icesycle

The only way we know how to deal with ice in south Louisiana is to put it in our drinks. No one thinks twice over our tradition of drive-through daiquiri shops. We apparently all know that you can drive with one hand holding your frozen drink and the other hand on your steering wheel. But let one snow flake (or sneaux as we call it here) float in the air and we go crazy.

Our roads become like bumper car lanes. Over 200 accidents were reported yesterday. We live in a land crisscrossed with rivers and bayous and a day of freezing temps means they shut down all the bridges. There is no back up plan. Just gloveless reporters interviewing people in their cars on highways that have become parking lots, reporting how cold they are.

Many were able to stay home during this latest sneauxpocalypse. Because we knew it might get really cold and there was a 30% chance of snow, all schools were closed before the first possible snow flake fell. There was a light overnight dusting. It was like the powdered sugar left on your clothes after eating beignets.

People gathered up the sneaux on the hoods of their cars and built 3-inch sneauxmen. There were lots of icicles on palm trees pictures floating around on social media. The university was closed and there were college kids sliding down the icy levee slope (the only hill in town) on cookie sheets.

The sun is now out and the icicles are dripping away. The tiny Frosty’s on car hoods have disappeared. It is supposed to get even colder in a few days. I know we haven’t learned anything on how to deal with this foreign-up-north like weather but I am thinking I can do a better job with prep. It’s gumbo-making weather. I may need to find a drive-through daiquiri shoppe on the way to “making groceries.”