Thundersnow! (That's a Real Thing!)

We are in the midst of the sixth largest snow New York City has ever seen. We're fine, we're warm, we're dry, we're good. But it sure has been exciting! We're talking high winds, white-out conditions, even thundersnow. That's a real thing!

Through the magic of the 20 inches of snow we've gotten in the last 24 hours, coupled with wind gusts topping 50 mph, Eric's office is closed today. It's a second-day-after-Christmas miracle! I think it is Eric's first snow day ever (crazy Floridians), and we are pretty psyched to have an unexpected four-day weekend together. Because we are crazy people, we are going to bundle up and head out in this frigid weather (my sources tell me with the wind gusts, the "feels like" temp is between zero and NEGATIVE TEN degrees) to take some pictures. We went out yesterday for a bit, too. I told you we're crazy people.

I'll be back in the next couple of days (hopefully with all extremities accounted for and nothing lost to frostbite) to tell you about our Christmas (which was lovely) and share our blizzard pictures with you, but for now, here's a little taste of our last 24 hours...

This was the weather forecast on Weather.com as of yesterday at 5 p.m., when it had already been snowing since the morning:

It actually says "blizzard!"

During our walk around town yesterday (which we embarked on right as the blizzard conditions were really picking up), there were several moments when we just had to stand frozen in place, face to a wind so strong we could not walk into it, being pelted in the face by snow and ice. Good times.

Owww.

Achilles was thoroughly upset at the conditions when we took him outside for his evening walk last night. He took about two steps out the door, stopped on the spot and did his business, then turned right back around and begged us to let him back inside.

"Let me iiiiinnnn!"

By dinner time the snow was so heavy, we had barely any view left to be seen out our window.

On the left, our view on a normal night. On the right, our (lack of) view last night.

The coolest part of the whole thing was the thundersnow, which apparently is a "meteorological holy grail" (according to the Wall Street Journal) and something I did not even know existed until I saw lighting and heard thunder in the middle of this snowstorm. Eric and I both looked at each other all, "whaaaaaat?" and then I googled. THUNDERSNOW! Love the name. It sounds like something out of a ridiculous sci-fi movie/disaster film, like Mega Shark or some such thing. Awesomeness. And, we captured it on video!

VIDEO: Thundersnow!

Our main source of entertainment last night was watching the poor cabbies who got stuck in the snow on our street. We watched many get rescued (one even ended up on the sidewalk!), and spent a long while watching a guy dig his snowed-in car out across the street. He finally had some help from a snow plow and was freed. Oh, how we cheered! People helping people. That's good stuff.

Pushing a cab out of the intersection

See that cab next to the building? Yeah, it's on the sidewalk.

When we went to bed, we had over 10 inches of snow. We woke up to an estimate of 20 total inches.

People were digging cars out left and right. I guess this one is still waiting its turn.

We even saw a man skiing down our street.

Not a bad transportation option, to be honest.

Achilles was still rather disgruntled about the whole thing, and the poor pup even got so cold in just the few minutes we were outside this morning that I unzipped my jacket and pulled him in there with me.

His face just says it all.

Trying to warm the poor guy up inside my coat!

Of course, the blizzard isn't fun and games for everyone. Some of the most notable stories that made me say "oh noooooo, that would be SO. AWFUL." include the 250 passengers stuck on a Virgin Atlantic flight on the tarmac at JFK for 4.5 hours. One passenger live-tweeted the whole thing. The flight got snowed in out there, and by then the airport had closed and there were no open gates, and then when they finally did get back to the airport, there was no way out to a hotel and no food. So awful.

There also is the story of the passengers stuck on the A subway train near JFK airport for nearly 11 hours. All I can say is, God bless those people. I don't know how I would have made it.

So, that has been our last couple of days. Now Eric and I are leaving to venture out into the madness. Wish us luck!