First - Sorry that I haven't posted in months. I've had several ideas for posts but really haven't felt the desire to type it up. Weird. For those of you that are still checking, thanks! I'll try to do better.
This post is about the seriously wild and weird weather that has happened in the south in the last week. Last Saturday, the state was covered with rain and thunderstorms. In Alabama really close to the GA border, they even had a tornado touch down and cause damage. That same thunderstorm cell also set off tornado warnings in parts of GA. (Two weeks previously, I think it was when Athens had a tornado warning and about 10 tornadoes touched down in GA).
Then Sunday rolled around. Finally March 1 and I woke up to see it raining hard outside. I wasn't all that surprised because I knew it was supposed to rain with the chance of some snow - maybe up to an inch or two. I seriously doubted Athens would get anything because we always seem to have different weather than Atlanta and Blairsville. I turned the news on and watched the reports coming in of snow in West GA. I really enjoy weather related broadcasts. At one point in my life, I considered being a meteorologist and would still consider studying it simply for pleasure but not for a career.
It just continued to rain in Athens during the morning. I spent the time wrapped up in my bed reading a book. Around 10:30, it seemed to have stopped raining. Then I heard it raining again. The ground was soaked and puddles were forming every where. At 11:30, I looked outside and noticed that there was some sleet mixed with the rain. I was surprised because based on the radar it should have been another hour or more before the sleet/snow mixture made it to Athens. The sleet was also not melting which is odd. I noticed that some of the sleet was gathering together on the ground. I really thought nothing of it because I didn't expect much snow and what we did get I expected most of it melt because the ground would have been warm from all the rain. Since it started earlier than expected, I also thought that meant we would get as much.
So much for thinking. By 12:30, it had started snowing and every bit was sticking and NOT melting. I was outside by 12:50 taking pictures of the snow that was starting to accumulate. It's a rare day for snow accumulation in Athens.
I went back inside and watched the snow/sleet mixture hoping that it would continue for a while. I also just enjoyed watching it as I always have. It was great! Around 1:30, I went back outside and took more pictures. It was accumulating fast. Many areas had at least a half inch and some places close it an inch already. The street outside my house was already white. I was getting giddy with excitement. I was on the phone all the time with my family (who surprising was getting nothing in Blairsville). Mom asked if I had milk and vanilla to make snow cream. Of course, I didn't so I made a dash to Kroger. The roads were already piling up with slush and it was snowing hard! The trip to Kroger wasn't all that bad. I only slid a couple of times and of course Kroger was packed with people.
I made it home and parked my car out of the carport so that it could collect snow for snow cream. I went back in and read more and talked to more people and continue to hope that the snow would last longer - enough to get me out of school on Monday :) It was no longer sleet/snow it was all snow and lots of it!! I went out at another time and took some more pictures. This time I met another one of my neighbors. I have known about her and her sister from other neighbors but hadn't actually met them. I met Cynthia this time and their dog Milly. Milly is related to Uga and is an all white bulldog.
I spent some time on Facebook chatting with Will Fuller (a friend from Canada MFuge 2007). While talking to him, I heard some popping noises and then abruptly ended my conversation, when a limb from the pine tree in my front hard came crashing to the ground. I ran outside to make sure it hadn't done any damage. Thankfully, not. It fell straight down from the tree and was therefore a good ten feet from my house. It was actually two small branches that fell (well small compared to later branches. Each branch was about 4 feet long).
It was about 2:45 and since my house was okay, I went out to my car that had a good inch of snow on it (the ground had close to 2 inches already) to put snow in a big bowl. It was time to make snow cream!! I got all of the snow collected and went in the house, put milk in it, and started to put vanilla in it but the vanilla was half full! I was frustrated but called my dad and told him I was making another trip to Kroger really quick like to exchange it.
The roads were a LOT worse by now. We had at least 2 inches of snow and there was no scraping or salting of the road so the slush was collecting and the roads were getting treacherous. Thankfully, it wasn't icy. I think it was still slightly above 32 degrees and so it was just snow and lots of slush. It was snowing really hard though. My friend Denise called and said she was still in Macon. I told her to stay there and not even try to make it back to Athens because the roads were so bad.
