December 2, 2003 Archives

Overnight, the temperatures had been predicted to fall... and they did. Before dawn a small and light band of snow showers passed over parts of Connecticut. That was a surprise, but so little snow that 99 out of 100 times it would make no difference.

The ground was still above freezing and so the snow melted. But the temperature was falling, and so before it could evaporate away, that light coating of snow became a coating of ice.

The flurries persisted, covering the ice with snow.

All of this was under 1/8" thick and yet it was enough to gum up the works through much of Central Connecticut - including where I'm going, to be on the radio.

I'd better get moving, even though it's earlier than I anticipated.

With the light snow, and numerous traffic accidents, I left about 20 minutes earlier than I anticipated to get to the radio station. Helaine always worries in bad weather, so with clear pavement under my tires, I called while on Route 40, approaching I-91.

I told her things were fine, but as I was saying that the traffic stopped. I'm not talking about a slowdown; the traffic totally halted. It took about 45 minutes to go from the top of the entrance ramp to the bottom! Take a look at the photo on the right. The road is totally free of snow, ice or any moisture - but no one's going anywhere.

Meanwhile, the clock was ticking. I was in touch with the producers at WTIC, letting them know of my plight. But I wasn't alone. Tens of thousands of motorists were stranded too in a multitude of tie-ups and road closures.

By 9:20 AM my fate was sealed. After speaking with the traffic reporter, Mike the producer decided that I'd never make it to WTIC in time to be on the air. By this, he didn't mean I'd be late - he figured I'd miss the entire two hours.

This had never happened to me. In all my years of driving in to work, going home for dinner and coming back, I had never missed a broadcast.

I guess as the weatherman it's doubly embarrassing. Truth is, this was such a confluence of unlikely weather events that given the same situation tomorrow, I'd sill miss it.