Freezageddon

[Cackalacky]

My weather forecast. Likes doomsday, y'all...

You might as well live on Mars with a forecast like that.

 

[Irish Insanity]

Wind chill here today, -25. Wind chill here tomorrow, -45. Just another reason to Fuck Michigan. I've rotated between 4 driveways the last 3 days. Several times in each driveway. Most of the companies locally are closed today and tomorrow because of the wind chill and the blizzard. More time at home to work on snow removal.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

It was -16 when I woke up this morning (with a wind chill of -34), but since it's warmed up to a balmy -13.

The only good thing about this cold is that it'll make 20 degrees feel like 40!

 

[SaltyND24]

Oh how I miss being at ND:

Lancaster, CA
Today Jan 6


62°F

33°F

Sunny

Chance of rain: 0% Wind: N at 6 mph
Details



Tue Jan 7


66°

32°

Mostly Sunny

Chance of rain: 0% Wind: W at 7 mph
Details



Wed Jan 8


61°

33°

Mostly Sunny

Chance of rain: 10% Wind: W at 7 mph
Details



Thu Jan 9


59°

31°

Partly Cloudy

Chance of rain: 20% Wind: WSW at 8 mph
Details



Fri Jan 10


65°

34°

Partly Cloudy

Chance of rain: 20% Wind: NNE at 8 mph
Details



Sat Jan 11


67°

39°

Partly Cloudy

 

[Jebediah Springfield]

I guess we should be expecting more child births in 9 months...

 

[notredomer23]

My weather forecast. Likes doomsday, y'all...

I have a whole new level of respect for you. Reps in order.

 

[dshans]

Gonna go down to 30 tonight so everyone is wrapping their plants in blankets to try and keep them from freezing (not joking). Floridians are p****s.

No, Wiz. The Floridians are not necessarily wusses but the plants are. There were 11 palm trees in the front and back yards of my parents' home when we moved in in 1963 shortly after a severe freeze. By the time they sold the place in 1996 they were all gone. The insides rotted and they fell over one by one.

The citrus, vegetable and houseplant industries have a lot at stake. Be grateful that things have changed since I lived there. It was common to burn "smudge pots" (containers with used oil and a wick) and old tires to keep plants warm. You could always tell when it dropped to freezing or below overnight. Instead of a clear blue sky in the morning it was a bluish gray. The sort of thing you see in photos from China these days.

Once when I was in high school the fathers of two of my classmates (they were cousins, their fathers brothers) who owned some major orange groves paid a bunch of the boys to spend the night in the groves trying to keep the fruit and trees from freezing. Such a deal – get paid to rampage all night, burn shit and have the next day off from school!

We smelled like hell in the morning but a good portion of the crop was saved.

Also, many are trying to not lose all the money, effort and time invested in landscaping.

 

[connor_in]

Emergency // University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame Emergency Information

Emergency updates are available on Facebook and @nd_news on Twitter.

Current Status
2014/01/05 6:23 pm EST
Due to current and forecasted weather conditions and related safety concerns, the University of Notre Dame will be closed tomorrow, Monday, January 6. Snow emergency personnel are asked to report. Exception: Classes in Notre Dame Executive MBA program will meet as scheduled tomorrow since most participants are already on campus. A decision as to whether to reopen on Tuesday, January 7, will be made Monday afternoon after an assessment then.

You guys did know this, yes?

 

[connor_in]

Emergency // University of Notre Dame



You guys did know this, yes?

And again...

Current Status
2014/01/06 5:11 pm EST
In light of the continuation through noon tomorrow of area driving restrictions, the University of Notre Dame will not re-open until 1 PM tomorrow, Tuesday, January 7th. University personnel will be on hand at parking lots to help employees who need assistance upon arrival or departure from campus.

 

[chicago51]

Heat wave here tomorrow! High temperature is gonna be 3 degrees above 0 in Chicago tomorrow, up 12 degrees from today's high.

