Strange North Carolina Weather

You'd think after living here for just about 15 years that we would be used to the strange weather in NC, but we're not. The winter season is the worst - One week it's nearly 60 and the next it's dumping more snow than we've had the last three winter's combined!

Our local weather "predictors", forecasters, idiots, etc., whatever you want to call them, said we should expect 2-3" of snow accumulation.

"Not a big weather event", is what one weatherman actually said. HA!

As I left work this past Tuesday afternoon, I knew I had to run to the store to pick up a few things, just in case... the essentials. You know, milk, OJ, eggs, bread. NO, I don't do milk and bread sandwiches. That's just gross. Even in sheer desperation, I wouldn't partake in milk and bread sandwiches. Ugh. Anyway, you'd better believe everyone in Siler City, NC was at the local WalMart. And, of course, only 4 lanes were open. I would estimate at least 10-15 people were in EACH lane. It took me at least an hour to get through the checkout. I started to get concerned that my ice cream would melt! Yes, we're that family that will eat ice cream even when it's -5 degrees outside. After finally getting home just in time to unload the groceries before they came inedible, I thought about how much snow we'd actually get the next day, would we lose power, would my husband make it home OK (he had to work). My brain never shuts off. It's a curse.

The next day, I woke up to a winter wonderland that far exceeded my expectations. At least 5" had fallen overnight. Those weathermen(women) are idiots. What other jobs can you merely guess at, and miserably at that, and still have a job? Lucky they are.

By lunchtime, it was near 8". I literally told the weather gods to stop it. Just stop. I didn't want anymore. Even my son said, "Is it going to come in the house?". Such an imagination he has. But honestly, I was done. It was pretty, certainly, but I knew the more we had the longer it would stick around... which meant the kids missing school, me missing work, and going generally stir crazy. By dinner time, it was STILL snowing. I decided to take a measuring tape to the table on the deck for official measurements and it was exactly 12". A whole frickin foot! Whatever happened to 2-3"? And, yes, it was still snowing. I don't think it actually stopped until around 10pm or so. And, to just sock it right to us, it was well below freezing which meant the snow wasn't going anywhere anytime soon and the roads would be a nightmare the next day. And, they were.

I stayed home with the kids, naturally. My office was thankfully closed, as was the kid's school. But the husband had to report to his civic duty of saving lives, so he woke up extra, extra early to get on the road much, much earlier than normal to allow the necessary time to drive to work, which is over an hour away. Poor husband. Thank goodness he has a 4x4 truck. Side note: He did fine - coming and going. Yay for that.

Today is Day #2 at home with the kids. The snow is still piled up and it wasn't warm enough to melt any of it, to my chagrin. I did muster up enough positivity to coax the kids in going outside to play. To say they are little hermit homebodies would be an understatement. We bundled up and went outside to enjoy the white stuff. Harrison didn't like it at first and then he found joy in it. Gwen on the other hand just hated it. There was too much snow and she couldn't walk in it. The poor thing kept falling over which of course, made her mad. She finally realized it was easier to walk around on the tracks that were left by her daddy's truck tires, but then... SLIP. They were packed down and icy, and well, she went down. A few times. We were outside for a whole 7.5 minutes. We did manage to make a small, completely embarrassing snowman. It looks awful. No pictures were taken. It was that bad.

Even with the misery and pain that I feel snow brings, we still managed to find the beauty in it and we took in the clean, fresh air. I really need to get the kids to enjoy snow more. We are fortunate enough to have several acres for them to enjoy, so I hope they appreciate it.

Looking forward to the next in(accurate) weather forecast...

#Weather #Snow #Winter #Seasons #Family