Wind day

I just can't bring myself to call this a snow day, even though the kids are home from school.

The end of the world - or at least our region - was forecast for today. We supposedly were going to be obliterated between yesterday and today by the "most significant snow event of the season," "a weather system comparable to the great blizzard of 2007 that buried the Northland." Twelve to 18 inches of snow - that's what the various weather experts predicted would fall and then be blown around by gale force winds.

The winds started picking up yesterday afternoon. At 1 p.m. yesterday the Cloquet school district (which Sydney's daycare copies for weather closings) announced it would close today because of the storm. By evening, after picking up the kids after work, the drive home was nasty.

The kids and I hunkered down for the night, wondering if Jeff would be able to make it home from work in the morning. The lights flickered a couple times and the satellite went down once, and I prayed we wouldn't lose power. A little before 9 p.m., AJ's school announced it too would close because of the blizzard conditions.

And then an odd thing happened. Only half a blizzard struck. We certainly got the wind. It's still howling outside. But no real snow fell. Here's a look at our backyard this morning:

Any non-packed down snow blew up against the back step, giving Maggie a mound to plow through on her way out the door. Interestingly, those footprints of hers were pretty much filled back in by blowing snow by the next time she went outside. But overall, I think we actually lost snow because what we had has blown away.

That was a bonus for Maggie who suddenly was able to find some of her long lost toys and treats that have been buried under the snow the last few months.

AJ seemed a bit confused looking out the sliding door this morning. He certainly didn't mind that we hadn't been buried in snow. He finally looked down at the small white drift of snow below the step. "If that was ice cream I'd eat it all up!"