Well, That Was Fun!

[JeffreyWKramer]

I woke up yesterday to freezing rain and found my car, the roads, and pretty much everything else in town covered with a half-inch of ice. I couldn't clean off the ice fast enough to keep it from reforming, so I gave up, went back to bed until my office opened and called in to work as unable to get in due to weather. I figured that if nothing else, I'd get caught up on some paperwork, as I'd brought home some notes and reports to work on, as is usually the case.

Unfortunately, shortly after that call - 8 AM - the power went out in my neighborhood. That took care of me getting any work done. By 11 it was out in most of the town. Due to build-up of ice, there were power lines down all over the place, either on their own or due to branches (and often trees) that were brought down by the weight of the accumulated ice. Power in my neighborhood didn't return until after 10 PM.

Not being able to do any work wasn't so bad. Having no heat, not being able to cook and there not really not being enough light to even read by, given the rainy, overcast conditions, sort of sucked, though.

Eventually the freezing rain turned into just rain, and after ahwile of that I went out to clean off my car and the driveway and such. Shoveling while it's pouring rain, and shoveling up scoops of slush and ice, rather sucks, and my back and one shoulder are reminding me today, but it was better than the several inches of ice I knew I'd be dealing with this morning if I didn't go out and do that yesterday.

By dinner time, the charm of a diet of cereal, crackers, fruit and the like had rather evaporated, and though stuff was starting to refreeze, thankfully the road crews had been out for a few hours and the roads were mostly passable, so we went out for dinner. We had to do a bit of dodging around fallen tree limbs, but nothing too hazardous. Unfortunately, pretty much the only things we could find open at town at that point that had food were a service station, a local Chinese buffet place and a local Mexican restaurant. The Chinese and Mexican places are possibly the worst examples of each I've ever found, but the idea of eating microwave burritos or hot dogs that had been on one of those rotating-heat-thingies for who-knows-how-long wasn't very appealing either and we really wanted something hot, so we went and had awful Chinese food. Then we came back to the getting-colder-by-the-moment house. Thankfully the place heated up just fine after the power came back up, though.

This morning, the drive in was fairly slow, and particularly once I got into Des Moines. Normally one expects the roads out in the country to not be good, but they were mostly pretty clear. In Des Moines, though... well, I don't know exactly what road crews in Des Moines do, but putting down salt apparently isn't among their activities, because the in-town roads were horridly icy and there were still a fair number of people sliding and fishtailing about, even though people were mostly smart enough to be driving really slow. The parking lot where I work is a scary place today, as it's one big sheet of ice, alternating between smooth, slick spots and places where yesterday's slush froze into big areas of full of ruts and jagged, upthrust chunks of ice. The area for about 10 feet in front of the door is fairly clear and well-salted, but that's sort of irrelevant given that one has to walk across 20 yards or more of deathtrap to get there. It looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen, really, and one of our nurses took a pretty nasty fall coming in. Apparently the maintenance guy that is supposed to clear things is slid off the road somewhere, so I can't really blame him. Probably the only thing that's gonna prevent us getting sued is that so far no clients have shown for services today. Lots of people have been calling in to cancel, and others just aren't showing.

So, anyone else have any interesting stories about the jolly wintertime weather that's been visiting the midwest the past several days?

[Agent Helix]

It's been eighty god damn degrees here.

[stealthwise]

Midwest? No, but Northwest Canada has been getting this kind of crap for years.

It was -27 (that's Celcius, not Farenheit) last week, and I had to work outside in that for a few days.

Then yesterday we got a nice flurry of snow, about 15 cm worth (is that a foot? I think that's about a foot...), and I ended up driving my company vehicle into a ditch. Fortunately, someone nearby was nice enough to tow me out with his pickup.

That's nothing compared to a couple of years ago, when we had exactly what you describe, Jeffrey, with the streets covered with sheets of ice that made it impossible to navigate. Unfortunately, that lasted in town for about two weeks. I couldn't park in my own driveway due to the slight slope our street had, and I even saw one guy skating down the street to get to work!

Man, I hate winter so much that at one time I thought I had Seasonal Affect Disorder or something. Turns out it was just gas.

[thehod]

Britain, and Birmingham in particular, is fucking useless when it comes to bad weather.

