Surviving the blizzard of 2010

By Sean Pearson

After months of waiting for the elusive winter snows to grace our presence in 2010, March truly rolled into Homer like a lion.
Students across the south Kenai Peninsula relished in two snow days – but found themselves relatively unable to enjoy the fresh powder thanks to hurricane-force winds that pushed snow into every crevice imaginable and mounded drifts some six feet high.
Parents around town talked about the last time school was canceled, and speculated on whether Kachemak Bay kids are as hardy as they used to be. By more than one account, school hadn’t been closed for 25 years around Homer. If that’s true, then it’s been a while since K-Bay kids have been truly tested.
This was certainly a test.
Pushy snows and winds made walking near impossible, even if it was just to the bus stop in the morning. Snow heaped high made almost any form of transportation hazardous.
Many places around town closed up shop on Tuesday, possibly deciding that the trek into town through endless snow berms just wasn’t worth it. Residents raided grocery store shelves for essentials like milk and bread. And you might as well forget about finding a movie you really want to rent; those were picked over long ago.
Activity, except for the most essential, slowed to a crawl at the end of the road. Traffic warnings and avalanche closures added to the drama, as advisories pushed across the peninsula promising more gale-force winds, horizontal snow and white-out conditions.
However, throughout the chaos of “Blizzard 2010,” some things stayed the same.
Homer’s Police and Fire Departments rolled on. Care providers at the hospital stood ready. Street crews worked into the night.
Suddenly, issues about the beluga whale’s critical habitat and the impending busy summer of Hoka Hey motorcycle races and cruise ship traffic didn’t seem quite as critical as before. Arguments over eagle-feeding and Pebble Mine were quieted by the heavy blanket of snow. Even the Homer City Council meeting could not move forward beneath the strength of a such a wild storm — lasting only 18 minutes on Monday night.
Sometimes it takes a good winter storm to quiet things down a bit and remind us what’s important. Sometimes getting to work and finishing that project isn’t really worth the risk of navigating through dangerous driving conditions or trudging through waist-high snow.
As humans, we have a tendency to assume that we run the whole show.
We don’t.
We take for granted that we call all the shots and drive our own destiny. This week we were all reminded just how powerless we really are. As mere mortals, we must be sheltered from earth’s storms. For some of us, battling winter’s wrath was a lesson in frustration and high blood pressure. For others, simply an adjustment.
So, here we all are at the Homer Tribune office, finding every reason in the world why it was so important to beat the blizzards and get to work today to get the newspaper out. And I have to say, we’re a little bit jealous of your toasty wood stoves and steaming hot chocolate.
For us, there’s a newspaper to get out. And even if it really isn’t the most important thing amid a blustery winter storm, it’s what we do.

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