Thursday, February 7, 2013

Batten Down the Hatches


Batten down the hatches, the blizzard of 2013 is on and so is the hype!  Tomorrow there is going to be a whopper of a storm in the northeast, the first real snow we've had round these parts for awhile.  From the looks of it, some wet stuff is going to begin sometime early Friday morning, and by midday the heavier stuff will start falling fast.  Accumulations between 11 and 22 inches are expected to fall throughout the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut tri-state area, and I'd seen earlier in the day that parts north, in Massachusetts  could see as much as 33' of snow!  This one's even got a name: Nemo!


Don't Fall Into the Hype

As usual, the news stations are hyping up this thing with round-the-clock coverage.  In between the dozens of forecasts, we're watching people prepare by emptying store shelves of bread, milk and eggs....oh, and gas, too.  It's really ridiculous, I think, and I also believe that it's the hype that helps to fuel the frenzy gong on out there.  I mean, it's not like we're all going to be holed up for weeks, unable to get supplies.  We survived the Hurricane, didn't we?

The worst part about snow is having to drive in it.  Unfortunately, the dangerous stuff will start around midday, while many people are at work.  I may be a wimp to many, but I'm sorry, I hate hate hate driving in the snow, especially long drives.  Why is work so important that we risk our lives (both real and financial) to go and perform it.  Will the world really stop if there's one less school day, or there's no banks open for a day, or anything else for that matter.  We would all survive!  (Check out Snow Days: Safety vs. Work for more on this particular topic...it's one of my favorite rants!)

So, we'll see what happens in the AM.  So far, nothing I'm involved in has been cancelled, and I have no idea what conditions will be like.  At this point I'm hoping for an earlier arrival of the white stuff so I can just get started with my being holed up, which is going to happen anyway.  So, here's to clearing that early hurdle and making it to that point where I'm just "in for the weekend."  (I hate being single sometimes!)  In the meantime if you're holed up, as well, here are a couple of other pieces to read that I've written on the topic of snow:

A Snow Shoveler's Lament

Tips for Clearing Snow Safely

Tips for Driving Safely on Snowy, Icy Roads

And here are a couple of shots I took during a previous storm we had here, in December of 09:

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This is probably what my street will look like tomorrow:

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Good luck to everybody!


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