The Big One is Coming!

[TheGreatSatan]

A Huge Blizzard is headed my way. The weather guys are saying we'll get a foot or more of snow. It'll start tomorrow afternoon with rain. The rain will turn to freezing rain in the evening and then to snow following that. The last time it was like this was almost 5 years ago.

There was so much ice that the power lines fell from the weight of it. I was without power for 6 days and my house dropped to 32 degrees. My hot water is heater is gas powered so I would crank up the shower and make it nice and steamy so I could change into my work clothes. My wife took my kids up north to my in-laws so they wouldn't have to deal with the cold.

My goldfish I had is still alive and survived that week of hell. I would fill one liter bottles with hot water and put the full bottles in the fish tank to act as heaters for her. I would even plug in a fish tank heater into an extension cord and ran the cable outside to my car where I had it plugged into an inverter.

This time I may opt for a hotel stay. I'll at least have my laptop to keep me entertained which I can charge in my car too with or without the internet.

[SXRguyinMA]

yea it's hitting us here on wednesday, they're saying 15-20" in my area. that will be on top of the 40"+ already on the ground :facepalm:

[biggoofy]

What states do you guys live in. I'm in far south PA, on the border. I haven't heard anything of this storm.

[Crimson13]

I've heard up to 24 inches in my area, so we've stocked up on supplies and made sure the cast iron stove lit. That stove is a great thing to have, we turn it on and close that room off. Then once that room is REALLY hot we turn on the blower for the furnace and it spreads the heat to the rest of the house. Or we just hang out in the living room which is right off the room with the stove.

[farlo]

i live in arkansas, it was 70 yesterday :whistler:

[biggoofy]

i live in arkansas, it was 70 yesterday :whistler:

You sir, are a lucky man.

[farlo]

nah, unusually warm the last few days, usually in the 30s, but snow is fairly rare around here.

[DrkSide]

I live in Arkansas as well, it was ~65 here yesterday.

but.....they are saying 1 to 2 inches of sleet and ice with 4-8 of snow on top of that. That is what really sucks around here. I can deal with the snow its the stupid ice.

Of course, that was this afternoon and I'm sure it will change between now and tomorrow night when it is supposed to hit.

[biggoofy]

nah, unusually warm the last few days, usually in the 30s, but snow is fairly rare around here.

Ya I vacationed there in the summer one year, and I remember just stepping out side and it was like I turned into the human torch.

[x88x]

Damn, more snow?? :( I find it's a lot less fun now that I have to clear my driveway. :P

[Drum Thumper]

Have some cheese to go with the whine. I've seen snow every month of the year, and I love the stuff!

[halcyonforever]

Yeah it was 70 in Oklahoma on Saturday, 40 on Sunday, and 30 right now. Storm is supposed to blow through tonight into tomorrow.

[TheGreatSatan]

I'm just out side of STL

[Luke122]

We got a foot of snow this past weekend.. good times. Today, -40'C this morning with the wind.. -31 without it.

Pretty brutally cold.

[Airbozo]

This storm blew through my area saturday night and yesterday morning. We got a bit of rain and high winds.

Good luck with that white powdery stuff...

[Drum Thumper]

I bow to Luke. That's freakin cold indeed. Incidentally, that's also where Fahrenheit and Celsius agree on the temp (-40)

[SgtM]

We're gonna get pwned here in Ohio too. I'm so looking forward to Spring!

[mDust]

The weatherman here is crying wolf again. Every week they say we're going to get 6" and after 2 months we have about an inch. It's unusual to not have snow and ice here but every storm so far has missed us completely...so I expect to wake up tomorrow to more bare grass and concrete.:mad:

[msmrx57]

Latest radar shows the worst of this going south of us by a bit. Now they're say 3-6" total.

[x88x]

Well, looks like I worried for nothing. The worst we're getting is some light sleet tonight, then on Wednesday it's supposed to be up in the lower 40's and raining. :D

[OvRiDe]

They're saying 12-20 inches tomorrow here in Tulsa. I am not sure about the snow, but the ice they are predicting to go with it has me a little concerned.

