3.10.2008

A Southern Winter Storm

Friday, there was talk. Oh yes, there was talk. Warnings and nervous anticipation. Excitement and vague threats. SNOW was coming. That’s right, a bonafide Winter Storm Warning was in effect for middle Tennessee. The snow was supposed to hit us at around 5 pm (rush hour, naturally). At 3:30 we were encouraged to leave work to ensure that we all got home safely. Terah informed me there were people out buying sleds and shovels (where? I have no idea - it's not like Kroger stocks sleds and shovels). Plans were being cancelled. Grocery store shelves were quickly being emptied by anxious housewives. And here was the imminent threat: Accumulations could be from 3 to 5 inches with heavy snowfall at times.

Uh-huh. A forecast of 3 to 5 inches and suddenly we’re in a state of emergency here in Nashville. Despite the warnings, our religion class was meeting as scheduled and so Terah and I drove down to Franklin just as a few big flakes started to fall.

A mere two hours later after plates of chocolate chip cookies and discussions of Judaism, we emerged from Jon & Becky’s into a winter wonderland of big fluffy flakes falling from the sky and a 2-3 inch blanket covering every still thing. It was soooooo pretty. And so surreal. We actually had to use Terah’s snow brush to wipe her car off (fortunately she’s a northerner too and still keeps a snowbrush in her car – old habits die hard).

Thinking the interstates would be the first arteries to have been cleared, we opted to take 65 home from Franklin. We thought wrong.

I’m used to there being fleets of snowplows and salt trucks standing at the ready to be deployed throughout the region with a moment’s notice. Not to mention the plows attached to the front of every 4-wheel drive family vehicle and snow blowers waiting in every garage. I’m also used to people being able to drive competently in a few inches of snow.

Listen up people of the South, traffic rules and regulations do NOT magically evaporate if there is snow. Yes, you still have to merge intelligently, you still have to stop at red lights, you still have to stay in your lane, and you still have to maintain a reasonable speed on the interstate. Going 10mph in a 70mph zone is not reasonable. No it is not. Here’s another tip from me to you: if you should happen to slide in the icy slush on the roadway, DO NOT slam on your brakes. Bad idea.

Needless to say, what is normally a 30 minute drive turned out to be a 2 hour drive.

Sadly, I didn’t have an opportunity to take any pictures so you could see just how little snow there actually was, but really, it was no more than 3 or 4 inches. There was enough for a few small snowmen and enough to slide down the hills a few times, but that’s about it. Too bad for the kiddies that it happened on a Friday night (i.e. no school closings). By Saturday afternoon, only a few isolated patches of lonely snow remained.

Admittedly, it was kinda freaky to have that much snow down here especially in March, but we got through it. We survived the Winter Storm.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

so how many people got snowed in and had to eat their children to stay alive?

Anonymous said...

Here in NW PA we really had a bonafide blizzard. From Friday through Sunday, I got over 2 FEET of snow at my house. Being of the short variety, it came up to my knees!

In fact, the snow piles in my yard are taller than me. (I know what you're saying, but that means they were approaching at least 5'7" since that's well over my height. Heck,they CLOSED THE MALL. Now, you know that's a bad storm in PA!

I didn't see a snow plow for 2 days either and when it finally came last night, all of the neighbors came out, shovels in hand, to dig out their cars and driveways. They reminded me of angry villagers with pitchforks, out to hunt down the horrible vampire that lives on the cliffs above the town. Or, in this case, the big yellow snow plow that they never thought would come....

Anonymous said...

Tenneesee is looking pretty good right about now. Dealing with 24+ inches of snow in less than 48 hours is a bit much even for the PA snow belt. I have to say the blizzard made everything look pretty. The top 6 inches or so was that light, fluffy, stuff that blows around like confetti. But it's March and enough is enough!! I can't help but wonder what it would be like to live someplace where 3-5 inches of snow is considered a blizzard, Hee!