Winter 2010 is Not Through Yet

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Just when you think we might get back to a normal winter which means it has to stop snowing since we are already way beyond normal snowfall, here it comes again. So this latest blast left about 10 more inches here but the quite cold temperature and winds of 40-60 mph drove the wind chill down to around 5 to -5 degrees.



This time the roads were frozen solid with a nice coating of ice. Of course Maryland, Washington, DC and the entire North Atlantic have closed yet again, the third straight day for the federal government and they announced they will be closed Thursday, the fourth straight day.



When I worked at the White House and Congress I never remembered snow like this and for good reason since Washington, DC and Coltons Point both broke records for the most snow in a winter in history. The DC record was set in 1898. I have no idea what the new records might be since we are already over 60 inches and it is only mid-February.



Now Coolin, my giant Irish Wolfhound, seen below trying to stay out of the blizzard while still staying outside, loves winter and cold and snow but hates ice. He is so conscious of his size he will not walk on ice, nor go up stairs with ice, meaning I have to put rugs on the steps when it gets icy which has been almost every day since about a month ago.



Maryland must have cut the budget for snow removal because there is little hope of getting anywhere in a storm or for the next few days after. Just tonight our governor declared a snow emergency (a little late after the state has already been paralyzed by the blizzard) and said the side streets would not be cleared for 72 hours.



Back in Iowa and Nebraska if a mayor or governor said roads would not be cleared of snow for a week, which is how long it has been between the last two storms, he wouldn't be a politician for long. And if he said any car stuck in the snow would be ticketed and towed with more charges he'd probably be lynched.



Since we have a bunch of Democrats in Maryland and Washington we can only assume this liberal snow clean up chaos is a result of Democrats being in control. Liberals must not like snow much and certainly don't want to jeopardize their base by making the union members on the highway crews go out in that awful cold.



We still have electricity and heat, food and clothes so things could be worse. It is supposed to get well below zero tonight with the wind chill and there are thousands of people with no heat or electricity so we hope they are okay.



Stay tuned for more from the Southern Maryland artic.

Snow, Blizzard, Winds and Ice - Mother Nature Shuts Up Politicians

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It started snowing about 2 pm yesterday, Friday, and has not stopped snowing since. So far we have about 20 inches of new snow, some areas have over 30 inches,and it is supposed to snow for 6-7 more hours.



Incredibly the politicians of Washington, DC went silent and have not been heard from since the snows came. I think it is Mother Earth's way of protecting us from a severe political overdose.



Now there are a few unusual things about this monster storm as the media likes to hype it. First here at Coltons Point 60 miles down the Potomac River from our nation's capitol we have had a blizzard and flood warning in effect since the storm began.

That means we are supposed to be overrun by river water while suffering blinding snow, we call it white out conditions, with wind gusts up to 75 miles per hour.



Instead it rained all night meaning we got a lot more precipitation than the snow areas up north. You see every inch of rain equals 10 inches of snow and we had well over an inch of rain all night, probably two inches.

However, this morning it did start snowing and by 2 pm this afternoon we had over 12-16 inches of fresh snow on top of the 1-2 inches of rain which was on top of the remainer of the 12 inches of snow last weekend and the 24 inches of snow about 30 days ago.



So here in our little Southern Maryland outpost we have had about 50-60 inches of snow this winter, the most in history, and the magnolia trees are getting mad as hell.



I grew up in Iowa and Nebraska so this is more like a typical winter for me but these St. Mary's County natives long ago got spoiled and expect tropical winters.

Send Al Gore a message, where the heck is the global warming that has filled your bank accounts.



More than 300,000 people around here have no power and the Super Bowl is a little over 24 hours away. You can bet there will be power by then since Super Bowl commericals are the best thing on television.

I have a great many readers in Florida. Bet you are happy you fled the Northeast for the orange groves. There is also a strong contingent from New Orleans where Super Bowl fever has hit an insane pitch.



All the hotels in New Orleans are booked the nght of the Super Bowl even though the Super Bowl is in Miami about 500 miles away. Those cajuns are throwing the biggest party other than Marti Gras to celebrate the first team appearance in the Super Bowl and no matter who wins they will probably be happy.



You see, it is the first trip for the Saints but if Indianapolis wins the star of the Colts, Peyton Manning, grew up in New Orleans and his father has been with the Saints for 39 years as a player and executive.



For those of you outside the US and there are readers from over 100 countries don't believe all you hear about the storm in the media. We are quite well prepared for storms like this, even for the power outages. Many of us grew up with them.

It will make for good headlines but it will not disrupt much of our way of life because we were all going to be watching the Super Bowl anyway tomorrow.



And for those of you who are conspiracy seekers this could be a good one. The threat of a paralyzing storm emptied all the stores in the entire northeastern United States, where 55 million people live, of food, supplies and survival gear not to mention snow shovels, generators, water, etc.



I saw people so panicked they were buying shopping carts full of stuff. I mean how much food and toilet paper can you go through in a weekend? So wouldn't that threat of a huge storm help the Obama economic recovery with the burst of consumer spending in the biggest markets in America after a bad week on the stock market? What do you think Glenn Beck?

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