It's a nor'easter!

[wdb]

Hurrah, hurray! The snowfall total has been raised!! We were originally getting a dusting, now it's 4 inches!!!

[cmyx6go]

Originally Posted by wdb

Hurrah, hurray! The snowfall total has been raised!! We were originally getting a dusting, now it's 4 inches!!!

WTF? Where did tomorrows snowfall come from? Wasn’t in the forecast and now..... FML

[cmyx6go]

Well, that was a surprise. Last night the forecast said snow starting at 4 am and will be an all day thing. I woke up at 4:00 to about 4 inches of snow and we're done for the day. At least I was able to shovel out before work. I really wasn't looking forward to having to do it tonight. I really need to open a division in FL.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

I really need to open a division in FL.

I have to take an emergency road trip in that general direction next week. Our forecast here is for a foot of snow on Sunday, and another foot or so next Tuesday. Let me know if you want me to scout out a location for your new division.

Speaking of the northeast snow, I just told my wife that we had better be saddled up and ready to leave at sunrise on Saturday morning. There is no way in hades that I want to be north of any rain/snow line with a foot of snow in the forecast! I'm having flashbacks to Superstorm 1993, when I made a similar trip and was literally the last car out of the northeast as the Virginia troopers were closing I-95.

Adding insult to injury, the forecast low here for Saturday morning is near zero F. The batteries in the Mighty Dodge are weak from sitting all winter, and the block heater burned up my extension cord the last time that I used it. It could be a very short trip if that diesel doesn't crank at sunrise, and I don't even have another vehicle to jump start it from with only EV's in the driveway.....

[cmyx6go]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

I have to take an emergency road trip in that general direction next week. Our forecast here is for a foot of snow on Sunday, and another foot or so next Tuesday. Let me know if you want me to scout out a location for your new division.

Speaking of the northeast snow, I just told my wife that we had better be saddled up and ready to leave at sunrise on Saturday morning. There is no way in hades that I want to be north of any rain/snow line with a foot of snow in the forecast! I'm having flashbacks to Superstorm 1993, when I made a similar trip and was literally the last car out of the northeast as the Virginia troopers were closing I-95.

Adding insult to injury, the forecast low here for Saturday morning is near zero F. The batteries in the Mighty Dodge are weak from sitting all winter, and the block heater burned up my extension cord the last time that I used it. It could be a very short trip if that diesel doesn't crank at sunrise, and I don't even have another vehicle to jump start it from with only EV's in the driveway.....

Have a safe trip - and get out of Dodge early....

[nyalpine90]

hour ago i shoveled 4" of snow or so...thank god it was light snow

[cmyx6go]

Holy shit! Did you guys see the 100 vehicle wreck on I-35 in Ft Worth due to ice? 8 people dead so far, people still stuck in cars. The pictures and videos are chilling. May they rest in peace. What a terrible way to go.

[JJ 911SC]

Holy caca... May they Rest In Peace.

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

Holy shit! Did you guys see the 100 vehicle wreck on I-35 in Ft Worth due to ice? 8 people dead so far, people still stuck in cars. The pictures and videos are chilling. May they rest in peace. What a terrible way to go.

Attachment 2526511

Damn.

[vreihen16]

75 MPH speed limits in those express lanes, two lanes, solid concrete concrete walls on both sides, what judging from the tractor-trailers looks like a ~10-foot right shoulder, and maybe ~6-feet on the left shoulder. My SCCA safety steward license may be expired these days, but that entire express lane system needs a serious engineering re-think in my not-so-humble opinion. Once the first car/truck went sideways, nobody behind them had a chance of finding an escape path to avoid the carnage.

Condolence to the victims' families, as well as the rescue workers who will surely be traumatized for life by this incident.....

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

...My SCCA safety steward license may be expired these days, but that entire express lane system needs a serious engineering re-think in my not-so-humble opinion...

No kidding, nowhere to escape. Told the wife many time if you get caught in something similar (blizzard or fog) the ditch could be the safest place.

[M_Six]

Was thinking the same thing there. No escape route at all even if you managed to get stopped in time.

A few years ago Wifey and I were coming back from some trip out east and got caught in a construction zone in PA, I think it was. One lane with those concrete barriers on each side. We stopped for traffic and a guy on a motorcycle was behind us. Suddenly I saw him trying desperately to get up alongside us. I thought at first he was just trying to get ahead of us, then I saw what he had seen. Some idiot woman flying up behind us with her face in her cell phone. I thought we were going to die. She suddenly saw us stopped there and came to a screeching, skidding halt about 2 inches off our bumper. If the motorcycle guy hadn't moved up beside us, he would have been crushed. As I was looking back at this idiot behind us I could see the shock on her face, but after a second or two she went right back to texting. I wanted to get out and go rip the phone out of her hand, but it was too tight to even open the door, which is another whole safety issue unto itself.

[vreihen16]

As I type this, the thermometer outside in my primary weather station is reading 1.0 frrrrrreaking degrees F! (That's -17C for those who live in parts of the world where they do not base measurements on the foot size of a long-dead king.) I have two other thermometers that concur that this is not a false reading and it really is just a hair above zero right now.

The DarkSky forecast is saying that we are looking at 6" of snow over the weekend, 9" on Tuesday, and 14" for next Thursday.....

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

75 MPH speed limits in those express lanes, two lanes, solid concrete concrete walls on both sides, what judging from the tractor-trailers looks like a ~10-foot right shoulder, and maybe ~6-feet on the left shoulder. My SCCA safety steward license may be expired these days, but that entire express lane system needs a serious engineering re-think in my not-so-humble opinion. Once the first car/truck went sideways, nobody behind them had a chance of finding an escape path to avoid the carnage.

