When we drove to Brian and Denise’s home to
ride with them to Blessed Sacrament on December 24th for the 5
p.m. Christmas Eve Mass, I had no idea what was in store for us. I needed no
boots, but I did have my down coat on—it is winter after all!
Weekend news is sparse in Erie and the special
holiday weekend made it doubly so. We returned home after Mass and snow
began to fall about 7 p.m. And it snowed and snowed. I was in complete denial
because I awoke early on Christmas morning to begin dinner preparations. It was
almost like I didn’t believe what was happening. By noon, Skyline Drive was
full of snow and our driveway has over three foot of snow. While the
ham baked, the Polish sausage cooked, the carrots peeled and sliced for the
relish dish, the snow fell. And fell. Cookies were arranged on
special Christmas plates, Santa's gifts were under the tree, and the stockings
hanging from the mantel were stuffed with goodies Tim was fretting, and I knew
he could not shovel all that snow. I don’t know what time I made the call to
Randy but when we heard that I-90 was closed in sections for accidents, it was
time to call off our Christmas celebration.
 |
| Tim went out to shovel and stuck the yardstick in the snow instead! |
From goerie.com:
“A stationary
lake-effect snowband off Lake Erie dumped an incredible 34 inches [note: that
reads THIRTY-FOUR INCHES] of snow at Erie Airport on Christmas
Day alone, quadrupling
its previous record-snowiest Christmas Day – 8.1 inches in
2002 – as well as smashing its all-time snowiest single day on record
by over a foot – 20 inches on Nov. 11, 1956.
“The heavy snow continued into Wednesday
morning, bringing its storm total since 7 p.m. EST Christmas Eve to
an incredible 65.1 inches of snow – MORE THAN FIVE FEET OF SNOW – in
about 60 HOURS.
“Erie snowfall records go back to 1893. This prolific event shattered all previous
multi-day snowfall records in, according to
the National Weather Service office in Cleveland, including:
· “Two-day snowfall: 26.7 inches (Nov. 24-25,
1950; the "Great Appalachian Storm")
· Seven-day snowfall: 39.8 inches (Dec. 27, 2001 -
Jan. 2, 2002)
· 13-day snowfall: 52.8 inches (Dec. 31, 1998 -
Jan. 12, 1999)
“That's not a misprint. Erie picked up more
snow in less than 36 hours in this event than its previous 13-day snowstorm
record.
“Needless to say, the 102.1 inches of snow
so far in December, through Wednesday, is the city's snowiest single month on
record, crushing the previous record of 66.9 inches in
December 1989. This is also more snow in one month than Erie averages in an
entire winter season – 101 inches.”
On Christmas evening, Brian, Denise, and B1
drove up to Skyline in their pick up for dinner. We elected not to exchange
gifts until we were with Randy, Coleen, and B2.
Erie is used to a lot of snow, but snow plows
were sparse and our driveway snow plower told us it was unsafe to send his crew
out with poor visibility. Finally, on December 26th, about 8 p.m.,
our street was plowed, and our driveway was plowed early Wednesday morning
about 1 a.m.
December 27, 2017
December 17, 2017
Compare Tim showing off his TB shirt just 8 days earlier
Unbelievably the Erie Millcreek Mall was closed
for two days—the busiest days for after Christmas sales.
I am grateful that we had food in the house
(those who know me, know that is not the usual story), and the furnace and
electricity were working. On Wednesday we shoveled the snow off the balcony,
but we are worried about our roof.
And if all that was not
enough, we have this going on today, Friday, December 29.
From the National Weather Service:
Lake Effect Snow Warning
Pennsylvania
5 hours ago – National
Weather Service
LAKE
EFFECT SNOW WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 AM EST
SUNDAY...
* WHAT...Heavy lake effect snow occurring.
Travel will be very
difficult to impossible. From late this
afternoon through the
night expect to see 6 to 8 inches of snow.
Saturday into
Saturday night should see additional amounts of
3 to 7 inches.
This will produce storm total amounts of 9 to 13
inches, with
localized amounts up to 15 inches.
* WHERE...In Pennsylvania, Northern Erie and
Southern Erie
counties. In Ohio, Lake and Ashtabula Lakeshore
counties.
Stop, snow, stop!!
We ate dinner first and as usual, B1 and B2 finished quickly and went to check out the gifts. We could hear them giggling in the other rooms. This was a joyous day of enjoying family together. This time Denise's dad, who had just gotten out of the hospital, had to stay at home, but we packed food for him, too. My brother and Marge opted to stay home in Waterford this day, too.
