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Jan. 10th, 2007 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miko2Since last Thursday MJ at work had been telling us about the big snowstorm that was coming our way. I made fun of it because weather prediction in this area is so very difficult and it usually does something other than what they say it's going to do. I was especially amused by the "big snowstorm" when I got up this morning and saw trace amounts of snow outside the window. This was what we were supposed to be afraid of?
At first I was hearing reports that there would be no more snow Wednesday, and then that there would be "possible snow showers" with "accumulations up to an inch". This was essentially what they'd been saying Tuesday night as well. I heard reports from customers who were closing down because of snow and reports that "if you don't have anywhere to go, stay off the roads", but I was mostly laughing at these. Was it that bad out there?
Even when the snow started falling in Auburn I wasn't worried. A possible accumulation of an inch was nothing to be afraid of. It kept coming down, thicker and thicker. I went outside. Already it was over an inch, and it was the *perfect* snow for snowballs... light, dry, the kind that forms into instant snowballs that are very lightweight.
By the time I had to leave we had over four inches of snow, with more coming down, although the radio kept telling us to only expect those occasional showers and maybe an inch accumulation at most. I wasn't too worried about driving home, apart from the hill near my house. The roads were very slick though, so I drove slowly -- as did pretty much everyone else. I had no problems until I came to the hill... Lea Hill Road. Here traffic was backed up because people were stuck on the hill, unable to go up, afraid to turn around, I don't know. The hill features a sharp turn and I couldn't see how bad it was further up, so I decided to take the back route. I turned left along the Green River.
This route ended after only a mile in another traffic jam, with an emergency vehicle in the middle of it somewhere ahead. That didn't look good, so I followed the car in front of me and picked option 2, turn around and go back. The emergency vehicle passed us on the way back. When I got back to the intersection at the bottom of my hill, I sat behind a half dozen cars through several lights, nobody moving, no idea why we weren't moving except that someone somewhere up ahead was stuck or too petrified to move. At this point my only plan was to find a nice parking lot to park in and walk the rest of the way, but it occured to me that there were already lots of cars on either side of the road parked and abandoned, and there was a large open space right across from me. So I turned around again and parrallel parked off the road into the snow.
Then I walked up the hill. Honestly, the lower hill at least didn't look that bad, once you got past all of the idiots blocking the lower portion. There were cars abandoned along the road or stuck in the ditch, but the road itself didn't seem impassible to me. The steeper road that I turn off of might have been a problem, but my plan all along was to take the long way around to the top of the hill and then come down from up above -- which includes a very sharp turn, so who knows how that might have played out. Anyway, I didn't get the chance to try. I walked.
There were a few cars coming down the hill, very slowly. I hardly saw any cars go up Lea Hill, and as for the steeper road that I live on... I've maybe heard two or possibly three cars travelling it in the past hour or so.
Ah well. I always knew living on such a steep hill might lead to this, but the chances of it actually happening seemed pretty remote. But I guess I needed the exercise. ^_^
At first I was hearing reports that there would be no more snow Wednesday, and then that there would be "possible snow showers" with "accumulations up to an inch". This was essentially what they'd been saying Tuesday night as well. I heard reports from customers who were closing down because of snow and reports that "if you don't have anywhere to go, stay off the roads", but I was mostly laughing at these. Was it that bad out there?
Even when the snow started falling in Auburn I wasn't worried. A possible accumulation of an inch was nothing to be afraid of. It kept coming down, thicker and thicker. I went outside. Already it was over an inch, and it was the *perfect* snow for snowballs... light, dry, the kind that forms into instant snowballs that are very lightweight.
By the time I had to leave we had over four inches of snow, with more coming down, although the radio kept telling us to only expect those occasional showers and maybe an inch accumulation at most. I wasn't too worried about driving home, apart from the hill near my house. The roads were very slick though, so I drove slowly -- as did pretty much everyone else. I had no problems until I came to the hill... Lea Hill Road. Here traffic was backed up because people were stuck on the hill, unable to go up, afraid to turn around, I don't know. The hill features a sharp turn and I couldn't see how bad it was further up, so I decided to take the back route. I turned left along the Green River.
This route ended after only a mile in another traffic jam, with an emergency vehicle in the middle of it somewhere ahead. That didn't look good, so I followed the car in front of me and picked option 2, turn around and go back. The emergency vehicle passed us on the way back. When I got back to the intersection at the bottom of my hill, I sat behind a half dozen cars through several lights, nobody moving, no idea why we weren't moving except that someone somewhere up ahead was stuck or too petrified to move. At this point my only plan was to find a nice parking lot to park in and walk the rest of the way, but it occured to me that there were already lots of cars on either side of the road parked and abandoned, and there was a large open space right across from me. So I turned around again and parrallel parked off the road into the snow.
Then I walked up the hill. Honestly, the lower hill at least didn't look that bad, once you got past all of the idiots blocking the lower portion. There were cars abandoned along the road or stuck in the ditch, but the road itself didn't seem impassible to me. The steeper road that I turn off of might have been a problem, but my plan all along was to take the long way around to the top of the hill and then come down from up above -- which includes a very sharp turn, so who knows how that might have played out. Anyway, I didn't get the chance to try. I walked.
There were a few cars coming down the hill, very slowly. I hardly saw any cars go up Lea Hill, and as for the steeper road that I live on... I've maybe heard two or possibly three cars travelling it in the past hour or so.
Ah well. I always knew living on such a steep hill might lead to this, but the chances of it actually happening seemed pretty remote. But I guess I needed the exercise. ^_^