Oh well guess we are going to have to wait and see. I got my generator ready, but really all that means was I moved it from the back of the garage to the door. :)

[DrkSide]

OvRiDe - The ice is what always sucks around here. U guys normally get whatever before it hits here.

We at least have a gas fireplace. I stocked up on the essentials today (read smokes and liquor(and a little food)) They have already cancelled classes at the UofA tomorrow which I have never seen them do the day before. Just the mention of ice/snow gets everyone in a frenzy. Don't even think about going to wally world. I can't stand being couped up for long so the 4wd always comes in handy.

Just read the weather channel and it said snow drifts of up to 2 feet.

[OvRiDe]

Well get ready.. we got lots of sleet .. the size of rocksalt.. 20 minutes later it was all white.. then we got some snow for a little while, but its turned back into sleet. :(

They canceled school around here hours before any snowflakes had fallen.

[crenn]

Well here, it's a horrible 39c+ almost every day and it's not going to stop due to a cyclone about to hit Queensland (you know, the place where there has been heavy flooding)

[DrkSide]

Well, lots of sleet/freezing rain. Can't even open the truck doors without the fear of breaking the handle.

Roads aren't too bad here in well traveled areas but it is supposed to get alot worse. Ice is supposed to stop about 9am and then 9" of snow on top.:banana:

[LiTHiUM0XiD3]

ya know it could always be worse.. u could live up with me here in canada....

[Luke122]

ya know it could always be worse.. u could live up with me here in canada....

...and me. Colder here in the west today.. -41'C atm.. ALTHOUGH... supposedly going to be +6'C tomorrow.. sure. We'll see.

Good luck to all who are bracing for the storm. Stock up on supplies! The SNOWPOCALYPSE IS UPON YOU!

[DrkSide]

Well about 6 1/4" in the yard now. Measured about 7" on pavement so about 3/4 or so of ice. YAY!

[farlo]

sleet covering the parking lot and streets around my work here in fort smith arkansas, was snowing decently when i went outside on lunchbreak. driving home is going to suck.

[blueonblack]

The SNOWPOCALYPSE IS UPON YOU!

I can't believe you actually typed those letters in that order.

Wow.

:facepalm:

[Luke122]

I can't believe you actually typed those letters in that order.

Wow.

:facepalm:

uh... not sure what I missed there..

[x88x]

uh... not sure what I missed there..

It was a thing here last year...got a few feet of snow and the entire east coast decided it was the end of the world. :P News reporters kept inventing names like 'Snowpocalypse' or 'Snowmageddon', etc, etc.

[Luke122]

Snowmageddon is lame.

Damn.. so much for my awesome (patent pending) buzz word.

[farlo]

roads were a sheet of ice all the way home, abs is a nice thing though.

[blueonblack]

Yeah, it was just the use of the word that got me. It's a personal aggravation of mine, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

[PartyLikeARockstar]

It's mandated for us to have chains atm here. or snow/all weather tires. The cops can actually give you a ticket.

[Luke122]

A good time to be in the tire business!

[mDust]

I've heard that some places (such as Toledo, Ohio) have declared a state of emergency and people who are not emergency personnel can be arrested for being out on the roads.:? That's just asinine.
We only got about 14" here but it's drifted up to 5-6' in places. I've been watching every single car get stuck in the 2-3' drift in front of the freeway entrance ramp outside my living-room window...it's great fun watching the snow come over the hood of the cars until they slow to a stop...and the look on the drivers' face always says 'oh man, how did I get stuck?' Even some 4x4s without enough ground clearance are falling victim.
It wasn't that bad of a storm here though. It was just super windy and blowing around a lot.

How much snow did everyone else get? It must have dumped hard somewhere...

[x88x]

It's mandated for us to have chains atm here. or snow/all weather tires. The cops can actually give you a ticket.

