Here It Comes

I haven't been anywhere, but I guess my brain has been elsewhere... so, we have a big snowstorm bearing down on us, the first major one in at least a couple of years. People typically rush to the supermarket to stock up on food and whatever else they might need, resulting in long checkout lines and empty shelves.

The Mrs. was in class all day and evening, so we didn't do that today. We didn't do it Wednesday evening either. We have enough of the basics: milk, bread, coffee and cream, and toilet paper. But there's still time; the snow will start tomorrow morning, but it will be falling lightly during the daytime. We can head to our closest store around 9 am and still be fine.

Today happens to be the 35th anniversary of the Blizzard of '78, the winter storm to which all other winter storms in this area are inevitably compared. It started on a Monday afternoon, and our street did not get plowed until some time on Thursday, and then only because my father, who was on the police department at the time and working double shifts, talked someone from the National Guard into coming down our street with a plow. We were out of school for a full week.

It seems unthinkable now that a storm could leave the region so paralyzed, but back then the forecasting equipment was not nearly as sophisticated as it is now, and if I remember correctly there was some confusion as to how severe the storm would actually be, and the warnings of a major snow event were not heeded by some. So much snow ended up falling so quickly that almost every road became impassable, and clearing even major roads took several days.

(Archival material I've seen since posting this affirms that the area of Rhode Island I lived in at the time received at least 30 inches of snow.)

After we get our provisions, we don't need to leave the house again (except for walking the dog) until Sunday, when we have tickets for the evening performance of The Glass Menagerie at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge.