That’s my name for our latest D.C. storm. I grew up in New York City, lived in New England for six years and Michigan for one, and I’ve never seen so much snow, in such rapid succession.
That’s my name for our latest D.C. storm. I grew up in New York City, lived in New England for six years and Michigan for one, and I’ve never seen so much snow, in such rapid succession.
cboldt says:
Not that it is in this case, but snow can be a local phenomenon. See Buffalo, NY, the snow belts that run off Lake Michigan, etc. I lived in two different ares of southern Michigan, and one in northern Indiana, and the amount of snow in a week varied dramatically over an extent of a 10 x 10 mile area. I know that parts of Michigan regularly get the sort of snowfall rate and accumulation that you’re seeing now.
February 10, 2010, 10:34 amAt any rate – being in “the most I’ve ever seen” situation can be either a fun experience, or a scare. I hope you are enjoying it. The most I’ve seen accumulate “on the flat” is about 40 inches (a couple weeks of 6 to 20 inch snowfalls), and I rather enjoyed the experience. Same with the 4″ of ice build up (different year), even though being out of power for 10 days wore thin.
David Bernstein says:
I started enjoying it a lot more when I finally broke down and paid someone to finish shoveling. But it’s rather hard to really enjoy 30+ inches of snow when you have two children under 5 stuck at home.
February 10, 2010, 10:38 amcboldt says:
Kids that age usually experience glee at big snow falls! It looks much bigger to them than it does to you. Suit ‘em up, send ‘em out, feed them hot cocoa, put them to bed.
February 10, 2010, 10:47 amRichard Riley says:
It’s all pretty astonishing down here in Charlottesville too, and we didn’t get as much snow as D.C. in this current storm. (Though we got a lot more than D.C. in the December snowstorm.) The snow berms next to my driveway from shoveling it off time after time definitely look like pictures of Buffalo.
David, once your power goes out with all the wind today, your kids’ current stir-craziness will look like a picnic.
February 10, 2010, 10:49 amkdackson says:
You guys in DC are weather wimps. Bitching about 3 feet of snow over a week. In two batches. Get over yourselves already.
Since I have lived in Buffalo (May 2000) there has been one storm Thanksgiving 2000 of 4 feet, 6 feet in December of 2001, 2 feet in October before the trees shed their leaves in 2006. Not to mention the typical 6-12″ “events” that occur just about every 10-14 days in the winter. Oh yeah, and they rarely close workplaces (schools are another matter, and they typically run through the allotment of snow days early).
There ain’t no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing.
February 10, 2010, 11:24 amW. J. J. Hoge says:
I’m in Westminster, MD, about 30 mi due N of the Capitol. So far today, we’ve got about 8 in of new snow on top of the 23 in we had over the weekend.
The last time I shoveled so much snow was when I lived in northern Indiana. That was during the 1978 coal strike and Jimmy Carter’s 55 degree thermostat mandates.
Back then, we needed to conserve energy in order to be prepared for the effects of global cooling or, in the worst case scenario, nuclear winter.
February 10, 2010, 11:32 amJMA says:
Oh yeah? Back in my day, we had…
[grumbling]
February 10, 2010, 11:47 amfwb says:
If Al Gore would just take more speaking engagements we’d have enough hot air to clear all this snow….
February 10, 2010, 11:55 amBen P says:
My experience living in New England is that it gets very little snow for its latitude. However, during the time I lived in Wisconsin we got immense amounts of snow at times.
DC is more like where I live now, Arkansas. A few inches shuts down the city, and here we got 5-6 inches and everything shut down.
February 10, 2010, 12:09 pmRandy says:
Having grown up in Buffalo, we can assure you that we get LESS snow than many other places in America, including Syracuse and Minneapolis, based on yearly averages. Buffalo didn’t have a snow reputation until the blizzard of 1977, which was a huge monster storm that shut down the city for weeks and made national news. Ever since then, if two flakes fall, the national news covers the Buffalo weather.
Sure, we get snow, but it’s not like it’s any worse than any other place.
February 10, 2010, 12:09 pmHouston Lawyer says:
It was really hot this summer and Houston, and the drought killed a lot of grass.