In all seriousness by the end of the week it is gonna be almost 40. Trying to be optimistic about the whole polar vortex in that it is only lasting a few days. Wednesday it will be 20 which pretty much a ho hum winter day.

 

[Bishop2b5]

It's been between -12 and -16 with high winds here in The Black Hills. We have penguins and polar bears the back yard asking if they can come in for a bit and get warm.

 

[dshans]

You have no idea how much we're enjoying being warmer (34 above this morning), than most of the Lower 48. Seriously though, don't drive unless you absolutely have to, and if you have to, ensure you have jumper cables and blankets in your car, and that your cell phone is charged. Temps like those many of you are experiencing are life-threatening. Be safe.

I was wondering if you'd check in. A quick FU, BlubberLover! My guess is that you live near or on the coast and benefit from the relatively warmer air flowing from the ocean.

Here in MN we don't have that luxury and are often colder than coastal cities of Alaska. We catch frigid air in winter and then get hot and humid air from the Gulf of Mexico at times in the summer. We have no natural barriers or mitigating factors for either. The stretches, spring and fall, when the high is 72 to 82 and the low around 60 to 65 is delighful.

One thing I would add to your list of things to carry in the car are a shit load of votive candles and matches or reliable lighter. If you're stuck in a snow drift they can be life savers. Just remember to crack a window or two. The trade-off between the incoming cold air and the reduced risk of asphyxiation is worth it. A large bag of cat litter might also be handy to have for traction. A small snow shovel's not a bad idea either.

 

[alaskandomer]

I was wondering if you'd check in. A quick FU, BlubberLover! My guess is that you live near or on the coast and benefit from the relatively warmer air flowing from the ocean.

Here in MN we don't have that luxury and are often colder than coastal cities of Alaska. We catch frigid air in winter and then get hot and humid air from the Gulf of Mexico at times in the summer. We have no natural barriers or mitigating factors for either. The stretches, spring and fall, when the high is 72 to 82 and the low around 60 to 65 is delighful.

One thing I would add to your list of things to carry in the car are a shit load of votive candles and matches or reliable lighter. If you're stuck in a snow drift they can be life savers. Just remember to crack a window or two. The trade-off between the incoming cold air and the reduced risk of asphyxiation is worth it. A large bag of cat litter might also be handy to have for traction. A small snow shovel's not a bad idea either.

Good call. I'm in Anchorage, which has generally mild (By Alaska standards) weather. Fortunately also, we rarely get any real winds in the winter (Fall and Spring are another matter), so wind chill seldom comes into play. Today though, even Fairbanks was around 20 above. Absolutely right about the cat litter and shovel. Even if you don't need them, your neighbors might. Our winters are often milder than in Minnesota and the Dakotas, but they last somewhat longer.
The hockey team from UAA is still trying to get back here from Wisconsin. They had a connection in the Twin Cities, and are still there. Hope all of you get back to tolerable temps soon. Be safe.

 

[BeauBenken]

Did lots of shoveling today. Had to get two cars out of feet upon feet of snow. Then of course clear off 10 inches of snow from the cars themselves. It's bitter cold. Pretty sure the wind was freezing my nose hairs, but I survived. Just have to bundle up and don't look into the wind!

I think God did this so I could watch the BCS NC game without having to worry about getting up and going to school the next morning.

 

[Irish#1]

How do you and the pooch deal with the dingilberrycicles?

<a href="http://s437.photobucket.com/user/dshans/media/Dingleberrycicles_zps9b761acf.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq93/dshans/Dingleberrycicles_zps9b761acf.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Dingleberrycicles_zps9b761acf.jpg"/></a>

Wife loved the pic.

Indy pretty much shutdown today. Mayor declared a "red" emergency basically meaning stay off the fucking roads or toy with a ticket. Schools still shut down tomorrow, but we're now under a orange alert. Forecast is calling for 43 Saturday. Crazy!

