Monday, December 15, 2008

First Winter Storm of 2008-2009

Icy roads expected


As the solstice approaches, winter is upon us. Saturday's weather forecast suggested we might have freezing rain on Monday. On Sunday, a winter weather advisory was issued for Monday and Monday night.

Now it's Monday, and the weather has arrived. The temperature is 31° and light rain is falling. The weather advisory has become a Winter Storm Warning. An inch or more of sleet, ice, and snow is expected over the next 18 hours.

I was supposed to work from 10:30 am to 6:15 pm today. As I was ready to walk out the door, a  manager from my store called and begged to change my schedule to 2:30 pm to 10:15 pm.  A co-worker has cancelled. She drives about 20 miles to work and she is afraid the roads will be bad tonight.

I reluctantly agreed, though I live nearly as far from work as the other woman does, and my roads are not nearly as well-traveled. Furthermore, I have to be back at work early in the morning. There is no justice in this, and I probably won't even get a thank-you, but I guess I'll survive.

I'm feeling cranky -- have you noticed? Little things on the radio are irritating me. For example:

  • The Pajama-grams commercial -- are men so easily manipulated by fantasies? I suppose they are.
  • Are there really people who would pay to have stars named after them?
  • Anyone who says "incentivize" a dozen times in 30 seconds should have shoes thrown at them.

On the bright side, I have plenty of time before work today to take Grandma's box of Christmas candy to the UPS store. I'll even have time to go to the antique store to look for one of Isaac's Christmas presents. (No, I can't tell you what it is. Isaac does read the blog.)

I hope my northern readers have been able to stay inside and avoid the sub-zero wind chills today, and I hope my northeastern readers have electrical power, or at least, reasonable hope of power restoration soon.

And I hope all of you are giving the weather the respect and caution it demands. If you don't have a winter survival kit in your car, please assemble one that's appropriate for the potential dangers you face on your roads.

Related post:
Prairie Bluestem: Ready for Winter?

6 comments:

Keely said...

It's 12:37 and I just got home from running an errand over lunch. I will confirm that the weather is already getting sketchy. The roads are starting to feel a little slick and the rain wants to freeze onto the windshield of my car if given a chance.

ebrake said...

The doors froze on my car today. After sunset, I think the roads have gotten much worse. On the police scanner, I'm hearing more car wrecks happening.

Lesa said...

Awesome picture!

They have already called off school for tomorrow. We have a thick layer of ice on everything here just south of you. My son just came in from work. The drive that normally takes 10 minutes took 35 minutes tonight.

Be safe as you drive!

Genevieve Netz said...

My supervisor told me to go home about 8:00 p.m. and I didn't argue. The salt trucks were working on Highway 68/80, so it probably wasn't too slick, but I was still very careful. Then I slowed to a crawl for the last few miles of ice-encrusted side roads.

My son's final exam tonight was cancelled, but he didn't get the text message about half an hour before the exam. He had left home early because of the weather and was already nearly at the campus.

We received an automated phone call about Christian County Public Schools being closed tomorrow. I don't remember them ever doing that before.

Keely said...

The automated phone call is a new thing. They were talking about it on the radio the other day. This is their first school closing since they got it.

Collagemama said...

As for Pajama-Grams, skip the pjs. I just want the hatbox.

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