Snowmageddon

This weekend the DC area got hit with a MONSTER storm. The city itself received about 20 inches of snow. Where I live - in the Maryland suburbs - I got about 28-30 inches. It was INSANE.

The snow started on Friday. In anticipation, the Federal Government closed 4 hours early and since my company follows the government, we closed early too. I worked from home in the morning and watched the snowfall get more intense.

However, before the snow got too bad, I went on the hunt for a shovel. See when we got the last storm about 2 months ago, my snow shovel broke. And silly me - I forgot to replace it. So starting at 7AM on Friday, I went out to find a shovel. To my surprise, every store was sold out of snow shovels. I tried about 10 stores before I finally gave up. But, when I got home about 2 hours later, I called Home Depot and found out they were expecting another shipment of shovels on Friday afternoon. At about 12:30, I went out to Home Depot and got there just in time. They had a line of people waiting for shovels and they were handing them out behind a barricade. It was crazy. I guess they were expecting a riot if people did not get their shovels. And you know, they weren't that far off. The shovels were gone in about 10 minutes and the people who got their at 10 minutes and 20 seconds were MAD.

Luckily I got my shovel so my mission was accomplished.

Grocery stores were also insane. I have never seen the parking lot at the Bloom by my condo even remotely crowded. And on Thursday and Friday it was PACKED. There were no parking spaces left. It was nutty.

But I braved the store and got some food so I will not starve. That's a plus.

And you know, it was smart to get the shovel and the food because the storm was as bad as people said it would be. When I went to bed on Friday, there was maybe 5 inches of snow. On Saturday morning, I woke up to a Winter Wonderland. It was white as far as you could see. And, the snow was completely undisturbed. Not a footprint or plow in sight.

When the snow started to slow down around 2PM on Saturday, I braved the outside. I wanted to try and dig my car out a bit. Poor Hans - my car - was completely invisible. It took me about an hour and half to dig him out. I can't actually drive him anywhere as the parking lot is still snowfilled but at least I can see the car and get into the car. So, when they do plow - I hopefully will be able to get out.

Now it is Sunday and I am watching my neighbors try and get their cars out of the parking lot. This is hilarious as the parking lot has not been plowed so each car keeps getting stuck in the snow. I'm not sure where these people have to go that they cannot wait for the plow to come. I myself am prepared to be in my condo all of today and possibly tomorrow too. I am not going anywhere until I see that plow.

I figure that I am better off than most people so I might as well stay put. Half of Montgomery County has lost power - but I am luckily in the half that still has power. Yay. Buildings have collpased in DC because of the weight of the snow. The metro is still only operating below ground. The major roadways are still icy and dangerous. With all of this in mind, why would I even try to go anywhere. . .

Life will return to normal soon I suppose. But Snowmageddon 2010 will be a storm to talk about for years.