 

[Irish#1]

Did lots of shoveling today. Had to get two cars out of feet upon feet of snow. Then of course clear off 10 inches of snow from the cars themselves. It's bitter cold. Pretty sure the wind was freezing my nose hairs, but I survived. Just have to bundle up and don't look into the wind!

I think God did this so I could watch the BCS NC game without having to worry about getting up and going to school the next morning.

I feel your pain. My driveway drifted bad and it's 100ft long. I was able to get one car to the end of the driveway and found the plow put 2ft of snow at the end and it had frozen. It took 45 minutes to finally get it out and then I got stuck once I pulled back in.

 

[dad4aa]

Had to bite the bullet and clear the driveway today so I can make it to work tomorrow (was closed today due to the state of emergency). Temp was -14 with a -40 windchill. I don't ever remember a cold winter day like this.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Yeah, we are beneath a dozen below, somewhere. Down. There.

Thank goodness this one will be relatively short lived. Not like '94 or '76!

(In '94 places in IN and OH registered nearly 40 below, (wo wind chill) and then had upwards of 50 mph winds. (aluminum) Highway signs just shattered. I was out in that and had the same reaction that dshan does with the boiling water trick.

Went out and shoveled two neighbors drives and fixed the street where road crews left a little too much in the way. Came in and had a two inch layer of ice over my beard. Kept me kind of warm underneath. My face was not damaged, but my arm was burnt (right through three layers.

I am waiting for my pilot light to freeze.

 

[peoriairish]

No shoveling needed for me. My Sierra with 4 wheel drive blew through 2-3 foot drifts easy. Actually drove my fiance and a few other nurses to and from work last night. After I dropped them off, I went out and had some fun. A truck owner never passes the opportunity to play in the snow or mud. We are all children.

 

[Canton_Irish]

It's downright brutal out there right now. Kinda cool to hear the trees creaking in the wind.

I somewhat remember missing school due to the frigid cold back in 1994, but I was pretty young so it's kind of foggy.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

One of the best storms I was ever in was in March of '93. Left a business seminar in Lakeland, FL on a Friday afternoon at 5:00PM. Had driven because the family went down, had an early vacation, and they flew back ahead of my seminar. They told me they saw a huge storm predicted for the southeast when I called home to check in, just before leaving.

It was dark driving through Gainesville, so the lightening storm was unbelievable, across the sky from aqua, to blue, to orange, and back to blue! I have never seen anything like it, sober or intoxicated! Still, I was going to beat it home ahead of the storm!

About Midnight I stopped in Tipton, GA for some coffee. Turned out to be my downfall. By the time I got to Smyrna, from the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield the snow was near white out conditions. We traveled at about 15-20 mph. Sure enough, the traffic stopped just north of the first Dalton, GA exit. After everyone turned off their engines, when you opened your door there was the eerie silence of heavy snow. It was hard to believe. The silence was disrupted by the bursting of poplar trees. Sounded like small cannon fire. These sixty-foot trees swaying in the wind, could hold just so much snow, and then there branches just cracked. explosively.

Well with my Yankee temper and disposition I spun my car, literally fishtailed from my place to turn it around without running off the berm, and drove that berm off the on ramp. As I was the only thing moving, I could go wherever I wanted, as long as I didn't hit anyone. Just me and my Olds '98 Regency Brougham!

All day you could just about hear, "Look at that damn Yankee and his red car, go!" The truth be told, those people were totally devastated by the storm. We stopped in a Waffle House and I listened to story after story. Those Georgians had no cold weather wear. Many of them had trees or large limbs crash through their roofs and windows. The limbs were also a common source for neighborhood power outages.

