2011 Blizzard - Fini

It will take several more days of shovelling before I get the deck clear - I'm not sure I even want to try, LOL!  Oh my aching muscles.  I shouldn't complain - actually despite the volume the snow is fairly light, except the ice-berm at the base of the driveway that the plows leave behind, our local tax dollars hard at work!

Yes, there's a branch stuck in that snow drift on the deck - one of several hundred that came flying down overnight in the strong, gusting winds - part of the clamor that kept me awake most of the night.  I expect a lot of people in the area didn't get much sleep - it was way too noisy outside!  Tonight it's a long hot soak in the tub and horse linament for me, and hitting the sack at 9 p.m.  You can get a feel for just how much snow was deposited courtesy of relentless blowing and drifting from a classic nor'easter.

Here's what the front looks like now, after several hours of hard manual labor.  Mr. Don, where are you when I need you?

2011 Blizzard - 4

Now comes the hard part - shovelling out.  Even if I had a snowblower, I don't think I'd be able to manage it, the snow is too deep.  So, I started at the least drifted over spot next to front porch and over the course of about 45 minutes, I made it through to the road.  I partially unburied my mail box - but it's clear that the plows have to come through at least once more and that means anything I shovel in the road will just get snow bermed in again, so I will wait to tackle the hardest part until after the plows have come through.

Meanwhile, I'm taking a break because after a second 45 minute bout my toes started freezing - my old tall boots are too tight!  I haven't had to wear them for years and my feet have fattened out and flattened out, rendering the size 8s too small.  Damn!  Now though, with at least a foot-wise path shovelled out, I can wear my shorter water-proofs and will be okay.  I've started working down the driveway to widen the path out to about 3 feet wide.  The hardest part will be getting ride of the plowed in snow berms at the foot of the drive.  The snowbank on the right is nearly as tall as I am already, which means I'll have to haul the snow, shovel full by shovel full, back up the driveway to dump it on the side where the snow bank isn't so tall.  Great, just great.  Oh crap - I hear a plow --



Hello, house!  Look - pavement!

Well, time to put the boots back on and get at it again.  The winds are still drifting the snow so I may have to get up uber-early tomorrow morning and shovel my path out again before I even shower.  Winds will calm down to about 20 mph later tonight, but a deep freeze is coming.  I can deal with snow, me strong like bull with my trusty shovel -- but I HATE sub-zero F temperatures.

2011 Blizzard - Part 3

As expected, the firm, along with hundreds of other businesses in the area, is closed today, so I've got a snow day.  The snow has stopped but the winds are as strong as ever.  It was not a restful night last night.  The constant howling of the wind, the clanging of the range hood vent which faces into the wind, the thunder snow, all conspired to keep me awake.  The city is shut down.  Expressways/highways are shut down because of impassible conditions and abandoned cars blocking what little traffic there is; while the highways have stretches of at least drivable conditions entrance and exit ramps are drifted and dangerous - many cars stuck on them and the Sheriff's Department and National Guard are getting to them as fast as they can, but they won't tow your car if you're stuck, all they'll do is offer you a lift to someplace warm and dry; white-out conditions continue along with the snow at this time (about 7:30 a.m.).  Snow-wise we got perhaps 12-14 inches on top of what we received Monday.  It's the blowing and drifting that is making things awful.  I tried to capture some of the drifs on the following photos, but it's hard to gauge from them just how big the drifts are!

No bus service - it's been suspended because the roads were so bad.  The county tried to keep the highways open and the city works first on plowing the main thoroughfares - if you live on a side street - foret about going anywhere today with a vehicle!  The entire county was under a snow emergency so if you weren't parked on the right side of the street (and in some neighborhoods, no parking is allowed at all), your car is now gone and it will cost you several hundred to get it out of the tow-lot!  I live in a suburb and eventually we will get plowed but looking out the front door, no plow has been through, no part of road can be seen at all.  How on earth I'm ever going to clear even a path in my driveway to the road is beyond me, oh goddess!  At least I can get my front door opened.  I tried the garage service door and it's frozen shut. 



