Nothing Mundane About Iowa Weather

The one thing in Iowa that's rarely mundane is the weather.  2009 bid us farewell by blanketing us with more snow than had ever fallen in the month of December since 1898.  It was almost as though the exiting year was tucking us in for a long winter's nap.  There is more snow in the forecast for our first week of 2010.  This morning the radio announced we could get anywhere between three and seven inches, which would leave us covered with a total of about two feet of snow.  At lunch time I overheard someone in the next booth state ten inches was headed our way.  By the time I was standing in the grocery check out line, the total had increased to twenty inches.  The only things I know for sure is that snow is in the forecast and nobody settles down to sleep during a snow storm.

There is something about heavy snowfall that makes people batty.  Some venture out to drive in it, even though they have nowhere in particular to go.  Others, like me, stand by the window and watch, although there's rarely anything to see but frenzied flurries of white.  I think it's the knowing that you can't go outside unless it is absolutely necessary that gets to us.  We worry that someone will  become seriously ill and it would take an hour or two instead of thirty minutes to get to the hospital.  We worry the lights will go out and we won't have power for days on end.  We worry about fires from over-worked electric heaters if the power stays on.  We worry about our friends and family and we call them and ask, "is it snowing there?"  "how bad?" 

I don't know what to think about this new storm that's headed our way.  If human nature is any indicator of what will come, there are hints this one will be brutal.  The brunt of the storm isn't expected until Thursday.  Today is Monday and people were already buying groceries and supplies, filling their cars with gas, preparing, preparing, preparing for another storm that's rumored to be worse than the storm that canceled Christmas, which was worse than the storm that stalled us in our tracks December 9th.  Maybe it's because it is extremely unusual to have three big storms in such short succession.  Maybe we will just have to wait and see.  There is always the possibility that it won't amount to much of anything at all.

I am prepared.  Tomorrow begins our week to have all four of the grandsons.  I purchased the last two gallons of milk in the grocer's cooler, stocked up on "Batman" and "Cars" fruity snacks for the little boys, cheese curls and crackers for the big boys and filled my tank with gas.  The candles and flashlights are handy  and there's plenty of firewood in the garage and my prayers are headed in the direction of safety for friends and family.

When it has passed we we marvel, as we always do, at the wonders the storm has left in it's path: