Here Comes The Blizzard

We went to the movies today. Hey, it’s Christmas. That’s what we do: Chinese food and a movie.

As we got up to leave I noticed a two word email message from my friend Bob.

blizzard warnings

That pretty much says it all. The Weather Service had issued a blizzard warning for all of coastal Connecticut plus a few inlands spots. In the pecking order of snowstorms a blizzard warning is tops. Here’s the official criteria:

Issued for winter storms with sustained or frequent winds of 35 mph or higher with considerable falling and/or blowing snow that frequently reduces visibility to 1/4 of a mile or less. These conditions are expected to prevail for a minimum of 3 hours.

Each of those conditions happens from time-to-time, but to combine and sustain them for three hours is very unusual. My experience says most blizzard warnings don’t verify! That being said you don’t need to officially fulfill blizzard conditions to have a dangerous day that most people will remember as a blizzard!

My read is the blizzard warning is warranted. Snow… heavy snow will start falling sometime Sunday morning. It will be nasty all day and night with extremely strong winds causing whiteouts and drifting.

Ever drive in a whiteout? I have. Scariest time I’ve ever spent behind the wheel!

Maybe nasty isn’t strong enough?

Is it possible for this storm to be a no show? Absolutely. These storms tend to have a mind of their own. Beyond that a blizzard demands a plethora of behind-the-scenes parameters to exist in the clouds. Miss one and the storm no longer matches the forecast.

I called my boss and asked to work Sunday. I’d been scheduled off.

I suspect I’ll see you sometime Sunday. I’ll be the one with a sleeping bag.