Добро пожаловать в Сибирь!

Afternoon of 08 February 2013

Dobro pozhalovatʹ v Sibirʹ!
(Greetings from Siberia!)

Well, it just looks kinda like Siberia, actually it's Rhode Island. During the start of the Blizzard of 2013. The picture above was taken at about 1800 local (that's 6:00 PM for you civilian types, for you non-Air Force military types, Mickey's big hand is on the 12 and his little hand is on the six.)

I did say that this is the "start" of the blizzard. Yup, the weather guessers say it's going to get worse. You see, the winds are just starting to pick up and according to Wikipedia (конечно):

A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds of at least 56 km/h (35 mph) and low temperatures lasting for a prolonged period of time — typically three hours or more. A severe blizzard has winds over 72 km/h (45 mph), near zero visibility, and temperatures of −12 °C (10 °F) or lower. Technically, the difference between a blizzard and a snowstorm is not the amount of snow but the strength of the wind.

We're not there yet, wind speed is "only" about 24 mph right now.  The worst of the storm will be between now and tomorrow morning. We could see snowfall rates of 1 to 3 inches an hour. Yes, an hour. Trust me, that is a crap ton of snow. (I'm not sure exactly how much a "crap ton" is, but the Nuke assures me that it's a lot. And she's in Navy Nuclear Propulsion, they know these things.)

Just one more photo to give you an idea of the how the snow is falling:

Yessir, it's snowin' like a sumbitch out there!

Updates will follow. I hope...

Oh yeah, the Missus' flight out? Cancelled. She doesn't leave until Tuesday, the grandchildren are not amused!