The Blizzard of Aught-9

So, as I said yesterday, there was a 60% chance of snow overnight, and I planned to get up early, as these events tend to not stick around too long in this area.


And I actually DID manage to get up a little earlier - around 7:30, and I headed outside in my bathrobe with Bailey, and look what I saw:


The snowflakes were as big as Bailey's soccer ball!


OMG!


Be afraid, people - be very afraid!

Well, OK - this is what I really saw: a light, extremely light, dusting of snow, and some scattered flurries blowing around.


The sun had just come up, and while this truly is an usual sight for this area, there was so little accumulation that Bailey didn't even notice it.



But our crack emergency preparedness teams did - and they actually cancelled school for the day, and many other scheduled activities. Good grief.


There was less than 1/8 inch accumulation on the ground, by my estimation, and absolutely no accumulation on roadways.


And it wasn't snowing even anymore.


And by the time I left for work at 9:15, what little bit HAD accumulated, was gone.


What a freakin' fantastic snow day those kids must have had!


But my super-cool camera has this really neat feature - let me show you!



It has one setting where if you press the shutter button once, it will take 2 consecutive, almost simultaneous shots - one in natural light, and then one with flash.


So this is the first shot I took of my deck -- natural light.....





And this is the shot immediately afterward, with flash -


It makes it look like nighttime - and look how those snowflakes pop!






This is a picture of a tree that blew down in my yard about 6 weeks ago, that I am too broke to have hauled away....





And this is the same shot a nanosecond later -



I just think this camera feature is the coolest thing ever.



Of course, I don't get out much, either.





So this picture shows the massive snow accumulation in Aiken that led to school closings and public panic.





And believe it or not, the local TV station I am watching right now is running promos for their lead story @ 11PM: "How Your Friends and Neighbors Handled the Snow, Tonight at 11".


Seriously.


Seriously?


What snow - there was ZERO accumulation in Augusta, less than 1/8" here in Aiken, and it was all gone by 9 AM, other than some off-and-on flurries up until about 2 PM. Flurries, people - that is not snow, nor is it something that needs to be "handled".



And yes, WJBF, I am talking to you.



And yes, this is my fourth blog post in four days - surely this must be one of the signs of the Apocalypse.