So some of you may know that the North East part of the US got some snow. Interestingly, here in New England, whenever 'they' worry about something they name it. So they called this one Nemo.
Starting about last Wednesday, people started freaking out. The weather forecasters were upping the accumulation rate about 4 inches every 6 hours. First it was: "There will be snow on Friday" then that moved to "There will be accumulated snow on Friday" progressing to "There will be 6 - 18 inches of snow on Friday" to "There will be 1 foot to 2 feet of snow accumulation on Friday" all the way up to "GO RANSACK YOUR GROCERY STORE! THERE IS GOING TO BE A STORM!"
In all seriousness, the last estimate on Thursday evening was 2 to 3 feet. This caused the mayor to yet again tell everyone to stay home. That was announced on Thursday. A whole 24 hours before it was even forecast-ed to start snowing. There was also a driving ban that was to start 4PM on Friday.
This meant that Gwyn and I got a great extended weekend of relaxing, eating, playing board games and watching movies! To be exact: Breakfast in local Diner, FryDay Friday, Pancakes and Eggs, Home Made Chicken/Pepperoni/Pepper/Onion/Buffalo Pizza x 2; The New Science, Twilight Struggle, Fluxx, Carcassonne, Cosmopolis (horrible movie), ThunderBall (007), Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb (as a result of playing Twilight Struggle)
On Saturday (after it dumped all night Friday to Saturday) we decided to venture out and check out what Woburn looked like in the snow.
So presented with few comments, the images from Saturday:
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| Powder Snow + Wind = Snow Gets Everywhere. |
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| A view from our Kitchen |
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| The back deck |
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| Surviving Nemo |
So this does require a little description. We got all bundled up, we got the garbage, we locked up our apartment, and we walked down our stairs to leave, to find that the snow had drifted up against our door. This meant that we could not open our outward opening door. For our apartment, this is our only way out. In an emergency, we could climb on to the building next to us, but that is not really optimal. So I asked our downstairs neighbors if they would not mind me walking through their apartment and using their back door (that exits on to ground level). They said sure, but they had not shoveled out the back yet. I did not let this hinder me. So after getting through a snow bank up to my chin, I was able to come around to the front door and dig out our door.
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| There is a car in that |
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| Only a few business were open, the convenience shop next to us was... this meant all of the now removal people would stop and get some coffee or cigarettes. |
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| No coffee today... |
So all in all, I would estimate that Woburn got 8-14 inches. Now, growing up in Spokane where 6-12 inches is a heavy, but normal dumping, this may seem like very little to get excited about. But, what Nemo brought with it was wind. And a lot of wind. There was hurricane force winds the entire storm. This meant that snow did not 'dump' it drifted. That up-to-my-chin snow bank up there, was right next to a bare spot. This combination makes for interesting problems, effects. Our cars, that were in a line of other cars, parallel with the wind, had almost no snow on them. But as you saw, door were drifted shut, there was snow in our mail box, Snow between the screen and the glass of our windows, and worst of all was that as soon as you moved any snow, it would blow back to where it started.
The city of Boston also has the added struggle of dealing with parking and cars. There are too many cars, and not enough space... and that is before any storm affects things. Then add snow to that, and it could have been chaos. The officials were most worried about the Friday evening commute getting snowed in and having a city's worth of cars snowed in on the highways.
So all in all, it we were fine. At the moment, it is sunny and warm, I would guess 60%-75% of the snow has melted (it rained the last few days).
Not quite as pristine as a fresh snowy morning in Colbert, but still a fun weekend.
So this does require a little description. We got all bundled up, we got the garbage, we locked up our apartment, and we walked down our stairs to leave, to find that the snow had drifted up against our door. This meant that we could not open our outward opening door. For our apartment, this is our only way out. In an emergency, we could climb on to the building next to us, but that is not really optimal. So I asked our downstairs neighbors if they would not mind me walking through their apartment and using their back door (that exits on to ground level). They said sure, but they had not shoveled out the back yet. I did not let this hinder me. So after getting through a snow bank up to my chin, I was able to come around to the front door and dig out our door.
