Thursday, April 5, 2007

April 5, 2007: Holy Thursday, Batman!

Well, that title sounds a little sacreligious, but I couldn't resist because when I got up this morning there was at least 16" of snow on the ground. And, in keeping with my "all the big snowstorms are on holidays" theme, today's snow is on Holy Thursday, a holy-day which is the root of holiday, and so I'm counting it as the next big storm in my Holiday Snowstorms of 2007.

The University isn't closed but they've delayed opening until noon. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem for me because I don't have classes or office hours on Thursday, but today I made 2 appointments with students since I didn't have office hours on Tuesday. I will really be testing the Town of Farmington . . . can they get the sidewalks plowed enough for me to get to the University before 1:00?

Here's the latest weather advisory:
NORTHERN FRANKLIN-CENTRAL SOMERSET-SOUTHERN FRANKLIN-SOUTHERN SOMERSET-INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...AVON...CARRABASSETT VALLEY...COBURN GORE ...DALLAS...DAVIS...EUSTIS...KINGFIELD...BINGHAM... FARMINGTON...WILTON...SKOWHEGAN...PITTSFIELD...MADISON...FAIRFIELD
554 AM EDT THU APR 5 2007
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 3 PM EDT THIS AFTERNOON ...A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 3 PM EDT THIS AFTERNOON. SNOW WILL CONTINUE WITH VARYING INTENSITY THROUGH THE MORNING HOURS... BEFORE TAPERING TO SNOW SHOWERS THIS AFTERNOON. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE BETWEEN 12 AND 18 INCHES...WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF FRANKLIN COUNTY. THE HEAVY WET SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO CAUSE TREES TO LEAN OVER...AND DOWNED TREE LIMBS. THIS COULD RESULT IN ISOLATED POWER OUTAGES. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL THIS MORNING...BE PREPARED FOR WINTER DRIVING CONDITIONS AND BE SURE TO LEAVE YOURSELF PLENTY OF EXTRA TIME TO REACH YOUR DESTINATION SAFELY. PLEASE REPORT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BY CALLING TOLL FREE ...1-877-633-6772 ...WHEN YOU CAN DO SO SAFELY. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...YOUR LOCAL MEDIA... OR GO TO WWW.WEATHER.GOV/GRAY FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON THIS WEATHER SITUATION.