23-year-old Lil Trippe was born and raised in Hall County. Now living in New York City, where she has since last May, she just survived/endured the Bomb Cyclone, a “one for the ages” blizzard that covered The Big Apple and most of New England under mountains of snow.
The graduate of Buford High School, where she was a tuition student in its dance program and Oklahoma City University and daughter of Kelley and Bill Trippe of Gainesville answered a few questions last week about what last weekend was like for her and the place she now calls home.
*Growing up in the South, I’m guessing you had never seen anything like what you’ve just experienced. How would you describe it?
-I have not. This was the first time I had seen not only this much snow but this much wind with the snow. At first, it wasn’t anything crazy, but around 8:30pm on Sunday night I looked out my window and all the streets, cars, trees, and buildings were covered in snow and the wind was making the snow seem even worse. I normally sleep with my window open at night to keep my room a little cooler but the wind was letting snow into my room so I decided not to that night.
*You lived in Oklahoma City for three and a half years while going to school there. It gets its share of snow every winter. Did anything you saw ever come close to this?
-So every year Oklahoma City gets at least one, sometimes two, snowstorms. They were definitely worse than the ones I had experienced growing up north of Atlanta. It is still in the south so when these snow storms occurred everything was shut down and I wouldn’t have class for about a week. I do recall getting about the same amount of snow there as I did here, but here in New York they are so accustomed to these types of storms that by the next day the streets were plowed and not everything was shut down.
*I know you are a relative newcomer to New York but do you feel the city and New Yorkers as a whole were ready for this?
-I do. As I said in my answer to the previous question, the streets were plowed by the time I woke up Monday morning. I even saw some cars on the road outside my window. I had friends who still had to go into work. I was surprised when schools cancelled since I figured these storms happen every year. I believe schools only cancelled on Monday.
*How did it impact you personally? Were you confined to your apartment for any length of time?
-I personally chose to stay in my apartment. I didn’t have work that day and didn’t feel the need to leave my apartment. I know multiple people who went out to make snowmen and play in the snow.
*Did the storm shut down public transportation or did the system keep running with at least limited service?
-I believe everything was running at limited service. On Tuesday I did have to go to work and also met some friends for dinner that night and the trains took forever due to the limited service.
*Though you might not have experienced it personally, are you aware from news reports, maybe, of “runs” on grocery stores like those we see here in the South when a winter storm has been forecast?
-Before the storm in January I chose to go grocery shopping right before and it was honestly worse than any grocery runs I had ever experienced in the south in preparation for the storm. I was surprised because, again, I assumed that these storms came every year and that New Yorkers were accustomed. For this last storm I went Sunday afternoon, it was lightly snowing but not sticking due to above freezing temperatures, and it wasn’t crowded at all.
*We are doing this interview on Thursday. How close to being back to normal are things in your opinion?
-Things went back to normal on Tuesday in my opinion. Everything was opened back up. Everybody went back to work and school. The streets were plowed and everywhere I went there were tons of people out and about.
*Are there still piles and balls of snow along some streets such as what we saw on news broadcasts earlier in the week?
-There is! I think it might take a while for them to melt.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Our thanks to Lil and her mother for taking time to help put this story together.)