Well, everyone ...
Greetings from Denver (actually, Littleton to be exact).
It is now 10:56 p.m. mountain and, where I am, there are about 18 inches of snow on the ground. I've just heard on the news that it's only going to get worse. It's supposed to snow like this until at least noon tomorrow.
I left work this morning at 10:30 and arrived home at noon (my normal commute is only 15 minutes long) to find our cable and land lines out, but they were restored shortly thereafter. Got home just in a nick of time, I think, as the only entrance to my neighborhood is one big hill and there was no plowing going on to speak of on residential streets. CDOT was having a hard enough time just keeping up with clearing the major highways and, from what I saw on the way home, they were falling desparately behind.
I had the forethought to pack up enough work to keep me billable for another two days, so I
would be happy as a lark but for one thing - my husband was supposed to come home from Indiana tomorrow. Don't think that's going to happen now. The airport is closed at least until tomorrow night (more than 1,000 people stranded there now) and even if he could get to DIA, I have no idea how he'd get home. I am snowed in - with a capital SNOWED.
The accumulations aren't supposed to be as bad as they were in March of 2003 (31.5 inches), but it's the same circulating weather system where the cold wind comes down from the north and the warm wind comes up from the south. It spins around and doesn't go anywhere, but it's full of precip and we get the dump.
Sorry for the play-by-play in such detail, fellow E-Hellions. I've been cooped up in this house all day with nobody to talk to but my dog.
To illustrate the extent of my twisted idea of fun, I'll tell you that I photographed a reference point in my backyard when I got home and snapped a picture of that same reference point every hour until it got too dark. The intent was to document the accumulation (a la Auggie Wren) over the course of the storm, but it didn't work very well, as the wind is blowing too hard to get an accurate idea of how much snow is really out there. I have 3-foot drifts in some areas of my yard; other areas are completely bare.
I have resorted to throwing myself upon the mercy of the broadband gods in the hopes that someone in Colorado will get off their stinkin browser long enough for me to check the now overloaded websites that are posting road closings and current snow totals. Unless I get up at 3 a.m. to check again, I'm afraid I have (if you'll pardon the painful pun) a snowball's chance in E-Hell of finding out exactly what my Christmas is up against. My best friend called to say that their out-of-town guest has been told he won't find a flight out of Denver before Christmas day.
Guess I'll be sending DH a photograph of his new iPod.
Anyway, I hope anyone reading this feels like responding. I'm home for at least another full day and getting a bit loopy from all of the quiet! Write back. Please?
P.S. Anyone watching news coverage of this event might be viewing grumpy travelers complaining about Denver's handling of the situation. I can see that they are frustrated and I do feel for them. I know what it's like to be a stranded traveler and the futility can drive one mad. Also, it's easy for me to say, sitting here in my flannel pajamas and fuzzy slippers, that Denver is doing the best they can. Mayor Hickenlooper is holed up in a command center somewhere and will probably be up all night directing rescue efforts and doing everything he can to help. The CDOT staff are working their tails off to fight the snow and ice, and I just want to say to anyone who (bless you) is still patient enough to be reading this novel that they are doing the best job they can. Mother Nature smacked us on this one. They are doing everything humanly possible to maintain.
Deb in Denver