Condolence to the victims' families, as well as the rescue workers who will surely be traumatized for life by this incident.....

I watched the video that someone took of it happening. Horrific is the only way I can describe it, I'm surprised more people didn't die. I'm wondering if they have those barriers set up in order to direct people through tolls? I'm not familiar with TX at all unfortunately. Still an extremely shitty design, literally nowhere for people to go besides wait there to get crushed by a semi truck.

[cmyx6go]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

75 MPH speed limits in those express lanes, two lanes, solid concrete concrete walls on both sides, what judging from the tractor-trailers looks like a ~10-foot right shoulder, and maybe ~6-feet on the left shoulder. My SCCA safety steward license may be expired these days, but that entire express lane system needs a serious engineering re-think in my not-so-humble opinion. Once the first car/truck went sideways, nobody behind them had a chance of finding an escape path to avoid the carnage.

Condolence to the victims' families, as well as the rescue workers who will surely be traumatized for life by this incident.....

I was thinking the same thing. Whoever designed that deserves a Darwin Award. What could possibly go wrong? Why block in those lanes? Is it like here where only certain vehicles can access the express lanes based on either vehicle occupancy or tolls paid? I have to believe someone will sue a bunch of state and federal agencies based on your comments above. Sad regardless.

Now back to your regular scheduled programming. Baby it's cold outside! Brrrrrrrr. The good news is I called my old pool guy to see if he knows anyone that does residential snow removal. They do! YES! My shoveling days are over.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

I'm wondering if they have those barriers set up in order to direct people through tolls? I'm not familiar with TX at all unfortunately.

I'm just going from the Google Maps overhead images. They appear to have those divided "express" lanes running for miles, with higher speed limits (75 MPH) than the non-express lanes. Since there are trucks using it, they obviously are not HOV lanes.

The I-495 beltway around Washington, DC has a similar express lane setup. Theirs charges a toll to use the express lanes, or you can drive them for free with 3+ people in your vehicle with a special HOV EZ-Pass transponder. The difference is that DC uses breakaway reflector posts and not concrete walls between the express and non-express lanes, so there is an escape route with only minimal vehicle damage...assuming that the non-express lanes are not slow/stopped due to congestion at the time.....

[nyalpine90]

so sad to see this...but honestly why couldnt roads/highway be sprayed, treated like the in states thats snows yearly.

the roads get sand, salt, & spray that liquid right before a snow storm.

[vreihen16]

Having brining pre-treatment equipment in areas where freezing temperatures are not an annual occurrence is a waste of taxpayer money. In northern Florida, I personally watched a highway patrol officer sprinkling cat litter onto an icy interstate overpass during Superstorm 1993. Why they weren't using water softener salt is beyond me.....

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Having brining pre-treatment equipment in areas where freezing temperatures are not an annual occurrence is a waste of taxpayer money. In northern Florida, I personally watched a highway patrol officer sprinkling cat litter onto an icy interstate overpass during Superstorm 1993. Why they weren't using water softener salt is beyond me.....

+1

Most municipalities in areas like this don't have the equipment to clear/treat the roads in these scenarios. That's why when there was a few inches of snow in the South a few years ago (maybe more like 10) and there were all those accidents it took forever to get to people. None of the cities owned plows.

[M_Six]

I was stationed at Ft Hood in Killeen, TX in the early 80's. We had one storm that dropped maybe an inch of snow on the roads. My brother and I were driving around having a laugh at all the cars off in the ditches or sliding sideways through intersections. Both of us grew up driving through Massachusetts winters. Even here in central IL, where we always get snow several times a year, there are still tons of people who act like they've never seen it before and slide off into the ditches for no apparent reason. Although, here in downstate there is no requirement for vehicle inspections, so I've seen a lot of bald tires. So I guess there is at least one apparent reason for people ending up in the ditches.

[cmyx6go]

Freezing rain and black ice are a bitch anywhere but the southern states just don’t do well. They aren’t used to it. And the engineering of that roadway?!?!? I remember a few years back people were stuck on the interstate in Atlanta for 24 hours due to ice a few days after I was down there for a meeting. Even up here, people are clueless to winter driving. I call these post storm days, middle lane days. My driving demeanor changes from aggressive to old lady. People don’t anticipate issues. The road gets plowed to left and right. You sometimes don’t have a full clear lane. But just this morning while I’m being grandma in the middle lane, I have an asshole in the left who insists on riding right next to me! Either blow past me or hang back. I don’t want you right next to me when you lose your lane. I hate people.

[vreihen16]

My smartphone has been throwing weather alerts from home for a few hours now. There's a winter weather advisory up for Monday, forecasting an inch of snow. Then, there's an ice storm warning up for Monday evening through Tuesday morning, calling for 1/2 inch of ice with likely power outages and tree damage.

Without giving up my current pandemic-violating location or destination, I will share that I have seen numerous convoys of utility bucket trucks heading to the northeast from warmer climates all day. I thought that it was odd that hundreds of electrical crews would be heading north, but after seeing 1/2 inch of ice forecasted for Monday night it makes sense that the northeast's utility companies would be pre-staging mutual aid crews to help with the restorations as soon as it's safe to work on the sides of roads.

I'm sweating out the power failing while we're away from home, since our generator is manual and our pipes could freeze if the power goes off for more than 24 hours.....