I had already ascertained which of the local hotel-motels ran their kitchens with propane, so when the power went out I knew where to go. I had also secured sleeping arrangements on a (large) bus of college co-eds from a Big Ten School that had been on spring break. No kidding. The bus was already overloaded. So I went to the places most likely, and hit pay dirt on my second stop. I bought two kettles of soup, and bread from the Holiday Inn. The restaurant manager wasn't going to sell it to my but I convinced that man his life would be much easier if he could shut down and get home. Since he no longer had any food, and I had my ticket, we parted ways, both getting what we wanted.

I had to call back to my boss, and let him know that I would be late, have him call my kids, and all, and since I had him on the line, I thought it was appropriate to explain what the large credit card charge was. Since these kids, (young women, really) had no food, it really was an act of mercy, and kindness. Unbeknownst to me, the company had an employee who was married to a Blade staff writer. So my exploits appeared in the local paper, larger than life.

Later the responses in the Letters to the Editors went off the charts. Women in particular went wild. Not only did three or four women from my past call my work to track me down, but I got cards, letters, and messages with phone numbers asking me to call. Go figure! Anyways back to the women on the bus.

They were very happy to have me, my soup, and bags of bread aboard. We sang songs, played cards and I was given an exhibition of tan lines (I kid you not), and was asked to be a judge what became a contest : "Who had the most distinct tan line without having burned!" It was great. This bus sat right across an overpass. But the twenty inches or so of fallen snow threatened to bury the exhaust, and I am sure the driver was interested in conserving fuel not having any idea of how long it would be before he could fuel up. So he ran the bus intermittently at night. We slept in clumps. Together. To conserve body heat. Best night's sleep I ever had. Except once after I finally fell asleep, and woke with my hair frozen to the window.

Anyways, we parted company Sunday. They went one way, I found a back state highway which connected Dalton, GA, with Cleveland, TN, bypassing Chattanooga, TN and its interstate exchanges. The National Guard had the interstates shut down anyways. So we proceeded up this two lane highway, with one rutty lane of snow traffic opened.

How to drive two ways on a one lane road : A group of cars would drive together, until the front vehicle would spot an oncoming caravan. The two lead drivers would decide which group was bigger. The bigger group would keep driving, the smaller group would pull off the trail, getting stuck. The bigger group would pull past the smaller group, and stop to help push the stuck cars from the smaller group back onto the path. This repeated for six or seven hours which is how long it took to travel the forty or so miles that it took to get to Cleveland. Not once did anyone make a mistake.

By the time I got to the outskirts of Cleveland, I was alone on the road headed north and feeling rather elated. My joy was dampened when I checked the rear window to see a Bradley Fighting Vehicle in my rear view mirror. It did give me what I considered a rather unique perspective on the gun barrel that was generally pointing in my direction! Rumor was that the National Guard was actually arresting people out trying to travel on the roads. In my unorthodox mind I wondered if they would have one of those plug in strobes you used to see on unmarked police cars. Or would they just start shooting? What can I say. It must have been since Thursday night since I had a reasonable nights sleep, and this was getting late on Sunday; I was awfully tired.

I holed up in a place that night with no water. We took turns with the pail for water, through the ice from the pool, to flush the toilet. The next day, I got on the road, and the rest of the trip was more even keeled, except for when you drove by tow trucks extracting cars with wreaths on their hoods, and (obviously) bodies inside. Must have been buried in the snow and left their engines on; there wasn't one fatal collision, but there were five or six cars with asphyxiation victims inside.

There may not have been fatal accidents, but the roads were strewn with chrome trim and other breakage from cars that never even slowed down after they collided. That landed me a flat, which I changed at the KY visitors center. I must have gotten a good nights sleep, because I can remember grinning, (sheepishly, I thought) each time a fellow traveler stopped, observed my hurried activity, and asked, "What 'cha doin'?"

