storm of the century

It was this day, March the 12^th, thirty years
ago.

I was eighteen, taking first year classes at the local
community college. I worked part time at
Subway, but I didn’t have to go in that night.
About 4 that Friday afternoon Dad asked if I wanted to ride with him to
Ridgeway, across the state line in Virginia.
There was this little convenience store there that EVERYONE in
Rockingham County seemed to go to when they played the lottery. I said sure, I’d come along. It was a cold and cloudy day for mid March.

Looking back, I now recall the sound of the air around us
before we hopped into the truck. It had
a very muffled characteristic. I hadn’t
heard air like that in a long time. That
should have been the first clue, about what had ...

Snowfall in Asheville, North Carolina from The Storm of the Century,
March 12-14 1993

The meteorologists saw it coming five days ahead. A high-pressure Arctic system was heading south across the Midwest states, brought down low by a jet stream from Canada. It was set to converge with intense low pressure over the Gulf of Mexico, and was then projected to head north and east… bringing massive amounts of moisture and cold temperature with it.

But for most of us here in north-central North Carolina at the time, this meant nothing. It had been at least three years since we had seen any decent snowfall. There were many young children who couldn’t even remember what snow looked like: they had no concept of the stuff. After three years without snow, it was beginning to seem like a mythic substance that one only found in exotic locales.

Nobody that I knew ...

The Storm of the Century: Thirty years later…

Fifteen years ago today came The Storm of the Century