The Blizzard

A red weather warning was issued on Sunday for the impending blizzard on Monday, so I packed plenty of options for my Monday commute and left for swimming on the MTB at just before 7:00.  Snow had started falling but the sleet and rain that had preceded it meant that it wasn't yet sticking. 

The wind was up though and it was a slog into the wind on the MTB.  As the morning progressed so it got windier and the snow started to stick, then trees came down, the buses stopped running and finally the schools closed.   The children came to my work first and then headed off to walk home in the blizzard.

By the time I left for home there was anywhere between 4 and 6" of snow on the ground and massive snow drifts piling up from the wind around the island, blocking roads and stranding cars.  My ride home was quite uneventful, I stopped and took some photos', didn't fall off and went off roading down the muddy lane - now the snowy lane.

A little more snow on Tuesday and the island was in lock down so I walked into work.  A van was stuck in the lane opposite our house penned in by roof high snow drifts front and back.  The children had great fun playing in the snow.  I tried out my YakTrax shoe snow chains and found they worked really well as the pavement snow became compacted.  Worked out in a quiet gym at lunchtime and enjoyed the walk home as the wind was easing and behind me.  Spent a rare evening in front of the telly watching a film.

The airport remained shut till Wednesday afternoon and displaced people are finally getting back to the Island.  Certainly it was a blizzard to remember - 5 days later and roads are still blocked by drifts, 66 trees are reported to have come down - it seems to be mainly conifers or evergreens whose foliage caught the snow and the wind did the rest.