The BLIZZARD of 2009

We've survived the BLIZZARD of 2009!! Wow. What a storm. In all my years of living in the Upper Midwest, I have to say that this was probably the worst, as far as snow goes. Our official total in Des Moines was 15.7". Here is a look at the statewide snowfall:

We broke the record snowfall for December 8th. That old record was 6" for that day. We did not break our all-time highest snowfall for the month of December. That was 17" on December 26th, 1888.

Now our average winter snowfall total is 36.2" in Des Moines. I really hope we don't go over that this winter. I will not be able to stand another super snowy winter like the winter of '07-'08. I'm going to pray that we just went through the worst storm of the winter... and that it will only be smaller storms from here on out. One can hope.

I worked through the storm. I had live shots in the snow during the noon show on Tuesday when the snow first began to fall and also during the 5 and 6 PM news just out of town at an interstate rest stop when the snow was coming down the hardest.

The drive back into town in the live truck was treacherous. Photographer Mike Borland was driving and we were sliding all over the place. It took us about an hour to get back to the station, for a usual 15 minute drive. Mike then drove me home for the night. I was not sure my Civic would make it through the snow that was piling up, especially along the residential roads. My co-workers, Jeriann and Brett, stayed overnight at the station and covered the morning show.

I woke up bright and early on Wednesday morning because the wind was howling. We were experiencing 50 mph wind gusts! The house was taking a beating. I showered and jumped in our Escape and headed back to work. The drive wasn't too bad. The residential streets were againt he worst. And if I had been in my Civic, I would have not made it out of the neighborhood.

Wednesday was the day that the winds really picked up and blew that snow around. Visibilities were horrible. I was able to stay in house on Wednesday. I did a lot of updating of the web, as tons of photos from viewers were pouring in. I was posting them online for others to see. Then for the 5 and 6 o'clock news, I shared a few of the viewers' pictures to those watching. The wind had died down by 6 and I was able to get back home again... in my Civic. (Thank you, snow plows).

All of this would not have been possible, if it weren't for our neighbor Dave Olson. Dave spent an entire hour snowblowing our driveway on Wednesday morning in falling snow and 50 mph wind gusts. When I left the house that morning, I didn't even recognize Dave. He had snow plastered to his face and eyebrows. Thank you, Dave. He even plowed a second time on Wednesday evening, so that I could pull into the driveway.

Unfortunatly, I got stuck in the street just outside the house!!! I had to call Chris to come out and push me. He couldn't do it, but luckily another car was driving down the street. The two people in that car jumped out and helped Chris push me... and I flew into the driveway. I was home!! You know I couldn't have made it through a blizzard without getting stuck at least once, right?

Here are pictures of the damage.... I didn't get any pictures during the storm because I was busy working. Sorry about that.

This is unexceptable for December. Sure... 2 or 3 inches... fine. But 15"??? NO!


Our buried reindeer. You can just barely see his head.


Our crushed bushes.

The forecast for the week ahead... NO MAJOR WINTER STORMS.