Icy start to winter follies

Even though we dodged the big one, it was still an icy weekend on the NCR.  A 1000 foot deep layer of frozen air hovered over us and all the rain passing through it wound up as ice on exposed surfaces.  Ironically, the ski areas were rained on all weekend as they are elevated above the thousand foot level.  Lake Placid and Whiteface mountain were in the balmy 40s all weekend while those of us in the valleys were stuck in the low 20s.  A two hour stop at the local mall on Saturday required a one hour defrost to get the ice off the windshield.  On Sunday, a weather emergency closed the stores and most of the roads except to emergency vehicles.  Today looks more normal, and many people will be doing last minute shopping until the stores close on Christmas Eve.  With the passing of the Solstice, today is officially longer than yesterday, and we are one day closer to spring.  That should keep me going through the worst of the weather this winter.