Ice storm hits; more coming!

[stumphugger]

I failed to mention the fake woodstoves that run on propane or natural gas. They come with fans, but you don't need the fan or power to heat with them. They crank out quite a lot of heat and look nice too. If wood were scarce, I'd have one of those instead.
Unfortunately they are expensive just like woodstoves are, to buy and install.

[rowerwet]

looks like the northeast is in for another ice mix for this weekend, and now the weather fools are talking about a blast of canadian cold... I love my woodstove!
gonna have to fix the snowblower.... again

[mikeschn]

Most of the ice melted here yesterday. Monday the next cold front comes in.

Mike...

[Fenlason]

just seen some of the coverage of you guys ice stome on the weather channel this moring I got a question you guys pretty much stay at home and don't drive any where when you get one of them storms, right?

my brother lived in georgia a while while in the serivice and he said when they got a ice storm he slowed down to a crawl when driving like we do on snow pack in wyoming and he said everyone else was in the ditch because they kept trying to drive like they do in georgia at normal high way speeds!

slow

In Maine most of us learn to drive in the 'stuff" Life goes on pretty much as normal.. my wife went to work everyday. hmm my sister in-law missed some work because the offices she works in were without power.

Some people that did not have any heat.. not back up of any sort.. did go to some of the shelters that were open.

In the 1998 storm.. we did not leave the house for over a week.. because of downed wires at the end of our driveway. Well my wife went into work some.. but she had to walk out to the road and get a ride from others. She was also able to do some of her paper work here from home.

[Fenlason]

Most of the ice melted here yesterday. Monday the next cold front comes in.

Mike...

We briefly got up to 33-34 today, but with no sun.. there was not a lot for melting. We have more snow on the way.. and along the coast more ice is forecasted.. and there are places on the coast that done have power back yet.

[mikeschn]

I heard there were still people here without power... although the highly publicized ones got power yesterday...

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/24315 ... -ice-storm

Mike...

[KCStudly]

Slow, when we get a major ice storm here on the northeast coast the biggest threat is downed power lines due to the tree branches being overwhelmed with ice and coming down on the wires. The tree branches are suspended in the cold air and tend to collect the ice, whereas the ground is generally warmer so the ice buildup is less of an issue.

Most municipalities have the equipment and budget to handle spreading salt and sand that makes the roads passable in short order.

As you move down the coast it is relative. The communities that see frequent storms are better prepared than the ones that only see occasional storms, so it depends on the severity and location of the storm.

Where I live we have a naval submarine base with lots of navy housing and ship's crews moving into and out of the region. After the first severe storm of the season it is pretty easy to spot the crunched up cars of the people who are not familiar with driving in winter conditions. They come from areas that do not have severe winter weather.

When I was a kid and first got my license at 16, one of the things we would do is to go out early after a storm and do donuts in parking lots and drive on snowy roads before the plows had everything cleared. It was a lot of fun and helped us to learn where the limits of traction were. We were driving junk beaters, too, so it did not matter so much if we crunched a corner or two.

Today, with all of the 4-wheel/all wheel drive vehicles, and modern traction control, I am still amazed at the people who go flying by not aware that every car has 4 wheel brakes... and it still does not stop when it is icy.

The east coast is not in isolation. When my sister and I were in Benton City WA a few years ago we encountered a winter storm and the logical thing to do was slow down. When we got passed on the highway by someone driving at full speed like everything was normal, I said to my sister, "that guy is going to end up in the ditch", and sure enough, about a half mile down the road we watched him spin out into the median gully, taking another car with him when he went, and it was just a light dusting in a very dry region.

Slow down. Make smooth even corrections. Apply the brakes early and gently so as not to lock any wheel. Keep moving if you can, momentum is your enemy and your friend.

[pchast]

+1

[Fenlason]

Up here the ground is goodly frozen, everything is goodly frozen so therefor .. the ice sticks to everything. Most of this storm the freezing ran came down slow enough that the sand/ plow trucks could keep most of the roads fairly passable. They were still ice covered.. but had enough grit on them with sensible driving and studded tires [etc] one could get around. We have seen times when it comes down so fast.. as soon as sand is put down, it is covered over with another layer of ice. When it comes down that hard, one can not keep their windshield clear either… so at those times it is time to park it.

As KSCstudly says at least some us growing up used to "practice" in parking lots etc. Even now any new vehicle I get.. I play with a little to see what it will do, how it behaves.

[rowerwet]

once again this "winter" is about to try and wash away our snow , I'm a cross country skier, but unless I have snow around the house or work I can't go, I don't have the time to drive to get to the snow. there is nothing worse than cold bare frozen ground IMO
When we lived in ME our section of town lost power for no reason almost weekly, most had generators, some bought those automatic NG powerd ones as it was worth it. During the big ice storm before Christmas about 5 years ago the whole area was out of power, lines to get gas blocked the roads for miles around gas stations with power or generators. Lucky for us this was the year I bought a generator, before that we had just heated the house with a kerosene wick heater, I offered it to my neighbors with electric everything, but they wouldn't use it. After 4 days of no heat, they check into a hotel with electricity... at least we had city water there, I don't know how you make it with no generator to run a well pump.

[Fenlason]

yeah.. being in snow country, wanting snow, and not getting it [or keeping it] sucks. We used to be able to count on snow here..but that is not the case.
I expanded my activities and projects so I almost always had something to do.
This year the snowmobilers [and the rest of us] are pretty frustrated.. we have good snow.. but because of all this ice.. most of the trails are not passable because of all the bent over trees.

[stumphugger]

I have a private well which I'll be without when the power goes off. I've got a hot tub which would provide flushing water. Down the road is a seasonal creek, which could be filtered or boiled for drinking. Our outages usually occur during heavy snow or wind storms. The wind storms often have heavy rains with them, so one could collect gutter water. I've got a few gallons of drinking water stored away.

I hate to drive in the snow because of all the SUVs that folks have. They fly by or tailgate. I was driving at my snow speed on washboard snow and a semi with chains on, flew by at about 50 or 60 mph. I guess he didn't know about chains flying off and such.
Now the highway dept. puts a chemical on the road, and I suspect we shall have rusty cars. People just couldn't seem to figure out to slow down when the roads are slick.

Oh, I drive on a highway that has lots of skier traffic. There's a ski hill up the road. Rant over.

On the west coast, we're having a fairly dry, sunny and cold winter. Skiing is lousy, but for some reason, I didn't buy a season pass this year. CA is saying the D word (aren't they always?) and we'll hear it too if we don't get a good dump of snow in the mountains.
So, if you could please reverse the jet stream and send some of that snow back to the west? Just make it snow above 3000 feet and rain below, kind of like normal.

[rowerwet]

I'd be happy to send you all this rain! it doesn't do me any good...

[Wolffarmer]

We could sure use it out west here. The reservoirs where very low at the end of irrigation season this year and so far there has been very little snow to refill them. But no snow right where I live please.

Randy

[stumphugger]

I'd be happy to send you all this rain! it doesn't do me any good...

We are used to rain.