It is snowing in Murphy!

I just uploaded three photos of the snow in the Snow January 29, 2010 album.

Here's one of them:


This afternoon, I had to drive from the Ranger area (actually from a few miles out Hwy 294) over to Grape Creek (about six miles north of Murphy) and back.

Going into Murphy was easy. It was snowing quite heavily, but the roads were just wet and there was little snow on the ground.

As I drove north on Joe Brown Hwy, the roads got worse and the ground and trees quickly were covered in snow.

By the time I finished my task, about 30 minutes, the road was white and snow was accumulating everywhere. It got a bit tricky in a couple of places driving back to Murphy.

Driving west on the four-lane got progressively worse and I saw several accidents between Murphy and Hwy 294. Several cars had slid off the road and there was one serious-looking wreck.

Driving on Hwy 294 was treacherous and got worse. By the time I turned off onto Sandy Gap road, the roads were basically impassable unless you have 4-wheel drive.

I didn't even make it up the first mountain on Sandy Gap road and had to back down the mountain, very slowly, until I could turn around and make it back to Howard's Bait and Tackle. That's where I parked my car and called my daughter to tell her that I couldn't make it back to her house.

My son-in-law and grandson came and got me in their 4-wheel drive vehicle and we made it back to their home with no trouble.

I intend to enjoy the snow from a warm room, with a cup of hot coffee or steaming spiced apple cider, but I want to caution everyone to be very careful if you have to drive anywhere in the next few hours.

If you don't have to go anywhere, stay home and enjoy it, especially if you don't have a 4-wheel drive vehicle.

It has been a long time since I saw the roads get so bad so quickly in Murphy and the surrounding area and this is just the start of this storm.

Y'all be safe out there!

JD