The great winter white out
Last night I watched as the snow poured down, hour after hour. When I went to bed we have almost a foot of snow and when I got up I found it was a total of about 18 inches. Virginia called out the National Guard to help stranded motorists as traffic came to a standstill on I77 and I81, people caught with nowhere to go and plows hung up behind stopped traffic.
I’ll try to get more photos later. I can’t even get out at the back door at the moment. It has been many years since I’ve seen snow this deep in Virginia.
I remember one snow storm when I was a child that dropped almost 3 feet of snow. It sleeted on top of it and the reason I remember it so vividly is because my cousin was out sliding around and his dad tried to catch him. My uncle broke through the ice and could hardly walk while his son skimmed the top of the snow, slipping and sliding and “skating” while all the time laughing at his dad for not being able to catch him.
We used to have sleigh riding parties and would build a big campfire and sled for hours, until we were numb with cold. We’d then go home, drink cup after cup of hot chocolate and go right back at it. It was the pure joy that only the young seem to have at a snow storm. Now, I’m content to sit in my office snug and warm and sip hot chocolate.






December 19th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
For all of those affected by the snow storm, let NOT your hearts be troubled……. I know it’s a big pain the butt. But believe me, there are people in Texas who have never had and will NEVER have a white Christmas. While I’m sorry for the trouble and headaches it is causing,,, I’m SO JEALOUS… truly deadly sin kind of JEALOUSY ! I’d trade with you in a heartbeat if I could..
Sage Reply:
December 19th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
I don’t particularly care for snow but I’m warm, dry, have food and water and generally ok.
skyagunsta Reply:
December 19th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
@Sage, the first thing that came to my mind was, “wow Sage, it must be cold, how can you even think of getting out of bed with how cold it must be feeling rather than staying under the blankets to keep warm …” so it is good to know that you are “warm, dry, have food and water and that you are generally ok.”
From Thursday Evening through Friday Evening South Florida had such a rain storm that it too left many cars stranded, people who had gone shopping in certain areas could not get their cars out of the parking lots (how they managed to get home I don’t know) but when they went back to get their cars, they found that the police and/or private towers had towed them away and they didn’t know where their cars were. The rain storm surprised even the weather people.
Anyhow, hope you are still warm and generally well … and hope that at some point, and before the snow melts all away, you can give us some pictures of what from here South Florida we can think of as a beautiful snow scene.
Sage Reply:
December 19th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
I’m so glad we have the gas log fireplace upstairs and we put in a gas stove downstairs. The house stays so much warmer than the heat pump heat.
I made spritz cookies this afternoon and I think I’ll make fudge and maybe bread tomorrow. It got so hot making cookies today I opened the back door for a few minutes. LOL
December 19th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Well take loads of pics so I can drool
Sage Reply:
December 19th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
I’ll try to get some more tomorrow.
December 19th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Pray you don’t start getting drifts! Those get heavy to shovel because they pack down. My back aches for you!
Sage Reply:
December 19th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Too late, it’s already been drifting.
December 19th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Is your roof strong enough for the weight ?
Sage Reply:
December 19th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
I sure hope so.
Actually, it does have thicker plywood under the shingles than code calls for and we’ve never had a leak to date.
I guess I have something new to worry about tonight.
December 20th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Tip. Icicles are pretty but destructive. They will back any melting snow back up under the edge of your roof. It will warp shingles and rot the decking(plywood) under it. If you can clear back from the edge at least a foot, do it. Knock down the icicles also. Their weight adds to the problem.
Even mteal roofs. I had to replace the metal roof on my milkhouse because of it. I used that shed for storage.
Sage Reply:
December 20th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
There’s really no way to get to the roof to clean it off right now. My husband can’t do tall ladders because of a bum knee….it gives out on him sometimes and I dont’ want that happening on the ladder. I wouldn’t even consider getting up on the ladder – since my back surgery I don’t have the best balance. The backside and garage side are two stories and even if we hired someone to come do it they couldn’t get in the drive probably. We hopefully have someone coming to scrape the drive tomorrow.
I guess this is what homeowner insurance is for.
My husband went out this morning and almost didn’t get back into our driveway. His pickup was actually dragging on the snow and the 4 wheel drive wasn’t much help. He didn’t go far and said he wouldn’t be going back out except in an emergency. Even where the road is scraped out this way it is only one lane and it still has huge ice patches….4 wheel drive doesn’t really help on ice.
We may have to cancel our Christmas Eve get together as we’re supposed to get sleet on Thursday night.
Sage Reply:
December 21st, 2009 at 12:30 pm
It got windy the night of the storm and when we checked this morning there was almost no snow on the roof.
Wizcon Reply:
December 21st, 2009 at 3:14 pm
@Sage, Oh Good!