12/24/09 Blizard

[SSEiYah]

I was looking at some old memory cards in my camera and came across these recently. These were taken on December 24th, 2009.

Feel free to post any you have.

These photos were mainly taken along south Meridian area between sw 29th and sw 15th st and Reno and Meridian. Also some taken between Portland and Meridian on Reno Ave:

All interstates closed (I44 sign):



South Meridian Ave near the HWY to Mustang, everyone is stuck:






This guy hit the brakes and almost hit me going across center line:




Meridian and Reno, Nightfall, a major intersection, cars just left with flashers on:




More Abandoned Cars on Reno Ave:











Abandoned Cars in Watersedge Apartments Entrance, sw 22nd and Meridian:






Towing stuck cars:






Drifts on Reno:









Dude tried to hop the curb, then was high centered in front Hyatt Hotel:





Looks like some apocalyptic movie:

Looking South on Meridian near 15th:








Bus stuck on SW 15th near Meridian on wrong side of the road:


















Reno and Meridian, looking North on Merdidian


Reno:




Stuck car sideways in the middle of the road:

[Plutonic Panda]

Not sure if this is doable or not, but if someone with extreme photoshopping skills could take out the snow, those would be some creepy ass pictures lol

BTW, great pictures, but seeing as this really wasn't a current event, perhaps this should be moved to the weather thread?

[bradh]

I absolutely hate that I was in Wichita for Christmas that year. As a native SE Texan, that would have been my first major experience with a blizzard. Granted we got like 6" in Wichita that weekend, what was in OKC looked awesome.

[s00nr1]

I remember that storm very well. Lots of long nights...

What I found interesting about this video came at the 0:14 mark....Continental Resources - $37.97/share. Today? $109. Hmmm.

[dmoor82]

I absolutely hate that I was in Wichita for Christmas that year. As a native SE Texan, that would have been my first major experience with a blizzard. Granted we got like 6" in Wichita that weekend, what was in OKC looked awesome.

OKC got 14 inches and other parts of Oklahoma got 2 feet plus! Not to mention the 50-60 MPH winds, that blizzard was nuts!

[SSEiYah]

What I found interesting about this video came at the 0:14 mark....Continental Resources - $37.97/share. Today? $109. Hmmm.

Early 2010, a friend of mine told me to buy 2000 bitcoins for 0.04 a piece for $80 as he thought they were a good deal at the time. I laughed at him saying it was a waste of money, and now he is a millionaire buying thousands of the bitcoins at the time. I suppose I made a mistake there. I learned a lot from that mistake. Never underestimate the "new" currencies

[Ginkasa]

I was stuck in traffic trying to go east bound on Reno from about noon to 4 that day. Fortunately I didn't get stuck in the snow.

[OKCisOK4me]

Great night shots. I remember seeing a ton of pics of NW Expressway and around Automobile Alley during the day but these are great. Amazed the Illinois driver couldn't handle their car.

[MWCGuy]

I remember that night well...It was like driving through mashed potatoes. It took me over five hours to make it from NW Expressway to Midwest City. I tried taking May Avenue and I spent over an hour in front of the old Lynn Hickey Parking Lot. I finally made it through to NW 36th, I tried taking NW 35th east but, I could not get up a steep section at NW 35th and Venice. I remember stopping to help a teenage girl get her eclipse moving out of the road. I ended up getting stuck and I had her drive my truck while I pushed out of heavy snow pack.

I ended up going back out on May and heading north to NW 16th and made my way down to Virginia to Lynwood, to Classen then to Reno, then up MLK because they had the Reno Bridge leading to Del City closed. I got stuck at 10th and MLK however a little rocking and rolling got me out. When I finally made it to 10th and Air Depot less than 3 minutes from home I got stuck and could not get out. Fortunately a guy in a Avalanche came along and towed me the rest of the way to my neighborhood entry. When I hit my driveway, I was so wore out I felt like sleeping in my truck. If it wasn't for my wife coming out to meet me, I think I would have. I have to admit that was the first and only time in my life I ran every red light I came across. I knew the only way to get home was to keep moving. If I stopped, I would have been stuck wherever I was at.

[zookeeper]

Great shots of an unforgettable night. One that will stick with me to the grave.

[kelroy55]

The was a week after I bought my jeep, boy did I have fun

[MadMonk]

Re-live it all again!

[bradh]

Early 2010, a friend of mine told me to buy 2000 bitcoins for 0.04 a piece for $80 as he thought they were a good deal at the time. I laughed at him saying it was a waste of money, and now he is a millionaire buying thousands of the bitcoins at the time. I suppose I made a mistake there. I learned a lot from that mistake. Never underestimate the "new" currencies

Except Iraqi dinars...sitting on a few million of those that are worthless. Had a relative bring home a bunch back in 2005 thinking someday they'd be worth more than they are, and now I can't even exchange them without physically going to Iraq lol

[SoonerDave]

I loved the snow and the White Christmas..for a while...but the blizzard...not so much.

