Another Nor'easter

Yes, another one.

Those of us living in the Northeast are kind of rolling our eyes now, a bit tired of this routine just lately.

Why?

Well, because this is the third Nor'easter in the span of ten days for us now, and the last one did some serious damage. Up in northern New Jersey, where my son and my parents live, in Bloomingdale and in West Milford, the snow totals, as well as the wind, were both quite significant. In fact, not only did they get pounded by about two feet of snow, but my son and his mom lost power, and it was supposed to last several day. It did not, but many people were without power for several days.

The storm did some damage elsewhere, as well. From what I understand, parts of I-287 were closed for the night, and cars got stuck. It was not moving, and it became a de facto parking lot. Nobody moved for hours, and some had to sleep the night in their cars.

Yes, it was that bad.

Even my home town of Hillsborough, pretty far south of either Bloomingdale or West Milford, nevertheless saw parts that got hit with 19 inches, even though some neighboring towns did not even get half of that. Manville got roughly nine inches, while Somerville did not even get seven inches.

So, it was a strange storm, but it did more damage than most.

Now, we are expecting another one.

To be fair, this one is supposed to be the mildest of the bunch, and most of us are certainly hoping so. After all, it is March, and this is usually the time of the year when you kind of expect to see some springlike days, even though it has felt more like winter than it had in quite some time.

Indeed, this has been an odd winter season. I say that, because in the beginning, at the very tale end of the late fall and into the early winter, it appeared like this might be a killer season. We had several snowstorms with measurable snow, and we also had some seriously frigid days, with record cold temperatures. We did not seem to go more than three or four days without one of those kinds of measurable snowstorms, for that matter. One plus was that we had our first white Christmas in a long, long time. I think the last time that I had seen one was all the way back when I was a kid!

Then, there was a surprisingly long lull. At some point in January, the weather suddenly calmed down, and there really were no significant snowfalls, or ice storms, or much of anything. There were a couple, but no major ones, and this quiet time stretched on from just days into weeks, and then into a month, then two.

Now, it had been roughly two months without anything major, and then suddenly, we have a return to a more serious winter, just as we were expecting the arrival of spring. Many were hoping that we would get away with a quiet, mild winter (although on some level, I understood that mild winters are not supposed to be the norm, and might not be a good sign in terms of confirming climate change), but those hopes have been dashed as we have had to deal with some more serious winter storms and the inconveniences that they bring on, all within the last couple of weeks.

So, let's see how this one goes. Let's get through this one, and then see what is on the horizon, if there is possibly still yet another storm looming near.

In the meantime, for those of you living in the northeast, just be careful and be safe. 

It might be hard to believe now, but spring really is just about here!