Welcome to Snownado Season

Welcome to snowado season in Mississippi!  Wow, have we had a whirlwind the past few days with the weather!  It’s currently a balmy 14 degrees and a real feel of zero!  We have an inch and a half of ice/snow mix outside.  We were rudely awakened Friday morning by the tornado siren going off.  We had bad thunderstorms, and a tornado was spotted, hence the siren.  We all got up and kept a watch on things.  It rained hard.  The Teen’s school finally sent a message saying that school would be open, but for parents to make the call themselves about whether or not to send their children.  We chose to keep The Teen home because the main road leading out of our neighborhood was flooding.  However, all was well by lunchtime.  He only missed one class anyway, so it wasn’t like he was missing a full day.

Winter Weather

Sunday was a very different story!  The temperature kept plunging, and we had sleet coming down pretty well by nightfall.  The temperature has stayed into the low to mid-teens.  It’s been a mixture of snow and sleet up to this point (2:00 PM), and The Teen’s school has been canceled for tomorrow.  He was off today for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  I know the amount of ice and snow we got sounds ridiculous to cancel school and all, but in the South, we don’t have all of the bigger means of de-icing the roads and such.  It just turns to slush when cars drive over it and then freezes again at night if the temps are really low.  This is what part of our backyard currently looks like.  It’s just too cold to venture out much further past the door, haha!

Preparing for Winter Storms

In any case, the past few days have been spent preparing for this winter storm (Winter Storm Heather, it has been named).  Can anyone else remember the days when no names were given to winter storms?  I remember dates.  We had a bad ice storm here in 1978 (I was 5), and then the biggest one I remember was the ice storm of 1994.  Two weeks with no power.  I was 20 then and did not have a care in the world!  We had to stay with my aunt because she lived on the next street over, and she had a gas water heater and stove, so we could have warm food and hot baths.

We made sure to cap off our faucets outside with winter weather faucet covers and stocked up on essential groceries and water, and I spent all day Sunday doing laundry to ensure everything was clean in case we lost power.  Hubby had to leave on Saturday afternoon for a long run to New Jersey and Pennsylvania, so I was a little nervous to be here alone during this with just The Teen.  But we have awesome neighbors, and I know they would help in a pinch if needed.  So far, so good!  We have kept power, and the pipes are still flowing; thank the Lord!

Even Jake knows something is different outside and has preferred to stay inside and stay warm, kicking back in the recliners or snoozing on my bed!

So, other than the weather, there hasn’t been much to report from here.  We are staying in and trying to stay safe and warm!  It’s nice to get a little snow that melts by the next day, but I’m not a fan of this ice and being under Winter Storm Warnings.  I am looking forward to next week when we will be back in the 50’s and 60’s again.  I am NOT built for winter weather, haha!

I hope wherever you are, you are staying warm!  How’s the weather in your neck of the woods?