Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Be Not Deceived

There Was Still Snow

OK, so we were spared the horrible blizzard predicted. The storm tracked some fifty miles east of the projected track and saved us from many feet of snow.

But do not be deceived. 8 inches or so is plenty for me. And it was more than enough to plow.

I was out early, around 8:30 or so, and plowed the driveway. Since then another inch or so has fallen, but if the sun comes out as predicted, some of that will melt. At least the driveway is navigable.

Some people are being super critical of the weather forecasters' failure to call this storm correctly. It is a blizzard hitting New England now even as I write, but it never did develop into the monster that was supposed to hit Central New Jersey. Fine by me. I'd much rather be overly prepared for a storm than never happens than not prepared for one that does.

We need to be mindful of the lessons of hurricanes Irene and Sandy, both of which were underestimated by forecasters and residents alike. The damages and power outages were devastating. I, at least, was prepared for Sandy--so I thought--until the brand new generator I bought failed to work.  I did have water stocked up for both the horses and me, and plenty of batteries.

My cousins, who live at the Jersey shore were all ready to ride the storm out until mandatory evacuations forced them inland. Good thing as their house was seriously damaged from ocean flooding. Many people ignored the storm warnings and suffered the consequences.

When it comes to nature's caprices, no matter how many computer models and forecasting tools we have, there is always the chance we'll be wrong. I'm grateful this time the forecasts were wrong.

Meantime, a few pictures to prove the storm really did drop by.

Not sure where the horses were when I took the camera outside. They may have been in the barn eating their hay. If I see them out later I will snap a few pics of them in the snow to share.





5 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:30 PM

    Glad you were spared the worst of it . . .

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  2. that looks bearable, indeed. weather men are criticised whatever they do (over here, we all remember the famous night Michael Fish said "storm, what storm" and we then had the worst one ever down south......)

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  3. Glad everything turned out okay for you. We got about the same. I was more than happy that they were wrong. We were prepared for worse conditions too. It's so cold though (18) and still windy. But that's okay I don't mind. The worst is over.

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  4. It's hard to believe that we could critique a forecast that "missed" by 50 miles. In the greater scheme of the planetary perspective, 50 miles is just a sneeze away.

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  5. My sister in Maine got 3 feet with this storm and today they are getting another foot. That's where it all went!

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