The Christmas Blizzard

The weather meteorologists forecasted the Christmas Blizzard to be the worst storm to hit the Twin Cities since the Halloween Blizzard in 1991. I'm not sure if the storm lived up to the hype of that legendary storm since most Minnesotans were ready for the yards to be snow covered. Nonetheless, this was a huge event that people talked about for weeks.

Here's how it went:

Tuesday, December 22nd: People actually got a bit crazy. At home, when there's a 20-percent chance of snow, people flood Walmart so they can stock up on milk and bread. I circled the grocery store parking lot twice before I found a spot. Inside, I had to maneuver between grandmas holding long Christmas cooking lists, and grumpy husbands walking back and forth between aisles hunting a missing item. Lines at the checkout were long. People don't generally get that excited about getting "snowed in" up here, because that just never happens. But this was about as close to the milk-and-bread-at-Walmart hysteria that happens down South as I've ever seen up here.

Wednesday, December 23rd: Snow started falling in the afternoon. Big, fluffy flakes in 20-degree temperatures. This was enough to make people get in gear and make preps to take off work on Christmas Eve or drive to their destinations. When I came out of the grocery store (yes another shopping trip), the flakes were coming down fast and furiously and the roads were starting to fill up with snow.

Thursday, December 24th: Since we live in one of the best little towns in Minnesota, our roads were plowed by 5 am. Dave got up an hour before I had to leave to snowblow and shovel out the driveway and sidewalk so I could get to the garage to get in my car. At this point, we had 14 inches total on the ground. The weather report said we got 9 inches during the night. Made it to work in an hour and fifteen minutes, which isn't terrible. It snowed on and off all day, but it stayed fluffy and pretty. Bad roads in Brooklyn Park, though. Got home that night and decided to forego getting out in the snow again for the Christmas service. It still came down.

Friday, December 25th (Christmas Day): Snow kept falling on and off, but the temperatures started rising. That's not a good thing. By mid-day, we were seeing a sleet or rain and snow mix that turned to a yucky slush on the sidewalks. You almost cannot use a snowblower on this stuff because it's so slushy and it clogs the thing up. So instead of taking about an hour to get the snow off the sidewalks and drivewalk, it took about two and a half. (Thanks Dave :) Our Christmas dinner guests are natives of Northern and Western New York and hence, used to lake effect snow... so needless to say this did not hamper their drive to come eat.

Saturday, December 26th: A gray, yucky day and temperatures started heading south. The slushy snow turned into snow concrete by late evening.

Sunday, December 27th: The snow concrete that wasn't removed from roads has created sheets of ice on several city streets. It's amazing how hard that stuff gets. Temperatures fall and the wind chill is below zero. Icicles that are normally part of the springtime have hardened back up. My commute on Monday the 28th was worse than any during the blizzard.

The wind wasn't bad, but the storm did leave us with a bitter cold and more snow. We have big piles on the side of the streets that will most likely stay there until late April.