Because I have some loved ones traveling this weekend, I’ve been following the weather forecast since Wednesday. All the local meteorologists promised an excellent holiday travel weekend. A few said there was a chance of flurries today, but nothing more. I had a dream on Friday night that I awoke to the news that our flurries had become a Winter Storm Warning. I was completely disgusted with the meteorologists for botching their forecasts (even in my dreams I never learn).
Turns out that my dream was spot on…it was just one day too early. Last night I checked the forecast before bed and it said we could see “an inch or two” of snow today and tomorrow. This morning I awoke to a rather angry-looking sky. I visited the National Weather Service website, and staring me in the face was that same Winter Storm Warning headline I’d dreamed about a night earlier. I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. Nope, it was real. As I was scanning the forecast details, little sleet pellets started to fall from the sky. We’re now expecting 6-10 inches of snow in the Madison area with wind gusts to 35 mph later today and tonight. That should create some fun for travelers. I wonder how many will be caught completely off guard?
This is eerily similar to last year’s first snow which occurred exactly one year and 23 hours ago. It was also a big one. I remember it well because the landscapers finished our retaining wall the day before; however, we never got a look at their handiwork until spring. They quit at 5:30 when it was already dark outside and by early the next morning the snow was piling up fast. Then of course it snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed and thanks to more than 100 inches of snow, we didn’t see bare pavement or grass (or our new wall) until April.
While I’m starting to worry that I’m stuck in the movie “Groundhog Day”, for now I’m going to chalk this up to wacky happenstance. Talk to me again on Wednesday when the next major storm system heads into the midwest.