Not quite sure what this winter will bring, but it sure is nice for this time of year. To our North along Lake Erie, lake effect snow came down fast over Thanksgiving week catching many Holiday travelers by surprise and leaving them stranded for hours while snow plows and salt trucks tried to clear the roads. With snow falling at the rate of 1-3 inches per hour it was a near impossible task, however crews were out doing their best and trying to help those who needed it.

Snow mixed with rain started coming down on Thanksgiving night, but really hit hard Friday through Sunday and was expected to last to the latter part of this past week. On Monday Lake-effect snow warnings were still in effect for Cleveland and north to Erie, Pennsylvania.

Over 30 million people were under winter weather alerts. Parts of New York received 6 feet of snow. Temperatures were 10-15 degrees below average over most of the Ohio Valley and the Mid-Atlantic and wind chills made it even worse with gusts up to 25 miles an hour. All of this happened on Thanksgiving weekend as a record number of 2.8 million people were returning home from traveling on the Holiday..

The Southeast wasn’t spared from the cold snap either as freeze warnings affected 3 million people across northern Florida and southern Georgia, with temperatures of around 33 degrees Fahrenheit well below the seasonal average.

Winter weather advisories covered an area from western North Carolina to western New York, and winter storm warnings extended farther than that, into New England. Around a quarter of an inch of ice was expected in the Roanoke Valley and cities and towns along interstate 81 ran a risk of icy conditions. Seems as if we got lucky as it was all around us, we had a sudden drop in temperatures but nothing we couldn’t deal with.

Hopefully that will be the big snow event of the winter and we won’t have to deal with it on these back hill country roads that are hard enough to maneuver on with all the truck traffic. The last major snowstorm to hit us was in 1993-94 when we got hammered with back to back snowstorms in December and January. Each piling up around 3 feet. We’ve had a few since but nothing like those two. Back in 1978 we also got hit hard as 3-4 feet of snow brought us to a standstill, schools were closed for several days and it was tough just to get to the store or to work.

Thirty years have gone by since we got blasted. It’s hard to tell how it would affect us now. With all the oil and gas wells and drilling going on we probably wouldn’t want to be out on the roadways, but more people have 4×4’s now and they will take you just about anywhere. Back in the 70’s when that storm hit you were lucky if you owned a front wheel drive vehicle. Today most vehicles are all-wheel drive or 4-wheel drive. Problem is some people think they will go places 4×4’s go and that’s not going to happen. I was traveling out to Hundred on Friday night after Thanksgiving and on the next to last hill before town I started sliding on black ice. I got off the road and soon found out my 4-wheel drive truck just won’t go on ice. It wasn’t long until a salt truck came by and I was soon on my way again.

I never worried much about the roads when I was younger, but now they seem to bother me some. It’s a good idea to not only winterize your vehicle, but to also carry emergency items in case you get stuck somewhere. Flashlights, full tank of gas, extra coat and gloves, hand warmer, and a cooler full of snacks and drinks. Stay on the side of precaution, you just never know. Better safe than sorry!