The blizzard of 2011 didn't stop the squirrels from looking for their breakfast.
I didn't shovel that part of the deck - it's the only part that was untouched by the blowing snow!
So, that's where I aimed and tried to toss the nuts for my hungry buddies.

Blizzard 2011 - Part 2

Ohmygoddess!  It's really really REALLY nasty out there right now.  It's 9:19 p.m. as I'm starting this blog entry.  I tried to take a few photos - haven't downloaded them yet, not sure if they turned out at all.  As far as I could tell, all I got was big white blobs, LOL!

I found this photo at the website for the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, and I think it catches the essence of this storm - and this was taken this afternoon when it was still light outside and the winds weren't gusting over 40 mph!  Credit to Rick Wood.

It is snowing hard, but worse is the wind, whipping out of the east/northeast off Lake Michigan at sustained 25 mph in Milwaukee, with gusts up to 50 mph.  The snow is horizontal, in other words, and I saw something tonight in my driveway that I have not seen the entire time I've lived here - 21 years.  The wind is so strong it has actually scrubbed away all the snow in a large swatch of driveway!  That swatch in front of my garage door from this morning is also still scoured down to concrete, and my front stoop, except for about a foot of snow right by the door where one would step out, is also scoured clear of snow by the wind.  Looking out the windows - which are now building up snow crusts and that has only happened a few times the last 21 years - the air is so saturated with blowing snow that it looks foggy outside.  I thank the goddess I am warm and safe inside tonight, and worry about those who are not.  Shelters and churches open for the homeless and those who have lost power in such storms and offer a meal, and a warm, dry place to lay one's head for the night, but now getting to the shelters is, itself, a major issue.

The entire city is shut down tomorrow - schools shut; courts shut; airport, which our intrepid plow operators were able to keep open earlier today to get at least some flights out (not many were coming in), is also shut down tonight, the plows cannot keep up with the blowing and drifting snow; there are no flights in or out; government offices shut, except for essential personnel, and good luck to them trying to get around tomorrow, damn!  White out conditions are the norm. The worst of the snow hasn't even got here yet.  It's forecasted right now to fall between 10:30 p.m. and 3:30 a.m. tomorrow morning, as much as 4 inches an hour. 

9:39 p.m. - okay, downloaded the photos I took.  I'm not very good at this sort of thing and I don't understand how to ajdust the settings on the camera to get better shots.  Anyway, only three turned out, sort of.  The first two are looking toward the southeast from the front porch - well, as much as I could get out to the front porch.  The wind was so strong from the east/northeast that it kept shoving the storm door into my elbow as I was trying to hold the camera out to snap these shots, LOL!  In the first photo you can see the bare patch of concrete that the wind has scoured clear of snow.  In the second photo the idea was to try and get a shot under the street light on the corner nearest my house to show more of the blowing snow, but all I got was a lens full of snowflakes and the side of my porch alcove.  That foggy look - that's actually what it looks outside right now, that's how much snow is blowing around.





This is a photo of the backyard - not from the deck, I wasn't brave enough to attempt to step outside, which would, in any event, have involved getting boots on and cold-weather gear.  Nope, I only opened up the patio door and clicked away.  This is the only image that turned out enough to actually see something other than white blobs in front of the lens!

I expect that the office will be closed tomorrow, so I'll get a "free" snow day in addition to the one I took today - am SO glad I did!  It was horrid outside well before 3:00 p.m. although the snow from "Round 2" as this storm is being called locally, didn't really start up until after 4:00 p.m. but, to be honest, it was hard to tell because of all the blowing/drifting snow off roofs and the ground!  All I can tell you is that whenever I stuck my face outside I got a face-full of snow, LOL!  And why, you ask, would I be so foolish as to stick my face outside in this weather?  It was to throw out hands-full of almonds for the squirrels who still managed to show up between 4 and 5 p.m.!  They had to grab them fast because they were quickly covered with drifting snow.

