The snow started falling right around 7 this morning just as the WP Mom and I were making our way to our local polling place to participate in our town elections and town/school warrant articles voting. In an amazingly short period of time the road conditions deteriorated.
Less than a mile from The Manse we came across a bad accident, one that turned out to be fatal. That was after all of 15 minutes of snowfall.
Now one might ask why we were braving the increasingly bad conditions on such a day. As I mentioned above, it was our Town Meeting day which included electing town and school officials as well as voting on various warrant articles that covered the gamut of town/school spending, changes to zoning ordinances how certain default budgets would be prepared. While Town Meeting has no implications at state or federal level, meaning a delay in holding the meeting would have no impact at the state or federal level, New Hampshire state law doesn't allow 'snow day' adjustments during elections. But a contradictory state law gives the town/school moderator the power to reschedule town/school meetings. Which one holds sway?
Of course the governor and the Secretary of State say the first has precedence. But a number of towns around the state ignored that 'advice' and rescheduled their town meetings/elections until Thursday.
You might ask why we here in the Granite State aren't prepared for snow storms like the one we are experiencing at the moment? We are. But with the rapid snowfall rate and even more rapidly deteriorating road conditions one should ask why we would put our fellow townsfolk at such a risk for something that could be postponed for a day or two. When the snowfall rates are high enough the plow crews can't keep up and the road become slick, and in some cases, dangerous to travel. Considering the Weather GuysTM have forecast up to 2 feet of snow in our area with high winds (up to 50MPH gusts) to start a little later in the day, traveling will become even more dangerous than it has already been. This morning's traffic fatality and other accidents is proof of that.
As an aside, the local TV news operations haven't been going over the top with their all too common “Storm O' Doom” coverage. In fact, most have been rather low key. So far I haven't seen a single on-the-scene reporter reach down to pick up a handful of snow to show that it is indeed snowing and accumulating. They and the talking heads at the studio have merely reminded folks to stay off the roads if they don't need to be out, and if they do, to exercise caution and common sense, and to take their time getting to their destination.
Frankly, that's quite refreshing.