Well Tireman, where I bought my brand new 80,000 mile Kelly-Springfield radials, with road hazard protection, directed me to the OK Tire Company in Corbin, KY, for a replacement. Have you ever been to Corbin, Kentucky? I drove around the area four or five times before I figured the door in the side of the hill with a hand painted sign that said, "mechanic" with a little arrow pointing at the door for flair, was actually the OK Tire Company. Upon entering I realized that the building was much bigger than I thought, and that it was heated by a huge, centrally located wood burning stove. There were two or three cars and a tractor in various states of disassembly, including one with the gas tank out sitting next to it, between it, and the stove.

I immediately determined that this would be an incredibly fast transaction, and that I needed to wait outside while the tire was being changed. I walked in, introduced myself, and shared my plight. The gentleman, (huge, with overalls, a hunting had long beard dripping with tobacco juice, a large red shop rag hanging out of his pocket and a blank look on his face) staring at me, just like his brother, who was over his left shoulder, a couple paces behind. I mean it must have been his brother. Same size, shape, and their beards were nearly identical. I asked for the model tire I needed. They rebuked my efforts, noting that they didn't have one. I asked for their phone to call my guy at the "800" number. They directed me to the pay phone outside. I called him.

He gave me three or four other models that would work. I went in and carefully ticked off the list. They shook their heads, "un-uh," to each one. Incredulously, spying racks of tires in the dimly lit back recesses of the building, beyond the open containers of gasoline and the flames, I queried of them, "Well then, what do you have? What kind of tires do you sell?" Their 1993 response to me was, "Retreads, mostly, retreads." I called back and by this time the guy who's number I was calling from my receipt information was getting worried. Anxiety had crept into his voice. He simply replied, "Get out of there. With anything. Whatever it takes, just bring me the receipt."

So I negotiated the purchase of my first and last retread, ever. The good news is that for $20 it including it's own rim, and was ready to go. After a few minutes when I believe brother number one ascertained that the rim would fit on my axel with my particular bolt and lug configuration, he set fast to work fastening it. I plied my Hamilton to the other brother (Brother II, I believe), and he snapped it and held it to the light. That is when my eyes fixed on a sign, hanging from the ceiling, behind where the currency validation had just taken place.

I asked him if the sign was spelled correctly and he said yes. My faith and belief in his words must not have been overwhelming. I pointed right to the third word and identified it as my suspect. He looked, with a might bit of frustration on his face, and sang out Kentucky Motor Vehicle Inspection, vehicle, V-E-H-I-C-K-L-E, naw, that's right." I thanked him for the receipt, my new retread, and apologized for my error. (Where is dshans when you need him?)

I drove happily home like Fred Flintstone, and finally returned a hero, on Tuesday morning at 1:38AM. Funny, I remember that exact time after all of these years.

Well it was a long night and I thought it would be fun recounting a good weather story. Late that week we celebrated St. Patrick's Day in shirt sleeves, and I began dealing with the hoard of admiring women the company's top secret PR machine had produced.

 

[Riddickulous]

Wind chill here today, -25. Wind chill here tomorrow, -45. Just another reason to Fuck Michigan. I've rotated between 4 driveways the last 3 days. Several times in each driveway. Most of the companies locally are closed today and tomorrow because of the wind chill and the blizzard. More time at home to work on snow removal.

I live in Michigan, too.

We left the kitchen window cracked maybe two inches overnight. When we got up in the morning we found that the water left in our sink had frozen. It was awesome.

 

[tadman95]

Dodged a bullet in Mayberry! Forecast low of 4 degrees, only hit 7 degrees. That's what I'm talking about.

Duke Energy called and shut down our plant, rocking a day off!

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Here are last night's highlights : cold; kidding.

