Let It Snow: The Blizzard of ’13

The bill has come due for the mild winter we had last year. And since Punxsutawney Phil (played by the classic actor Bill Murray) has predicted an early spring—which here in New England means snow, rain, sleet, hail, and 90-degree swelter, all within a 24-hour period… Since Phil has predicted an early spring, God has apparently decided to cram all the winter originally planned all into an 18-hour period.

Almost 35 years to the day (almost) since the Great Blizzard of ’78. (Of course, that year, Phil did see his shadow. So clearly, Phil isn’t always too accurate.)

According to the National Weather Service (which is sometimes right), we can expect “snow accumulations of more than 2 feet.” Fortunately, I remembered to store the GPS location of my car, so that I can find it again later.

(So I don’t accidentally dig out the wrong car.)

“LIGHT SNOW,” says the NWS in all caps, “WILL DEVELOP BY THIS MORNING… BECOMING HEAVY LATE IN THE DAY INTO THE EVENING COMMUTE… WHITEOUT CONDITIONS ARE ANTICIPATED AS ROADS BECOME SNOW COVERED BY THIS EVENINGS COMMUTE. STRONG NORTH-NORTHEAST WINDS ARE ANTICIPATED WITH GUSTS UP TO AROUND 60 MPH… RESULTING IN BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF SNOW. DAMAGE TO TREES AND STRUCTURES ALONG WITH SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES ARE ANTICIPATED.”

Sounds like fun, eh?

Fortunately, we’re all stocked up and bundled in. And I intend to update this post with photos from just outside my front door, for as long as the power holds out and I can still open it. As you can see, the skies have just begun flurrying, and a light sheet of white powder has just begun to accumulate on the ground.

Or in the words of the Beatles, “Here comes the snow. Here comes the snow. And it’s alright da da da da da da da da da da da da da da daaaaaaa.”

-TimK

P.S. I’m posting these photos also on my Facebook page.

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UPDATE: Feb 8, 12:00 noon

Still flurrying, and the Little One (who’s not so little anymore) is finally awake after staying up until 3:30 in the morning. Ah, to be young and without school in the morning.

I made some more progress on “Writing a Character Story,” including some more thought and research on what makes a good title for a novel or a story. And my current conclusion: it’s mostly just a bunch of B.S. In non-fiction, title matters. In fiction, not quite so much. Unfortunately, people don’t read fiction for personal development; they read it because all their friends said to, even if the book sucks.

So I took a break for a late breakfast and an episode of Emergency!. I’m ravenously hungry, probably to make up for yesterday’s paltry 1103 calories. (No joke—I kept track and added them up.)

The most exciting conversation so far this afternoon:

Girl 1: Will you dye my hair today?

Girl 2: Yeah.

Girl 1: Yay. [A beat.] Not right now, though.

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UPDATE: Feb 8, 2:00 PM

A little more, but I can still see the sidewalk. The footprints are my Firstborn Daughter’s, who just walked back from her friend’s house, where they are planning to work on a sewing project together.

However, I think I found the formula to keep my Little One from escaping the house—the threat of a blizzard. (All of her friends live too far away, apparently.)

So we finally broke out that new Wii game she got for Christmas, Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Burning Earth, the last of the series, which we’ve been wanting to play for a long time.

So I haven’t gotten any more writing done so far today, but I have been able to spend some rare time with my daughter, which (in this case) actually is more important.

More than 900 calories later (and only about 32 grams of carbs), my hunger is finally satiated. Part of the problem with keeping track of what I eat is… I never decided how long I was going to do it, and now I don’t know when to stop. I have almost 4 weeks of data. Is that enough for a representative sample?

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UPDATE: Feb 8, 4:14 PM

Now that’s more like it. Still waiting for the “blizzard” part— That’s not a dare to God, by the way; just an observation from someone who’s lived most of his short life in New England.

The most interesting factoid, sent to me by a friend, is that “Nemo” is not the “official” (i.e., state-sanctioned) name for this storm. As you may know, I have a deep libertarian thread running through my politics, and this fact delights me to no end.

As the story goes, the demand to name winter storms developed organically on social networks, especially Twitter. The Weather Channel, seeing that they were in a position to benefit from having these storms named, approached the NWS and NOAA, who promptly did nothing useful. So TWC took the initiative.

According to The Verge:

The National Weather Service does not endorse the practice and has told forecasters not to use the name. A harried spokeswoman told The Verge that the government agency has never named storms and does not intend to start. “The Weather Channel started naming winter storms, that’s their project,” she said…

[Says Bryan Norcross, a Weather Channel meteorologist,] “[Critics] like the fact that the storms are named. They get that in this modern era of short communication, having a name makes it clearer. They just wish that the National Weather Service were doing it so that there wouldn’t be a competitive aspect to it… Because we’re a private business and a private entity, we can move faster than these agencies can move.”

It may feel as if a private entity has hijacked what should be a government function, especially considering the value it’s adding to The Weather Channel’s brand… But the fact is, having a name for the storm that’s battering the Northeast has been really helpful. Just ask the New York City Mayor’s Office, which started referring to the storm as “Nemo” almost immediately.

Ha!

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UPDATE: Feb 8, 6:10 PM

I wish I could remember what I’ve been doing for the last two hours. A typical afternoon-evening at the King house. A thousand little things. That’s why I get most of my work done in the morning and early afternoon.

We’re finally into the “blizzard” portion of the snowstorm… I think. Unfortunately, it’s too dark out to tell, really.

It may be difficult to see, because it’s so dark out (and the outside lights are not illuminating at the appropriate hour), but you can just barely follow the sidewalk. This is why:

One of the few advantages of renting an apartment in a complex. Not too thrilled with the disadvantages, though.

I did finally get an opportunity to get this picture taken, though:

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UPDATE: Feb 8, 10:51 PM

One more brief update for tonight.

I think I’ve finally found Nemo.

(You knew I had to work that pun in there at some point, right?)

It’s like a religious experience.

And my right foot is I think about to fall off.

Good night, cold world!

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UPDATE: Feb 9, 6:02 AM

I was awakened by an alarm, which wasn’t turned off to let us sleep in on Saturday— Oy. Since I was up, I figured I’d take a quick photo.

There’s still snow falling… or blowing around. Accumulation is up past the bottom of the front door. I know there are cars out there somewhere. And a sidewalk… maybe.

A better photo after the sun comes up.

Right now, I’m watching old Mythbusters on Netflix. I love old Mythbusters episodes. Better than the new ones.

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UPDATE: Feb 9, 10:31 AM

One more quick update.

See? I told you there were cars out there… I think…

Still a little snow, and a bunch of wind. But much better than overnight. Roads are still impassible.

Now, the digging out begins.

I’m collecting a bunch of storm photos from my friends to post on Monday.

Stay toasty!