The storm that defined all storms. The storm that swept through the DC Metropolitan area, wreaking havoc and frenzy as it ruthlessly unleashed two feet of snow and ice. The storm that saw thousands of people rushing to the supermarket to stock up in last minute supplies, enough to last three days of imprisonment. The storm that closed school for days, and of all weekends to discard enough snow for years, arrived just days before the Super Bowl. And we though the storm of 2009 was bad.
The blizzard may have started on Friday, but the storm truly began Thursday afternoon. Students were ecstatic as the news that all FCPS schools would be closed Friday circulated. After coming home, I made my way, like countless others, to the nearest grocery store. After stocking up on the essentials, I had to wait in line for over 45 minutes, a line that stretched to the ends of the aisles. After getting home, I fell asleep almost instantly, and when I woke up 11 hours later, it was a complete whiteout outside. My TV’s dish had been pummeled by the snow, and there was no longer any reception. However, that feeling of no school and the hysteria surrounding the blizzard maintained my hype.
At first, it was excitement I felt, watching the incessant flurries drift to the frozen ground and slowly accumulate. Then, school was cancelled, and my excitement progressed. However, after about the fourth hour of cleaning my driveway, all excitement was expelled and replaced by anger and exhaustion. Using my shovel to carve a rudimentary chair out of the six foot pile of snow lining the driveway, I looked around me and realized that before I had started shoveling my way out of the mountain of snow situated in front of my house, the pile had been about a third of my height. We were snowed in. Never had I experienced a blizzard this brutal.
By Vipin Reddy
