Winter Storms
We got another storm hit yesterday. We have experienced a large number of ice storms recently, and we are too far north to have so many ice storms, so last night I watched An Inconvenient Truth while the rain fell all day long. Then overnight the temperatures dropped dramatically and we got four inches of snow. The snowdrifts are very beautiful, but it's dangerously cold outside, about 10 degrees Fahrenheit with a 30 mph wind making the wind chill about 20 below.
The snow plows didn't get to work on our parking lot until around 9 a.m., and I waited patiently inside and watched my 20-something neighbors become impatient waiting for the plows to finish clearing the snow. It appears that most of my neighbors do not own snow shovels; they just drive over the snow. Unfortunately, not all of them are bright enough to figure out that you can't simply drive over a foot-high snow drift if you don't have snow tires.
Most recently, I watched a little car get stuck in the snow with the parents and baby inside; the man of the house emerged from the vehicle with a window ice scraper in his hand, and he stamped through the snow and surveyed the area trying to figure out how to get the car loose. I envisioned him digging his car out with the ice scraper, but he didn't try it. They sat there until the snowplow came.
I find it difficult to imagine not owning a snow shovel at this latitude. My dad is a farmer and insists upon proper winter safety precautions. In my car I keep a blanket, a small snow shovel, a 60-pound bag of sand, and a spare pair of ski gloves.
It used to be that Iowans knew how to drive on ice and snow, but nowadays the ditches fill up with cars every time there's bad weather. After storms I pass an average of one stranded vehicle every other mile on my way to and from work. We are all becoming so urban.
The snow plows didn't get to work on our parking lot until around 9 a.m., and I waited patiently inside and watched my 20-something neighbors become impatient waiting for the plows to finish clearing the snow. It appears that most of my neighbors do not own snow shovels; they just drive over the snow. Unfortunately, not all of them are bright enough to figure out that you can't simply drive over a foot-high snow drift if you don't have snow tires.
Most recently, I watched a little car get stuck in the snow with the parents and baby inside; the man of the house emerged from the vehicle with a window ice scraper in his hand, and he stamped through the snow and surveyed the area trying to figure out how to get the car loose. I envisioned him digging his car out with the ice scraper, but he didn't try it. They sat there until the snowplow came.
I find it difficult to imagine not owning a snow shovel at this latitude. My dad is a farmer and insists upon proper winter safety precautions. In my car I keep a blanket, a small snow shovel, a 60-pound bag of sand, and a spare pair of ski gloves.
It used to be that Iowans knew how to drive on ice and snow, but nowadays the ditches fill up with cars every time there's bad weather. After storms I pass an average of one stranded vehicle every other mile on my way to and from work. We are all becoming so urban.
Labels: cultural critic, self
posted by Margo at 10:42 AM
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