Snow Emergency!

I am laughing. The storm warnings started Monday afternoon. They persisted into evening. The real story is this. Chicagoland has not had a snowfall since last March 15th. That is 287 days without snow. Oh sure, we have had some flurries, but nothing to stick to the ground. Nothing that would require beet juice on the streets or salt on driveways and parking lots.

I avidly read the warnings in detail. With a gasp I realized they were calling for an inch of snow, maybe less. Some areas might get 2 inches, but the temperatures will remain above freezing, the ground and pavements are still warmer than that, so no accumulation is believed possible. Maybe slush?

So, this morning we woke to gray skies and dry air. We ventured out to pick up a McDonald’s breakfast and bring it home. We found our parking lot and driveway salted, the streets treated with beet juice, but nary a flake. Once home we chewed down our breakfast. Looking up I noticed the air was hazy outdoors. On closer inspection I noted snow falling lazily down to earth. Yes, it was snowing.

A few minutes later I peeked outdoors again, and it was snowing steadily. The streets were beginning to register slush outside the traffic lanes. Yes, parked cars were holding the snow and windshields were obscured. It is official. This is our first snowfall of the 2021-22 winter season. Damn! The forecasters were right. Snow predicted and snow happened.

But a winter storm emergency? No way.

Temperatures are expected to remain around 33 and 34 degrees so all snow will melt upon hitting the ground. Accumulation is likely to be less than 1 inch if anything at all.

Well, let me be clear. I want some snow. I have a new old car. Bought it a couple months ago. It is now about 16 years old but an old classic. It has 4-wheel drive and ABS brakes and traction control on all four wheels. I am anxious to test it on snowy roads. I doubt that will be anytime soon. Drat!

I suppose I can hope the forecasters will be wrong and snow will continue for many hours with falling temps. If that were true, we would have roadway accumulation. Then I could go out for a test drive and have some fun!

There is still hope this will happen. In Illinois in winter, that is always a possibility.

PS: we had about 2 inches actually fall, maybe a little more; accumulation was no more than 1 inch because the snow compacted and melted. Some emergency.

December 29, 2021

 

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