Jef’s posted some video shot during the middle of the storm.  Striking in its serenity:

The lack of excitement might disappoint the PDD family — what with the sense that we came of age during our crack coverage of Plowgate 2007 — but having walked/driven/ridden/sledded much of the city since the blizzard of ‘09 hit, I’m generally very impressed with the response.

With a little help from my friend.

Jef’s been slipping and sliding and snow-blogging like crazy.

A DC cop pulls a gun on snowball fight:

Today it’s supposed to hit 90 for the first time in 385 days–that’s over a year, people!!–and there’s a heat advisory in effect for Providence County from 2-6 this afternoon. To celebrate, here’s my favorite heat-themed disco song.  Actually, it might even be my favorite disco song.  Or maybe just my favorite song.  (Is there a song that’s better than this song?  I can’t think of one.)

I was eyeing rainboots at Berk’s and Spectrum-India the other night, but then I thought, would I really wear these, even if they have little skulls and crossbones on them?, and walked away.  What a dummy.  Now, with this crappy weather streak, I’m soaked from toes to bum for walking a measly 3 blocks downtown earlier this morning, and even borrowing a hairdryer from a (strangely prepared) co-worker hasn’t alleviated my misery.  Another colleague is trapped in flooded Warren and is snapping cell phone photos of cars and homes flooded up to their doors.  Bottom line: if you must be out and about today, a full-body poncho wouldn’t be a bad idea.  Or maybe an ark.

Another rain delay for the First Light party originally scheduled for tonight, Wednesday, at the Margaret M. Jacoby Observatory on the Knight Campus of CCRI. They will try again on June 17th.  Meanwhile Triangle Forest (with frontman and observatory director Professor Britton) are scheduled to play the Providence Art Festival this coming Saturday the 13th . . . weather permitting I suppose. Jeez Louise this rain thing is getting old. Click here to see what the night sky would look like this week if we could maybe actually ever see it. (More on TF in the latest Phoenix in a piece about the electronic music scene.)

… to survive a hurricane in downtown Providence. Or just walk up the damn hill. Today kicks off the 2009 hurricane season. The names this year are as follows: Ana, Bill, Claudette, Danny, Erika, Fred, Grace, Henri, Ida, Joaquin, Kate, Larry, Mindy, Nicholas, Odette, Peter, Rose, Sam, Teresa, Victor, Wanda.

Don’t forget the first rule of emergency preparedness — when in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.

Well, we taunted Old Man Winter with our “I Hate Winter” sangria party last week and look where it got us. There’s a whole goddamn foot of snow out there and no one’s at work or school including myself who couldn’t get to work at the school. I am so glad I borrowed the Twin Peaks box set yesterday, now if I can only make it to the liquor store. Anyways, be careful if you’re going out in this shit, leave work early if you can, and if you’re home stay nice and warm.

At a meeting in the Roosevelt Room with business leaders to discuss the economy, President Obama asked to make an unrelated comment — on the weather.

Asked if he was calling Washingtonians wimps, Obama responded: “I’m saying that when it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don’t seem to be able to handle things.”

“My children’s school was canceled today, because of what? Some ice,” Obama said, and all at the table started laughing.

“As my children pointed out, in Chicago school is never canceled,” he continued. He said that in their old hometown, “you’d go outside for recess in weather like this. You wouldn’t even stay indoors.”

The President said he would have to bring “some flinty Chicago toughness” to Washington.

No school in Cranston today.  Or Warwick.  Or North Providence or Lincoln or Providence.  And there’s not even any snow for the kids to be playing in.  Peter Nero, who is now Cranston’s Assistant Superintendant of Schools but who went by Vice Principal Nero back when I was a lad, told the ProJo that the two to four inch forecast and cold temperatures were enough to make everyone “a little paranoid.”  And the paranoia may continue!

Nero said no decision had been made about holding school tomorrow.

“We’ll get criticized either way,” he said.

Apparently this is something everybody knows already, but I didn’t realize it until my fourteen-year old cousin changed her Facebook status to say that she was bored, which normally she doesn’t do until later in the afternoon.

Unrelatedly, if you happen to brave the non-blizzard today and see any frozen Daily Dose writers around, could you please thaw them out and sit them down in front of a computer?  I’m lonely!

A couple weeks after Matthew’s post, snow is again predicted for the Providence area. A good 4-8 inches, according to Weather Underground (’bout time! It’s nearly January, and the light coat I brushed off my car this morning hardly qualifies).

Except I haven’t heard anyone writing out their last will and testament yet or lining up every fatigue-clad Rhode Islander on local news channels with parking and driving rules (part of this may be that I haven’t turned on the news yet today).  Are we unprepared or just trying to play it cool this time around?  Well, either way, I’m making an angel.

(Photo: unearthing my car from a freak April storm a few years ago in Gloucester, MA)

Perfectly preserved pile cut away on top of garbage can on north side of house. Each inch a throb in my back.

While some of the incomplete plowing on the South Side probably resulted from the hard pack that accumulates almost immediately in places where people are the workers and not the bosses, it was pretty lame compared to how many itsy bitsy East Side streets were already clear and dry tonight. The South Side probably sees more traffic in a day than those neighborhoods see in a month. I hope those East Side folks are contributing as much to the local economy to justify their clean streets.

Regardless, kudos to all the people in Elmwood who did their part and kept the streets clear for the plows. I had a welling of South Side pride, with all but the abandoned house (owner went to prison for trying to have his wife killed) having clear sidewalks. This was a goodly amount of snow to move.

The biggest plus was being able to chat with the counter staff on what normally would have been a crazy-packed Sunday at the Liberty Elm.

So, tomorrow it’s going to snow.  Global warming’s given us some pretty mild winters the last couple of years, and apparently that one storm last year still has everybody’s panties bunched.

If you get the City’s weekly propaganda about how awesome David Cicilline is e-newsletter, you probably just saw this:

Mayor Cicilline & Providence E.M.A. Urge Residents to Avoid Driving Before and During Tomorrow’s Expected Storm

In preparation for a significant snowfall on Friday, Mayor David N. Cicilline and the Providence Emergency Management Agency are asking residents to avoid driving tomorrow after 12 noon and are recommending that employers make plans to minimize the number of employees commuting to and from work during these hours. Weather experts predict that heavy snow will arrive around noon and accumulate at a rate of one to two inches per hour.

It also goes on to remind you that your children shouldn’t play in snowbanks made by plows, which they may be wont to do since they’ve already cancelled school for tomorrow.  And there’s a parking ban starting at 9 AM, even though the snow’s not even coming until noon.  Employers are urged to let people work at home, and to stagger dismissal of employees.

Not to be a cranky old coot about this, but OH MY GOD PEOPLE IT IS A SNOWSTORM AND YOU LIVE IN A PART OF THE COUNTRY THAT HAS SNOWSTORMS.  FIGURE IT OUT.  I MEAN REALLY.

According to the Weather Underground, it could be as little as four inches in the end, with weather.com saying it will be six to twelve.  I’m not saying it might not be big, but I’m saying if all that happens for four inches of snow I’m going to be very annoyed.

Happy Thanksgiving sucka.

Music by Cheryl Wheeler