Tuesday, January 27, 2015

The Great Unhistoric Blizzard of 2015

The Wikipedia page for the storm was up 12 hours before the snow started and the forecasters were touting it as a historic 30-incher. The New Yorkers, who only got 10 or 11 inches, are now calling it the Snor'easter. Here in Massachusetts, the snow came in light and fluffy which was much better than the prediction of heavy wet snow that would bring down trees and power lines, but we did get the inches forecast.


A hundred some years ago, some Harvard Professor dredged up an inscription for the New York City Post Office: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." Who knows how many U.S. postmen suffered unnecessarily for that creed. But here in New England, at least, we've gotten wise to the fact that people don't want to dig a path for the postman in the middle of a blizzard.


Scene from the window Tuesday morning.


Scene from the back porch. You can see how fine and dry the snow was to filter through the slits in the porch floor.


The main roads were clear with only snow plows for traffic due to a state-ordered and probably unnecessary travel ban. There was nowhere to go.


An afternoon walk found some kids sledding and the neighborhood market and pizza place closed.


Snow fell through the day and the wind blew it around, so digging out didn't begin until mid-afternoon.


Scene on the neighborhood street early this evening.


Mini Cooper or snow drift?


The aerodynamic design of the newest models is also conducive to drifting.


All the cool people point their wipers skyward before a big snowstorm. That's supposed to protect the wipers from the weight of snow sliding down the windshield, if they don't get blown off in the wind.

No comments: