The Iceman Cometh
Bill McGurn ·
Feb 22, 2011 at 5:04pm
Here at Hillsdale they tell me they have never seen the kind of storm they had Sunday. Many of the profs here have no power or heat in their homes. The branches are heavy with ice, even after a relatively mild and sun-filled day.
I know the storm has caused a lot of hardship, and wouldn't wish it on anyone. Not a winter person myself. But tonight, driving by the campus, every shrub, ever tree is enclosed in ice. When set against the dark sky it looks silvery -- absolutely beautiful. Really quite haunting.
I haven't seen an ice storm for years. Anyone out there live in an area where it's common? The trees here look encased in glass.
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Comments :
Re: The Iceman Cometh
Your description is apt.
Jun '10
Re: The Iceman Cometh
Silver thaws happen in Portland, Oregon once in a while, and yes, they're absolutely beautiful. However, don't think you're invincible while driving. Once, when trying to back down my steep driveway with a Chevy Suburban, the ice was so slick, I slid backwards down the driveway, across the street, and finally stopped in my neighbor's driveway near their garage door. Phew, that was a wild ride!
Re: The Iceman Cometh
I also had my first class today. Very engaging Hillsdale students. They were asking about presidential speechwriting. I told them -- and I stand by it -- that no one beats Peter Robinson when he is sober.
Nov '10
Re: The Iceman Cometh
Not so much here (Nova Scotia) but they were pretty common where we lived on the Avalon in Newfoundland; they were referred to as glitter storms. They could be absolutely spectacular - especially when accompanied by high winds, as the ice would accumulate heavily on the leeward side of obstacles. Sometimes enough to tople high tension towers. But even the calmer ones could cause lots of damage, and you had to be careful driving under wires as the ice tawed, because big chunks could break off and go through the windshield. But they were beautiful....
Oct '10
Re: The Iceman Cometh
Our first serious snowfall this winter left ~14 inches of heavy, wet snow covering everything. It turned my suburban Minneapolis neighborhood, with its forest of 50 year old trees, into a series of Christmas scenes. Absolutely beautiful.
The very best, though, are those rare January days when the temperature struggles to reach a high of -20 F and big fat, fluffy snow flakes cover the evergreens with blankets of white. Snowshoing through the trees -- breath fogging the air -- silence so intense that its deafening -- there are churches and then there are cathedrals.
May '10
Re: The Iceman Cometh
I used to make the drive between my home in Minnesota and my college in Ames, Iowa several times every winter. I would frequently see the amazingly beautiful crystal trees and fencelines along the sides of I-35. It was a treat.
Jul '10
Re: The Iceman Cometh
It happened here again this morning. Sleet started a bit after midnight, at dawn the world was glazed. The glaze withered quickly in the sun and by 8:30 kids were off to school. DC does this stupid pet trick 3-6 times a winter, and when the temperature is just low enough, they keep the federal government home.
Re: The Iceman Cometh
What you really need to tell your students, Bill, is that the mark of a first-rate speechwriter is the ability to toss off an apt historical allusion for every event or moment. Had I been in your place, for instance, I'd no sooner have mentioned the storm at Hillsdale than I'd have found a way to work in this quotation from John Adams:
"The earth was never more universally covered with snow, and the rain had frozen upon a crust on the surface which shone with the brightness of burnished silver. The icicles on every sprig glowed in all the luster of diamonds. Every tree was a chandelier of cut glass. I have seen a Queen of France with eighteen millions of livres of diamonds upon her person and I declare that all the charms of her face and figure added to all the glitter of her jewels did not make an impression on me equal to that presented by every shrub. The whole world was glittering with precise stones."
Keep at it, Bill. One of these days it'll all start to come.
May '10
Re: The Iceman Cometh
We've got the same beautiful crystal-covered trees here in the Western burbs of Cleveland--for the third straight day, in fact. It's especially pretty because the icing was followed by bright sunshine, but with cold enough temps to keep it from melting.
Unfortunately for us, this beauty came with a massive section of a silver maple falling on our house at 2:00am. Louder than the loudest thunder, shook the whole house, took down the power line...an interesting way to wake up.