February Fury!

February Fury means snow, wind and delays! And more snow! We were in south central Pennsylvania when the snow storm hit. Visiting family for 6 days with our daughter, Sara, Jake, and granddaughter Makenzie, we thought the trip would be uneventful except for visiting with family.

We thought the trip would be fun, and maybe a little chaotic. With visiting with 2 sets of family, we traveled 3 hours when arriving, another 3 hours to get to the next grandmother’s house, and 2 hours to the airport. What we didn’t know was that snow was expected as soon as we landed and would be part of our travel plans the whole trip, which extended into 3 more days, with travel delays at the airports.



We arrived at the Pittsburgh airport last Thursday. Snow was forecasted to start later that day. Since we are at the edge of the Appalachian Mountains, I knew we wanted to get through those hills and home to DuBois. After meeting a college friend for a quick lunch, we headed north for an hour, then east. An hour later, we were getting off the exit and heading towards the very small village of Sabula in Sandy Township. It’s been a long time since I saw the signs for villages and townships, but that is what makes up the countryside of Pennsylvania.



Passing by Sabula Lake brought back childhood memories of swimming and ice skating. Turning left off the road, we drove ½ mile up the hill to my childhood farm. Now sold, my parents still own a small corner where they live. There were snow covered fields. They hadn’t lacked for snow either this winter. We drove down the road that led to their driveway, past where my Grandma Ruth used to live. Another memory surfaced of sledding on the road, and only standing in the ditch when cars went by. What were we thinking?

We arrived home, and woke to a sunny day on Friday. The snow hadn’t reached us, and hadn’t started! (But it was on its way!) We drove to Cook’s Forest, to show Sara and Jake some of the scenery. By Friday evening, flurries started and by 11 pm, we had 4” of snow. The 1st round of the fury had started. We had 9” of snow by Saturday morning. Luckily, the roads cleared easily, and we had our family potluck.

By 2 pm, we were on our way to State College, and later on to Middletown.

The highways to State College were clear and the roads around State College were snow covered. They had received 12-15” of snow, but we were still able to tour Penn State, stopping at the Meats Lab where Tom worked while he was in college. We stopped at the Penn State Book Store so Sara and Jake could look for PSU sweatshirts and souvenirs.

As we headed southeast towards Middletown, the roads cleared again. We arrived after dark, but once again we didn’t run into snow covered roads until town. We were lucky, as the area had an accumulation of 12-18” of snow, and further south had up to 2’. Church was cancelled for Sunday morning, but our planned Open House with family and friends was still on. By noon, main roads were cleared, and we enjoyed seeing Tom’s aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends. Monday morning was sunny, and we visited with 2 family members who weren’t feeling well enough to be out the day before. Tom was also able to visit with Uncle Jake and Aunt Helen with Sara and Jake, but Makenzie was tired and I stayed at Tom’s mom’s place to get her ready for bed.



Later on Monday, Chicago was beginning to get the snow storm. The fury had started! By Tuesday morning, Chicago was closed down and all flights going through Chicago were cancelled. The snow hadn’t started in Pennsylvania, but Tom and my flight was cancelled until Wednesday morning. Sara, Jake and Makenzie were flying through Denver, and after an hour delay at the Baltimore airport, they were on their direct flight home.

By 3 pm, airports were reporting delays and cancellations at many major airports. Flurries started in the early evening, and by 10 pm, we had 4-5” of the fluffy wet snow laying on the cars and road. By morning, it was much more snow laying on the cars!



Tom and I had one cancellation after another. By Tuesday evening, our first change was cancelled until later Wed. We woke Wed to over another foot of snow, and another flight cancellation until Thursday. Wednesday was a blistery cold, windy day and by Thursday morning, flights were cancelled until Friday.



The February fury Snow Storm wrecked havoc up the entire eastern coast. Many major cities, Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York, as well as cities in Delaware and Massachusetts and New York, saw up to 2 feet of snow. Many cities saw record snowfalls for the month of February, as well as for the winter.

And the winter isn’t over yet. Another snow store, forecasted to bring another 6-12”, is to start next Monday in the East. This is one time I’m glad I live in the Midwest. Except for a dusting of snow, we have only had a total of 3-4” of snow since the day after we left, Nebraska hasn’t seen any snow since last Friday.

There was snow on the ground in 49 states on Friday. Hawaii was the holdout, thanks to an unusual combination of weather patterns that dusted the U.S., including Dallas, Atlanta, Georgia, and Florida, where hurricanes are more common than snowflakes. More than two-thirds of the nation's land mass had snow on the ground yesterday morning, and then it snowed ever so slightly in Florida. 49 states out of 50. Isn’t that amazing. And it could have been 50 out of 50 states, as there is usually snow on the top of Hawaii’s highest volcano, but not this year. Go figure!

But then, I wonder how long it will take for the snow that we have to melt? But I doubt it is going to take as long as the snow back East!

And I wonder about March Madness???