Every Mile A Memory: Thundersnow

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Thundersnow

Last week I experienced my first "thundersnow" as the weathermen were calling it! It was pretty much the same as a thunderstorm, just with snow instead of rain. The snow started coming down around 3pm last Wednesday and dumped about 7 inches (so said the news, I only measured 4 on the ground) by midnight.

Most of you who have seen me this winter know that I have been complaining a lot about not getting any snow in Potomac this winter. Well, I finally got my snow, and I really enjoyed it! Of course, I was a little stressed at the beginning of the storm because Kevin was out on the roads traveling back from a job interview in PA, but once he was home safe and sound I could enjoy all of the powdery goodness falling from the sky! It took him 5 hours instead of 2 to get from Harrisburg, PA to Potomac and most of the mess was between Frederick, MD and here. From the stories he told me, 270 was a complete nightmare and he's lucky to be alive! I am now very thankful that he bought that AWD Audi, because he said he was passing stopped cars, buses, SUVs, snow plows, etc. on the way home that were all stuck. This really was one of the worst snow related gridlocks the DC area has seen. I wish I had a recording of the news! The George Washington Parkway became a parking lot and people were stranded for hours. Some even had to abandon their cars for the night and leave them on the road. The amount of snowfall wasn't really the problem, the problem was that the snow was falling 1-2 inches an hour during the worst time of day--evening rush hour. Because of that, traffic plows and salt trucks were not able to treat the roads once everyone was gridlocked on them! Hopefully DC and its suburbs will learn from this mess and it won't happen again this winter or ever for that matter.