Daily record lows broken today in the South (old records in parentheses): 19 (21) in Savannah, Ga.; 11 (14) in Macon, Ga.; 6 (10) in Atlanta; 12 (15) in Augusta, Ga.; 7 (12) in Athens, Ga.; 20 (21) in Charleston, S.C.; 6 (9) in Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.; 13 (16) in Columbia, S.C.; 14 (18) in Florence, S.C.; 4 (5) in Huntsville, Ala.; 7 (11) in Birmingham, Ala.; 14 (18) in Mobile, Ala.; 13 (17) in Vicksburg, Miss.; 11 (15) in Meridian, Miss.; 14 (16) in Jackson, Miss.; 2 (6) in Knoxville, Tenn.; 5 (9) in Chattanooga, Tenn.; -1 (5) in Kingsport, Tenn.; -1 (3) in Asheville, N.C.; 9 (15) in Raleigh, N.C.; 5 (14) in Greensboro, N.C.; 6 (12) in Charlotte, N.C.;

Daily record lows broken today in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast (old records in parentheses): -8 (0) in Bluefield, W.V.; -8 (7) in Lewisburg, W.V.; -5 (1) in Blacksburg, Va.; 8 (10) in Danville, Va.; 2 (10) in Lynchburg, Va.; 1 (8) in Roanoke, Va.; 3 (8) at Dulles Airport in northern Virginia; 3 (8) in Baltimore; 4 (6) in New York City; 4 (7) in Philadelphia; -9 (-5) in Pittsburgh; 0 (5) in Harrisburg, Pa.; -5 (-2) in Williamsport, Pa.

Daily record lows broken today in the Midwest (old records in parentheses): -11 (-7) in Cleveland; -11 (-5) in Akron-Canton, Ohio; -12 (-7) in Mansfield, Ohio; -14 (-6) in Toledo, Ohio; -12 (-6) in Youngstown, Ohio; -7 (-5) in Columbus, Ohio; -9 (-3) in New Philadelphia, Ohio; -8 (-3) in Zanesville, Ohio; -14 (-5) in Detroit; -14 (-10) in Flint, Mich.

 

[FLDomer]

29 degrees when I got in the truck this morning! Thats cold for Florida but can't complain, it os supposed to be 81 on Saturday....take care IE eskimos!

 

[Irish#1]

One of the best storms I was ever in was in March of '93. Left a business seminar on a Friday afternoon at 5:00PM. Had driven because the family went down, had an early vacation, and they flew back ahead of my seminar. They told me they saw a huge storm predicted for the southeast when I called home to check in, just before leaving.

It was dark driving through Gainesville, so the lightening storm was unbelievable, across the sky from aqua, to blue, to orange, and back to blue! I have never seen anything like it, sober or intoxicated! Still, I was going to beat it home ahead of the storm!

About Midnight I stopped in Tipton, GA for some coffee. Turned out to be my downfall. By the time I got to Smyrna, from the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield the snow was near white out conditions. We traveled at about 15-20 mph. Sure enough, the traffic stopped just north of the first Dalton, GA exit. After everyone turned off their engines, when you opened your door there was the eerie silence of heavy snow. It was hard to believe. The silence was disrupted by the bursting of poplar trees. Sounded like small cannon fire. These sixty-foot trees swaying in the wind, could hold just so much snow, and then there branches just cracked. explosively.

Well with my Yankee temper and disposition I spun my car, literally fishtailed from my place to turn it around without running off the berm, and drove that berm off the on ramp. As I was the only thing moving, I could go wherever I wanted, as long as I didn't hit anyone. Just me and my Olds '98 Regency Brougham!

All day you could just about hear, "Look at that damn Yankee and his red car, go!" The truth be told, those people were totally devastated by the storm. We stopped in a Waffle House and I listened to story after story. Those Georgians had no cold weather wear. Many of them had trees or large limbs crash through their roofs and windows. The limbs were also a common source for neighborhood power outages.

I had already ascertained which of the local hotel-motels ran their kitchens with propane, so when the power went out I knew where to go. I had also secured sleeping arrangements on a (large) bus of college co-eds from a Big Ten School that had been on spring break. No kidding. The bus was already overloaded. So I went to the places most likely, and hit pay dirt on my second stop. I bought two kettles of soup, and bread from the Holiday Inn. The restaurant manager wasn't going to sell it to my but I convinced that man his life would be much easier if he could shut down and get home. Since he no longer had any food, and I had my ticket, we parted ways, both getting what we wanted.

