February 1-2 winter storm pictures February 3, 2015

In my last storm-related post, I hoped for a near miss on Super Bowl Sunday night into Groundhog Day. Hope lost to increasing consensus in ensemble computer models.

The storm I didn’t want, the first of what may be many this February, arrived late Sunday night, following the Super Bowl I want to forget. A few inches of snow fell before changing over to sleet and freezing rain, and then rain, after sunrise.

This aspect of the storm eased my stress. I figured I would only have to shovel one time and that would be it. That one time began at 8:15 AM. About 70 minutes later, I had finished shoveling what was Slurpee-grade slush. Rain fell the entire time outside and I got soaked. A job well done, I thought. I moved the slush out of the way just in time for the change back to sleet and freezing rain.

The changeover occurred after the above picture. As you’ll see in the next one, any slush and puddles flash froze.

The driveway looked like a skating rink. All it needed was a couple of nets.

I had enough energy left to run 6.3 miles on the treadmill in my basement. But as I was running, the sleet and freezing rain changed back to snow.

And it didn’t just leave a coating. We ended up with a burst of snow that dumped four inches in two hours.

I tried to shovel as the heavy snow fell, but it was a futile effort:

I waited another half hour before trying again. This time was the charm. I was enraged early on in the shoveling process because I didn’t expect significant snow on the change back. Had I known it was coming, I would have stayed off the treadmill.

This round of shoveling also took about an hour. At least the snow was lightweight.

I shot this after I came back inside:

As hard as I felt it was to shovel twice in one day, nothing compares to those that have to plow streets during storms like this. They work nonstop from the first snowflake to the last. It puts a mere driveway shoveling in perspective.

Until the next storm.