Dash of Fimbulwinter

After a several week string of high's in the 30's and minimal snowfall, fimbulwinter struck yesterday. The forecasters for once actually called for snow and were right and, as usual, most people ignored them, I among them. I woke up bright and early to go to this month's Chamber Leadership day, noticed snow on the ground from the night before, but didn't give it a second thought as the roads were well groomed.

On the drive over, it seemed odd that no kids or cars appeared to be at the schools I passed, but figured that it was too early. The schools were closed, they were listening to the forecasters. I got down to the community center where we were starting the day which happens to be located directly on the Lakefront next to the community marina and saw that the lake was angry and felt the sting of the whipping wind when I got out of my car and still paid it little attention. The class started and we headed out in a tour bus for a couple of stops. As we went out to the bus after the last stop, the storm had started. In a moment of brilliance, I had left my jacket on the bus, prefering not to carry it around and got an arm soaked by the driving snow. The bus driver chose to point out that he had almost taken out a light post while returning to get us.

During our return to the center, it was plainly obvious that the best course of action was to head immediately home and sit the storm out. We did not do that. Instead we sat watching the storm out the window through two more hours of presentations. The course finally was called early to allow everyone to go home.

The scene at the lake was awesome. The community center is set on the beach in a shallow cove formed by North Point and the breakwater. Looking out at the lake the waves were crashing in intricate patterns with whitecaps cresting easily above eight feet and spray freezing as it sailed through the air to form mounds on the shore. The driving wind was gusting strongly causing the snow to fly sideways with enough force to sound like BB's hitting my jacket shell. There were dunes of shifting snow obscuring all efforts at clearance and one could barely see in front of them with the freezing fog. At times, I couldn't even see the lake twenty feet away through the snow and fog. It was chillingly beautiful and I didn't have my camera.

It took some serious effort to get some people out of the lot, especially where there were minivan sized snowdrifts against vehicles. I was able to get out fairly easily and followed a classmate driving a four-wheel drive truck most of the way home. The roads had a single path plowed most of the way, but we had to stop once to help push a vehicle back into the roadway.

When I got to my complex, the driveway was almost impassable. I pulled up behind a neighbor who warned me not to go in further as he had tried and gotten stuck. With the help of the apartment manager and maintenance person, we were able to get both of our cars parked in the lot with a combination of shoveling and pushing. As soon as we were done, we ended up helping several other residents get in and get parked. This was exhausting. The irony of this was that I met more neighbors in that time than I had in the year that I lived here.

The numbers for the storm ended up at 10 inches of snow with the highest recorded wind gust being 44mph and reports of thunder and lightning during the storm. According to several sources, there hasn't been a snowstorm this bad in a decade. Many cars and semis ended up in ditches and the freeway was even closed a few times due to the weather.

This morning I had to dig my car out which had the rear part buried above the bumper and helped a senior who lives in my building to dig her car out. As I'm typing, the maintenance guy is still clearing snow from parking areas and walkways and he's been at it all day. The snow piles around town are enormous and there are still roads that need a second pass to clear them completely. The snow continues to drift in a strong wind so I expect the trucks will be busy cleaning up for a few days.

My car handled really well in the snow and only had trouble when the snow was up on the bumper. It was a lot better than Herbie and the traction control worked great. The only bad part was that snow got packed into the wheels and froze so the balance is screwy until I can get it all out which I am near completing.

Now it is supposed to get really frigid. The forecast is for 9 to 12 below zero tonight with wind chill down to 40 below. Tomorrow there is a forecast high of eight with wind chills in the 20 below range and then a slow warming trend is predicted for the next week. Short of the Blue and Golds that I have to attend, I plan on staying in to let this cold thaw out a bit.