The 5th largest snowfall in SC history.

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – Friday night's winter weather will go down as one of the snowiest nights on record in South Carolina. Warmer temperatures mean that snow is melting fast, but may turn to ice as the temperature drops Saturday night.
Temperatures will drop into the lower to middle 20s overnight, according to WIS Storm Track Meteorologist Ken Aucoin. Many secondary roads were still slushy Saturday afternoon, and the slush will turn into ice overnight.
The National Weather Service says black ice will be a significant threat to drivers, especially on bridges, overpasses and secondary roadways. Drivers should use caution on the roadways Saturday night due to the potentially hazardous driving conditions. Reduce speed and allow plenty of time to reach your destination.
According to officials at Columbia Metropolitan Airport, 8.6 inches of snow fell there. That's the fifth snowiest day on record. The highest snowfall amount in Columbia history was on Feb. 10, 1973, when 12.3 inches of snow fell.

1. 12.3" 2/10/1973
2. 10.2" 2/25/1894
3. 9.9" 2/25/1914
4. 8.8" 12/11/1958
5. 8.6" 2/12/10
6. 6.8" 2/13/1899

Columbia saw 5.5 inches of snow Friday night at Owens Field.


On the electricity side of the weather, SCE&G had at least 10,000 outages reported at one point in the Columbia/Lexington area. Power crews were working to restore outages all across the state. Most outages were reported in the southeastern coastal areas of the state.
The rare blanket of snow was blamed for more than 1,500 car crashes, about 37,000 power outages and hundreds of canceled sports events across South Carolina.
The rare snowstorm and freezing temperatures created hazardous driving conditions. The Highway Patrol said there was a fatal, single-car accident in Richland County Friday night. Investigators had not determined whether the weather caused the crash.

YEP 5.5 inches of SNOW, in COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, can you believe it!?!?!

After an extremely frustrating, getting nowhere with US officials in regards to adoption/apostille issue (see adoption blog) Darren and I planned to go out for our Valentine's date, to my favorite pizza joint, the Mellow Mushroom. However, as we approached the interstate we thought, "hmm.. we better call to make sure they're not closing early" Yea, the would have been open for about 15 minutes by the time we arrived. Okay, so we went to a Japanese Steak House instead. Darren LOVED it, me not so much... there just isn't that many options for a veggie eater there... and fried rice, well, it just doesn't compare to Pizza, especially Mellow Mushroom Pizza. But, it was good to be out of the house, and (though unsuccessfully) try to NOT think about adoption related issues for a few hours. 

This morning, we woke up and ate a quick breakfast before bundling the boys up to head outside. Poor Asher, we had to "create" snow clothes for him. We used a giant trash bag and cut slits in it and then taped it shut for snow pants, he wore Aidan's fireman costume boots, and then I put ziplock baggies on his hands, they wouldn't do anything for warmth, but at least they would keep him dry. Aidan was covered from a 2nd set of snow items we had bought for V, but ran out of room to take in the suitcase. 

It was a little bittersweet playing in the snow I have to admit. I didn't think I'd be in snow again, until/unless we were back in Russia with V. It stung a little. 

The snow was super sticky last night as it was just beginning to fall, but this morning was more powdery and hard to create snowballs, or snowman... but after LOTS of hard work, mostly thanks to Darren we did end up with enough snowballs for a short fight, and a SnowV! =)

Here are some pictures from our day:

Before the snow

Snowing!

 

                                                                                                                                             Backyard

                                 Front yard

 

He's not too sure about his "snow-pants"

 Okay, this is a little better

                                                                            SNOWMAN

Daddy turns Snowman into Snow"V"                       

 

Asher in action!

                       Boys attacking daddy, 2 on 1!                

 

Boys attacking mommy!

 

Aidan licking the brownie mix leftovers

          Asher's turn. Yum yum! 

 

Making the biggest snowball ever!

 

Think I'm going to need some help!

 

Thanks Dad!

 

Pretty cool

WOW!!

 

Asher trying to walk in AJ's boots

 

My baby... who still let's me call him a baby =)

We still have some snow setting in the freezer which we'll make into snow cream tomorrow. Yum. Oh, and the snow, minus the great big giant ball in the front and the 'snow-V' in the back is all gone already. Boo.