A Historic Winter Storm: A Rare Snow Day in Houma

The Historic Snow Event

This morning, I woke up to the much-anticipated snowfall, which exceeded all expectations. While the forecast predicted 6 inches, the snow in my backyard seemed deeper—well up my legs as I ventured out to feed the birds. Snowstorms like this are rare in Houma, a city unprepared for such weather. With no snow plows or salt trucks, we'll have to wait for a natural thaw. It was surreal to see our usually mild, subtropical climate transformed into a winter wonderland. For those of us living here, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that left everyone in awe.

The Impact

Thankfully, the snow began when temperatures were cold enough to prevent ice accumulation, minimizing the risk of fallen trees and power outages. Despite this fortunate turn, the deep snow on the streets has essentially halted all activity. Without any infrastructure to handle such weather, residents have no choice but to stay indoors and wait for the snow to melt naturally. The roads, covered in a thick white layer, are impassable for most vehicles, leaving the city eerily quiet. So far, the power remains stable, and my emergency generator is on standby, providing some peace of mind. However, the disruption has left many wondering how long it will take for life to return to normal.

Photographing the Storm

I spent the morning capturing the beauty of this rare event—photographing snow-covered landscapes, birds at the feeder, and my neighborhood blanketed in white. Each photo felt like a treasure, a moment frozen in time to remember this unique day. My movements were limited to areas close to the house since the roads were too dangerous to navigate by car. Still, the scenes around me were breathtaking, from delicate snowflakes resting on branches to the vibrant cardinals at the feeder contrasting against the stark white background. This extraordinary moment deserves to be documented, as we may not see a storm like this again for decades. I’ve included a slideshow of some of the photographs, capturing the quiet beauty and profound impact of this historic snowstorm.

A Major Winter Storm in Southern Louisiana and Web Updates

Bracing for a Winter Storm in Louisiana

Bracing for a Winter Storm in Southern Louisiana

We’re bracing for winter storm in Southern Louisiana. The forecast for Houma, LA, calls for up to six inches of snow, freezing rain, and sleet—conditions we’re not equipped to handle. While these might be routine for much of the country, they pose significant challenges here, from impassable roads to potential infrastructure disruptions.

To safeguard my equipment, I’m taking all my backup drives offline and conserving UPS power to maintain a stable Wi-Fi connection during any outages. My portable emergency generator has been tested and I have several days of gasoline on hand to keep it going. Power glitches could damage drives, forcing a long and tedious recovery process from cloud backups. I’ll have all of my disk drives including my master image disk, offline if I’m running on the generator. This storm underscores the importance of disaster recovery planning—something I’m actively preparing to share in an upcoming blog post. Stay tuned for detailed insights on creating and executing a solid recovery strategy.

For those of you also impacted by this storm, stay safe and consider steps to protect your data, from regular backups to ensuring your devices are secure from power surges.

Website Updates and SEO Enhancements

Since my recent update to Squarespace, I’ve been refining all relevant website pages to optimize SEO performance. This process ensures my content is as accessible and engaging as possible.

However, this update may inadvertently trigger duplicate emails through the Mailchimp feed. If that happens, I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you for your patience as I work to enhance your browsing experience.

Stay safe, stay warm, and stay tuned for more updates!

Hurricane Followup-2024-09-16 Short Blog Post

Sunset at Miller’s Lake May 2024

A quick note on my hurricane plan and results

In the newsletter that I posted last week, I discussed my plans for protecting my computer and camera equipment from the approaching hurricane. Here's my account of what happened during and after the storm.

• The hurricane landed in the afternoon of September 11th at Morgan City, Louisiana, then headed east and passed directly over us.
• We sustained winds of 85 mph with gusts to 100 mpg, lasting about 5 hours.
• Fortunately, we had no significant damage, and everything is now normal.
• As planned, I powered down and disconnected the desktop computer and prepared it for safekeeping in a pelican case, but I did not pack it.
• The camera equipment was packed in the Pelican case and ready to go in case we needed to leave.
• The power failed about an hour into the storm, and I disconnected everything but the Internet gateway. I disconnected the laptop from power and tracked the storm with it, relying on its battery. I have two UPS units. I planned on using the first until it ran out of power, and then I would switch to the other. The first lasted three hours, but the second would not power up; it failed when the power went off.
• The power was out for two days, and we were loaned a generator to power most of the house. I did not power up the computer equipment while on the generator.

I've now reconnected the desktop and tested everything to make sure it made it through the storm. It did. My plan worked, and the only glitch was the failure of one of the UPS units, for which a replacement is now on order.