I had to call back to my boss, and let him know that I would be late, have him call my kids, and all, and since I had him on the line, I thought it was appropriate to explain what the large credit card charge was. Since these kids, (young women, really) had no food, it really was an act of mercy, and kindness. Unbeknownst to me, the company had an employee who was married to a Blade staff writer. So my exploits appeared in the local paper, larger than life.

Later the responses in the Letters to the Editors went off the charts. Women in particular went wild. Not only did three or four women from my past call my work to track me down, but I got cards, letters, and messages with phone numbers asking me to call. Go figure! Anyways back to the women on the bus.

They were very happy to have me, my soup, and bags of bread aboard. We sang songs, played cards and I was given an exhibition of tan lines (I kid you not), and was asked to be a judge what became a contest : "Who had the most distinct tan line without having burned!" It was great. This bus sat right across an overpass. But the twenty inches or so of fallen snow threatened to bury the exhaust, and I am sure the driver was interested in conserving fuel not having any idea of how long it would be before he could fuel up. So he ran the bus intermittently at night. We slept in clumps. Together. To conserve body heat. Best night's sleep I ever had. Except once after I finally fell asleep, and woke with my hair frozen to the window.

Anyways, we parted company Sunday. They went one way, I found a back state highway which connected Dalton, GA, with Cleveland, TN, bypassing Chattanooga, TN and its interstate exchanges. The National Guard had the interstates shut down anyways. So we proceeded up this two lane highway, with one rutty lane of snow traffic opened.

How to drive two ways on a one lane road : A group of cars would drive together, until the front vehicle would spot an oncoming caravan. The two lead drivers would decide which group was bigger. The bigger group would keep driving, the smaller group would pull off the trail, getting stuck. The bigger group would pull past the smaller group, and stop to help push the stuck cars from the smaller group back onto the path. This repeated for six or seven hours which is how long it took to travel the forty or so miles that it took to get to Cleveland. Not once did anyone make a mistake.

By the time I got to the outskirts of Cleveland, I was alone on the road headed north and feeling rather elated. My joy was dampened when I checked the rear window to see a Bradley Fighting Vehicle in my rear view mirror. It did give me what I considered a rather unique perspective on the gun barrel that was generally pointing in my direction! Rumor was that the National Guard was actually arresting people out trying to travel on the roads. In my unorthodox mind I wondered if they would have one of those plug in strobes you used to see on unmarked police cars. Or would they just start shooting? What can I say. It must have been since Thursday night since I had a reasonable nights sleep, and this was getting late on Sunday; I was awfully tired.

I holed up in a place that night with no water. We took turns with the pail for water, through the ice from the pool, to flush the toilet. The next day, I got on the road, and the rest of the trip was more even keeled, except for when you drove by tow trucks extracting cars with wreaths on their hoods, and (obviously) bodies inside. Must have been buried in the snow and left their engines on; there wasn't one fatal collision, but there were five or six cars with asphyxiation victims inside.

There may not have been fatal accidents, but the roads were strewn with chrome trim and other breakage from cars that never even slowed down after they collided. That landed me a flat, which I changed at the KY visitors center. I must have gotten a good nights sleep, because I can remember grinning, (sheepishly, I thought) each time a fellow traveler stopped, observed my hurried activity, and asked, "What 'cha doin'?"

Well Tireman, where I bought my brand new 80,000 mile Kelly-Springfield radials, with road hazard protection, directed me to the OK Tire Company in Corbin, KY, for a replacement. Have you ever been to Corbin, Kentucky? I drove around the area four or five times before I figured the door in the side of the hill with a hand painted sign that said, "mechanic" with a little arrow pointing at the door for flair, was actually the OK Tire Company. Upon entering I realized that the building was much bigger than I thought, and that it was heated by a huge, centrally located wood burning stove. There were two or three cars and a tractor in various states of disassembly, including one with the gas tank out sitting next to it, between it, and the stove.

