I Need a Snow Break
Dec 27 '08
The Bottom Line Sometimes Mother Nature gives us more than we want.
The winter of 2007-2008 sucked in the Spokane area. The Spokane airport measured around 92 inches. We live 50 miles away from there, and I would estimate got at least a foot more than that due to our elevation.
All predictions said that the winter of 2008-2009 would be a mild one, and wow were we ready. September, October, and November were awesome - mild temperatures, no snow. December started out nice - then about two weeks into it the snow started. And it hasn't stopped yet. As of 4:00 p.m. on December 26th the snowfall registered in Spokane had broken all records for December snowfall on file, noting 46.2 inches. I haven't seen an update for the past couple of days, but it has been snowing. At our house we have about a foot or so more. Our governor has declared a statewide emergency. I read yesterday that grocery stores are even running out of staples like milk, bread, and eggs because the trucks can't get through.
The weather forecast shows snow and snow and more snow. Every day snow. Mixed with occasional freezing rain - who hoo! Every couple of days a new storm pattern is scheduled to come in and dump even more snow on us. "Heavy snow" is predicted tomorrow night - which probably means another foot or so of snow to pile up on the rest of the stuff. Our snowblower is getting a signficant work out. Thank goodness for it - otherwise we would not be able to get out of our driveway since it is a very long one that circles around the house. My Stratus is buried - will take hours to dig it out. Not that I can drive it anyway. Fortunately gas prices have gone down and we can afford to drive our Excursion - four wheel drive is a necessity. In Spokane itself people have been forced to use chains just to get around on the side streets.
Most of the time the standing joke in the Spokane area is that if a person doesn't like the weather, wait fifteen minutes and it will change. We fondly deride our weather forecasters and call it the "Spokane weather guess." This year, however, they have been right on the mark - every time.
I am starting to wonder if the snow will ever stop. Christmas was not as busy as usual because hardly anyone could get to our house. My husband and I have been off work all this week - thank goodness - so at least we haven't had to drive 100 miles a day on horrible roads this week. Next week will be a different story, however.
December is not usually our worse winter month. Sometimes we are not even sure we will have a white Christmas. January and February are the worst months, and I am terrified of what they will look like.
So much for a mild winter. I find myself becoming even more worried about global warming, since I have read that a side effect of it is increased precipitation. I can believe it.
Well, time to get another cup of hot cocoa and go out and shovel some more. Still have some areas the snowblower can't get to.
Got to keep a positive attitude I guess, no matter how hard it is. I would be glad to share some snow.
Happy holidays!!!
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