Snowpocalypse '09

Technically it's still autumn here in the Northern Hemisphere, so yesterday's blizzard that dumped something like 18 inches of snow on my fair city could be considered a late fall storm. Which is weird, but hey, this is Wisconsin.

I woke up yesterday morning to a back door that wouldn't open more than a few inches due to a drift but also the happy news that my place of employment had decided to shutter its doors for the day. Others were not so lucky. The neighborhood was filled with the sounds of neighbors shoveling and snowblowing their way out of the massive piles of snow. I was grateful to spend the morning indoors doing various chores and taking it easy. I even ventured out once to take pictures of the muted world.

But alack, it was not meant to last. My dear sister needed to be at work that afternoon and, being that she normally bikes in, I volunteered to drive her there lest she be buried by a passing plow. She has terrible luck with the things. When she lived in Chicago, a city plow once rammed the car in front of hers and literally pushed it onto her roof (thankfully while she was not in it). So we can't take any chances now.

To accomplish that goal, however, I needed to dig out a car. Back-breaking and obnoxious as the work was, I had help from two kindly friends and the silver lining of it not being crazy cold out (yet--today is another matter entirely). And the whole of the 'hood seemed to be alive with people. It was the rare winter occasion for residents to meet each other in the streets for a chat. Dogs played in snow piles, children built forts, and some folks could be seeing skiing down the middle of the street. It was strangely idyllic.

I got sis to work safe and sound and decided to head down to campus for a planned snowball fight on Bascom Hill, thinking I would document it for posterity. You can read my write-up of the event over at Dane101 and check out the video I took of the shenanigans. Or watch it below:



It was a trip. I'm just glad I managed to get out without taking a snowball to the eyeball.

Now there just remains the actual winter to get through. I'm determined to be as active as the weather allows--get back to snowboarding and sledding, and break out the snowshoes again. But I think we're good on the snow count for awhile, don't you?

Blizzard!

3:50PM - If you're in southern Wisconsin, you know full-well what's going on. At the moment, I am incredibly grateful to be curled up in a blanket at home, simply watching the buckets of snow coming down outside. We're in the midst of a good old-fashioned prairie blizzard, with a good foot of snow having fallen since this morning alone. And despite the enormous amount of shoveling we've had to do already (and more to come) and all the other inconveniences, I won't complain too much. People further south were nailed by severe storms and tornadoes: homes destroyed and over 50 people killed. That shouldn't be happening in the middle of winter. My heart goes out to all of them.

I'm watching the weather report, and they're predicting that we'll have 12-18" of snow by the time this is all said and done later this evening. Driving is about the worst idea ever. My roommate is currently somewhere on the road, trying to get home from work. They're saying "whiteout conditions." Yikes.

The windows at the front of my house look out onto a small park at the edge of Lake Monona. Usually, we can see straight across the lake. Right now, I can see about 20 yards out and that's it. I am happy to see a handful of intrepid souls out snowshoeing and skiing down the streets.

Earlier today, I spent a good hour helping my other roommate dig her car out of a snowbank in our driveway. That was quite the adventure. First we dug her car out, then we went through salt, kitty litter and then actually putting the car up on a jack and sticking a board under the front tire to get it out. When we were finally able to get the car into the driveway, we took a walk to the Jenifer St. Market for some milk and bread. Ran into a friend who was out on her skis, running and errand before heading to Mother Fool's to do some work. I wonder if they're even still open. But yeah, Wisconsinites = hardy folks.

I'm gonna venture out and snap some pictures. Updates soon.

4:13 - Roommate finally made it home! She works out at Epic, and it took her a good hour and a half to get to our house on the near east side.

6:00 - Yet another trip outdoors to shovel the walks and driveway, and to help the second roommate get her car unstuck and into the garage. Needless to say, I'm pooped. We took a little walk around the neighborhood when we were done and saw plenty of other people digging out. Our neighbor was pulling his two little girls around in a sled, which strikes me as the right idea.

I took a few pictures. I'm convinced that we got at least a foot here, although the official count for the Madison area is about 11" (to be fair, being right on the lake probably means we get a lot of drifting). I'm amazed that we're still 3" shy of the winter snowfall record, but hey, there's still time.

And I'm spent. Quite a day. I hope everyone stayed safe and warm throughout. Friday is the one year anniversary of this here lil' blog, so expect some vaguely interesting post to commemorate the occasion before I head off to Minneapolis that afternoon for a Buffali show that night. That may also constitute my 200th post. Hooray!

(the rest of my snow shots can be seen here)

THURSDAY UPDATE - The city has just released these official type stats on yesterday's storm:

13.3" of snow. 2nd highest single storm event total ever in Madison. (Highest was 17.1" on Dec. 3, 1990)

In 1990, it took us 3 days to completely get the City plowed and 11 days before the cleanup was complete.

We are at 75.1' for the year which is only 1" below the all time record of 76.1" set in the winter of 1978-79.

More snow is predicted for this weekend, which makes us all suspect that we're about to break some records. Woohoo!