We had 2 inches, TWO TINY INCHES of snow this Febraury, and the whole transport network pretty much closed down. Roads were blocked. Trains couldn't run, Buses stranded. I walked the six miles home and got back five hours before a work colleague who drived and lives two miles nearer.

An the excuse for the problems? An unexpected cold front that had only been known about for six days. Pathetic.

[Jared_Humpherys]

My area got off easier than we anticipated. We managed to keep power, and neither Sarah or myself worked. I had to spend ten minutes trying to get my car door open this morning, however.

[Shellhead]

I had a really bad morning on Monday, December 3, in part due to the weather. This is also my first winter ever where I have had to park in the street, and my first winter since 1994 where I didn't park in a heated underground garage.

We got hit with our first real snowstorm on the first, with a half foot of snow covering an ice foundation. It also got pretty cold, down in the single digits, so this snow was very dry and fairly resistant to shoveling and scraping. And a little more snow came throughout the day on Sunday. Saint Paul waited until Sunday to declare a snow emergency, which meant that they would plow the far side of our street on Sunday night, then the near side of our street sometime after 8:00 AM on Monday.

I stayed home Saturday to avoid the annual "crash course" in winter driving that some people go through, but I ran some errands on Sunday. My '98 Taurus was doing okay, except that the heater stopped working a few days earlier. My girlfriend's '96 Taurus was doing even better, thanks to the tune-up and other winterizing stuff that I got done for her in October.

Monday morning, I got up a half hour early, just in case of trouble. I fired up my engine and started scraping, then noticed that the snow plow had shoved a big pile of snow in front of my girlfriend's car. I grabbed a shovel and started digging her out, while my car slowly defrosted, due to the lack of working heat. My girlfriend came out to move her car to the legal side of the street, but it took more shoveling and also some pushing to get her car out of her space.

My car wasn't fully defrosted, but I needed to get going to work, so I hopped in and started using the wipers and blue juice to get the windshield clear. My engine killed. I re-started it with some difficulty, and then it killed again about 15 seconds later. The blue juice quickly froze on the windshield, and my third try to start the car was a total failure. So I got my girlfriend to come back out to help me jumpstart my car. I noticed that my blower was no longer working at all.

Then I drove off. As soon as I turned onto the busy street near our place, I was facing the rising sun through a very messy windshield and couldn't see anything ahead of me.I rolled down the passenger side window and drove down the nearest side street out of the sun, then cautiously turned onto another sidestreet where I would be facing the sun again and parked. While waiting for the sun to help a little with the defrost, I got out and scraped the windshield completely. Then I got back in and tried to scrape the inside of the windshield. That went poorly, due to the awkwardness of my long-handled scraper and the curvature of my windshield, and left many gray streaks.

Finally, I drove a couple of blocks back home, ran inside and grabbed my box of fuses for my car. I located the fuse for the heater blower and swapped it out, restoring the blower function (but still no heat) to my car. At least now I could finish defrosting the windshield and see. As I was driving to work, I noticed that the heat gauge was fluctuating a lot, which was kind of a relief. Now I knew that the reason my heater wasn't working was due to a malfunctioning thermostat, a cheap and relatively easy repair.

[JeffreyWKramer]

My area got off easier than we anticipated. We managed to keep power, and neither Sarah or myself worked. I had to spend ten minutes trying to get my car door open this morning, however.

I'm glad to hear that. Given some of what passed thru your area, I was concerned about how things might have been for you two.

[Jared_Humpherys]

I'm glad to hear that. Given some of what passed thru your area, I was concerned about how things might have been for you two.

Thank you. Sounds like you had it worse than we did(and Oklahoma the worst of all).

Glad to know you guys got through it okay.

[JeffreyWKramer]

Thank you. Sounds like you had it worse than we did(and Oklahoma the worst of all).

Glad to know you guys got through it okay.

Yeah, it sucked, but not really life-threatening.

I've been through Oklahoma ice storms. The thing is, the state gets horrid ones more or less like this every few years, but no matter how many times it happens, they do practically nothing to prepare for the next one. Things like, y'know, upgrading their power lines or actually investing in a significant number of plows and ice/sand/gravel trucks.

One of the most horrid-yet-entrancing things I've ever seen was, during my first experience with an OK ice storm, watching a car spin donuts all the way for about 100 yards across an expressway and down an exit ramp. I'd grown up seeing such images on the TV news, whenever there'd be a major winter storm in places like OK and Texas where people never get enough experience to really learn to drive on snow/ice, and I'd always found them amusing as a kid. It wasn't nearly amusing when I was the guy right behind the guy doing the donuts down the expressway, but it was still sort of breathtaking to watch.