I made it to Kroger where an ambulance was. Unfortunately, someone had slipped in the store because floors were wet because of the snow melting off people's shoes. Kroger really couldn't keep it dry. Thankfully, it wasn't serious. I found someone that was very helpful. He held onto the half full bottle while I went to get another one. I opened the next one to check it. It was empty!!!! It was very strange because it hadn't been opened (the seal was still on it) but there definitely wasn't any vanilla in it. So I got the next one which was fine. I took them both back to the gentleman so he would know about the empty one. He told me I was good to go (because it was busy they didn't ring up the exchange). I thanked him and got quickly back in my car.
The trip home was fine. I backed into my drive way and under the carport this time. I wasn't even around the corner (four steps) from my car when a huge limb came crashing down from a pine tree to the road where I had been less than two minutes before! I thanked God for protecting me as I nervously walked to check out the limb. It took up most of the road and I wasn't sure if I would be able to drive by it. So I walked back to the house and was at my door when I watched a tree fall in the wooded area beside my neighbor's house (the other half of my duplex). It was a small tree and fell into the wooded area and therefore caused no damage.
I made it in the house while talking to my family. I was getting worried because of the six tall pine trees that surround my house along with many other trees. There was lots of popping sounds outside. I started to make the snow cream when a huge limb fell in my backyard! (More on this limb later). It came within an inch or two of hitting my gutter and dining room window. I had happened to be in the hallway and saw this limb fall out of the corner of my eye. I was getting very scared! I called mom and while talking to her I was looking out of my office windows when more limbs fell. I screamed and ran for the living room. Had my car still been out of the carport I wouldn't have a passenger-side window and there would be some damage. I thought these were small limbs but after looking more carefully (hours later) I realized that they are each about 7-8 feel long.
I tried to make the snow cream but it wasn't the best. Before I could, actually eat any of it, more limbs fell in my front yard and another one fell in the street in front of the two duplexes that are just up the road from me. My neighbors were out there so I went to talk with them and assess the damage. The limb in the road was just as big as the one in front of my house and took up as much of the road. This time I also met Stephanie and talked with Edie (who was standing in the doorway of her house with her infant son Joey). It was great to talk to them. At one point, the pine tree started to pop and we realized that we really didn't want to stand under the tree to talk so we stood in their front yard. I enjoyed meeting them. I did watch another limb fall in my front yard while out there.
Other than the limbs fall everywhere around us, it was a beautiful, peaceful scene. The snow was still pouring down without any hint of stopping. I went back in and got my camera to try and take some pictures and videos while the snow was coming down. It was getting to be about the size of a half-dollar coin. They were huge and beautiful! I realized about this time that I probably wouldn't be leaving because my road was basically blocked and there was a lot of snow on the roads (about 4 inches).
I spent more time inside just enjoying watching the snow fall and calling Vincent to share how much snow we were getting when they had some but no accumulation. He was jealous and I was enjoying reminding me often that Athens was getting a great snow :) Around 5:15 the power flickered off and I realized that I probably would lose it soon. So I plugged in my phone, my school computer (it keeps a battery charge and my personal one doesn't), and thought I was ready to go. At 5:30 it flickered off again and I realized I need to fix something for dinner. I rushed around and started to make 2 grilled cheese sandwiches on a grill that I have. I took them off the grill and literally less than a minute later my power was off.
It was also starting to get dark so I quickly ate and went to take a few last pictures of the day. We easily had 6 inches and some places close to 7. The limbs had basically stopped falling but there was still some popping around. It was a peaceful walk. I tried to get a lot of "perspective" pictures since I didn't have a ruler (I lost the one I had and it only went to 6 inches anyway). I also noticed that a tree had fallen up the road and literally covered the road (well all but about 2 feet).
I came back in and started getting settled in for the night. I turned on my gas logs (I'm so thankful I have those!) and put the guest bed mattress in front of it. Then made a tunnel of sorts to keep some heat right at the mattress by putting three dining room chairs on each side covered with a comforter. I put the couch at the end of the mattress for a headboard. I snuggled under the covers and turned on a lamp and started reading. (Oh somewhere in there I did call the power company to report the outage and Denise called to tell me that school was canceled for Monday - which I had expected at to happen by 3 in the afternoon).
