On Christmas Eve 2009, we had a blizzard. They said the probability of a blizzard occurring in Oklahoma is one every 300 years, and I actually got to experience it! Because blizzards never happen here, no one really knew just how bad the storm was until they began driving in it. We are used to ice, not 3' snowdrifts! There were cars stranded EVERYWHERE! Thanks to having to dodge tons of cars already stranded, my vehicle ended up getting stuck in a snowdrift. Fortunately, there were firefighters helping people get their vehicles unstuck, so they were able to help me get out of the drift and I went back to work to park in the parking garage, shielded from the weather. A coworker who drove a 4-wheel drive Chevy Tahoe offered to take Sarah, my close friend and coworker, and me to her house. Needless to say, his Tahoe got stuck in a snowdrift, and it took quite a bit of time before someone was able to help us get unstuck. I ended up having to stay the night, on Christmas Eve mind you, at work. This ended up being the first Christmas I wasn't able to spend with my family. This was the Blizzard of 2009.
This past week, the weathermen have been predicting a decent winter storm. They said there could be a possibility for moderate snow accumulation with high winds.
Yesterday, we entered into a Blizzard Warning, with thundersnow heading the storm.
Today, we received roughly 10" of snow (where I live. Other parts of Oklahoma received more, with one area getting 21" of snow!), with 3'-5' snowdrifts, temperature of 9 degrees, wind chill @ -20 degrees, and winds gusting to 50 mph. It started around midnight at my house and when I woke up this morning, it was snowing pretty hard.
I'm so thankful I was able to stay home and just enjoy the snow! Other times, I had to drive to work in it, so this made for a pleasant day!
Here are some photos I took from the storm:
This is the view looking out towards the front yard.
This is looking out the front door. The winds gusting to 50 mph made for some seriously blowing snow.
Can you see Coki's tail? It is barely sticking up from behind the snowdrift. She was running all along the edge of the fence. This was earlier in the morning.
I decided around 5:30pm to go outside and do some shoveling of my driveway so I could make it to work in the morning. I spent roughly 30 minutes outside trying to clear a path for my vehicle. The snow was light and fluffy, so it wasn't as difficult to shovel as the Blizzard from 2009 was, but because there was a large amount of snow, it still took some time and effort. The temperature outside was 9 degrees, with the wind chill at -12 degrees while I was shoveling. It was extremely cold! Let's just say, when I came inside, my legs were extremely red and splotchy. I immediately took a bath to warm up and I had to gradually warm the water because it was burning my legs so badly. My face right now feels like it's sunburned (more like windburned).
This is my foot in the snow where I was shoveling. It seriously looks like my foot fell into a black hole.
This is what my driveway looked like after I stopped shoveling. I was bringing it All. Day. Long. Oh snap!
I was feeling pretty impressed by my snow shoveling job and how I wasn't out of breath, nor did I have to stop at any point to rest. Perhaps I'm not as in bad of shape as I imagined!
Or so I thought...turns out my legs are feeling a bit sore already and my shoulders feel like I've just lifted some serious weights. I definitely got in my workout today. My trainer would be so proud!
After I finished shoveling, and since my clothes and shoes were already wet, I went into my backyard to stand in a big snowdrift and take some pictures.
An example of the snowdrift in my backyard. It was pretty huge!
These two pictures are of me standing in some of those snowdrifts from my backyard. They don't even show when the snowdrift was up to my hip. MY HIP! Crazy! (And please ignore the baggy sweatpants. It was the thickest pair of pants I had for staying warm in such dangerously frigid weather!)
While I was standing in huge snowdrifts trying to take pictures, Coki was running and hopping through the snow. She would run from the back porch out to me and then back to the porch. She couldn't get very close to me before the snow would be too tall. It was so funny watching her!
We hit a record of 11.8" of snow in one day in the month of February. The total snowfall was 12.1". Our peak wind gust was 58 mph! What a day!
Be safe out there and stay warm!
Happy Snowmaggedon!
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