Winter continues to make residents flexible in order to survive
By Gene Kemmeter
Oh, the delights of winter. The 50-degree days in December. The lack of ice for fishermen. Now, in February, it’s snow that can’t seem to turn itself off, forcing school cancelations and businesses to close.
Last winter, 2017-18, was another recent season filled with unusual events. Spring arrived in March, bringing plans for the season. Then, the “Blizzard of Oz” struck during trivia weekend, dumping at least 14 inches of snow, creating hazardous travel conditions, curtailing portions of the contest and leaving many players stranded. That snow season hung around into May.
This year, the temperatures were ripe for snow, and ski hills throughout the countryside had success making snow. A few natural storms also made their way through the area, but they were one at a time. Then came February.
The groundhog failed to see its shadow on Feb. 2, bringing the prediction that spring would arrive in six weeks, raising some spirits. But Old Man Winter wasn’t about to give up easily. A little bit of a snowstorm here, another little bit of a snowstorm there, and the snow totals started piling up.
Sunday’s storm brought the total snowfall for February to more than 45 inches in Wausau, establishing a record for any month of the year. Plover recorded 7.7 inches of snow along with a half-inch of rain Sunday, bringing its total for the month to 37.9 inches of snow, with another 3 to 5 inches expected Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
That half-inch of rain made snow removal an exercise in futility Sunday and Monday. Streets and roadways turned into skating rinks, and the rough edges caused by plowing and traffic made motorists think they were driving on railroad tracks when they traveled on streets.
Most people in central Wisconsin agree that the snow can stop falling any time, and the sooner the better. Where are shovelers going to put any new snow that falls? Already, most snowbanks are so high that snow throwers can’t toss the snow over the top. Snow shovelers are having difficulty hoisting the snow above their shoulders as the piles grow higher.
Snowbanks along streets block vision triangles for motorists and make many streets one-way thoroughfares when cars are parked along the roadway. Snowplow drivers have been hampered by the frequency of the storms. They haven’t had enough time between storms to remove the piles of snow from boulevards and parking lots and take it to another location. And many cars don’t have antennas to motorists to put tennis balls on to make them visible.
Thankfully, the final day of February is Thursday, and then comes March. As of Tuesday, Feb. 26, weather forecasters said there appears to be a storm brewing for Friday, but conditions weren’t clear enough for them to predict what type of storm it would be and what the public could expect.
What will happen when temperatures finally warm up and another ice or rain storm strikes the area? With all the snow around, there could be a lot of flooding, with storm sewers blocked and natural drainage areas filled with ice.
If March does come in like a lion, the old proverb says it goes out like a lamb, nice and warm and cuddly. I’ll go along with that. Just don’t dump a lot of rain first.