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Old 12-25-2007, 09:58 PM   #1
CanisLupusArctos
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Default Christmas poem for weather fans

Thought you all might enjoy this re-write I did, of "The Night Before Christmas." This is "The Night Before Snowfall." Merry Christmas!



‘Twas the night before snowfall and all through the station
All forecasters were stirring with lots of frustration

The storm flag was flown by the lighthouse with dare
Since high tides and whitecaps soon would be there

The radar was lively; showed a wintry scene
As echoes of heavy snow shone on the screen

Bob took off his sweatshirt and I loosened my tie
We’d just come on shift with a long drawn-out sigh

When up on the roof, there arose such a whooshing
I sprung from my desk to see what was pushing

Away up the ladder I flew in a dash
Threw open the hatch with a clattering crash

The lights on a curtain of wind-driven snow
Gave the hue of a milkshake to buildings below

And what to my shivering self should come up
But a bitter cold storm gust, spinning wind cups

With the barometer falling so rapidly fast
We knew in a moment, this was not like storms past

More quickly than reindeer, winter storm warnings came
And weathermen called affected places by name:

“From Concord to Portland, and Boston on through,
To Falmouth, Hyannis, and Nantucket too!”

At the top of New England, the Mount Washington Obs.,
They’re blown away, yes, by this storm they’ve been robbed!

Their anemometer had spun in the whiteout that blew
Then met with such high gusts, off the mountain it flew

So down the main roads the highway crews plowed
With trucks full of salt-sand, amber strobelight-endowed

And behind them, in a splatting I heard in the street:
Each tiny snowflake land with a beat

As I plotted a map, with new info I’d found
Up the coast the low pressure soon would be bound

The satellite picture showed wall-to-wall clouds
While the eye of the storm neared, the wind howled loud

Snow began to accumulate at a more rapid pace
Severe blowing and drifting were soon taking place

All our technology and humanly might
Was virtually useless that cold snowy night

Power crews waited ‘till the storm was all done
As each square in their service grid went out one by one

City mayors announced, “Don’t park here; you’ll get towed”
As the blizzard got worse than TV forecasts showed

Stranded air travelers weren’t having much fun
A girl bound for Cali said, “I just want the sun.”

It wasn’t ‘til daybreak that the storm winded down
Everyone got to sleep late, everyone in my town

They’d closed all the schools, said to stay home from work
Said: “Stay put everyone, except convenience store clerks”

And taking a shovel outside to the yard
I saw schoolkids playing, heard snowblowers afar

The neighbor’s kid laughed, to his friends gave a holler,
Said, “Put your tongue on that light pole, and I’ll give you a dollar!”

My boy just exclaimed as he dug a snow cave:
“Dad these snowstorms are awesome, I love winter!” he raved.
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Old 12-26-2007, 02:30 PM   #2
trfour
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Default A Winter Hurricane Remembered

Great poem CLA,

Reminds me of the Blizzard of '78! While a typical Nor'easter brings steady snow for six to twelve hours, the Blizzard of '78 brought heavy snow for a full 33 hours.

When this storm first hit, I left work in Boston at 4.00 pm and it took me seven hours to drive home because of all the abandoned vehicles that I had to find my way around, normally a 45 minute drive.

Storm facts; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northea...torm_formation
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Always Remember, The Best Safety Device In The Boat, or on a PWC Snowmobile etc., Is YOU!

Safe sledding tips and much more; http://www.snowmobile.org/snowmobiling-safety.html

Last edited by trfour; 12-27-2007 at 12:10 AM.
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Old 12-26-2007, 09:25 PM   #3
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I was one of the lucky ones in 1978. I left the office at 2 and got home in 2 hours. others in my office stayed until 5 and didn't get home for three days
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Old 12-27-2007, 09:55 AM   #4
SteveA
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Default 1st Blizzard of 78...

I remember, for good reason, the 1st Blizzard of 78.. our first son was born on 1/21/78. We lived in Saugus Ma. at the time.. the BIG ONE followed a few weeks later. But, at the time it was a historical storm in New England.

Januray 19-20, 1978

from webpage http://www.northshorewx.com/19780120.asp

"The storm was significant over a wide area of the northeast. Philadelphia accumulated 13 inches of snow and the 21.5 inches of snow that fell on Boston on January 20 broke previous records as the greatest 24 hour snowfall in the city's history. It was to be a short lived record that was eclipsed less than three weeks later by the Blizzard of 1978."
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Old 12-29-2007, 04:45 PM   #5
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Default Winter of '78

I remember well the blizzard of 1978. It was the single greatest snow storm of my entire life! I was a senior in high school in Providence, RI. We had already missed almost a week of school due to a couple of horrible, but incredibly beautiful ice storms.

Everyone went to school that day. The bus came for us at about 11:30 as I recall. (This was a private school near Brown University so a bunch of parents from southeastern Massachusetts hired a bus to cart us all to Providence). We all managed to get home before it got too bad. My neighbors (16 and 13) drove that day with chains on their tires since the weather report was for some snow. They left much later and got stuck behind someone who got stuck and eventually ran out of gas. They spent the night in a HoJo's, but were fine.

It seemed to snow for two straight days! My parents live on the water and we couldn't even see the water! It was pretty much black even during the day.

After about four or five days, my parents sent my brother and I down our unplowed street, pulling a sled. Our destination was the little store about a 1/2 mile away. We discovered that every street had been plowed but ours!

We ended up missing 10 days of school that year. Seniors did not have to take exams as long as we all had a B in each class. Every senior had a B even if we didn't. After graduation, the underclassmen had to go back and make up the days. What a mess.

But I loved every minute of it. There are two pages on the storm in my yearbook!

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