I have the first report of the big snow storm that's blanketing the east coast from one of our Joe's Ponders. Liz Randall on Long Island, NY, sends this message:

Update on our storm,

Long Island got between 8-14 inches, Miller Place got about 11 so far and we are expecting more!--We are in a break right now..Snow started about 9 pm last night and the wind picked up so lots of blowing snow...ALL SCHOOLS ON LONG ISLAND ARE CLOSED!!!

L.I.Slides

Thanks, Liz, for the news. Good luck - we know what a hassle it can be when you folks get this much snow all at once.

The storm is really just beginning here. We had just a skimming of snow when we got up this morning and it was snowing very lightly. Now it's picking up and the prediction now is for something like 9-12 inches in our area - more east of us, less in the western part of the state. It's going to taper off tonight and be a pretty decent day tomorrow, but only in the teens, then will warm up later in the week. We might even begin to get some real thawing going on by the weekend . . . we'll see.

I'm not seeing much wind here right now, but I guess that will pick up later. March is starting off like March, letting us know winter isn't over yet. If anyone else has pictures of what's going on in your area, I'd like to see them and post them here.

By the way, I've posted over 1000 entries to the "Local News Blog." I started blogging in September, 2005. That's a lot of news, trivia or whatever, and thanks to everyone who has contributed. It's always nice when someone tells me they look at the blog regularly - and I thank you for that. Fred and I enjoy keeping the web site going, and appreciate the feedback and participation from all of you.

Thank you all.