Jen Jeffrey: Hey Chattanooga, We Got Your Snow!

For the 30 years I lived in Chattanooga, I believe I could count the number of times I saw snow on one hand. The snow of 1993 (which Chattanoogans referred to as the Blizzard of ‘93) and in 2010 and 2011 and maybe there was one more time, but the point is – Chattanooga hardly gets snow.

Now that I am in Kentucky, I feel like winter is ‘normal’ again. When you are a kid, whatever you grow up around is normal for you and I was used to Kentucky snows. The year that I lived in Minnesota as a kid, I saw a little more snow.

And when I moved to Chattanooga as a teenager I wondered, “Why did it stop snowing in the winter?”

By the time the ’93 Blizzard rolled around I was an adult listening to the hype on the news about a ‘blizzard coming’. I remembered in Minnesota standing next to snow drifts that were over my eight-year-old head. I was imagining that a blizzard had to be much worse than that! It was a good snow that year, but I would not have called it a ‘blizzard’.

I was so happy that my boys would finally get to play in the snow – something I felt every kid should get to experience during winter. Chattanooga didn’t plan much for snow, because they never saw it.

Just in the last few years Chattanooga has seen snow more often than I had witnessed over all the years I lived there – and we made national news because of how ‘the south panics when it snows’.

A seasoned Chattanoogan by this time, I understood why there was panic. Parents needed to pick their kids up from school because several people have to take hilly roads or back roads that a salt truck may not have gotten to. The city hasn’t invested a lot in snow plows because we would hardly ever see the white stuff.

Now, living in my birthplace of Murray, Ky., and not far from Nashville, I wondered if I would see snow this year or if we would have the same weather pattern as Chattanooga. My family moved from Murray when I was two, so the Kentucky winters I remembered were when I lived in Lexington and Frankfort and we usually saw snow.

This weekend, I had pain in my knee and had to ice it and wear my knee brace. I haven’t had a flare up in a couple of years and since I haven’t been as physically active I just chalked it up to old age. That is, until I read an article David Carroll wrote on his website, “Chattanooga Radio and TV.”

David is such a great story teller and I love his humor. I felt he just might have something with his idea that his wife was his own ‘weather radio’. Each time bad weather is on its way, she has a headache. He wrote about her not only having a headache, but her toes and knees were aching too! He had my attention because I had knee pain and my toes were also hurting. I have arthritis and when it is rainy, I realize my joints do ache more, but I never thought about my achy knee and toes as a storm predictor!

I also talked with my new friend Candra last week (who is selling the ranch to us) and she talked of preparing for the bad weather we were going to have this week. Sure enough, the news warned us of a winter storm coming. I believe it was thought that Chattanooga might see snow too, but many of my Chattanooga friends would tease, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

My friend Bill Race posted a picture on Facebook that needed no caption – it was a picture of milk and bread. That tickled my funny bone because Chattanooga is known for making “milk and bread sandwiches” when it snows. Okay…that is just the running joke because the whole city flocks to the grocery store and clears out the milk and bread isle when bad weather is predicted.

We had already had a pretty October snow this year, but it wasn’t a lot and melted that day. As forecasts declared a winter storm, I wondered if Murray would be the same as Chattanooga and we would not see much snow, but the way my knee and toes were hurting, I was just convinced we were going to get a bonafide snow when we woke up on Monday.

I love snow, but this was not a good time for us to be snowed in. I am sure a lot of people have their agendas and feel it isn’t a good time, but we were having sewer problems to the point where we need to call someone to come out here on Monday morning.

I was horrified thinking I may have to ‘go’ outside in the woods (or have to use the kitties’ litterbox)! Jason had some sort of acid stuff to pour down the drains in the showers and toilets and the rest of the evening we watched over our problem which slowly drained back out, but still we could not run the washer or dishwasher and I was starting to feel ‘crowded’ with sorted laundry piled in the laundry room that I was in the middle of washing, and dishes in the dishwasher that I had to turn off.

Since we could use the upstairs bathrooms without a problem, I wasn’t as worried if we got snowed in and the world had to stop for a day. I could barely sleep for the anticipation! I listened for the snow, but fell asleep. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a little snow covering the back patio.

When we woke up about 6 a.m., our house was filled with a bright blue hue and we knew the outside was blanketed in white! We probably had four inches of snow and it was still snowing. Jason put the Greys coats on and they went for a very quick walk. After Jason sent a memo to his staff at work, I made him a special ‘glad you get to stay home today’ breakfast.

We watched the snow coming down harder and while Jason worked in his office, I would go outside periodically to take pictures of the winter wonderland! The snow kept coming and the wind was blowing. I could only stay out in it for about 15 minutes at a time before my fingers were numb and stinging as I took pictures. Around lunchtime, I measured the snow and we had eight inches and it was still coming down.

I waited as the snow poured down all day to be able to start building a snowman. When it finally stopped late in the afternoon, I leaped outside to make my snowman! But when I tried to form a snowball – it was too powdery and dry. All that snow in the yard and after waiting all those hours, but I did NOT get to build my snowman! I was bummed.

Feeling antsy, I decided to go to the ranch and check on the horses in their stalls, but couldn’t get out. After scraping off ice and snow from my Jeep. I couldn’t see the path of our very long driveway and as I tried to back out I ended up in the yard. I got stuck and Jason had to push my Jeep out of the yard. When I tried to head back down the drive my tires spun in place. Jason said, “We just need to park.”

It seems the whole city of Murray and Calloway County was forced to take the day off and possibly the next day too. Though I like to be busy and I don’t like feeling stuck, if I must be confined somewhere I couldn’t be in a better place! The snow was beautiful and magical over our farm and Jason and I enjoyed an extra day off together.

On Facebook, my Chattanooga friends were a little disappointed that they didn’t get snow. I think most of my friends feel like me – if we have to have cold weather and there is a call for snow – we like it to be productive.

I’m sorry that the snow passed you by Chattanooga - don’t eat too many milk and bread sandwiches.

jen@jenjeffrey.com

For video of the Murray snow, click here.