The BIG Blizzard of 2010. We hear it was historic, something like the 3rd largest storm that hit the city in the past 100 years. To credit the reports - we did get A LOT of snow. There was A LOT of wind. There were A LOT of people that were supposed to be doing their jobs plowing roads and clearing the snow...that somehow forgot they were actually working! We noticed there was definitely more wind than snow, which then makes it hard for someone like me, an average weather observer, to not really be able to tell how much snow we really received. Reports are that areas received anywhere from 16-33 inches. I think our island probably had areas of 24 inches and more....we just get SO much wind that the snow blows into banks and drifts and it's so difficult to tell an average height.
The important part was that the children were of course super excited to have SNOW! I wish it could have come just a few days earlier so we could have had a White Christmas....however, the snow here mostly falls between January and February...so the good news, we were beating the average on that one by a few days with a snowfall the last few days of December!
The snowflakes started trickling down Sunday evening, and the wind really picked up that evening. Later that night the snow was coming down so fast and there was so much fog that we couldn't see the light across the river in Manhattan - it's only about the length of a football field! Then there were deep rumblings and we realized that there was lightening and thunder with this storm. Crazy! As a friend of mine from down south said, it was like a hurricane with the high winds, storm conditions - and with snow and not water!
The wind was still whipping through on Monday - winds between 30 and 55 mph. We get some amazing wind gusts as it is being on an island off of the big island of Manhattan - but this wind was really intense! We hear it howling around the back corner where our apartment is....it will literally shriek, and I'm sure Jacob is convinced that the monsters and ghosts from Scooby-Doo are real, despite our promises that they are only pretend, when he hears the wind roaring around when its' that strong.
I finally decided to let the children go out and play in the snow on Tuesday, and by the time we got serious about the day's plans - we were all bundled up and out in the snow by 3pm. With 1 hour of good daylight left! It was a beautiful afternoon - the sun looked magical on the snow at that hour - and for me, it was the perfect amount of time to be outside, because as the sun started to really get low and I couldn't fell my toes anymore...it was easy to convince the children they had been out long enough and that we should all go inside for some hot cocoa!
Jacob zooming down!
Jacob is now sporting Bryson's coat and hat from last year - I constantly have to remind myself to call him Jacob because I'm still living in last year when I see the outfit!
The snow crew! - adding in a neighbor friend that lives in the building over
A few days later we drove over to Costco to go shopping. Jacob was playing in the snow bank up on the roof of the Parking Garage, while I was cleaning off the truck. I love being up there and seeing the view of 3 different bridges - it's a sight that I still can't believe each time I see it. This is the Triboro bridge behind Jacob - it connects Queens to the upper Bronx/highway up to Westchester and Connecticut.
I believe we'd all vote for more snow to come back and possibly without the wind - so that we can get outside and play in it a little bit faster and enjoy it a little bit longer!
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