"Do You Remember When...?"

The Dreaded Ice Storm

December 4-5, 2002
throughout the Carolinas

Maybe not the worst we've ever had, but certainly a painful storm for many of us as power was out to some 1.6 million customers for days and days. 27 degrees and pouring rain, indicative of the thinness of the sub-freezing layer at the surface...warm air aloft, loaded with moisture...and a cold Piedmont 'damming' wedge in place that was less movable than a 437-pound Sumo wrestler...and all that rain freezing on virtually every surface possible. Trees down by the tens of thousands. Power lines down if not from the ice then the trees. Roads undrivable. Life was at a standstill, and a bitterly cold standstill, at that. 43 counties were under emergency declaration status.

I was without power for some 5 days, with nighttime temperatures in the house a toasty 37 degrees. Everyone was in survival mode, with community "needs" at crisis level.

I was a member of the Charlotte News 14 Launch team, so this storm put our fledgling wings through the paces. Of course, with so many without power, I can't attest to who was able to actually see our newscasts...but if memory serves me correctly our team of 4 meteorologists were able to make it in to pull 12 hour shifts each, going live 6 times an hour, every hour of the day...for 44 hours straight...constantly updating the situation, etc...it was both a feather in our cap and a major energy and sanity consumer. Luckily, with the high-level Time-Warner offices in our particular building, we had a behemoth generator in place cranking hard to provide uninterrupted heat, power and, more importantly for us - hot water and a shower.


Basically, just one of those "experiences" that you remember, but don't wish to repeat. Through it all, you endure and quickly learn to look at things with a different perspective. When you are suddenly "without" something, you have to adapt, and adapting your attitude is critical if you want to successfully surmount your obstacles.

Several weeks later I penned my TOP 10 LIST from that event, but never published it anywhere. So, for you, my faithful Bloggies, I happily present my hen-scratchings per:

Bob's TOP 10 LIST:
"Things I Became Poignantly
Aware of In
The Ice Storm of 2002"

10. How the "Charlotte Observer" was delivered like clockwork...

9. How weird and dark Charlotte looked without all the light pollution at night...

8. How unromantic candlelight could be...

7. How many batteries in the house were the wrong size...

6. How 27 degrees does not mean precipitation will be snow...

5. How obnoxious a noise a neighbor's emergency generator makes...

4. How much heat dogs put out next to you on the bed...

3. How "ice cold" anything TOTALLY lost any appeal it may have once had...

2. The most-missed appliance: the coffee pot!


...and what was THE most memorable condition I remember from those fateful days, you ask?....


1. How $#%* cold a toilet seat can be at 3:27 A.M.!!!

A frosty Mercy during a winter's romp in South Dakota