Snowpocalypse Janus

Right now, I'm comfortably settled in the law library, and there are approximately 14 inches of snow on the ground. Snowpocalypse Janus hit Long Island and NYC yesterday, causing massive chaos and panic throughout the region. Attempting to make the drive home yesterday was one of the most physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting experiences I've ever had in my life, so much so that I think I might still be running primarily on adrenaline now.

In the morning, everything was fine - until the snow started 3 hours earlier than predicted. By noon, the media and public officials were telling everyone to get home ASAP, because the worst of the storm would be upon us soon, and travel would be extremely hazardous. Of course, the NYC and Long Island region is hugely populated, and millions of people commute back and forth to work every day. In fact, so many people commute back and forth that rush hour in the region, occuring in both the morning and in the evening, can be up to four hours long each rush, because of severe overcrowding of the roadways and public transport. So yesterday, all at once, you had not groups of commuters on the road (people who generally leave their workplaces at different times during the normal rush hours), but ALL commuters on the road. Literally everyone in the area decided they'd better head home at the same time. Most of the main roads were sanded and/or salted in the morning, but snow was coming down at the rate of over an inch an hour. Temperatures were well below freezing, and the roads filled so quickly and cars had to move so slowly that it actually felt like the apocalypse was occuring. My boyfriend's home, which is normally a relatively quick 10-20 minute drive from my school, took me over 90 minutes to reach. Traffic on the parkway going towards his house moved at an average rate of about 7 miles an hour. Cars were sliding out and getting stuck all over the place, and I passed accident after accident on the way.

After stopping at my boyfriend's house to check the traffic reports and the weather, I figured out an alternate route home. I got back in my car, and it was honestly like the world was ending. Two hours later, I'd only made it about two miles from his house, and I hadn't even managed to average a mile an hour the entire way. I stopped at the Container Store just to get myself out of the car and calm down; the radio had announced that two of the nearby parkways were closed due to accidents, and the weather was steadily getting worse. My parents, both frantic, kept trying to get in touch with me. My father suggested staying in a hotel, but everything I'd really need for an overnight stay was at home: my phone charger, my medications, etc. My father's girlfriend's house was about another two miles away, and we decided that I'd try to get there, and either my father would try to come get me later or bring me some stuff, if the roads weren't going to be passable for my small car. It took me almost two hours to get to my father's girlfriends house, but thankfully, I made it there safely.

Normally, I spend a maximum of two hours driving in the car per day. By the time I arrived at my father's girlfriend's house, I'd spent a total of five hours driving my car through snow, ice, and stand-still traffic. I was so glad to be someplace warm where I could rest and try to relax.

For the next few hours, I monitored traffic cameras, traffic maps, and attempted to figure out what to do. At around 9 o'clock, the roads were finally clear enough that I was able to go home, driving less than 35 mph the whole way. I don't think I'd ever been happier in my entire life to be home. There were many times in the car yesterday that I wondered if I would even get home; I worried that I'd run out of gas, spin out, get in an accident, have the car break down, break down myself, not be able to physically endure the demands of driving due to my EDS - it was terrifying.

I am so grateful that I made it home in one piece. I am not grateful for the mass hysteria induced by the media and public figures, or for the utter failure of anyone to predict how bad the storm would get so early. Realistically, by the time anyone revised the time that the storm would be the worst, we were all screwed, because it was a race against the clock to get home before then - and no one could. We were all out in the worst parts of the storm, simply because someone got the weather report wrong... and then scared us all into heading out exactly when we should have been sheltering in place.

I think I need a nap.