Think you have a lot of snow in D.C., Sis? Check out this shiznow. Laurie took these pictures the other day. The drifts in the front yard are as deep as Katie is tall. And we’re getting more snow as we speak. Enjoy your days off, Sis. I know it’s tough to get around Northern Va. these days. Just so you know, we don’t call many snow days ’round here. We have these newfangled things they call “plows.” You use ‘em to clear the roads after it snows. Seems to work pretty well. Heh.

View out our front window. OK, not really. Originally posted by Emmanuel Boutet

From the Star Tribune, here in snow country:

Time to batten down — again. As much as 14 inches of snow could fall across the Twin Cities and the rest of Minnesota thanks to a storm that begins Sunday and and extends into Tuesday morning.

This is on top of the 3+ feet we’ve had piled in the front yard since November… Guess we’re just trying to keep up with my sister in D.C.

I can't see a freaking thing! I knew I should have wiped off my windshield! /Photo originally posted on Flickr by woodleywonderworks

From KARE-11 TV:

MINNEAPOLIS — Hellacious might be a good term to describe road conditions across Minnesota Thursday morning and afternoon. ‘Brutal’ would also be fitting.
Between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m the Minnesota State Patrol reported 413 property damage crashes(27 of them rollovers) and 62 personal injury crashes, none of them serious.
Safety officials were not immune to the fender bending, either. At least one State Trooper was hit on I-35 near Forest Lake, and two MnDot snowplows were also struck by commuters.
Troopers responded to 280 vehicles that left the roadway, mostly due to slippery conditions caused by fresh snow on glare ice. A MnDot spokesman called it “the worst winter driving day of the season.”

So we got that going for us … which is nice.

We didn’t get outside much on Christmas Day, but here are some shots of the snow that we were able to capture between Wii races and meals.

And the snow is still falling. That’s OK. No place to go. Just sitting here listening to Tom Waits and wrapping presents while Laurie and the girls race Mario Karts on the big screen.

Isn’t it a bit early to be having a blizzard?

This is what I came home to today, after four days of fun and frivolity in Virginia Beach. It was like the opening scene in Fargo…

The tree that was knocked down on Dad's house by tornado

Good Friday? What’s So Good About It?

My Dad had a close call on Good Friday when a tornado struck his home in Dunlap, Tenn. The twister took down several mature trees on Dad’s property, dropping one on his garage and an outbuilding, but largely sparing the main house. The twister also destroyed a building at the Sequatchie County school campus down the hill from Dad. Luckily, Dad was down at the church and wisely stayed put at the end of his meeting when the storm hit. His wife was in Florida visiting relatives. My brother and his family were unharmed, too. The photo above was taken by my sister-in-law as everyone gathered at Dad’s to clean up.

Others, sadly, weren’t so lucky:

MURFREESBORO, Tenn., April 12 (UPI) — The tornado that crossed Murfreesboro, Tenn., took the lives of a young woman and her 9-week-old child and destroyed hundreds of houses and businesses. The twister was one of two Friday confirmed by the National Weather Service in Tennessee, The Nashville Tennessean reported. The other did little damage in Sumner County. The storms were caused by the same weather system that spawned a tornado that killed three people Thursday in Mena, Ark. In Murfreesboro, in the center of the state, the tornado left a corridor of devastation 15 miles long and, in places, half a mile wide.

Artist's rendering of Monday's blizzard. Well, it's a work of Art, anyway

Oh, man, this week is going to suck. From the Star Tribune weather page:

Winter weather advisory posted for the metro and much of central MN; Blizzard Watch for the southwestern third of MN for high winds, blowing snow, dangerous wind chills Monday

2-4″ Monday, another 2-4″ possible Wednesday as a second clipper moves in…remember that when it’s subzero chemicals take MUCH longer to melt snow/ice: expect very icy roads and slow commutes through midweek

Coldest week of winter? Rivaling what we endured in mid December: subzero highs possible Tuesday and Thursday. Wake-up temperatures Thursday may dip to -20 in the outlying suburbs.

Bundle up. It’s gonna be a cold couple of days.

I'll show you a polar plunge, whale blubber boy

From News 8 in Austin, Texas:

The Polar Plunge is an annual tradition at Barton Springs Pool.  For some, New Year’s Day means making resolutions, watching parades or catching up on sleep they didn’t get the night before. But others were ready to plunge into 2009. Hundreds of Central Texans took a dip in Barton Springs Pool for the annual Polar Plunge. … The water remains about 70 degrees year-round. But, some kids were still a bit hesitant to take the plunge. “It’s pretty much hard and it really gets me tired,” young participant Andrew Smith said.

Note to our family and friends in Texas: If the water is 70 degrees year-round, that bear ain’t white…. Let us show you how we do it in Minnesota (note use of the royal “we”):

Now that's cold water....

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

Absolutely the craziest thing I’ve ever done,” says Nam Nguyen, of Apple Valley, who climbs out of Lake Minnetonka on an ice-encrusted ladder Thursday during the 19th annual On It & In It Lake Minnetonka Ice Dive in Excelsior, Minnesota. With morning temperatures in the teens, more than 900 brave souls — a world record, according to organizers — plunged into the icy waters to greet the new year and raise money for the American Lung Association.