We are a bit east of Frederick, MD and have not seen a flake yet as of 10:30AM. It was supposed to have started here at midnight, but so far we are lucky.
Having said that, may I rant a bit? They have been predicting this storm since about Monday the 20th. That is probably plenty of time for people to arrange their travel plans so they are safely ensconced at home before the worst of it hits. If you have to leave Grandma’s house in DC a day early, well, sometimes, that is what you have to do.
We are ex-urban folk who bought a farm eight years ago, and one thing we learned is that if Mother Nature wants to send you an “event”, you should take it seriously. Sometimes you have to cancel out on something fun, and the “event” never comes to pass, but it is far better to be safe than sorry. We won’t risk being stuck away from our critters when they need to be fed and watered and cannot do it for themselves. Worse, we don’t want to be the cause of rescue workers putting themselves at risk to save our sorry stranded rumps because we decided to hang around at Mom’s for another slug of eggnog.
I’m sure that, if the storm does hit as expected, we will hear about the sad plight of travelers stuck on the roads or at rest areas. Many people will have no choice but to be out on the roads during bad weather, but many more will be out only because they wouldn’t get up at 4:00AM to leave early and beat the storm - which has been in the news for DAYS.
People, sometimes you have to give up on something fun or say good-bye to your beloved relatives a day early to do the best you can to ensure your safety. Anyone can be caught by a freak storm (thank you Alberta Clippers!) but come on, they have been predicting a Christmas-time storm for DAYS.
Okay, rant over, and having ranted, I’ll now say some extra prayers for anyone traveling over then next few days, whether they are chuckleheads or not.
Stay safe, FReepers!
I’m up here in Fairfield Cty, CT, and it’s just started coming down fairly steady. No accumulation yet.
New Englanders don’t tend to let snowfall or a regular snowstorm interrupt major travel plans. When they upgrade it to a blizzard, as they did just yesterday afternoon, however, that gets people’s attention and leads to modified plans.
11:30am in Baltimore and there’s nothing.
The storms you guys are dealing with hit here in N Nevada about a week ago. The ski resorts are very happy- especially with the timing of it all. There is over 15 feet at Mammoth & I have heard 9 feet to 12 feet in the Sierra Nevada west of me. We got 5 inches last Thursday ( 9 days ago) but it melted off on Fri & Sat. Just overnight cold & lots of overcast & HEAVY overnight frost on everything until today.
Filling horse water tanks right now, before more cold comes in this week. High of 30 or 32 forecast for next Sat & Sun. We have a horse event planned on Sat —outside—UGH!!I hate trying to stick in the saddle when I have 4 layers on!! But I have ridden many miles in that condition.
Most of us in this area have large animals & we do all of our planning around keeping them fed & watered.