Because we aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon.
That isn’t snow.
It’s Freezing Rain.
For those fortunate enough to have never experienced it, count your blessings.
It was plenty cold here all day, down in the low 20’s.
About 8 this evening, the moisture came in. It’s still warm enough up a little higher that it comes down as rain. The ground however, is so cold that the second it hits, it turns to ice.
So that shot looking down the street is basically looking at a skating rink.
Last I saw, it’s supposed to do this off and on all night long. It may or may not turn to snow at some point. It’s also supposed to do some of both almost all day tomorrow too. Then the temps are supposed to shoot up and it will all melt away by Christmas Eve.
If you want to believe the weather people.
They have such a great track record ya know.
Either way, I see no damn good reason to even go out and scrape the windshield tomorrow.
I’m not going anywhere.
Not judging at all… just wishing I could have stayed home in 1999 when this happened to me in Bellevue Nebraska. Had to scrape smack and score til I made it to work.
That’s the stuff where nightmares begin.
It’s heavy. Trees break from the weight and they take out utilities when they do.
I’d get real busy with my municipality contracts when that happened. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how difficult not only getting equipment out in that stuff, but just getting set up to work in it can be. Long days and nights. Things continuing to come down while you’re working not to mention the clowns out riding the roads.
Last week we had the freezing rain to coat trees and such, and then 36 hours of snow at just below freezing, about 18 inches of snow.
For those lucky not to know, a storm like this usually has a couple hours of wet, heavy snow and then the front comes through, temperatures drop and the snow becomes less dense. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a stationary storm last this long.
Melting snow for water for the toilet is usually a useless chore, but this wet shit yielded a gallon of water for every 4 gallons of snow, and when plowed the cracks were bright blue instead of gray from the water content, like pressure ridges on frozen lakes.
That ice and snow is still on the trees here, and subzero temps until next week will keep ot there unless the 45 MPH winds snap the trees. Good times.
Those weather forecasters can’t predict with any degree of accuracy what time it will be at noon tomorrow—ken
Take a gander at this dumbass.
https://twitter.com/NoRiskNoFu9/status/1605507840205996032
Only after eons of people saying
DON’T DO THIS
Unfortunately mankind does not have to live by the law of the jungle yet.
Friday morning here in Middle TN. We did not get freezing rain, per se, but the rain we got before the snow fell all froze on the roads. At 5.30 am the temp here was -3 with wind chill of -22. Not something we normally see in this part of the country. I’m waiting to see what Wirecutter has to say later in the day.
PS I agree with the original comment, no reason to go anywhere.
There’s only one way to deal with that kind of ice on a car.
Get the door open, fire it up, and run the defrosters and wait until they’ve done their job. Luckily, I recycled the roof over my patio (when we built a sunroom) and made it a carport in front of the garage. Best move ever.
That said, our driveway is in the back and has a rolling gate that won’t roll when that shit is covering the rail.
As a former New Englander, I don’t miss that crap one damn bit. Currently 40 with wind gusts up to 50 mph here in the midlands of SC, just returned from the grocery store and they’re already in panic mode due to upcoming low temps next 3 nights with some power outages already reported.
I remember that. Cold air coming through the Gorge. I even drove in it, a few times. Had a job in Troutdale. The most amazing thing to me, at the time, was all the power lines encased in thick coatings of ice. Even at the ripe old age of 19, I at least knew to drive very carefully in that crap, but I saw a lot of crazy shit on the roads.
Hope you and the Mrs. are recovering, Phil.
I hated it when I had to drive to/from Spokane/Portland and the Gorge was all black ice. 35MPH and I was pushing my luck the whole way. Of course I was usually just about the only idiot on the road for miles, but every now and then a trucker doing 40-45 would pass me by. I’d drive on the shoulder of the road as much as possible when that happened. No sense in pushing my luck!
It usually eased up around Hood River, but then you got… the winds.
Our winter wonderland has turned to wet slop with snow levels above us for the next week. I do remember watching Tri-Met buses sliding sideways on that ice. And some gal got killed by a tree in downtown Portland. I was in a dorm at the time and only had to make it to the cafeteria. Never gave a thought about the staff that kept us fed.
Ps. I hope you just hunker down and clear out that bug Phil.
I lived up on Mocks Crest and had to commute to downtown, and Tri Met would NOT even contemplate taking Willamette Blvd after the first busses started sliding downhill out of control. Usually Route 1 and especially Route 4.
Ever see an articulated bus going down the road, sideways? Quite the sight!
Freezing rain/sleet is the worst !!