Snow Reaction

[kevin_standlee]

This morning, I looked out the front door and saw this.



There had been a forecast chance of snow, but it was not a large chance, and the snow level was expected to be higher than our valley floor. However, we did get a few millimeters of snow overnight.

I swept the porch and dealt with my morning routine, including refilling the bird feeder and tossing some loose birdseed on the ground. (The birds seemed to appreciate this, based on the crowd they formed once they noticed it.) At 9 AM, I attended a CanSMOF board meeting to discuss how SMOFCon 37¼ went. After lunch, I felt a wave of fatigue wash over me, and while there are some tasks that need doing, I decided that taking a nap was a better use of my time and went back to bed for a couple of hours.

Although it's cold here, once the sun came up, the temperature went back above freezing, and most of the snow melted. I suppose I should go pick up the last few days' accumulated mail while the sun still shines.

Comments

[debgeisler]

When you're not used to snow, any amount can throw off your stride.

Here, 4" is a "dusting." (We may get slammed by a Nor'easter on Wednesday. Because of the pandemic, it will not interfere with my students' final exams. One bright spot!) And I suspect Buffalo considers a foot to be "a dustin'." Heh.

[kevin_standlee]

The thing is that we get snow multiple times a year, and yet people seem to forget now to navigate it. This morning we had a similar tiny bit of snow before sunrise, and sure enough, there were traffic accidents. I heard over the scanner the local rescue service scrambling to the scene. They were calling for care flight (to airlift the victim to Reno) when I hear the chief say, "Care flight won't be able to fly in this weather. Concentrate on getting the victim backboarded and on the move." That's what they did.

Fernley is unfortunately in the wrong place and doesn't have a local hospital. The nearest hospitals are 30 miles east (Fallon) or west (Reno/Sparks) of here. The rescue units from North Lyon County put in a whole lot of miles transporting people to (mostly) Reno and then returning to base. But things could be worse. Tonopah is around 120 miles from the nearest hospital, after the funding ran out to keep the local rural hospital running. We've recommended that people concerned about this may want to take out travel insurance that would pay for medical airlift to Las Vegas. (Such insurance isn't that expensive; I'm considering buying it myself, as I for international trips.)