Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Winter Weather


You couldn't turn on the news yesterday without hearing about the winter storm headed our way. We awoke to a bit of snow in the back yard. I received a text message telling me that my workplace would be on a 2-hour delay, but since Dan's car doesn't have all-weather tires, I agreed to go ahead and leave early, around 6:00 a.m., to take him to work. I figured I'd just go on to my office, despite the 2-hour delay.

Now I know that this picture shows we only had an inch or so of snow, but what you can't see is the condition of the roads. They are completely glazed over with a fairly thick layer of ice. Traffic on Paseo del Norte, the road we take to get across the Rio Grande, going east, was trecherous. Most of the drivers were being smart, thankfully, and going very slowly. There are three 60-mph-lanes going east, and all three lanes were moving between 7 and 15 miles per hour. It made for a long trip to Dan's office, but we made it without incident. Then I headed on to my office.

I got to work at 7:45, about 1 hour and 45 minutes after leaving home. My commute is normally 20-25 minutes. There were no other cars in the parking lot, which wasn't strange, since we were on the 2-hour delayed schedule. I went to my office, started up my computer, took off my coat, and was about to check my email when someone came in to tell me that the delay had been changed to a closure. Sigh.

So I went back to my car and made the long trip back home. I was home by 8:45, two hours and 45 minutes after leaving home in the first place.

They are predicting more snow today, tonight and tomorrow. The temperatures are also way below normal. Tomorrow is supposed to be the coldest day -- High 12 degrees, low -8 degrees! We've been here 7-1/2 years, and never seen it below zero.

2 comments:

Papa John said...

Boy do I know how you feel! In twenty years at J-DHS, I think school was cancelled four times. Twice was because of freezing rain and once because the toilets didn't work. I don't remember the other reason, but for three of those events, I was already at work and busy getting ready when I finally learned that the school day had been cancelled. The ten mile trip usually took about twenty minutes but the time we had freezing rain tripled that mainly because of folk going off the road right and left. Well, I hope you cozied up with a good book, a cup of tea, and took the day off.

Anonymous said...

Oh my, what a morning you had! I hope that you ended up doing exactly what Papa John said and had a cozy and warm time by the fire reading....or a nap!!!

GR