Roanoke

I used to live in the city of Roanoke, Virginia. It’s located in the mountains of southwest Virginia – in the Roanoke Valley. I was looking through some old photos and I found these photos I took from the balcony of my apartment in Roanoke.

A view of the parking lot. I drove a 4WD Subaru at that time. You can see why I wanted 4WD.

My car is parked at the left end of the row.

 

 

 
There are cars beneath those mounds of snow. You can tell by the side mirrors sticking out of the snow.

Ordinary mounds of snow don’t have side mirrors.

 

 

I have my Subaru cleaned off and ready to go. But I have to wait for the parking lot to be pushed. 4WD is great in snow, but it’s a Subaru, not a snowplow. If I can get to the street, there’ll be no stopping the Subaru.

 

 

This was the view of my neighbor’s balcony. I don’t recall when I took these photos, but probably in ‘93 or ‘96.

The March ‘93 “Superstorm” brought 18 inches of snow to Roanoke. The “Blizzard of ‘96” brought 2 feet of snow on January 6-7, with 22 inches falling in one day, and a total that winter of 56 inches.

Over the 17 years I lived in Roanoke, the city had two “storm of the century” snow events and several more “storm of the decade” snow events.

The only time I had any trouble driving in snow occurred before I bought the Subaru. I had a Honda Civic (FWD), and while driving up a long, curving driveway at a friend’s house, the Civic lost traction and came to a complete stop on the hill. I took my foot off the gas and put on the brakes, hoping to hold the Civic on the hill. But the Civic started sliding backward down the driveway. It picked up speed and as it slid downhill it began to rotate. The Civic rotated 180° until it was pointed in the direction it was sliding. At the bottom of the hill the driveway curved to the left but the Civic was going too fast to follow the curve – it went straight off the driveway and plunged into deep snow, which quickly stopped its forward motion. I exited the Civic and walked up the driveway, almost slipping on snow and ice and injuring my back in the process. After that event, I bought the Subaru, and never had another problem driving in snow. When it comes to 4WD, my theory is: better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.