About 7:40, the lights came back on to my surprise. I was only out of power for 2 hours. I am on a very short road with only about 11 homes and at least 1 of them is empty. I didn't think we would be high up on the priority list. However, it was just an outage and no limbs or trees had fallen on the lines so it was probably an easier fix than other places in the county.
I made lots of phone calls once the power was on but what was most concerning was that my grandmother didn't answer her phone. So for the next several hours, my time was spent talking to my mom, my uncle, unsuccessfully calling my grandmother, and calling the non-emergency police number. They continued to tell me that the power was out on King Ave. At 10:30 with over four hours of not reaching my grandmother, I called the police to go and check on her. Mom told me to wait until midnight but I just couldn't wait. They did check on her and called me back after 11 and told me that she was fine, her power was on, her cable and phone was out.
I think it finally stopped snowing around 11. Officially we received 6.5 inches but I have talked to people that said some places in Clarke Co. measured up to 10 inches. Needless to say it was a LOT of snow and a wonderful day.
Monday was a day to just enjoy the scene and take more pictures. It barely made it to 40 degrees and of course just froze again overnight. I did drive over to check on my grandmother since her phone was still out. West Athens roads were better than East Athens but there were still several trouble spots. I drove by 3 schools and all three school's parking lots were completely white. I knew then that we wouldn't have school on Tuesday.
Clarke Co. schools were indeed closed on Tuesday but staff was asked to report at 10. I made it in at 10 even though my driveway was still iced over. I enjoyed the time to work in my classroom and prepare my lesson plans (that I had procrastinated on over the weekend). The biggest problem at my school was that the awnings over the sidewalks to the trailers had fallen and most of the teachers could not get into their trailers. We got an email around 2 that said we would have classes on Wed. which was fine.
The rest of the week was pretty normal. School was okay - busy trying to fit in a week of work in 3 days knowing that next week is spring break. I had PDA on Wed. afternoon so I had to make sub plans while I was in that meeting and I had to fit in several assessments as well. I was more than happy for 2:30 on Friday afternoon to roll around.
But this post is supposed to be about the weather. Today (Saturday), it was a beautiful day. The temps had to be in the 70s. I was outside with capri pants and a T-shirt. Craziness considering there was still snow on the ground yesterday (Friday). I enjoyed the Spring-like weather. I made a quick trip to Lowe's and then planted the berry plants that I had bought at Sam's a few weeks earlier. I hoping this year to have some blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and grapes growing on my property. It probably won't be much this year but over the next few years it should be good. I enjoyed the day digging in the dirt.
I still have limbs scattered around my house. The ones in the driveway have been pulled out of the way to get the car in and out but other than that I haven't done anything with them. Patrick said he would try to help me some next weekend by cutting the big limbs into pieces. I will get up a lot of them before then and just have the ones that need to be cut around.
I need look more carefully at the one in my backyard. All I can say is that God truly answers prayers and protects us. When the tree in the road fell, I began to worry about trees falling on my house and began praying that God would protect my house. During the hour, when limbs were falling everywhere I think I did nothing but constantly pray that God would protect my house. He did! My house has no damage even though there were some close calls.
When I was looking at the limb that fell in the backyard today I was surprised to see how it broke and how it fell. The last 2-3 feet is not the whole limb but a strip that pulled off from most of the limb. The solid full piece of limb fell within 2-3 inches of my air conditioning unit. The strip part folded in such away that it make an angle above the air conditioning unit and lands on the firm next to it. In all areas it is within 2-3 inches of the air conditioning unit but never touched it! It is also the one that came within inches of the gutter and window. Amazing! God is so good. He showed me His hand and his protection so many times on Sunday that all I can do is praise Him! There is no other explanation than the fact that He was directing the limbs that fell and how they fell. It is incredible!
I have tried to upload pictures but it isn't working right now. I'll get some up soon :) Oh and about the tornado that touched down in Alabama last Saturday. On Sunday, they had snow. I saw a picture on the TV of it. Craziness!
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