Archive for February 12th, 2010
Snowmageddon
There are many fine photos and videos of the last week of record-setting snows in the Washington DC area. Since people have asked, I will add my photographic report.
Friday Feb 5, heavy wet snow started before noon, and just kept falling, bringing down trees and power lines. That evening my neighborhood lost power for five hours. Other blocks lost power for five days. My next-door neighbors had been having a quiet party. In the dark they turned to laughing and singing–I suppose–Indian popular songs. Travel had become impossible. Peering from my 12th floor lair, I was impressed by how the great and rich city was humbled. I settled in for a long winter’s nap.
Saturday, heavy snow inexorably piled up until nightfall, reaching around 20 sticky inches. A few miles to the north got to 28 fluffy inches. I spent much of the morning restoring cranky computers.
Sunday dawned bright and clear. People started digging out. Down the street I found a row of seven trees filled with angry robins.
I started for groceries. But in clambering over a snow ridge I found my hiking shoe had fallen apart. What does it profit a man if he gains some eggs but loses his sole? I tied the laces under the shoe and limped back home like some Charlie Chaplin character. After donning other shoes, I checked out a shovel from the front desk, and started uncovering my car and others. Compared to the December Snowpocalypse, the apartment management was more prepared. They used front loaders to clear parking spaces, then phoned people to come rotate their car into the cleared spaces. I joined a team with shovels and brooms. We cleared snow on and between cars and often drove the car to its new spot. “Be kind to the old person you are becoming.”
One lady with a delightful British accent told me, “Thank you! May I bring you some biscuits?” That evening I received a package of proper English biscuits (cookies) and this provocative note typed on an elegant, engraved card.
Monday also was bright and clear, but the wind was up. That would be the time a communications laser on the top of a tall building needed a reset. I got to see a nice sunrise with the building engineer.
Tuesday brought another 9″ of snow, this time with relentless strong winds.
Just before the first storm struck, on my usual grocery run I found long lines. A phone-cam caught a woman beating on the closed doors of a grocery, yelling, “Let me in! I don’t have any cofffeeeee!” When finally on the subsequent Tuesday I walked through the stinging snow to the nearby grocery, I found no long lines, but also not much left.
I may add more photos and observations. I hear we may have four inches of snow on Monday the 15th.
Last year that forecast would have triggered panic. Now people shrug, “Four inches? At least it’s not a big snow!”
