The Big Blizzard of March 2008
by Alan King
We had a big weekend with six bands planned at The Cavern, so the last thing I wanted was a big snowstorm to blow in. By noon on Friday though, they had called off the schools and dismissed all of the kids. The weather people on the TV were starting to get repetitive with all of their warnings, first for 6 inches of snow, then 6 - 10 inches, and then finally as the heavy snow began to blow late in the afternoon, a blizzard warning was on the wire. An ominous white cloud band crawled our way across the radar screen from Indiana and everything began to close up. We waited until around 5 before making the reluctant decision to call off our own show and contact the bands with the bad news.
Steadily through the evening and all through the night, the small snowflakes blew and drifted. We would sweep the snow off the porch and steps every hour or so, and each time we peeked out the kitchen door to see how it was going, another inch or so of fresh show would have appeared. As the evening progressed, it began to seem like a little vacation; a weekend off work in a strange environment with nothing in particular to do and nowhere in particular to go. We peeked out the windows at the blowing snow as it crossed in front of the amber light atop the barn. Bizarre formations began to form on the eaves and the windshields of the cars in the driveway. The porch rails began to mound with ever deeper piles of white.
We woke to a stillness unusual on our busy country road. Occasionally through the night the low rumble of a snow plow rising from far down the road passed outside as it worked in vain to stay even with the accumulating snow. We had decided late on Friday night to keep our coffee shop, Express Yourself, closed for the morning. A glance out the window at first light made it clear that you would be risking an embarrasing call from a ditch or worse by venturing onto the roads. Steadily through the day, the winds howled and sent the snow horizontally through the air creating drifts and bare spots. We sent the dogs out throughout the day and watched at their leaping made odd patterns in the thick snow that were swiflty filled as a particularly strong gust passed.
Radar images showed the bulk of the storm passing by before early afternon and we all bundled up and headed outside to attack the 10 or 12 inches of snow that covered everything. Our cars looked like futuristic aerodynamic caricatures of their usual selves. Beside the cars on the downwind side lay drifts of snow two and three feet deep. We live upstairs from our daycare, kiddie Kingdom, so we have to clear off the parking lot before Monday whether we like it or not. With snow blades and shovels, we began to whittle narrow paths through the yard and parking lot until we began to have enough room to attack the drifts in earnest. Two hours in the afternoon and two more as the snowfall began to slacken around 4 PM. Unused muscled ached and cheels turned red with the unanticipated exposure to the elements took their toll.
Happily, the sun came out on Sunday and cabin fever forced many of us out to find that the road crews had worked their magic once again. All of the main roads were slushy but clear and even secondary streets were passable if snow packed. Record setting snowfall in a single day had left huge piles of plowed snow, but no serious damage.
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