Eugene Digs Out of Crippling Snow Storm

If you you've been reading this blog the last couple of day (here and here), you know that Thursday a severe blizzard struck Eugene, closing schools, unloosing chaos on our streets, and putting buses on snow routes.

On Friday, the snowfall subsided. Antarctic temperatures, however, slickened the roads and my place of employment was on a two hour delay. School didn't start until ten o'clock.

I decided today, Saturday, to go out in my neighborhood and examine the damage. At first, I thought it might be fun to wear snowshoes



or try out some cross-country skis, but conditions on the ground persuaded me otherwise:

It's been cold today as was yesterday. The temperatures have been near or below freezing. Today it was about 29 degrees when Snug and I went walking, so I thought I'd check out some of the local greenery, making sure it survived the storm. This rhody seems stronger than the blanket of snow weighing it down:


This rhody, in spite of being smaller, also seems robust and not too badly compromised:



The great thing about a snow storm is how children can go out and build snowmen. These pictures are taken from some front yards. The freezing temperatures have left these daunting figures intact, so you can see just how blanketed we were on Thursday:


Lastly, here are a couple of structures formed out of the snow in Monroe Park:





I think I can speak for all of Eugene when I say we don't want you to feel sorry for us. We are a city of survivors with a strong will to deal with adversity. We are grateful for the letters and emails of support we have received from around the country during this snow crisis.

With the long weekend and the weather forecast looking good, we are all hopeful that we will be up and running Tuesday and our city can get back to normal. Courage to us all.