Snow That's not Funny

The Mid Atlantic area where I spent my childhood is getting a second blizzard in a week. My sister was out of power for two days-unheard of for that area-which meant no heat in her condos. They had nearly three feet of snow and another 18 inches today.

That would be a lot of snow for us here in Maine. Maine is designed to deal with snow. Parking bans go into effect in the cities-no street parking so road crews can come in and load the snow in trucks and haul it away. Our rural roads are maintained year round so that special plows with an extra plow on the side can wing the banks back out of the way to allow for the next snow bank. I have seen it in bad years where they just knock the tops off the snowbanks so the next storm can be thrown on top of the old snowbank.

They don't have this type of equipment down in the mid Atlantic states. They don't need it. 7 or 8 inches of snow is a big storm that you might not even see in a winter.

I remember the blizzard of 1978 we had about three feet of snow. The records I looked up disagree and said a foot and a half, but I remember waking up the next morning and not being able to see a car in the parking lot. They were white humps. Maybe that is because they were in a parking lot, but I remember wading to the local seven-eleven through snow up to my mid-thigh.

The radio was putting out a call for anyone with a four wheel drive and a plow to get out and help clear the streets. Of course, it all melted in a week, but things were at a standstill for a few days.

Now two monster storms back to back-it is unheard of. Both storms went out to sea south of us here in Maine. We are seeing temps above normal for February; 43F yesterday and I wanted to open the back door it was so hot in the house! LOL! I get used to working outside in zero degree temps and I was ready to jump in an ice fishing hole in the pond yesterday to cool off!

I hope everyone is safe through the storms south of here. Personally I would like to see a little rain in Maine as the water table is running a little low, but the folks along the Kennebec would rather some of that ice melt this week before we get any rain. We have a lot of winter left here-snow is not unusual for April but it usually doesn't last long.

I just hope D.C. doesn't have snow on the cherry blossoms this year.