[Jared_Humpherys]

Yeah, it sucked, but not really life-threatening.

I've been through Oklahoma ice storms. The thing is, the state gets horrid ones more or less like this every few years, but no matter how many times it happens, they do practically nothing to prepare for the next one. Things like, y'know, upgrading their power lines or actually investing in a significant number of plows and ice/sand/gravel trucks.

One of the most horrid-yet-entrancing things I've ever seen was, during my first experience with an OK ice storm, watching a car spin donuts all the way for about 100 yards across an expressway and down an exit ramp. I'd grown up seeing such images on the TV news, whenever there'd be a major winter storm in places like OK and Texas where people never get enough experience to really learn to drive on snow/ice, and I'd always found them amusing as a kid. It wasn't nearly amusing when I was the guy right behind the guy doing the donuts down the expressway, but it was still sort of breathtaking to watch.


That sounds horrific. I drove head on into an ice storm in Missouri a few years back, and seriously saw a car offroad less than every 5 miles. It was terrifying.

As for Oklahoma, Sarah's new stepfather is a trucker, and drove through Oklahoma on Monday. Apparently, entire cities were shut down and without power. He said it was like a ghost town.

[JeffreyWKramer]

As for Oklahoma, Sarah's new stepfather is a trucker, and drove through Oklahoma on Monday. Apparently, entire cities were shut down and without power. He said it was like a ghost town.

I don't doubt it. I weathered ice storms in both Tulsa and OKC, and as I recall, pretty much the entire towns were shut down for a couple days at a time.

Of course, even the bigger cities in OK can look like a ghost town even without winter weather. My first weekend in OKC, I went for a bike ride at around 7 am on a Sunday and literally saw tumbleweeds rolling down the street. I think I road about 3 miles on a major suburban road without encountering a single car or person out and about.

[Shellhead]

Some of my scariest driving experiences were in Iowa.

One time in the early '90s, there was this freezing fog in northern Iowa. It looked like regular fog, but it was coating everything with ice. Quite a few cars in the ditches along Interstate 35. When I finally stopped for gas, my whole car was encased in a light coating of ice, including the radio antenna.

Another time, might have been 1999, whenever they had that huge ice storm in Arkansas, it was scary driving through Iowa a few days before and after that ice storm. They didn't have an ice storm in Iowa, but maybe some whiteout conditions, because the ditches on both sides of 35 were loaded with wrecked cars and trucks, and everybody still on the road was creeping along nervously. It happened at the start of my weeklong vacation to Louisiana and also at the end.

Is that why they have those cattle gates on the on-ramps in Iowa? So they can close off access when there is a white-out situation?

[JeffreyWKramer]

Is that why they have those cattle gates on the on-ramps in Iowa? So they can close off access when there is a white-out situation?

Yup. They do it in Nebraska, too. It's not unusual for them to block off all entry onto I-80 when they get bad winter weather out that way.

The freezing fog you describe does indeed suck. I've been through that several times, and it is scary how suddenly you can find yourself sliding blind along a road.

[jade_nova]

It's been eighty god damn degrees here.

Where are you from? I am from South Carolina and it has been that way for about a week now.

[Justin Davis]

We had a really bad ice storm here last year, but that was around January. We're all waiting to see what's going to happen. The last couple weeks' weather has been schizophrenic. One day, it's 30 degrees. The next, it's 75. It's confusing going from undershirt, sweater, and jacket to T-shirt.

[K'Nort]

Ice storms are definitely worse than snow.

[Gilda Dent]

I had a nice 50 something for my morning run and it's closing in on 80 right now.

It is rather windy, though.

[macul]

It's winter? We've been around 80 the last few days around here.

[Fenris]

I'm out in the middle of the Atlantic, so I don't really know what the weather is like back in Virginia. It's not snowing out here, anyway.

I'm glad you and yours are all right, Jeffrey!

õ
That's the important part!

[Dan Apodaca]

It still hasn't even rained hard enough to stop me from going out for a smoke.

Ha. Ha.

[Pól Rua]

So, anyone else have any interesting stories about the jolly wintertime weather that's been visiting the midwest the past several days?

