This Snow Was Big, But What About Ground Hog Day 2011?

When you reach a certain age, and a notable event happens, say, an early February snow storm that dumps a little over a foot of snow on the area, you can't help but say something like, "You think this is something, you shoulda been here when..."

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Today, that sentence would be completed with, "the Ground Day Blizzard came through in 2011 and dumped two feet of snow everywhere."

Yes, this week's snow was a major event, and now the digging out process begins from the storm that, depending where you are, dumped around a foot of snow on northeast Missouri and western Illinois.

Speaking for myself, this weather event hasn't been so bad because the technology is in place for me to do most of what I do from the comfort of home.

That wasn't the case in 2011.

Back then, to do my job, I had to be on the premises. That meant leaving the house Monday morning and not returning home until Thursday afternoon.

That meant staying in a hotel Monday, staying in a different hotel Tuesday because I couldn't get across town to the first hotel, because I tried to get up the hill westbound on Broadway in the middle of a blizzard and made it about two blocks before getting stuck.

It took about a half dozen of us to get me unstuck Wednesday and get back to the first hotel.

Good times.

In 2011, 23 inches of snow was recorded at the Hannibal Filter Plant. As of Thursday morning, a mere 13 inches of the white stuff had fallen. A comparative drop in the bucket, but still plenty enough to bring life as we know it to a grinding halt.

And, as is so often the case, once the snow leaves about mid-morning Thursday, temperatures will take a nose dive, with lows in the single digits three of the next four nights, and highs not rising above freezing until Sunday.