I immediately determined that this would be an incredibly fast transaction, and that I needed to wait outside while the tire was being changed. I walked in, introduced myself, and shared my plight. The gentleman, (huge, with overalls, a hunting had long beard dripping with tobacco juice, a large red shop rag hanging out of his pocket and a blank look on his face) staring at me, just like his brother, who was over his left shoulder, a couple paces behind. I mean it must have been his brother. Same size, shape, and their beards were nearly identical. I asked for the model tire I needed. They rebuked my efforts, noting that they didn't have one. I asked for their phone to call my guy at the "800" number. They directed me to the pay phone outside. I called him.

He gave me three or four other models that would work. I went in and carefully ticked off the list. They shook their heads, "un-uh," to each one. Incredulously, spying racks of tires in the dimly lit back recesses of the building, beyond the open containers of gasoline and the flames, I queried of them, "Well then, what do you have? What kind of tires do you sell?" Their 1993 response to me was, "Retreads, mostly, retreads." I called back and by this time the guy who's number I was calling from my receipt information was getting worried. Anxiety had crept into his voice. He simply replied, "Get out of there. With anything. Whatever it takes, just bring me the receipt."

So I negotiated the purchase of my first and last retread, ever. The good news is that for $20 it including it's own rim, and was ready to go. After a few minutes when I believe brother number one ascertained that the rim would fit on my axel with my particular bolt and lug configuration, he set fast to work fastening it. I plied my Hamilton to the other brother (Brother II, I believe), and he snapped it and held it to the light. That is when my eyes fixed on a sign, hanging from the ceiling, behind where the currency validation had just taken place.

I asked him if the sign was spelled correctly and he said yes. My faith and belief in his words must not have been overwhelming. I pointed right to the third word and identified it as my suspect. He looked, with a might bit of frustration on his face, and sang out Kentucky Motor Vehicle Inspection, vehicle, V-E-H-I-C-K-L-E, naw, that's right." I thanked him for the receipt, my new retread, and apologized for my error. (Where is dshans when you need him?)

I drove happily home like Fred Flintstone, and finally returned a hero, on Tuesday morning at 1:38AM. Funny, I remember that exact time after all of these years.

Well it was a long night and I thought it would be fun recounting a good weather story. Late that week we celebrated St. Patrick's Day in shirt sleeves, and I began dealing with the hoard of admiring women the company's top secret PR machine had produced.

Would you care to embellish a little on those ladies that contacted you afterwards? lol

We experienced that same snow storm. We were down in Albany Georgia for a dog show. Was heading up 29 towards Atlanta when the snow hit hard. We had to hole up in a flea bag hotel. It was so bad that we slept in sleeping bags on top of the beds! The next day we ran into a lot of those same folks who had no clue how to drive in snow. We also joked that they must have thought we were crazy until we passed them and they could see out Indiana license plate. On the south edge of Atlanta we saw one garbage truck with a plow on the front. All they could do is wait a couple of days for it to melt. Unfortunately, there were no co-eds that needed rescuing involved in my story.

The good news is we're up to -6 in Indy!

 

[chicago51]

Start to warm up here, we had positive single digits temperatures today, which is up about 15 degrees. It actually felt comfortable compared to yesterday.

Tomorrow is it is gonna get up somewhere between 15-20 which is pretty much standard winter weather which I'm used to and I can live with. So we got one more cold night below zero and then things are back to normal.

I heard the folks east of here though have one more day of artic temperatures so stay warm my friends.

 

[irishog77]

What am I supposed to do if I see yellow snow? Eat it, don't eat it? I'm confused.

 

[Irish#1]

What am I supposed to do if I see yellow snow? Eat it, don't eat it? I'm confused.

Eat it, yes definitely eat it.

 

[connor_in]

Chicago...