Snowy Winters

What is more exciting to a child than finding a foot of snow on the ground on a school morning? Not a whole lot from what I can remember from my childhood. Staying home from school, building snowmen and snow forts, free falling backwards to make the perfect snow angel with no prints, and all out snowball wars with neighborhood kids, took place of teachers droning on over social studies. This is the normal winter I am used to in this area where I grew up. For the last few years all we have had is ice storms and power outages. Finally a real winter has returned, and it's everywhere!
Dallas' Fort Worth has received record snowfall. They have broken 3 of their own records for snowfall this winter. Having 15.7 inches of snow this season gives them the second snowiest winter on record. On Thursday they had 11.2 inches of snow giving them the most snow in a calender day. And their total snow measures 12.5 inches giving them their most snow in a 24 hour period. Ice and snow has taken down power lines, leaving 206,000 Oncor electric customers without power. A single customer usually having a whole family, means there is a lot more people living with no power. Along with downed trees and power lines, people are dealing with roofs collapsing under the unaccustomed weight of snow. They are also looking at more ice and freezing temperatures tonight.
As if the job market hasn't been bad enough, employment and lack thereof has been affected by the constant snow storms up in New York. People ready for hire have been postponed, and people who have jobs are filing for unemployment due to businesses closing. For businesses that are open, people getting to work is a challenge too great for many. Chief economist Stefane Marion originally was looking forward to an increase in jobs for February. Now he says an estimated 150,000 jobs could be temporarily lost due to the weather conditions. Retail, manufacturing, construction, and transportation have been hit the hardest. The situation in New York is being compared to a snowstorm from January of 1996 which left 4 feet of snow on the ground, and leaving 1.8 million people who had jobs, stuck at home unable to get there.
Apparently I am not the only one with nerves on edge awaiting the coming of Spring. In Lorain Ohio, A woman noticed a man with a snow blower clearing the driveway. She offered the man twenty dollars to clear her driveway as well. When the woman's boyfriend found out the man was paid that much, he confronted the man clearing the driveway. The boyfriend was furious about being "charged" twenty bucks. The other man argued that he didn't charge anything, the money was offered to him. The woman's boyfriend hit the other man with a snow shovel, breaking his arm in three places. It's definitely time for people to get some fresh spring air.
I also found this little article about a 9 year old a and 3 year old left home alone. The 3 year old was found by a neighbor wandering out in the snow wearing nothing but a shirt, no underwear or pants, and crying. Child Services were contacted, and police are investigating.