Snow Print From Space, Clean Up Time, Roads Still Slushy

What a once-in-a-lifetime (For the Gulf South) event yesterday that still has our region still 90% shut down.  Most main roads have been plowed, but not the neighborhood streets.  It's still difficult to get out and about and many businesses remain closed along with our Interstates. Trying to travel this afternoon is still discouraged by emergency managers.

Officially, this is now the 2nd heaviest snowfall in modern times dating back to 1895.  However, my ruler measured 10" with Chalmette 11.5" and Thibodaux 12" So the cleanup began in my yard this morning.  Remember yesterday?

Luckily I was able to get to my shed where I did have a square garden shovel.  Perhaps not as good as a snow shovel, but I was able to clean my drive & walk before the refreeze tonight.

Now it's off to the backyard to expand on Bailey's Pee/poop pen.  She's been so good, but she has to have grass to perform!

I left my ruler standing in the snow and yesterday it measured 10".  Here's the comparison to today.

That's down over 2".  So what caused that since temps were down in the 20s?  2 things. 1) Settling of the snow and 2) Sublimation, the process where the solid (snow/Ice) evaporates in very dry air.   Today's melting will cause it to shrink more.

At 7 AM my house was down to 22 degrees, which would have tied the record low.  MSY?  They stopped at 23. Aw C'mon, give us another record! What is really cool is to see the SNOWPRINT from Space.

It started west of Houston and hugged the Gulf Coast into the Carolinas.  Note, Shreveport & Monroe got no snow!

Even the NW Florida beaches turned white.  Note how the bays & rivers stand out!  Cities like Savannah, Charleston & Myrtle Beach got in on the "fun"!

Some high clouds are streaming across west Texas, but most of today will see all-day sunshine.  Still, at 11 AM most are below freezing.

Clearly, the core of the cold has now shifted back to our north & east, but the warm-up to our west is limited.  Arctic air is hard to move out.  We will again get below freezing tonight with both sides of the Lake needing to take full precautions.  I stopped dripping my water at 9 AM despite temps below 28.  Why?  Because once we're up and about, we're flushing toilets, washing clothes and the need to run water is no longer necessary.  Let's stop the dripping for this afternoon and wait until you go to sleep tonight to start dripping again.  Next post after 4 PM. Stay tuned!