photo by Boyd Loving
Storms Trigger Rash of Cabin Fever
By JOSH DAWSEY
A light dusting of powder gave Sarah Meacham a reason to buy $10 ski pants and gloves for her four children this winter. They played in their Columbia, S.C., yard, threw snowballs and took pictures.
The latest storms were overkill, though, as Ms. Meacham tried to cope with a houseful of restless children, layers of ice on the roads and makeup school days on the horizon.
“My friends have their wine and flashlights and candles,” she says. “I have my Xanax filled.”
This year’s brutal winter has united people North, South and Midwest in a geographically nonpartisan plea: Stop this slushy, icy, snowy nightmare.
A storm in early February affected 100 million Americans. The frigid weather left 87% of the Great Lakes frozen over, not far from the record of 95%, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. Sixty-two inches of snow have fallen in Chicago this winter, 38 inches above normal. Temperatures have dropped below 0 degrees on 21 days, with wind chill occasionally dipping below -40 degrees. Kansas and other places are running out of salt.
