Weather

[talon]

I usually only listen to the weather forecasters when their predictions align with mine.

Sadly, tomorrow's weather aligns with my own predictions.

I'm not seeing a foot of snow coming in, but there will be ice, snow, and frigid temperatures. I can smell it in the air and see it in the birds' frenetic activities. The wind is coming in lightly from the northwest right now, but already I see signs of it shifting to a more northerly origin point. This can change as the conditions change, but right now, I'm seeing only about 4" - 6" of snow on top of a thin layer of ice.

I hate driving on ice and in snow, particularly with the car I'm now driving. It can't handle snow deeper than 4". If I had the use of both hands and full strength in them, I could probably wrest it through 6" of snow. More than that, the car is simply incapable despite my best efforts.

It can't climb the hills, it can't ford the snow drifts.

This is the only reason I hate being "essential personnel" - that I am required to get to work regardless of the weather conditions and safety to life and limb.

Here's hoping I luck out again and no one crashes into me. I have enough confidence in my skill to not be the one crashing into someone else, but I seriously lack that confidence in other drivers especially in bad weather. If they can crash out of sheer carelessness and supreme ego ("red lights don't apply to me, I'm in a hurry", "stop sign, what stop sign?", Me first! I get to go first!", "It's OK to cut in line in heavy traffic, because I'm important and I matter more than that schlub obeying the traffic laws", "Oops, I'm in the wrong lane for that left turn, those other cars will stop as I cut across three lanes of rush hour traffic and turn against the light because I'm special and important and they're just dummies in cars.") on a dry, brightly lit day with the sun positioned so it doesn't glare in their eyes, I can place no confidence in their care during bad weather.

On ice and snow, I hate all other drivers with a passion reserved for driving hot metal splinters under my fingernails.

Sadly, I will have to bank my passion, grit my teeth, and hope I make it to work and home again un-dented and un-broken. That's pretty much the best I can hope for.