For those of you who look up once in a while from preoccupation with
counting plicae and notice the weather: North Carolina just got hit with a
record-breaking snowstorm.

There was 18.2 inches of snow at Raleigh-Durham Airport compared to the
1927 record of 17.8. Some spots have up to 22 inches and the drifts can be
up to 5 feet. Everything is shut down. I tried to go to my job at the
hospital and got about a hundred feet in one hour of rocking back and
forth; then I gave up. Can't call in because the phone lines are down or
something. Even the interstates were impassable after roadcrews had cleared
them a couple of hours before (this was the situation until at least 1pm).

Cold will continue until at least the weekend with wind chill going down to
11 Fahrenheit because of wind gusts to 30mph. Possible power outages in
next couple of days.

Governor Hunt declared a state of emergency for the entire state.

Friends of seashells in the Northeast, this storm is headed your way.

Stay warm,
David Kirsh
Durham, NC