Live blogging Blizzard of ought five

Just finished clearing the driveway for the second time since the storm began. Snow totals for last night were about 7" at 11:30 pm. An additional 9-10" this morning for a total of about 17", although it is tough to measure with all the drifting... the driveway seems to have much less than the surrounding areas (which I have no desire to measure).

It is still less windy than when we first got up this morning. Snow is still falling roughly vertically. However, you can still hear the wind above the treetops, so maybe the trees are acting as a wind-break, protecting us below from the stronger winds.

There were a few other brave souls out in my neighborhood clearing their driveways. I could see next door and across the street, but could only hear the others.

Update 10:30 am ET: Here are some images from front and back.



You can see the snow is more than half way up the mailbox post at the end of our driveway. That object in the back is our gas grill and the other in the foreground is the picnic table which has about 2 feet of snow on it since I never bothered to clear it from the last storm earlier in the week (4-5") when I was in Phoenix, where it was 79F and sunny (near record high) and thoughts of snow were far from my mind.

Update 12:00 pm ET: The sun seems to be peeking through. Can't tell if it is still snowing or just fallen blowing around. Think that the worst may be over.

Update 12:10 pm ET: Less than 2" additional accumulation in the driveway since I cleared it at 9:30 am ET. Think I'll go out after lunch and finish the job. Also will to do the neighbor's driveway as they are away for the weekend. Gosh, I'm such a nice guy:-)

Update 1:00 pm ET: Finished the driveway and sidewalk. Still have to do something about the walkway up to the front door... I'll have to do that by hand (steps preclude use of the snow blower) so it'll have to wait until I thaw out. The snow is quite light and fluffy because of the cold, so shouldn't be that difficult. It's just damned cold out there (+14F).

My neighbor across the street conscripted one of his sons to do my neighbor's driveway, so I'm off the hook. I'm still a nice guy for thinking of it:-)

The snow has started again, pretty steady now, and the sun is no longer poking through the haze. Visibility is much better now. I can see through to the other street behind us. Wish that I hadn't been fooled by the lull in the storm. Will probably have to get out there once more before it's all over.

Update 3:00 pm ET: Storm is over. Sun is out and skies are partly blue. Not much more in the way of accumulation. Total about 19-20" which is the low-end of what they had predicted. For once, the weather geeks were right on the money.

Now for some football!

Oh, and my wife reminds me I still have to clear the front walkway. Sigh.

Final update 3:45 pm ET: Okay, I cleared the front and back walkway and deck. The snow drift at the bottom of the stairs of our deck was easily 30", possibly more. Definitely thigh-height. The front was not as bad. I guess we'll have to wait for the evening news and tomorrow's papers for the media to pronounce this as equal or worse than the Blizzard of '78. From here, and my memory of the event, I'd have to say no. However, Boston and the south shore were supposed to get hit much harder than those of us in central Mass. We'll see.