08 February 2013
Story #629
R. Linda:
I had just fallen into a deep sleep when my iPhone started making this alert sound I had never heard before. It took me a good two minutes to figure out what it was and where it was coming from. The wife was making disparaging sounds because I was not stopping the annoyance. Once I had discovered it was the mobile, I looked at it, and there was a blizzard alert. It was 3:25 a.m.
Now I ask you, do you think at 3:25 A.M. I WILL CARE IF THERE IS A BLIZZARD ALERT? No, not likely. I turned the damn thing off and rolled back over, never giving it a thought that this was a first. I'd never gotten a weather alert like that EVER.
It did not start snowing until around 5 a.m., when my alarm woke me. There was not much going on—about a dusting, I'd say. Heavy fat flakes that weren't sticking were swirling around the yard. Yes, it was pretty, pretty IF you like that sort of thing, which on a workday I do not.
So I started into work, and the farther south I got, the more snow there was coming down. I had to laugh. As usual, here we go again, where we are told "historical" amounts of snow (28 to 33") will fall on us, with possible hurricane-force winds, power outages, damage to property and possibly any fool who would venture out in such, either badly injured (or worse) and landing in hospital.
Well, as you can imagine, a lot was being made of all this -- as usual. The same old same old, about it being weather for sled dogs and snowmobiles. People were worried and complaining that they hoped to leave work early. Only I sat there relaxed and calm, taking in the "chicken little" population when I knew better.
I looked at the weather maps, and yes, they looked forbidding, but they did for the hurricane, the last storm of the century we were supposed to get, and really didn't. I spoke to me brother-in-law in North Jersey who said, "Storm, I have to laugh, they let us out early and are telling us to stay off the roads and nothing seems to be happening."
Only Boston, it seemed, had "the" weather, not weather like it could or was predicted to be. So, as it happened, we were let go early (those of us with nothing pressing and who lived out of state or long distances from work). I got home at 2:00 and there was NOTHING I tell ya, NOTHING. But at 2:21, there was now THIS:
It was starting to come down at a good clip, it was. So I got myself some peppermint Schnapps and hot cocoa and made a keen drink to sip while I sat back thinking it wouldn't last long. Yup, I did think that. At the time, I did.
An hour later, I was making another cup of brew but thought to snap another shot of the "blizzard."
So I went back to sipping and lazing around. I even caught a nap around 4:30. It got messy out there.
So the wind had picked up and gusted about, and it was getting hard to see out by the edge of the woods. But it's early. But not that early apparently. New Hampshire's governor declared a state of emergency at 5:15. Winds arrive at 55 mph with an increase of snow intensity within the next few hours, a four to five-inch per hour rate of white stuff (so they say). It is in the teens right now, and as it rises, the thunder-snow is expected. Now that is a strange phenomenon, it usually happens in the dead of night and can be very disconcerting.
If I'm not back later, I will either sit in the dark with no power or watch TV.
Gabe
Copyright © 2013 All rights reserved
R. Linda:
I had just fallen into a deep sleep when my iPhone started making this alert sound I had never heard before. It took me a good two minutes to figure out what it was and where it was coming from. The wife was making disparaging sounds because I was not stopping the annoyance. Once I had discovered it was the mobile, I looked at it, and there was a blizzard alert. It was 3:25 a.m.
Now I ask you, do you think at 3:25 A.M. I WILL CARE IF THERE IS A BLIZZARD ALERT? No, not likely. I turned the damn thing off and rolled back over, never giving it a thought that this was a first. I'd never gotten a weather alert like that EVER.
It did not start snowing until around 5 a.m., when my alarm woke me. There was not much going on—about a dusting, I'd say. Heavy fat flakes that weren't sticking were swirling around the yard. Yes, it was pretty, pretty IF you like that sort of thing, which on a workday I do not.
So I started into work, and the farther south I got, the more snow there was coming down. I had to laugh. As usual, here we go again, where we are told "historical" amounts of snow (28 to 33") will fall on us, with possible hurricane-force winds, power outages, damage to property and possibly any fool who would venture out in such, either badly injured (or worse) and landing in hospital.
Well, as you can imagine, a lot was being made of all this -- as usual. The same old same old, about it being weather for sled dogs and snowmobiles. People were worried and complaining that they hoped to leave work early. Only I sat there relaxed and calm, taking in the "chicken little" population when I knew better.
I looked at the weather maps, and yes, they looked forbidding, but they did for the hurricane, the last storm of the century we were supposed to get, and really didn't. I spoke to me brother-in-law in North Jersey who said, "Storm, I have to laugh, they let us out early and are telling us to stay off the roads and nothing seems to be happening."
Only Boston, it seemed, had "the" weather, not weather like it could or was predicted to be. So, as it happened, we were let go early (those of us with nothing pressing and who lived out of state or long distances from work). I got home at 2:00 and there was NOTHING I tell ya, NOTHING. But at 2:21, there was now THIS:
 |
| 2:21 p.m. Did the snow follow me home? |
An hour later, I was making another cup of brew but thought to snap another shot of the "blizzard."
| 3:10 p.m. Agh, a little more, it's fine stuff coming down, but blizzard? |
So I went back to sipping and lazing around. I even caught a nap around 4:30. It got messy out there.
 |
| OK, OK, it's picking up. It's 4:30 p.m. As the "weather people" say, it's getting snowy out there. |
So the wind had picked up and gusted about, and it was getting hard to see out by the edge of the woods. But it's early. But not that early apparently. New Hampshire's governor declared a state of emergency at 5:15. Winds arrive at 55 mph with an increase of snow intensity within the next few hours, a four to five-inch per hour rate of white stuff (so they say). It is in the teens right now, and as it rises, the thunder-snow is expected. Now that is a strange phenomenon, it usually happens in the dead of night and can be very disconcerting.
If I'm not back later, I will either sit in the dark with no power or watch TV.
Gabe
Copyright © 2013 All rights reserved