Dowaaaahhh? That just a Baltimore city thing? Sounds like some tire sales company owner has a friend on the city council. :rolleyes:

[TheGreatSatan]

So it's here. Last night it took me an hour and a half to get 23 miles to home. My subdivision has a steep incline of about 30 yards to get onto the main road. I couldn't do it the first 4 times or so, so I got my shovel out and starting clearing a path. The main problem was the huge heap of snow at the bottom of the hill from where the plow went by. After about a half hour of shoveling and laying down kitty litter I got up the hill!

This morning I tried going to work and my car got stuck at the end of my driveway. For the first time, I had to phone work and call off.

[PartyLikeARockstar]

yeah, it's a city thing.

[x88x]

yeah, it's a city thing.

Ah, ok, that makes more sense then. Still rather ridiculous though; I mean, even last week when I was driving home in the middle of the snowstorm, with 4-5" of snow on the ground, the only real problem I had was when I tried to go too fast (shortly after getting on the road and not realizing really what the situation was). ..ok, I also got stuck in my driveway, but snow tires or chains would not have helped me with that...snow tires don't give me more ground clearance. :P Other than that, as long as I realized that I wouldn't be able to stop/start/turn/etc as well as normally, I was fine. The problem isn't people not having the right equipment, it's people not knowing how to drive in snow. What really got me was during that drive, the people who were being the worst about it; going 5mph down the highway, etc...were always people in big 4wd SUVs! :facepalm:

[DrkSide]

I'm guilty of driving slow in snow/ice in my 4wd truck but I would rather be going too slow than too fast. I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere and anyone that is is asking for problems. It has been over a day here since the snow stopped and the roads are worse today than yesterday. It is almost solid ice underneath a very little amount of snow.

[x88x]

I'm guilty of driving slow in snow/ice in my 4wd truck but I would rather be going too slow than too fast.

Agreed. But when the conditions are fine for me in my low-ground-clearance FWD car to go at least 30mph, and someone in a big SUV is making everyone on the road go 5mph... :facepalm: I just think it's ridiculous when the slowest people on the road are in the vehicles best suited to the conditions.

[DrkSide]

Yea, I agree with you. I try and go with the flow of traffic and just allow enough room between vehicles.

What pisses me off the most is the idiots that try to pass. I get that it is a 5 lane road but the path is only for one lane in each directon and you can't even see where the edge of the road is.

[mDust]

What pisses me off the most is the idiots that try to pass. I get that it is a 5 lane road but the path is only for one lane in each directon and you can't even see where the edge of the road is.

That would be people like me.:devious: I keep my vehicle in control at all times. And I will quickly pass anyone that is causing me to lose control or keeping me well below reasonable speeds. I had to pass a lot of people yesterday night because they keep hitting their damn brakes on hills... I wish I could pull them out of their cars and slap them and then tell them "NO! NO! BAD!!". There's no better way to lose control of your vehicle than to brake hard when going down a hill (even with anti-lock) and no better way to not make it up a hill than to slow down... :facepalm:That baffled me the most. "Hey, I might not make it up this hill. I'd better slow down to guarantee I get stuck and force everyone behind me to stop on the hill too!" /throatPunch

I think there should be a separate drivers test for snowy conditions. If you fail it, you walk during the winter.:up:

[DrkSide]

I guess I should have said it a little better. People trying to pass me when I am going 25-35 in the lane that has been plowed and they pile in the other lane going 50.

The hill thing just seems like common sense to me, I saw so many people who got stuck on a hill next to my house it was hilarious. I just watched and laugh.

[Crimson13]

We got slammed. I work for an emergency management agency in our county and just got back a few hours ago from a 21 hour shift. Basically at the county building who was there last night, was there. So only 3 of us down in EMA and then they started to rotate jail guards, sheriff deputies, and dispatchers. That is if the deputies weren't stuck on the roads. At one point we had 300+ pending calls for stranded motorists, and that was just for county roads (we passed calls that were city jurisdiction to that city). That also didn't count most of the deputies that were stuck, DOT personnel and other emergency equipment. The state of Illinois was declared a disaster area and so was our county. We started to get personnel via snowmobile to high priority areas like fire stations and hospitals which helped. But had this been worse, it would have gotten real bad. We had fire stations with only 24 hours of fuel left, we had hospital generators running out of fuel, DOT trucks not being able to make it back to their garages to get fuel.

