I am definitely not looking forward to this next storm, even though here—in the DC suburbs—we are not supposed to be hit with the blizzard threatening the middle of the country. Instead, we are supposed to get sleet, freezing rain, and ice, maybe a quarter to a half inch of ice depending on when the temperature rises sufficiently to change the precipitation to all rain.
It will not be welcome because we have not yet really recovered from last week’s storm, which brought only about five inches of snow around here, but it was wet, heavy, snow, and it caused massive power outages. I was fortunate to keep power on, although the cable and internet were down for over two days. The storm hit on Wednesday, and by Sunday thousands of homes were still waiting for power in the cold and dark.
There is widespread dissatisfaction with the local power companies, particularly PEPCO here in Maryland, at their failure to prepare for storms by trimming trees that abut power lines and their slow response in restoring power, as well as in their communication with people who are trying to report outages or get some idea of when the lights will come back on. Personally I am really disgusted that, in the nation’s capital in the 21st century, there is a really good chance that the power will go out if we have a storm of any magnitude, in any season.
And oh yeah: I’m also really tired of chopping through, then shoveling, the frozen snow that the plows bury my car in. Fortunately, if John Hogue is correct, I can look forward to a hotter-than-usual summer. When the power will go out again.
