It’s Tomorrow, and the Sun Came Out

We’ve been having some wild weather here in South Dakota.

February brought record cold temperatures and above average snowfall. March 3^rd we set new temperature records for coldest temp and coldest high temp; and it continued to snow. All that cold means the snow is piling up, and not melting.

Last weekend we got hit with a winter storm across the state, and forecasters were throwing out broad hints that a whopper was coming. Tuesday brought milder weather, and cities across the state started preparing for “the big one” – clearing storm drains and culverts and so forth. At our house, we (by that, I mean my husband) shoveled snow away from the house, and cleared window wells and gutters of ice build-up. Even so, Tuesday night we discovered water leaking onto a basement floor. (We were thankful that the floor was bare concrete, and not carpet-covered, as are most of the other rooms in the basement.)

{A bit of background: SD is divided by the Missouri River, and one’s location is known as “West River” or “East River.” Each side has its own climate.}

The whopper hit us Wednesday and Thursday.

West River, all the way to Pierre (our capital, in the middle of the state) got snow both days, between one and two feet, with drifts up over 15 feet. They’re still digging out today (Friday).

We live East River. It rained all day (high of 36 degrees) on Wednesday: 2.38” onto frozen ground. We dug pathways through the snow in our yard, trying to make drainage channels out to the street from various locations around our house. Our dryer ran all day, between our wet clothing and the towels we were switching out from the basement floor. My husband put a submersible pump outside our house, where water was pooling (same spot where, below, water was coming into the basement). Around 4 p.m., we looked again to the back yard, where large ponds were developing around trees in our neighbor’s yards and around our garden shed. But now our garden shed was about floating away. We moved the submersible pump to the garden shed area, and strung hose out to the street (and extension cord from the house). The sump pump in the house kicked in for the first time since December. My husband stayed in the living room all night, getting up every couple of hours to check the pumps and the basement towels.

It continued raining all night, and in the wee hours of Thursday it changed to freezing rain, and then snow. Our low temp was 30, high was 36. The wind kicked up: 40 – 60 mph. We had a bona fide blizzard: 4.2” of heavy, wet snow, with wild drifting. The snow stopped in the afternoon, but the wind stayed. We went out to re-dig our drainage channels as best we could, dealing with slush and ice.

The sun came out just before sunset.

Today is sunny and chilly; the wind is dying down. We went to the hardware store and got another submersible pump. Everyone is saying this is a once-in-a-lifetime storm, but we’re thinking, with the way the weather and our planet have been acting, things are only going to get worse. We’re planning ahead for the next weather show-down.

Our washer and dryer are still running overtime. But we are awestruck and grateful. We’ve been watching the news of surrounding areas. There is major flooding going on, streets under water, basements flooded with 4- and 5-feet of water, bridges and dams washed out, whole huge areas under freezing water, people stranded and in need of help.

God help us, and have mercy on us.

2 Chronicles 7.14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

 {Snow does funny stuff 😁}