Winter Storm Vulcan

With patches of grass showing and the driveway clear down to asphalt, it was time to get a new round of snow and winter storm Vulcan obliged by paying a visit yesterday:

It was raining when we woke up but school was canceled in anticipation of the weather turning nasty. By 9:20 am, it was snowing:

10:40 am:

12:10 pm:

While perhaps not evident from the photo, the snow was heavy and the wind was blowing it around; the roads were getting very slippery. Local governments and businesses started shutting down early, which is almost unheard of here. Even James' employer sent everyone home but he was already on his way to East Syracuse for a meeting with a vendor and since people had traveled in from out of town for the meeting, they needed to keep it on the schedule.

1:20 pm:

3:00 pm:

James texted me at 3:20 to say he was on his way home. Around 3:45 I went out to the garage to put the door up so James could drive straight in, and realized that there were drifts around a foot and a half against the garage door. I was not sure he could get up the drive, even in his Outback, so I fired up the snowblower. I didn't bother to go back in to change clothes or put on my big boots, so there I was in yoga pants and cute faux fur boots, manhandling the snowblower through the drifts. The wind kept changing direction so no matter which way I angled the chute, the snow was blown back into my face. My eyeglasses had so much snow on them that I had to peer over them to see where I was going. I must have been quite the sight.

On most days, it would be deemed a lousy snow clearing job but yesterday, it was good enough. When I went back in at 4:20, the snow was already starting to cover what I had cleared:

James arrived home around 4:30, safe and sound and able to get up the driveway and into the garage. What normally would have been a 20-25 minute trip took James over an hour to make.

5:30 pm:

7:45 pm:

All told, we received 11-12 inches of snow from Vulcan, although forecasts had ranged as high as 18 inches. The wind had sculpted the snow so that there was only a few inches in some places, but then a foot and a half drift to plow through in another area. I dug out my car this morning while James cleared most of the driveway and one section of sidewalk before he left for work; I then used the snowblower to clear the other two sections of sidewalk (we live on a corner so we have LOTS of sidewalk to keep clear) and shoveled out the front steps. An hour and forty-five minutes after I went outside to battle the snow, I finished the job. Whew.

We can only hope that this was winter's last gasp. And if any of you have been praying for snow, please stop.