Side of the house covered in ice
I have made it safely through phase one of the January winter storm in Tulsa with nothing more than a little flickering from the lights. This is a far cry from the last bad ice storm here in December 2007 when the city was dark and damaged for weeks. What seems to have saved Tulsa so far is being prepared from the lessons learned in ‘07. As of this morning, the western part of Oklahoma took the hardest hit over night and there are over 69,700 still without power. My thoughts are with these folks that they are able to stay warm and sheltered as the storm continues.
Frozen branches outside the window
As we move into phase two of the storm, snow is due to be plentiful spilling somewhere around 3-6 inches on the ground. When I first moved here more than two and a half years ago, I found it almost humorous the way people reacted to inclement weather throughout the state. My Dakota roots have seen me through countless blizzards, feet of snow and ice, negative temperatures, etc. It’s second nature to me. What I understand now about Tulsa, is that the city is just not build for these sorts of conditions nor do the majority of people know how to drive in them. I am glad to see though, that they city is learning from the experiences of ‘07 and being prepared this time around and exercising caution. For all anybody knows with natural disaster after disaster around the world, this could be the new norm.
The snow is due to begin around noon here give or take an hour. I’m hoping for more fun and less destruction for everybody effected by the storm. Kids do love snow days! In the meantime, I will continue to err on the side of caution with my fireplace logs ready to go, and a small supply of food and water to see me through.
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Am so glad you didn’t lose power! It looks so pretty, it’s amazing something that can be so visually appealing can create so much havoc. We don’t get snow here at all (well, once last winter, but that was the first time in 17 years and it didn’t settle!), but occasionally it will snow in Christchurch a little bit. The same problem happens there, no one knows how to deal with it because it doesn’t happen that often. Whereas the further south you go the more snow you see and the better equipped people are when it happens.