It's Summer here.

*flees the stage under a hail of bottles*

heehee!

[Karl J Barnes]

It's Summer here.

*flees the stage under a hail of bottles*

heehee!

No one would throw bottles at you,Pol. We recycle them...however, here's a deluge of slushballs coming in your direction though...

Yeah, last Friday, it was a pain to drive through the streets of Mission,Ks and a tad dangerous. I'm a delivery driver and even I spun out a few times. Thankfully, the following days the streets haven't been that bad.

[Jared_Humpherys]

No one would throw bottles at you,Pol. We recycle them...however, here's a deluge of slushballs coming in your direction though...

Yeah, last Friday, it was a pain to drive through the streets of Mission,Ks and a tad dangerous. I'm a delivery driver and even I spun out a few times. Thankfully, the following days the streets haven't been that bad.

You live in Mission? You're really close to me.

[Pól Rua]

No one would throw bottles at you,Pol. We recycle them...however, here's a deluge of slushballs coming in your direction though...

That one had a brick in it! :eek:

[Reptisaurus!]

Yeah, they cancelled school here. Really wasn't that bad. (Still put one final off by a week. So I'm mighty thankful.)

[jade_nova]

It's Summer here.

*flees the stage under a hail of bottles*

heehee!

If you go to the Southern United States, apparently, it is Summer there too.

[Donald M.]

One year, back when I was working at Stop & Shop, I decided to go to work in spite of a freak snow storm on April 1st.

Most people didn't show up, but I did.

No good deed goes unpunished, as they say.

By the time I got out of work around 11pm it had built to a full-scale blizzard. The buses had stopped running, so I had to walk home three and a half miles, with the wind blowing into my face the whole way.

It could be worse, as I was leaving work there was a family in the parking lot huddled in their car.

Yeah, it could always be worse.

[Rabid Trekkie]

I'm going through the opposite of Gilda's post right now. It has been in the mid 80's the past week, go into work this afternoon and its 86, get out of work and its in the 50's.

And to make it worse, next Thursday my family is leaving to go see family up in Pennsylvania (and thanks to my brother and sister we're getting to stay for four days and then have to come home) where we will get to experience what most of you go through. While I love cold weather I'm not looking forward to driving through ice and snow considering that what Jeff said about OK and TX is absolutely correct.

[Karl J Barnes]

You live in Mission? You're really close to me.

I do.You live in Prairie Village(sp?),right? I shop for comics at B Bop Comics.You?

[Jared_Humpherys]

I do.You live in Prairie Village(sp?),right? I shop for comics at B Bop Comics.You?

Used to be Prairie Village. Now in Shawnee. But yeah, I frequent B Bop.

[Gilda Dent]

When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of CBR and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter.

[LtMarvel]

My original plan was to travel. The weather forcast for ice became a forcast for ICE, so we stayed home.

It really started on Sunday. Just before noon kickoff, I scraped the ice off my dish so I could watch the game. My wife, having already moved our two cars away from trees and branches, couldn't get the TV to work, so I went in to play with the remote.

While I was in there, a huge branch landed right were I was standing next to the dish. Within the hour, other large branches fell where our cars had been parked.

So I feel like a damned lucky fool. Not only for my personal well-being, but had we traveled, no one would have thought to move the other car...

The ice kept coming in waves. Sunday night, one of the neighbor's trees fell into the road. By Monday afternoon, the power was out. By Monday evening phone lines were down, too.

So we broke out the camping gear.

The power came back Tuesday morning. Phone was back Tuesday night. Wed, the kiddies were back in school.

Most of the deaths in the area were car crash related, including a good samaratian who was hit while walking to another accident.

[Deathstroke]

Sorry to read about your trials and tribulations JWK.

If it helps, we're getting the snow now and Sunday. I'm sure there's bound to be a bunch of crap situations coming our way the next few days.

[Chris Nowlin]

I'll just refrain from mentioning the current weather here.

[Dan Apodaca]

I'll just refrain from mentioning the current weather here.

I had to wear a longsleeve shirt this morning. I took it off later, because it was too warm.

[Nitmo]

Yeah, I was out driving in this weather (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCoxOReXlHI)

It took me 4 hours to get to work when it usually took just less than one

no, I had nothing to do with this video, it just illustrates what kind of weather I was dealing with.