February 10, 2010, 12:19 pmtroll_dc2 says:
This is supposed to be a legal blog, but there is not much discussion of law in this thread, for which I blame the thread-starter. To rectify matters, I offer a column in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer for discussion.
Among other things, the column asserts:
February 10, 2010, 12:19 pmkdackson says:
Randy:
The problem is that Buffalo is not in the snow belt per se. The Southtowns (OP, EA, etc.) typically get a lot more than Buffalo, with some rare exceptions.
I used to drive every day from EA to Olean. Weird snow patterns. Nothing for miles, then BAM! Whiteout for 2-3 miles, then clear.
Another one is NY 400. North of Transit, usually pretty good; south of Transit is another story altogether.
February 10, 2010, 12:20 pmThales says:
Troll: Even if the commerce clause/10th amendment challenges fail, I’m sure one can find a lawyer in DC willing to argue that the ability to ban snow falls squarely within the inherent authority of the President’s commander in chief power in Article II; in any event, such Presidential ban, if imposed, would likely be a nonjusticiable political question–and what jackass would try to challenge it, anyway?
February 10, 2010, 12:26 pmneurodoc says:
Steven Pearlstein, the WaPo’s Pulitzer Prize winner business columnist, has some thoughtful observations about this storm and its implications in his column today:
“Snow-Blind: What Washington’s winter storm says about broken politics”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/09/AR2010020903503.html
February 10, 2010, 12:29 pmLiberty Reader says:
Instead of raising taxes, as Pearlstein suggests, how about local governments take the simple and rational step of budgeting for snow removal on five or ten year cycles, instead of annually? Currently, in years when it doesn’t snow, the government spends the money on something else. When we have a lot of snow, it breaks the bank. Any wonder we don’t trust the government with more money?
February 10, 2010, 12:40 pmrbj says:
I lived in Arlington for a couple of years, 1994-97. One of those Januarys, I forget which one, there were about 3-4 storms in the first two weeks. Everything was shut down for basically two weeks.
February 10, 2010, 1:23 pmToby says:
This post, alas, has it wrong. If money were allocated each year for a five year snow cycle, someone would predictably raid it in the 4th year citing “fear snow no more” and “its for the children”
February 10, 2010, 1:28 pmJavert says:
Look on the bright side. Congress is not in session.
February 10, 2010, 1:39 pmroguestage says:
Meanwhile, Vancouver had the warmest January on record and has to resort to trucking in snow for the Olympics.
Talking about the weather has gotten very interesting over the last couple of months.
February 10, 2010, 1:59 pmJKB says:
While I’m not generally for restrictions on the First Amendment, I think there is a good chance of getting a law restricting the discussion, events and announcements about global warming from occurring from October 15 to May 1 through when Congress reconvenes. Over at Instapundit irony was acknowledged. Seems Michael Mann was to give a talk at the UPenn on climate change today. Sadly it was postponed. And we can’t rule out NOAA’s climate service announcement this week.
Storm shuts down DC, America gets a much needed winter break for President’s day.
February 10, 2010, 3:34 pmSnow to Hell | Liberal Whoppers says:
[...] original post here: Snow to Hell [...]
February 10, 2010, 3:37 pmRob says:
I’d be more worried about the temperatures in Whistler. But this is Canada, Vancouver shuts down every time they get more than 2 inches of snow while Calgary tends to get snow in the middle of July and August.
February 10, 2010, 3:41 pmpst314 says:
The great blizzard of 1947–Milwaukee was shut down for 4 days.
February 10, 2010, 4:23 pmMichael Crosby says:
I grew up in the DC area. Fantastic place. Don’t want to spoil your party, but Saturday I’m golfing and the predicted weather is sunny 75DF.
Enjoying all the golf I can before we become an island off the mainland.
February 10, 2010, 7:06 pmSecond Amendment Sister says:
Well, it could be worse. Could be three feet of snow with a temperature of -15F.
Oh wait. That was me, this morning.
February 10, 2010, 7:51 pmSteve says:
I was just out to lunch and was posed the following question: What is the libertarian answer for where we’d be without snow plows? I offered that there would be private snow plow businesses, but was unable to figure out how this would work in practice or how the less advantaged and more remotely located neighborhoods would be able to get plows. Comments?
February 12, 2010, 3:28 pm