Saturday Sky - Day 9 of "Winter Storm 2007"

Today, about 930 am CST:


We've not had any precip this morning except a light rain/sleet mix, but just now I'm starting to hear what sounds like heavier sleet falling. After the end-of-the-world predictions of 5-10 inches of snow, now it looks like we may not get much of anything--it's too warm. Even though I'm sick of this weather, I'll still be disappointed--it's so rare here to see a really heavy snowstorm.

So, we're into Day 9 of "Winter Storm 2007," and I'm ready for it to be done. It wouldn't have been so bad if we had gotten 4-6 inches of snow, but when that's all sleet, it's a different story. I don't ever remember weather like this--most schools in the greater OKC area have been closed all week; actually most of the state has been closed all week, except for those of us who have to haul our asses to work no matter what.

Of course, there are pictures:


This was some of the ice that came off the hood of my truck on Tuesday, two days after the ice storm. Note the size--it's at least 4 inches thick, and that's after the heat from the car has melted it somewhat. We pulled ice off our trucks in huge plates because it was so thick that you couldn't break it apart.

We finally got someone to come to the office Tuesday afternoon and clean off the sidewalks and some of the parking lot--



(my friend's hand for scale)

Again, note that everything's in chunks because this is solid ICE, not snow. In fact, it was like cement--you needed a pick-ax to break it up. And when I mean solid, I mean you could drive a car over it and it wouldn't make a dent.



This is in the parking lot--look at how deep this is. I think it's really strange that the ice seemed to take on the parking space marking--weird.

Usually when we have a big storm like this, the temps go up the next day and everything melts off in a day or two, and we're back to normal. Today is Day 9, and most of the streets are still thick with ice. It's gonna take forever to clear off. This was taken on Wednesday. Does it look like it's cleared much? Not really. You'd think we were in North Dakota or something (no offense, please).


I took these last night as I drove through the Hertz parking lot on my way home:


That's a large SUV behind that pile of ice.


These are ice boulders--they were huge! If one of these were to fall on someone, it could really hurt them. In fact, last night I heard a news story about a man who was injured and his car totalled when a huge plate of ice slipped off a roof and landed on his car. I have a feeling that may be pretty commonplace in the next week or so.

The city did a pretty good job on the streets, but it was still slow going, especially on the secondary streets. My apartment's parking lot is like a slushy ice rink this morning, thanks to two days of slightly-above freezing temps. Thursday morning was the worst for getting to work--it was like glass in some areas. Very, very scary, because by that time people were starting to drive like idiots again, and that just made it worse. I was never so glad as when 5 pm Friday came and I could come home and lock the door and not budge for the weekend.

One last photo--funny how you can find art even in the worst of times: