Freezageddon

[woolybug25]

Wooly thinks Cacky would be willing to meet him.......

Do you like cats? I have a cat you can pet, Acamp... just meet me behind that building over there...I think you will really like this cat....

 

[ACamp1900]

 

[Cackalacky]

 

[dshans]

I got work off today because of the weather in Tally. Freezing rain is the worst.

No bout adoubt it. I've been in Minneapolis since the late 70's. Prior to that I'd lived in Florida for a couple of decades. Freezing rain, be it early winter, early spring or the vaunted "January Thaw" it is a bane to travel. It matters little if by car, bicycle or foot

One of the stranger things I've experienced is a thunderstorm in Minneapolis in January. A simultaneous snowfall and rain, while the sky was illuminated by lightening and thunderclaps resonating was a sight and a sound to behold. The roads and sidewalks were a pain in the ass the next morning and days to come. I feel no need to experience it again.

As January comes to a close, I see no thaw in my immediate future. I wish
you all the best.

 

[GoldenToTheGrave]

My response to this: I live on the Gulf Coast where hurricanes are a yearly occurrence. Cat 1 hurricane means I will be traveling through puddles to get to work.
Ask NJ about the weather I am having today and they would laugh at the amount of things closed. Now remember what Hurricane Sandy did to them. She was a cat 1.

Sandy had an very high storm surge for a category 1, hit at high tide, and a full moon high tide no less. The winds (which what the category number represents) did relatively little damage. There's no low lying area that's going to be OK with a 5 foot+ storm surge, which is what Long Island, NYC, and Jersey got.

 

[Irish YJ]

Ohio State OC had to abandon his car as well here in GA.... To bad Urbie wasn't with him.

 

[Bishop2b5]

I'm in Atlanta tonight. Thought it would be a nice warm break from the Dakotas. Not so much. It's a mess here with all the highways covered in ice, and dozens of cars & trucks scattered everywhere along the interstate. The city's virtually shut down with most stores & restaurants closed. What a mess.

 

[Irish#1]

Muskegon, Grand Rapids and Holland. Spent many Christmas' there as a child.

My former job required me to go to our facility in Grand Haven. Nice town, but I hated going there during the winter.

 

[Irish YJ]

I'm in Atlanta tonight. Thought it would be a nice warm break from the Dakotas. Not so much. It's a mess here with all the highways covered in ice, and dozens of cars & trucks scattered everywhere along the interstate. The city's virtually shut down with most stores & restaurants closed. What a mess.

Civil emergency declared until noon tomorrow..... I drove into the office earlier, not bad, but some places are still covered in black ice. Anything that melted and didn't evaporate has already returned to ice.

 

[Bishop2b5]

Civil emergency declared until noon tomorrow..... I drove into the office earlier, not bad, but some places are still covered in black ice. Anything that melted and didn't evaporate has already returned to ice.

I drove about 15 miles on I-75 and it was really bad. Anything over 20 mph was scary. Got stuck in traffic just north of Atlanta for 5 hours. Major wreck had everything backed up. They just don't have the equipment to deal with it here. You can't justify spending tens of millions on snow removal equipment you'll only use 2-3 times per decade.

 

[Bishop2b5]

It snowed in Pensacola and across the Gulf Coast. Wow.

Snow, ice on Florida Panhandle [PHOTOS] | Florida Winter Weather

PENSACOLA --

I-10 is shut down between Pensacola and Crestview after a rare winter storm brought snow and ice to the Florida Panhandle.

The Florida Highway Patrol shut down at least a half-dozen bridges around Escambia and Santa Rosa counties due to ice on the roadways.

Icicles have formed on signs and buildings in Crestview. The ice has built up on power lines causing outages to 1,200 customers in Walton County.

Schools are closed in most of the Panhandle counties, including in Tallahassee.

No snow is expected in Central Florida or the Tampa Bay area, but it's not unheard of, either. In January 2010, light snow flurries fell in and around Orlando, Daytona Beach, Melbourne and Ocala.

 

[Irish YJ]

I drove about 15 miles on I-75 and it was really bad. Anything over 20 mph was scary. Got stuck in traffic just north of Atlanta for 5 hours. Major wreck had everything backed up. They just don't have the equipment to deal with it here. You can't justify spending tens of millions on snow removal equipment you'll only use 2-3 times per decade.

Yep,,, but they should have made the call earlier yesterday to close schools. The mess and chaos (schools/school busses) that ensued was completely avoidable. A lot of schools made the right call, but a lot did not. I for one wish I would have sent people home an hour or two earlier than I did.

I will say that they should pre-salt when snow is forecasted. They always wait till after the fact to dispatch the trucks.

 

[woolybug25]

Yep,,, but they should have made the call earlier yesterday to close schools. The mess and chaos (schools/school busses) that ensued was completely avoidable. A lot of schools made the right call, but a lot did not. I for one wish I would have sent people home an hour or two earlier than I did.

I will say that they should pre-salt when snow is forecasted. They always wait till after the fact to dispatch the trucks.

Two things:

- wasn't it the fact that everybody was sent home in the same general timeframe that caused the issues? If so, then how would sending everyone early, albeit still all together, going to solve the issue? Would a tiered system work better?

- putting down the salt before the storm doesn't always work well. Especially if it's rain that turns to snow. Once the salt melts, it's gone.

 

[wizards8507]

Anyone else waiting for a package? Amazon's distribution is all kinds of screwed up.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 4

 

[connor_in]

Anyone else waiting for a package? Amazon's distribution is all kinds of screwed up.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 4

I got your package...right here, buddy!

 

[irishog77]

Two things:

- wasn't it the fact that everybody was sent home in the same general timeframe that caused the issues? If so, then how would sending everyone early, albeit still all together, going to solve the issue? Would a tiered system work better?

- putting down the salt before the storm doesn't always work well. Especially if it's rain that turns to snow. Once the salt melts, it's gone.

Ray Nagin was brought in as a consultant to help evacuate the area.

 

[dshans]

Anyone else waiting for a package?

Was this package marked "Priority, Special Handling?"

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Two things:

- wasn't it the fact that everybody was sent home in the same general timeframe that caused the issues? If so, then how would sending everyone early, albeit still all together, going to solve the issue? Would a tiered system work better?

- putting down the salt before the storm doesn't always work well. Especially if it's rain that turns to snow. Once the salt melts, it's gone.

That is what the brine and liquid spray solutions are for. It would be a perfect system for southern states. I could be done with trailers, or relatively cheap fittings for existing trucks. It could be done ahead of storms, and it would be very effective for areas where the temps dip down for only a short time.

 

[Irish#1]

One day closer.

 

[woolybug25]

I got your package...right here, buddy!

Hey!

 

[T Town Tommy]

Two things:

- wasn't it the fact that everybody was sent home in the same general timeframe that caused the issues? If so, then how would sending everyone early, albeit still all together, going to solve the issue? Would a tiered system work better?

- putting down the salt before the storm doesn't always work well. Especially if it's rain that turns to snow. Once the salt melts, it's gone.

Atlanta traffic is chaos on a normal day. Throw in weather that they aren't prepared for and it is unbearable. Birmingham was just as bad but for slightly different reasons. The weather came on much quicker, and was much worse than originally forecasted. And the ice made it horrible for everyone. A tier system would be ideal and something that the schools down here should probably consider moving forward. Having small kids locked in elementary schools all night isn't ideal... but at least they were safe in the end.

 

[Irish#1]

Atlanta traffic is chaos on a normal day. Throw in weather that they aren't prepared for and it is unbearable. Birmingham was just as bad but for slightly different reasons. The weather came on much quicker, and was much worse than originally forecasted. And the ice made it horrible for everyone. A tier system would be ideal and something that the schools down here should probably consider moving forward. Having small kids locked in elementary schools all night isn't ideal... but at least they were safe in the end.

How do you keep hundreds of elementary kids entertained that long? lol I feel sorry for the teachers.

 

[T Town Tommy]

How do you keep hundreds of elementary kids entertained that long? lol I feel sorry for the teachers.

Yeah... had to be a long night for all involved.

 

[Irish YJ]

Two things:

- wasn't it the fact that everybody was sent home in the same general timeframe that caused the issues? If so, then how would sending everyone early, albeit still all together, going to solve the issue? Would a tiered system work better?

- putting down the salt before the storm doesn't always work well. Especially if it's rain that turns to snow. Once the salt melts, it's gone.

Not really on Q1. People need to be home before the snow starts coming down. I concentrated on when the snow was going to hit the area around the office, not when it was going to hit the homes of some of my employees. I've already put a DR plan in place so this does not happen again.

Schools should have been canceled altogether IMO. In ATL, if snow is falling, regardless of the input/volume, a traffic jam is going to occur. Traffic jams already occur everyday without snow, even on non-peak hours.

I'm aware of the salt thing (grew up in Indy). In this case, not rain, only snow. Also, when snow happens, typically the trucks can't get out post snow because of the traffic. The only time that post snow salting will work, is if the snow happens during the night, and even then, traffic jams will happen due to the truckers using 85/75 as one of their primary routes.

 

[NDFan4Life]

Another day off work. I am bored out of my skull! Just saw the extended forecast for the next week. It's supposedly going to be 72 next Wednesday. As I said before, I love winters in NC!

 

[Irish YJ]

going to be 60 Saturday/Sunday here in Atlanta.....

 

[irishff1014]

-4 to wake up to this morning. I love cold weather I just don't like the wind.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

My former job required me to go to our facility in Grand Haven. Nice town, but I hated going there during the winter.

Former next door neighbors had a family "place" in South Haven. They called it cottage, I called it an estate. Came from old money, two or four generations back. So their wing of the family got it for half the summer. Some other second cousins, etc., got it for the other half. Trust in a corporation, in perpetuity kind of thing. I spent some great half summers there.

And every time we went in the winter. We could go any time, there was A) snow, and B) though we came alone, we always got laid. No one could figure out why two young guys like BW and I would just look to get off into the boonies like that!

On the local front it is supposed to get up to 30 today and tomorrow, and 34 on Saturday! Just to melt enough for the next series of storms coming through! I have never seen anything like the upcoming forecast here. If you know anything about the Great Lakes, geography, and prevailing weather patterns here, Erie, is a dangerous, shallow bitch. Phenomenal storms! But the prevailing winter weather is from upper left, sweeping across to the upper right. The effect is usually, the moisture from Canada and dshans and all you Chicagoans is swept towards us and sucked out over Lake Erie and delivered to Wooly and Buffalo. Supercharged. From the east side of Cleveland to Niagara, they always get 2X to 3X the snow. We get all of the cold, just not the precipitation.

From Sunday on we are predicted to get snow every day for that next week. First time I ever have seen that! What does it mean if on Groundhog's Day, Phil is frozen?

 

[dshans]

Well, Minneapolis gets far less snow than Buffalo, Grand Rapids and South Bend. The problem here is that it's usually so damn cold that what falls in November is still at the bottom of the pile come March. It's like an archeological dig in the the spring when the tundra coating finally melts away.

"I really should have stored that hose back in October." "Oh, that's where I left that shovel." Then there are remnants of neighborhood newspapers and Frito bags that have been buried for months.

I just woke up to about 6 inches of new snow. Light and fluffy (as opposed to wet and dense March snows) and all all kinds of sparkly and pretty (once the cloud cover passes – over to Bogs, et al) and the sun do shine. Still a pain in the ass and lower back.

I do wish that Minnesota moved away from salt and more toward beet juice and corn husk based methods to deal with snow and ice, but I'm not a chemist or economist. I'm just a lone voice yelling into the blizzard winds.

All I have to say is "Stay safe, keep warm and 'this, too, shall pass.'"

 

[alaskandomer]

Well, Minneapolis gets far less snow than Buffalo, Grand Rapids and South Bend. The problem here is that it's usually so damn cold that what falls in November is still at the bottom of the pile come March. It's like an archeological dig in the the spring when the tundra coating finally melts away.

"I really should have stored that hose back in October." "Oh, that's where I left that shovel." Then there are remnants of neighborhood newspapers and Frito bags that have been buried for months.

I just woke up to about 6 inches of new snow. Light and fluffy (as opposed to wet and dense March snows) and all all kinds of sparkly and pretty (once the cloud cover passes – over to Bogs, et al) and the sun do shine. Still a pain in the ass and lower back.

I do wish that Minnesota moved away from salt and more toward beet juice and corn husk based methods to deal with snow and ice, but I'm not a chemist or economist. I'm just a lone voice yelling into the blizzard winds.

All I have to say is "Stay safe, keep warm and 'this, too, shall pass.'"

Similar to our area. Once the snow arrives, usually in mid-October, we don't see bare ground again until late March When Breakup does come, all the road grit (We use mostly sand), lost mittens, and dog poop all come to the surface. It's a lovely time to visit The last time we had so much melting in January, we got smacked by a 39 inch snowfall on St. Patrick's Day. Fortunately, it fell on a Sunday, so by Monday morning everything was pretty much back to normal. Schools did close for the day because the Muni hadn't gotten the parking lots cleared yet. We are generally well-prepared for winter, but if we had summer temps like some of you have, we would be completely helpless. Almost no one has home air conditioning.