SNOWMAGGEDON 2010!!!

I woke up around 7AM, and the room was still bright white.

Though the sun was barely peeking through the clouds, a soft glow filled my room, my heart, and my mind. Turning on the TV revealed a shocking picture; the snow wasn't that bad, SEPTA was still running, and life still went on. The end wasn't here... yet. The main caution from the stations was that, although things didn't seem that bad at the moment, they were going to get worse, much much worse.

Around 7:30 I went out to start shoveling. Now, for some people, this is a pain and something they despise. For me, its a joy and a treat. The snow for the past few years has been light, fluffy, and easy to move. Even the 28 inches that fell this past weekend was nothing to me, almost the same as if it was 5 inches of heavy snow.

You can only imagine how frustrating it was to realize that the 8 inches that had fallen last night was now heavy snow with slush on the bottom. Each load felt like pushing around two feet of the white stuff, nearly 20 pounds per shovel lift! To make matters worse, the shovel itself was starting to fall apart and the day had barely begun. After about 10 minutes the short sidewalk and stairs to my house were done. The other two houses I had to do were still ahead.

It was around 11AM that I had stopped shoveling anything and everything I needed to do while the storm was in a brief lull. During this time, the snow had stopped and turn to sleet, promising to turn back to a heavy snowfall.

This is where my troubles began.

As the snow began to fall and the winds began picking up speed, a fear came across my eyes! The snow began to pile up quickly, growing as high as 1.5" an hour! Howling winds at 35 mph threatened to destroy the overburdened branches in the area. Sitting in my house, the sound of large amounts of snow falling made me worry about where they were coming from and why. Report of roofs in the city collapsing under the immense girth of both this storm made me worry about my neighbors with flat roofs. Some trees fell to the forces.

As night falls, the sky is filled with an eerie orange glow. The howling winds are still going on, and cabin fever is coming over the entire Northeast. Power is out for over 50,000 PECO customers, and things aren't going to end anytime soon.

Yet, on a plus side, they are calling for sun everyday through Monday. Hope is on the way.