Okay - now 10 p.m. and the latest forecast is on.  We are now in moderate snow fall of 2 inches per hour, until about noon tomorrow.  Plus we have lake effect snow.  Great, just great.  The official measurement of snowfall thus far is impossible to get because of the winds. All the forecasters can do is guess.  We may have had up to 7 inches yesterday in the Milwaukee area.  Perhaps 11 more inches today, thus far.  Estimated another 3 to 4 inches tomorrow after the worst of the storm has passed.  Ach, I could deal with that, except for the winds and we're to go into the deep freeze tomorrow after the storm passes.

And taxpayers will be coughing up more money next assessment round to balance the city's budget as it will cost well over a million dollars, when all is said and done, to clean up from this storm.

The wind is howling, things are smacking against the house.  It feels cold in here despite the thermostat saying every time I look at it that it's 65 degrees F, and I'm thanking goddess I have a brand new furnace (cha-ching!), which will be chugging all night to keep up with the air infiltration caused by the non-stop strong winds into this rather air-tight house!  I will shortly be snuggling under a heavy down comforter trying to get some sleep, but I don't think I'll get much rest tonight.  But maybe, tonight, I won't be woken up by night sweats!  I'm too cold!

Blizzard 2011



Deck - mostly shoveled at 7 a.m. - I left a pile of snow about a foot deep near the center, photo taken at about 10:15 a.m.  Nuts tossed out for the squirrels are still visible.

It's not here yet - but it's coming.  We went through a preliminary bout of snow yesterday, with most of it piling up overnight, well after rush-hour.  The winds were up but bearable and the temperature was 27 degrees F when I left the office at 5 last night.  By the time I got home though, about 6:30, it had dropped 10 degrees, the winds had picked up and it was blowing gritty pellets of snow smack in my face.  It's the "dry" light kind of snow that easily blows, quickly icing over pavement that was plowed and salted just moments before.  Already last night it was drifting into strange configurations as I walked the last mile home from the Pick 'n Save with "emergency" supplies.  During the height of the blizzard we may get wind gusts to 60 mph and sustained winds of about 25 mph.  It is not going to be pleasant out there.


Back yard view to the southwest, off the deck, about 10:15 a.m.

Got up this morning and checked around the house - already 3 to 4 foot high drifts in some places, and other places bare pavement!  I shoveled off most of the deck just so I could feed my critters, and sure enough, they showed up right on schedule.  I do not expect them to be out and about later today, though, once the hard blow starts in earnest.  Already the flurries we've had since I shoveled at about 7 a.m. have taken their toll, coating a film of snow back over the deck.  By tomorrow morning there may be as much as 12 inches more - just have to wait and see.



Back yard view to the northwest, off the deck, about 10:15 a.m.

I debated back and forth whether to go in to the office today - for at least a half day, and then bugging out at noon and getting home hopefully well before the 3 p.m. forecasted "start time" for the big one.  But, after taking one last good hard look out the front door at 7:15 a.m. I decided that discretion was called for rather than valor :)  I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it safely to the bus stop 3/4th of a mile away, knowing that sidewalks would not be shoveled out and the plowing on the roads was iffy, at best, due to the wind conditions. 

View from the from the front door, to the southeast, about 10:15 a.m.  The driveway was all  clear 24 hours ago!

Since the blizzard warning won't expire until more than 24 hours from now (3 p.m. tomorrow) I'll be home tomorrow as well.  So - what to do, what to do?  Take down the Christmas tree?  But I don't want to take it down until after the Super Bowl.  I have been reading and doing some research.  I may settle in shortly before the fireplace and re-read the last half of the last Harry Potter novel -- I've been wanting to do that.  I'm cooking as well, and perhaps I'll do some baking tomorrow, rummaging around in the cupboards to see what I have that can be whipped up into some magical concoction.

The wind playing tricks with the snow - area in front of my garage door, about 10:15 a.m.

I snapped these photos at about 10:15 a.m.  I will take photos throughout the storm.  There really is something quite beautiful in all this snow piling up - as long as one does not have to be out in it!

I've got a pot roast going in the slow-cooker and the house smells wonderful!  The winds are beginning to howl outside - the big one may be here more quickly than originally forecasted (for about 3 p.m. today).  Brrrrr, it makes me shiver just hearing them.