First Snowfall

It was supposed to get really windy yesterday and blown in a storm over the mountains through the night but it never happened. Fast forward to this morning and the wind was present and accounted for and blowing in dense skies.

8:00 AM

By 8:00 AM the wind was really picking up and as I was making my morning cup of pour over coffee it sounded like it was starting to rain. Walked over to the window and whatta you know, it was sleeting outside and not a gentle downfall either. More of what would be considered a pretty good rainstorm any other time.

On and off again the sleet fell. Lasting just long enough to wet the ground or cover the fuzzy kid with some white polka dots while he was doing his morning business. No sooner than it came it would stop and start to dry up.

I think Mother Nature knew exactly what she was going though. Because every time this little on again off again would happen the ground would get that much colder and the next round of sleety snow would not fully dry up.

9:00 AM

By 9:00 AM the sleet we were seeing the past hour had now transitioned into flakes of snow, still coming down at a rapid rate. Not the soft floaty decent you think of when you think of snowfalls.

It was now sticking to the ground and had already accumulated nearly 2 inches on the ground that was previously only wet. Ugh, the first snow on our first day back to work after several days off - could this have not happened while we were off so we could enjoy it?

Not A Blizzard, I Know

Yea I totally get it that it's not a crazy blizzard or snowstorm like they get in the Midwest and other areas. It's more of getting the first day of driving in the weather under your belt, shovelling and worst of all having to bundle up when getting dressed - I hate wearing layers of restricting clothes!

Not to forget that we have so many transplants in the area that use to live in California. Most of them freak out when there is a hard rain and they have to drive in it. The snow simply makes it that much worse and so you have to really keep your eyes peeled for bad driving.

On top of it you end up with those that come down and buy a giant SUV to drive around and mostly for the winter months. All the time thinking that they are in a 4 x 4 and nothing can go wrong when it comes to bad weather driving. They soon learn that it does not matter what kind of vehicle you are in. Ice is ice and various weather conditions require slow and steady driving even if you are in a giant SUV, it becomes the driver not the vehicle as much.

On the other hand you get those that are white knuckled and scared to death to do more than 5 mph. That is almost worse at times because they just piss everyone off or end up in a ditch or something.

Get Through It Safely

With that I'm going to end today's entry. I want to get through this day of commuting safely and not have some dip shxt run us off the road or run into us.

I feel that I am a great driver when it comes to inclement conditions. I just have to be extra careful since I have mama and baby on board now.

This is also my first time in about 14 or more years that I do not have a four-wheel-drive truck. My current car is all-wheel-drive so that is good, but it will be interesting to see how it does. No time than the present I guess!

Oh by the way I should mention that we ended up with about 4+ inches of snow I think. The weather guessers predicted around 1-3 inches would fall today so at least they were in the ballpark for a change.

**Update: Took us just over 2 hours to commute to work! OMG was it a mess, people stuck on every hill from home to the office for the most part. We did make a quick pit stop over at the dealership to pick up some tire chains for the car though "just in case". The all wheel drive handled really nice and did not give me any issues. I mostly want to have the chains on hand for that one day I may really need them and so does everyone else so the stores are sold out.

Better safe than sorry has always been my motto as I am quite the planner and generally pride myself on always being prepared for the situations I am thrown into. From my racing days to life in general. Anyway just wanted to provide a quick update, it will be interesting to see how the commute home is tonight. By interesting I mean I wonder how bad its going to suck once all of the roads are frozen over and icy. At least we will be able to leave a little late and hopefully miss all of the craziness.

Photo: Looking out the front door before venturing out to start our day. "Fun!" - no, not really.