So overall, it was a hectic night but considering how it could have turned out, it wasn't TOO bad.

[Drum Thumper]

We got maybe 6 inches here in Great Falls Montana. Artic air + eastern slope of the Rockies = -50F with the windchill in some places.

[Luke122]

We were above freezing today.. was pretty nice for a couple hours. I walked around in a tshirt.. pretty big change from Monday @ -41'C.

[diluzio91]

Completely snow free at this point.... WOO La Crosse!!!! Side note, all this weather is really making me miss my Audi.... the Prius (borrowed) that I've been driving scares the piss out of me... Going from an AWD V6 with a manual transmission to an automatic with no power is very unnerving... not to mention that that audi successfully pulled itself out of 2 ditches. Note, only one of those was my fault (just got my first car and hadn't driven in winter much), the other was the safe alternative. Story if anyone wants it. lol.

[crenn]

If you mention that you have a story, you generally have to tell it :P

[x88x]

If you mention that you have a story, you generally have to tell it :P

Agreed. :D

[diluzio91]

First time in the ditch. I was up hunting with my grandpa, around eagle river, and all the guys decided to go to geroge youngs (kind of a YMCA combined with a bar and a restaurant ) The pickup was full, so i decided to take my car so i didn't have to cram into the back seat of the truck. The roads by the cabin were gravel, and covered in ice, so i was going somewhat slowly, following, until i hit a curve, now the curve was banked, however the genius that banked the curve went the entirely wrong direction, so it was a 90* turn, coated in ice, and sloping towards the ditch. The pickup with snow chains had no issue, my audi disagreed with the bank however and slid into the ditch. The guys in the truck see this happen and suddenly everyone stops, guys pile out of the truck, grab tow chains, ect. they hear my engine rev, and the audi pops out of the ditch and keeps driving. The guys look completely flabberghasted and are still laughing about it when we get there. Turns out that at that same corner some guy got his SUV stuck and couldn't get it out for about an hour. GO German Engineering!

Second time in the ditch i was on a rural highway, again in adverse weather (i lived in the middle of nowhere) the person in front of me spins out(popped a bald tire) and i swerve into the ditch to avoid him, get out, check on him and help him change the flat, then get in my car and pull out of the ditch again... God i loved that little car. lol

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/2/4712/2901/24278950001_medium.jpg like this guy, except with a manual, and in awesome audi burgandy....

http://cdn.getauto.com/photos/8/96148/1c/WAULD64B34N017459-1c.jpg

This color

[x88x]

What happened to it that you're not driving it anymore?

[diluzio91]

My parents sold it and kept the $$... Not a story I'm fond of...

[x88x]

:( I take it you didn't buy it? ..or is that related the story you're not proud of.. <_< >_>

[diluzio91]

it was a gift for my 17th Bday, i paid for everything on that vehicle. except the startup, i changed the entire exhaust system out on it to, and when i got into an accident i paid out $1200 to fix it up. It was upsetting that it was sold after i had spent so much time and money on it.

[crenn]

Were your parents having financial troubles at the time?

[TheGreatSatan]

I shoveled quite a bit today. My shovel needs to be replaced after all this too, it has taken a beating! I've been at several stores and Salt is still impossible to find as well.

Side note:

I am soooooo sick of going to stores that don't have salt, shovels or even sleds for my kids and it's still freaking snowing outside!! What do they have plenty of??

Bathing suits and shorts!!

[mDust]

I am soooooo sick of going to stores that don't have salt, shovels or even sleds for my kids and it's still freaking snowing outside!! What do they have plenty of??

Bathing suits and shorts!!

Wouldn't it be odd though if they were selling out of bathing suits and shorts but had plenty of salt and shovels during a major snow storm?:think:

[Luthien]

If it snows in Alabama the stores run out of EVERYTHING: milk, bread, salt, shovels, batteries, possibly even bathing suits and shorts...