Snovember

A November snowstorm in the Northeast?  Let's review:

Initial forecasts for snow on November 15, 2018 in the greater New York area called for one to three inches, turning to rain by 6 P.M. and washing the snow away.  No big deal.

Then forecasts called for two to four inches with the snow turning to rain at about 9 P.M.  Still, no big deal.  Just a winter weather advisory for my area.

Then on the appointed day of the snowfall, last-minute forecast changes upgraded the advisory to a winter storm warning - ironically, without warning - and more than six inches - nine inches in some parts of New Jersey - fell and fell fast.  And Governor Murphy in New Jersey and Mayor de Blasio in New York City are in trouble for being ill-prepared for a storm that wasn't supposed to be so bad and for preparing for what the forecasters originally told them?  This was comparable to cooking dinner for two guests and finding out that eight people are showing up for dinner half an hour before the main course is ready to take out of the oven. 

And I, meanwhile, had to shovel the snow myself rather than call someone to do it for me, which I hadn't done in time for the same reason public officials didn't take the storm - now being called a nor'easter - seriously:  The forecast had called for a manageable, negligible snowfall and then almost literally changed at the last minute, and it was too late to adapt.  I could no longer call the kid who clears our snow for us; it would have taken him forever to get to my house if I tried to call him at the last minute.

And the snow hasn't really washed away, because snow half a foot deep in sub-40-degree-Fahrenheit weather has a tendency to take its sweet time melting.  Besides, the rain we got turned back to snow in the end, and the roads were still covered with icy slush when the skies cleared.

Call this storm a November surprise.

At least our electricity didn't go out due to snow on leafy trees.