Employees for the Girard School District, which is west of Erie, Pa., had the task of cleaning snow off of school buses following the Thanksgiving snowstorm. Greg Wohlforde/Erie Times News via goerie.com
When we unloaded the POD that traveled from Painesville Township, Ohio to Round Rock, Texas–a 1,400-mile journey–in July 2011, we had a unique tool that caught the attention of one of our neighbors, Ken.
“Is that a snow shovel?” Ken asked in his classic central Texas drawl. “You aren’t going to need that.”
Ironically, we had a brief cool down in winter 2011-12 that had sleet-like precipitation falling. Ken asked for the shovel to clear his sidewalk and driveway.
That account is recalled because snow and cold has been quite the theme in Western New York–and even at Cedarville University (CU) in southwest Ohio–this winter.
Snow started falling around Thanksgiving. Southern Chautauqua County–the first county in Western New York State traveling east off of Interstates 90 and 86–had about a foot of snow. Erie, Pa., about 50 minutes to the west, received about 3 feet, similar to locations in WNY near 1-90 headed toward Buffalo, N.Y., about 75 minutes to the north.
Over those four weeks headed to Christmas, we received 30 inches in Lakewood, N.Y. By New Year’s Eve, all of the snow melted, only for the snow to resume. At this writing, we have another 15 inches of snow.
Recent WNY winters have been milder, with locals wondering when God would deliver a wake-up call: “You do know you live in snow country, right?”
What has made this winter brutal already is the cold. We have had a cold snap that set in in the past 7-10 days. I have experienced cold temps, however, 3-5 days later there’s a break and it gets warmer. Maybe it’s harder because I’m older, but I’m done with winter 2024-25. And I’m not alone.
Dear Southern friends, now you know why folks escape to Florida, the Carolinas, or elsewhere. We need to see the sun and get warm.
On Dec, 2, my daughter, Olivia, left in heavy snow showers from her Thanksgiving break with her ride back to CU. They returned to CU about 26 miles east of Dayton, Ohio, traveling south and west to get past the snow mess in Erie. A normal 4-5 hour drive became 6 hours.
Upon returning to CU after Christmas one week ago, Cedarville leadership opened dorms earlier and encouraged students to get back to campus because a snowstorm would hit southwest Ohio toward Columbus late Sunday afternoon, January 5. Olivia’s ride had to leave earlier anyway because of a class schedule for one of the other girls on her ride back.
She arrived on campus at 3 p.m., one hour before snow started falling. The campus received 4-6 inches of snow, which for this area of Ohio is the equivalent of Snowpocalypse. It received a little more snow Friday afternoon into Saturday.
I’ve witnessed the Blizzard of 1977, and countless other blizzards and snowstorms in Western New York and Northeast Ohio. As a Liberty University alum, my freshman year, Lynchburg, VA had two major snowstorms of more than one foot after returning from Christmas break. As someone who grew up dealing with snow, it was comical watching them deal with that volume of snow.
It snowed in January 2011 in central Texas–less than one inch of snow–prior to my family’s official move there in summer 2011. The Austin area dumped sand at intersections for tires to get traction.
It snowed a couple of times when we lived in South Carolina. That as well became a scenario of: “God, would you please melt the snow with sun and higher temperatures?”
I was the only person in our section of the subdivision where we lived who had a snow shovel.
I also like to remind Southern friends that Jesus Christ washes our sins whiter than snow, not sand on a beach. There’s a vast difference.
Many apologies to my Southern friends, but they just don’t know how to handle snow.
It’s that simple.
People in snow country can’t wait to see the sun that generates warm temperatures.
But we at least have shovels, snow blowers, and plows when the winter weather crisis happens.