On Christmas Eve morning, I went to my mom's house to help her fix up her traditional turkey, and at 6AM there was little concern about any big blizzard afoot - just a good probability of potentially impressive snow for Christmas. Around here, that's a pretty fun propsect...normally. I had also left my son's Christmas present tucked away in my mom's closet to keep it away from snooping eyes, and when I left her house that morning I had no inkling that I might not be able to go back and get it in time for Christmas morning. So, with the turkey cooking and my help completed, I returned home with the plan of our family going back to her house about 5pm that evening, and mom returned to cooking the usual houseful of food in anticipation of our family's traditional Christmas Eve dinner.

Then, midday arrived, and the weathermen started getting a little edgy about things getting a bit more intense than they had predicted. More wind. Heavier snow. And when it started, it was beautiful, and not yet at that time anything that do anything other than add a Norman Rockwell element of picturesqueness to the holiday.

And then, midafternoon rolled around. Weathermen on TV were suddenly getting a more Springlike tone in their voices when talking about the fact that the weather service had issued a blizzard warning - a freaking blizzard warning - for Oklahoma City. The highway patrol started reporting about accidents and stranded cars. A look outside revealed horizontal snow falling so hard it was literally hard to see the backyard. And as the afternoon progressed, and my mom cooked away, she got first word from her brother - who lived only five miles away - that they were physically unable to get out of their neighborhood. Deciding to get ahead of the snow that I still yet hadn't been convinced was truly impassable, I herded my family into the car with our part of the dinner about a half-hour earlier than normal and headed out - to a snow-packed, impassible residential street. We were literally marooned in our own subdivision. I suddenly realized that getting around the block near our house was going to be a monumental feat.

We tried to get out and saw nothing but abandoned cars and multi-foot snowdrifts at either entrance - not even a four-wheeler was getting through - not even to the supposed "snow routes." I finally realized I had to make the call - that we couldn't make it to my mom's, it was heartbreaking. Heartbreaking that she spent Christmas Eve alone - completely alone - for the first time in her 73 years - surrounded by food that no one was coming to eat. When we made it back to our driveway, my son jumped out of the car and started furiously shoveling the driveway, not quite realizing that it was pointless.

The snow suddenly wasn't fun. The sites of abandoned cars, snowbound streets, and wrecks made that impossible. Upon realizing our Christmas Eve plans had been unceremoniously dumped upside down, and he wouldn't get to his grandmother's, he started crying. Even I started tearing up. And it was only then I realized I had left my son's Christmas present at grandmother's, too -- and all to say nothing of the cancelled plans my wife's family had for her crew the next day.

We got back in the house, settled in and thankful to be in a warm home after seeing so many across the city stranded and in drastically more serious situations than we were in, and realized being home wasn't nearly so bad considering the alternatives. Given that we had anticipated a big meal with take-home leftovers, we hadn't done much shopping, so Christmas Eve dinner transformed itself into Kraft Mac and Cheese, and somehow we took a better appreciation for what Christmas really meant to us, after all.

Ultlimately, of course, the storm passed, a belated dinner got rescheduled, and family get-togethers took place in an abruptly changed schedule. IN retrospect, we were thankful that none of our families were in harm's way - after hearing stories of people taking literally hours to get home, with people stranded on the roads, we looked back and were thankful we weren't really affected more than to have a few dinners shifted around.

I'll always love the snow, but I think I've had my fill of blizzards like the one of '09. Hopefully, its a story I can tell to my grandkids some day..

[RadicalModerate]

I wish I could remember where I put the pictures of snow drifts covering the cars in the driveway and the tablescape for Christmas Eve Dinner--including a magnificent, decorated ham with all the Martha Stewartesque side dishes--that only my wife and I shared on account of it was impossible for any of the guests to make it to our house for the festivities. (thank goodness I was off that day and the day after and didn't have to get out and drive in the mess at all).

[ou48A]

OKC got 14 inches and other parts of Oklahoma got 2 feet plus! Not to mention the 50-60 MPH winds, that blizzard was nuts!

Think about this.....As the really bad blizzards go... this one was not near as bad as they can get...... even in other parts of Oklahoma.

[PennyQuilts]

Ugh. It was awful. We'd just moved back from Virgina two weeks before and all three of my kids were coming from NYC to celebrate. Big celebratory plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Son and wife drive from NYC and on Christmas Eve managed to get to Stroud before the whole thing shut down and they spent the night In a roadside motel with snow blowing in under the door. They couldn't get to our place until Christmas afternoon. Youngest daughter and her husband flew in December 23 and ran up to Stillwater to see his family. They tried to get back to my place on Christmas Eve and ended up 10 miles away in a motel - couldn't get here until Christmas afternoon. What broke my heart was my single daughter flew in and was just about to land at Will Rogers when they shut the airport. They turned around and flew to Houston - she spent Christmas Eve and most of Christmas alone in a crowded airport. Awful. She finally got here at just before midnight on Christmas Day. Don't mind admitting that I was in tears worrying about her and the rest that holiday. She refuses to travel on Christmas to this day.