Crazy Weather

It all started yesterday. The wind was blowing snow around, but the basketball team flew out to the regional tournament on a commercial charter, so I figure it wasn't too bad. But then the principal called me after school to tell me that my new roommate (a long-term sub) was weathered in to Nome. The wind blew all night, picking up in intensity. By this morning, it was going 20-30 mph. The walk to school wasn't too bad once I got past our door. I was able to shove it open, only to be met by a chest-high wall of snow. I went back inside, put my snow pants and a hat on, and climbed up the wall of snow. Beyond that, it was just a matter of stepping in the right places. I felt silly for wearing snow pants when it was almost 20 degrees outside, but I didn't really feel like getting wet. Sun came up a couple of hours later and it was complete white-out conditions. We couldn't see much of anything out the windows. The wind continued to increase. I got wet going home for lunch. The wind was blowing the snow so hard I couldn't look up to see where I was going. I was just stumbling in the general direction of our building. The snow was just deep enough outside our door to cover the tops of my boots and get my jeans wet. It was ridiculous.

The principal came into my room in the middle of the afternoon. He told me to release my kids only to their parents. I was not allowed to let them go without a parent escort because of the weather. He made a school-wide announcement to that effect about an hour later and about 30 minutes after that, came in and made the announcement to my class. He was serious about it.

I left pretty soon after the final bell. That's when things got interesting. I was the first teacher to head out. I was glad I had my snow pants on because I was sinking in up to my waist before I even got close to our building. The wind was still blowing so hard that I couldn't breathe or look up. I got to our door and stopped. Snow was piled up chest deep against the door. There was no way I was going to be able to open the door. I stood there for a couple of minutes pondering my options. Option 1: Go back to school and wait for someone stronger than me to dig out the door. Option 2: Stand there in the wind and snow and wait for someone stronger than me to dig out the door. Option 3: Cry and wait for someone stronger than me to dig out the door. I went with option 1. About the time I got to the school, the special education teacher (who isn't stronger than me) was headed out the door with a snow shovel in hand. I went in and got another snow shovel and went back to our building to help. She got the door open enough to squeeze in. The way the wind was blowing, though, it wasn't going to stay clear for long. Anna, the teacher who lives next door to me, went outside and cleared our shared porch off. I think she chipped enough ice away that I can open that door now. It was blocked shut with ice. At least I have that as an exit option now. It's a little bit longer route to the school and is still going to be ridiculously deep, but the door opens. That's what we're going for right now.

I went down for a little while right after I got home to try to clear away a better path out that first door. I shoveled for about 20 minutes, but ran out of places to put the snow. It was pretty much hopeless. The height of the snow drift is now over my head and completely impassable. The wind is blowing over 30 mph with gusts of almost 50. Even if the wind dies down, I honestly don't know how I'm going to get to school tomorrow. One thing is for sure: I'm wearing my snow pants and I don't care how silly I look.