Freezing Weather and Ice Storms

This week has been very cold in Norman, sub-zero temperatures due to a cold front passing over the country. Yesterday I awoke to a very familiar scene, a completely overcast sky and wetness from the drizzle, pretty average really you'd think, but if you thought this you'd be wrong. On going outside I was not met with a damp path but an icy one, so taking a decision to walk on the grass seemed the natural thing to do except this was just as slippy. Every where looked like it had been covered with a frosting of glazed sugar. This was due to the rain being so cold it freezes as it falls so in effect it's raining ice crystals, i.e. freezing rain.
Ice that accumulated around some barbed wire on a fence thanks to the freezing rain

Over night it started to sleet and in the morning I woke up to what looked like a very snowy Norman. Below is a view from my apartment window.
With drifts over a couple of inchs thick it was out of the question to even think about trying to defrost the car and go anywhere as you can see from the pictures below.
It carried in heavily sleeting on an off all day and it stings as the ice falls on your face when you are outside. The sleet has compacted and it feels very wierd walking on top of it as its fairly hard so you don't sink like in snow, but its not solid like a dry ground.

A very quiet Imhoff Road and some of the ice which thickly accumulated on the branches.

All of campus has been shut the last few days and so that means no lectures, but also no facilities, not even the gym (so no yoga class), indoor swimming pool or in fact the club house office meaning we can't even play a game of pool! Once all the reading has been done for lectures it really is a case of amuse yourself which trust me after 2 days already is starting to wear thin. Campus is closed again tomorrow but hopefully it should be open again on thursday.

We did manage to pass a bit of time however by sledging down the small 'hills' (I use the term very losely) by the baseball courts. Great fun but cold and gives you a wet bum.

(1) Me climbing back up the slope (2) The slopes next to the apartment complex (3) Becky, Rob G and I well wrapped up