sleigh: (Default)
([personal profile] sleigh Feb. 14th, 2007 01:28 pm)
The storm went through yesterday -- early morning through the night. Cities north of us (anything above Dayton) got snow; cities south of us (Louisville) received lots of rain. We were in that lovely area that shows bright purple on the radar, the "mixed precipitation" interface...

Which means we got everything. Well, pretty much. We really didn't get any rain. It started out as snow, dumping a few inches on top of the six we already had, but then for most of the day, it turned to sleet and ice before going back to snow as it ended for a final inch or so.

Everything is coated with a fairly hefty layer of ice. Last night, you could stand outside and hear the ice cracking as the wind moved the branches. If you stood there for longer than a minute or two, there would be a much louder and sustained crashing as a branch fell somewhere nearby. If it was close enough, we could watch it tumbling down through the tree, taking out other smaller branches and showering the ground with ice shards.

All the trees in the neighborhood have lost branches, the firs especially; some few trees have gone down entirely. All the branches are hanging heavy and dangerous -- fatally so, in one case. A nine year old girl, off from school, went walking her dog yesterday afternoon and was killed when a branch fell on her...

The news is saying that there are 100,000+ houses without electricity this morning; luckily, we're not among them. We have branches down in the yard, but the heavy ones managed to miss the power lines, though one got a neighbor's car, and another ripped the power lines from the house across the street. Several of us spent a few hours yesterday evening sawing through a tree that had toppled a few houses down, taking out a fence and blocking the next-door neighbor's driveway (hence the sawing).

It's pretty, but it's treacherous... NKU (the school where I teach) was closed yesterday, and is closed today as well. Denise, however, had to go to work both yesterday and today, poor thing.

I took a few pictures. Hopefully I've scaled them down enough for easy loading, but I'll put them behind a cut anyway for those of you with slower connections (or no interest)...






From: [identity profile] alces2.livejournal.com


Very nice photos! Glad your power didn't go out. Sorry to hear about the little girl that went walking.

From: [identity profile] odamoganak.livejournal.com


Yet another example of the duality of nature - beautiful and deadly. I especially love the photo of the tree buds covered in ice.

From: [identity profile] mrbankies.livejournal.com


Erk. I know that kind of weather. Don't like it much. Getting a goodly bit of snow here from last night through this evening, though nothing like farther north in Oswego County. Everything is pretty much shut down, and I was able to work from home today. Looking like it'll be time to go back out and shovel again soon.

From: [identity profile] jbru.livejournal.com


Woof. That's a lot of ice. When we get that sort of storm there isn't usually that much ice on everything; just enough of a coating to make everything pretty. Though we have gone through our own extended power outages too, so we aren't immune.

The visceral memory I have of this kind of storm is going walking across a field after such a storm, having my boots break through the ice and sink into the snow beneath. By the time I got home, my shins where scraped and bruised from where they hit the edge of the ice as I walked.

From: [identity profile] zencuppa.livejournal.com

Cincinnati Ice


Your Cincinnati neighbor in ice here.

Yeah, my kids are home from school today. I went for a walk, but *not* underneath any trees, thank you.

I didn't lose power either . . .Just busily working away in my office after my nice, but chilly walk (the kids are at Tom's today).

From: [identity profile] smofbabe.livejournal.com


Nice photos! Glad y'all still have power.

Can't believe I'm leaving comfy 80F weather here to travel for 25 hours and end up in weather like your photos... I guess F really IAWOL.

Stay warm!

From: [identity profile] trektone.livejournal.com


The pics are beautiful! The middle one is my favorite. Of course, I don't have to live in conditions that created the beauty. Brrr!
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