Well, “Winter Storm Alexander” (as it’s dubbed on the local CBS affiliate) is upon us, and the State of Connecticut has closed for business.
Seemingly everyone was sent home around lunch time (except for many schools which just simply didn’t even bother to try).
As New England storms go, it’s not that big of a storm. We have close to a foot of snow on the ground as I write this. However, last year saw very little snow, so the the usual “first storm” hype seems to be aggravated by the withdrawal snow lovers (or snow fearmongers) felt last year.
Although local road crews generally do a good job at keeping roads clear (to the extent that snow is usually just a nuisance, rather than an inducement of transportation paralysis), during heavy snows it’s difficult to keep up.
Of course, with everyone being sent home at lunchtime…extra traffic moving slowly only aggravates the problem of plow and salt trucks struggling to keep up. At various times, I-84 and I-91 have been reported as either closed or merely gridlocked (and semis have been banned from the roads), and a coworker of mine reported that it took about 3½ hours to go from our office on one side of the Hartford metro area, to his home on the other side.
You’d think that maybe the state and major employers would coordinate closings so as to minimize the transportation paralysis….or that folks would remember that there are roads other than the interstates.
However, I’m impressed at the chutzpah or stupidity of some folks today.
For example, consider the engineers who were keeping up with their lunchtime jogs past my house….despite the fact that the town plow hadn’t been by, and that semis seem to love my narrow, windy, hilly street.
Or the person driving an SUV headed the opposite direction as I this morning, who was talking on her cell phone…at least until shortly after she slipped into a ditch because she didn’t pay attention to her speed….
Ah well. We have snow. I’m about to go play with the snow-thrower again. Happy winter everybody!