For a week, the weather dudes and dudettes have been proclaiming snow in the forecast, with the magnitude being everything from small amounts, to a full-bore ice storm, to dogs-and-cats-living-together. Today was the day to check their report cards, and see whether Mother Nature would play along.

The rain began yesterday, and it rained and rained and rained, with the temperatures hovering teasingly just above the freezing point. As it ends up, the cold part of the storm was late, arriving right during rush hour this morning. Beck and I went in to work together, and it was pouring rain. Within an hour of getting to work, we had full blizzard white-out conditions. That’s just about the most dramatic switchover I’ve ever seen.

The snow continued to fall, and I made a command decision to head us home just after lunch. There’s a bridge between work and the house, and getting trapped on the wrong side of that due to road closures makes the 17-mile drive grow by at least a factor of three, and in this weather, it could really mean the difference between getting home, and spending the night in a hotel along with gazillions of other workers trapped on the wrong side of the river from their homes.

The drive wasn’t too horrible, but a great many folks had obviously either stayed home (the smartest move) or hadn’t yet made their escape from their frozen workplaces. No matter — we made it home safely, albeit slipping and sliding all along the way, and that was all I was shooting for.

So how much snow did we have? We it really depended on where you were. We have about 7″ on the surfaces where the snow didn’t blow quite so much. Not much farther south, there’s only a few inches, and NE of here, the snow is still coming down heavily. Tomorrow’s commute is still in question, but Smokey did well in the snow and ice, and made me once again affirm why I drive an SUV. The little-truck-that-could will probably get another chance to prove his mettle tomorrow during the re-frozen remains of today’s storm.

Could be fun! 🙂