Monday it stormed like crazy, wind and blowing snow, more and more snow, 8 inches maybe around here but who can tell because the wind swept some places clear altogether and piled it up elsewhere and there were no undisturbed places to stick a ruler in. All the streets were iced over. Everything closed. Tuesday was sunny gorgeous all day but freezing cold, and streets will remain iced, mostly, until the end of the week if/when we get warmer weather and rain. Everything still closed.
For the record let me say we had the snow/ice/bad-roads-for-days combo only once before since I moved here, during my second winter. Barely a dusting last year. It isn't normal, which is why the city is not equipped to keep up with conditions which in the Northeast and the upper MidWest scarcely even count as weather.
Late morning Tuesday, I drove cautiously down to the harbor to see what Portland Bay was up to. (Loading again. Later I'll make a separate post.) Then home again without the rest of the errand round, the streets were not inviting... In the late afternoon I put on my yaktrax and stomped down the iced roadway to the park bench at the end of H Street, looking across the papermill, Ediz Hook, the Strait. This was so rewarding...
...I stomped on along to the east, peeking out between the houses on the bluff until sure enough, there was Portland Bay at her moorage down below. It was not yet 4 o'clock, but they were no longer loading. From the distance, it sure looks like they might be finished.
Wednesday oh my word it is snowing again, gentle flakes hardly worth mentioning except I feel less housebound when I can see the driveway is dug out. Schools, libraries, my workplaces all still closed. 23° at the moment, warmer than yesterday afternoon during the clear weather. Eventually traffic will have sort of warmed the main-traveled roads and I will declare the day cautiously drivable; need to get to the library, for one thing. Need to get out out out of the house.
This could all be better timed. I am not my own best company right now, and I can't get to the ocean.
1 comment:
We had our first major storm here, and it knocked out power all around for days. I was surprised how eight inches of snow could change everything. It wasn't very windy, but the snow was wet and heavy, and it brought down lots of trees and wires. A real messy beginning to winter. We had our power restored after 60 hours without. Not much hiking around yet, but maybe tomorrow. Temps down into the 20s at night. I think winter has definitely arrived early.
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