Snow Day in Central Mississippi

After warnings yesterday about the approaching winter storm, we awoke this morning to gently falling snow which had been proceeded by some freezing rain.  Although the Jackson area only got about 1" of the white stuff, it was enough to just about paralyze this deep south burg.  Bridges iced over and all the local schools closed.  It was worse south of here, with southern Mississippi getting up to3" of freezing rain, sleet, and snow.  They even got snow and ice down on the Mississippi Gulf Coast which is very rare.

 

Since I didn't get a call from my box or hear a TV announcement about the state government offices being closed, I drove into work, taking about twice as long to get there as usual.  Then about an hour after I arrived we were told to go home since the governor closed all state offices except for mission critical personnel (of which I'm not!!).  The drive home was even slipperier than the drive into work.  And this evening we heard that the state offices won't open until noon tomorrow (Wednesday) so I get to sleep late for a change.

 

Here is a picture of Col Campbell's quarters on this infrequent snow day in central Mississippi, taken about 3:00 pm when I ventured out to retrieve the mail..

 

 



Snow! In Mississippi ?!?

Yes,  we had snow in Mississippi this morning!  After receiving warnings from the National Weather Service last night, we awoke to 2-3" of snow this morning.  While most of the roads were clear, the bridges and overpasses, especially on the Interstate highways, soon iced over.  Snow is such a rarity here in the deep South that our road crews aren't as well equipped as those further north.  The state and city road crews did what they could, but still schools were closed or their openings were delayed.  Even state offices were delayed in opening (which is why I'm posting this so early and from home!).

The front of my house after the snow had stopped coming down

One of my across the street neighbors with the last of the snow coming down

My car, covered by 2-3" of snow

Off my back porch

The woods behind my house

But this will almost all be gone by this evening.  That is one of the good things about a deep South snow - it doesn't last long!

More Snow in Mississippi!!

After getting a snowfall back in December (see Snow! in Mississippi?!?), most of us thought that would be all for this winter.  But then we had over 72 hours of below freezing temperatures in January that resulted in ruptured water mains all over the city (Jackson, state capitol), little to no water pressure, and a "boil water" alert.  That shut all the schools, city and state government offices, and many businesses for 3 to 4 days!  And now, another snowfall.

It has not been as traumatic as the huge snowfalls over the mid-Atlantic states. But for the Deep South, it is a very unusual occurrence to have two snowfalls in one winter season.

And in a late entry, I heard on the CBS evening news that 49 of the 50 states in the USA had measureable snow on the ground today, all but Hawaii whose volcanoes on the Big Island had no snow.  Wow!

 

Part of my backyard on Friday morning.

The snow started falling very late Thursday night and continued until early afternoon, Friday (today).  Many schools announced closings Thursday night and the rest of them in central, south, and south-west Mississippi were added early this morning, as were the state  government offices.  So I had a SNOW DAY!!

The woods behind my house, looking pretty with the snow on all the branches.  But just at the right edge you can see a big pine branch over the back fence which dented the top rail.  That was the only damage my property received, thank goodness.

 

The trees across the street also looked pretty but in the lower right corner of this picture you can see another large pine branch which, I think, just missed the back porch roof of the currently vacant house across the street.

We only lost power for about an hour and a half this morning, but there are many across the state who are still without electricity.

We got about 5" (125mm) of wet snow in the south part of the city where I live, as you can see from the accumulation on two of our cars.  There was some sticking on the streets in our neighborhood but as I didn't get out and drive around, I don't know how impeded the streets and highways were.

 

My other across the street neighbor also has a bunch of pine trees in her front yard and lost several limbs, including at least two large ones on her driveway.  And yes, the grass in the yard to the left is that green.  It is winter rye.

 

 

But by mid afternoon, the snow had stopped and the sun came out.  I "plowed" and cleared off the cars before I took this picture about 4:30 pm.  Unlike back in December, it will probably be a couple of days before all the snow is melted since the overnight temperatures for the next week will be below freezing.

All in all, for us it was a pretty event as neither my wife nor I had to get out to go to work and our power was only out for a short time.  We stayed warm and dry inside the house and will be having Rostbraten and spaetzle for supper tonight - a "German" meal for a cold, snowy day!  Schuss, y'all!

A Rare Snow Day in Central Mississippi

Unlike our imagi-nations in Imagi-Europe, it rarely snows in my part of the deep South. But it did this morning thanks to a concantation of a slow moving low pressure system with a lot of precipitation and a fast moving cold front. Although we didn't get more than a dusting it was a pleasant surprise.
Here are two of our cars with about a 1/4" on their roofs and hoods. The white streaks are falling snowflakes.
And this is looking out from my front door about 30 minutes later as the snow fell heavier. But it stopped about 45 minutes after this picture and this afternoon it is clear, sunny, and cold, with no snow left on the ground. Pretty while it lasted without all the trouble caused by accumulation, messy roads, and days of slush left. I went through enough of that during German winters while I was in the Army.