in the winter and either a lot of rain or no rain (we had a serious drought that lasted nearly a year) left us with little to now snowfall. But we do get snow. And occasionally, we get dumped on.
I moved to NoVA on October 1st, 1987. On November 11th, we were hit with the Veteran's Day storm. Coming from Oklahoma where ice storms were the norm, the almost foot of snow we got was definitely the most I'd ever seen. I'd also never seen snow that early in the year so I thought it was the norm. I'd eventually learn that any snow in November or December was a fluke. DC gets most of its snow in January, February and up to the middle of March, although more than once it has snowed on my birthday.
The best snow storm ever was one the "superstorm" of March '93. I'd just bought my townhouse and was stuck inside with nothing better to do than paint my kitchen and watch a Richard Basehart movie marathon on AMC. When it was all over, we got 18" and the snow blew into drifts so high on my front porch that I had to go out the sliding door and climb over the fence and dig myself out. I'd never in my life seen that much snow and probably took 50 pictures. I still have fond memories of that snow storm.
The next significant snow event was the Blizzard of '96. The back to back to back snow storms (yup, three of them) dumped something like three feet of snow on the region and should have been fun. But no, I was stuck in my house with my annoying roommate, her doofy boyfriend, and my boyfriend. Four people in a two-level townhouse. For a week. There should have been blood. And the worst part was that the whole region was paralyzed with everything shut down. Snow plows were unable to get to the side streets, which were completely impassable, so people took to walking to the store. Unfortunately, trucks couldn't get in so store shelves were empty or dwindling. It was probably a good week before people were able to get back to work and I think it was a month before the stores were fully stocked. My roommate moved in with her doofy boyfriend not long after and I swore I would never, ever again have roommates. Ever.
2003 was the President's Day storm and the last blizzard since December '09. I was in L.A. over President's Day weekend. I remember sitting in a hotel room in Santa Monica watching Washington Week in Review and hearing them talk about this blizzard that was hitting DC. I hadn't caught the news while I was in L.A. so I had no idea. I remember staring at the TV and thinking, "I'm not going to get home". I flew out of Long Beach (awesome airport, btw) and got as far as Phoenix. All flights into DC were canceled and my options were to go camp at the airport and hope to get on a flight once Dulles opened, or book a guaranteed seat on a flight leaving Wednesday. I chose Wednesday, called my boss to say I was stuck (she said nothing was moving so no worries), called my neighbor to see if she could keep feeding the cats, booked a hotel room in Scottsdale, got a rental car and enjoyed 70 degree temps. I had mixed emotions because I hate missing a good blizzard but did I mention it was 70 degrees in Scottsdale? I had a great time but felt bad that my poor neighbor had to shovel about two feet of snow to get to my house. I brought her gifts. Lots of them.
The "significant" snow they are predicting to start on Friday will be the third snow storm in a week, I think, and there's another one right behind it on Tuesday. If we get over a foot from the storm this weekend, I win a bet with my dad. I told him we were in for another big snow. Hope he ordered more snowblowers.