When I were to think about all the really bad
possibilities this latest winter storm presented, I'm very thankful for all that it was not.
Promptly, at 6 AM this morning, I was wakened from a sound
slumber by a crack of thunder just outside my window. Shortly afterwards the
skies opened up and honest to goodness thunder ice was falling all about my
house located near Forsyth Missouri.
(Had this persisted more than a few minutes it would been a true disaster as
very quickly every surface was covered with a sheen of ‘lumpy’ ice, or more
technically, a form of sleet called graupel)! Thankfully, a dry slot appeared and gave the area a nice reprieve from about six to nine AM.
At 9 AM, I ventured outside to check on the street in
front of my home and found it to still be ice covered. A radio station, KRZK, earlier
informed me that most of the main roads were clear and that was a comforting
thought. So, even with a strong wind coming out of the east, I felt that
perhaps the worst of this storm was over and done…. and then I heard more thunder!
By 10 AM, the skies were once again becoming dark, or at
least darker than they had been a short time before. The mercury which had been
slowly climbing had also started to slide downwards a bit and a glance at the
local radar was not very re-assuring. (Even the radar was slower than normal to
refresh – a hint that a lot of people were accessing the same site).
This pattern of on again off again precipitation was to be repeated for the rest of the morning, depositing just enough sleet and freezing rain to keep the secondary roads in my area ice covered! Chatter from a police scanner located close by also informed me that the roads were pretty much free of civilian vehicles - a sign that most everyone heeded the warnings that had been posted earlier.
So passes our first real winter storm of the season. Now, if it would just warm up enough on Thursday to melt all this stuff, I'd be a happy camper!
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