Snowmageddon

The winter from ####!
Storytime:
It was a snowy afternoon that turned into a snowy evening (January 27th).  Connor had already gotten stuck in our yard (took about 45 minutes to get him out), trying to leave for work.   He had to work that afternoon plus had an in-service immediately thereafter.  That evening, his adviser let them out an hour early (9PM) to go home, due to the storm.  With the inclement weather, Eric had told Connor to go to his Mom's that night instead of here, since it was only five miles out of town, vs our fifteen.

I had come up from putting Ramsey to bed (we had heard the wind go wild when saying prayers) and asked Eric if Connor had been released from work yet.  He called Connor, no answer.  He called Connor's Mom and she said she'd just heard from him; he'd gone in the ditch!    The snow had dumped rather heavily during the day, but when the wind came up, there was zero visibility.  And, it was COLD!  Apparently the wind had come up horrifically just as Connor was leaving town and created a major white-out.

Eric got on the phone to Dispatch and the PD to get a rescue out to Connor.  It was a LOOOONG few hours for fretting parents (Connor wasn't loving it either).  With the blizzard, even though he was only one mile out of town, it took nearly two hours for Connor to be found. Yay!   He drove back to town with the police officer, then stayed with his girlfriend Emily and her family.

The next day, Emily's Dad helped Connor get his car out of the ditch.  After he slowly drove it home (was quite shocked that it even started), he opened the hood.  This is what he found:

Thankfully, after his car had been in the heated garage for the day, the snow had melted.  And, his car started up again with no issues.  Whew!

Before and since then, we've gotten crazy amounts of snow.   The last little blizzard that came about (the night of February 7th) brought in a ton more snow and ferocious winds.   Eric had been working on an important case at work and didn't leave until 6 PM. 

The driving conditions coming home were horrible.  When he got past the North Bridge, just a hundred yards or so before being able to turn onto our road, he noticed a van was stuck in a huge drift that was above the hood of the vehicle.  He got out to help, but there was no way it was getting out that evening.  Once those people were safe and had plans, he left to try the alternate route home.

He then drove clear around the lake to attempt that way to our home.  He ran into the same thing... on the final stretch to our road, there was another enormous drift where vehicles were stuck, and no way to get through.    Again, once those people had a rescue plan (they chose not to go with Eric), he left.   Because the plows had shut down at 5 PM, he was forced to drive back to town in nearly zero visibility on drifted snowy highways.    I said a lot of prayers for him as he made his way back to town.  When we talked on the phone during his drive, his tension was easily sensed and he yelled out a few times, as he plowed through soft drifts that were above the hood of his truck.  He said if he would have had better visibility, he wouldn't have even attempted going through them.  And, he also said he had to keep his speed up so he could make it through the snow (even though it was impossible to see at times).  Yikes.

He went back to the department and continued to work through the night, leaving just before 6 AM on Friday morning.   At our main turn-off road, he had to wait 45 minutes for the county to dig out the van that was stuck and plow the road.   He then went to bed for a few hours.

When he awoke, it was time to do some more snow-blowing.   By morning, the drifts were no longer soft snow, but hard as rocks from the harsh winds.  Ugh!    Here's a few pics of our place..

Front walk-way.
By the front door, one of the drifts is up to my neck and higher by the sides of the garage. (grimace) 

INSIDE of our garage!  (There is a small void that allowed the snow to pass through.)