Crazy storm for this area

[Sarra]

I know some of you live in places, as I have in the past, that gets lots of snow during the winter. The area I'm at now, however, is not typically snow country. An inch tends to shut everything down, partly because we have a lot of people living here that moved up from SoCal and they have never seen snow before, much less learned to drive in it, and partly because there are no plows or snow removal equipment for the area.

Monday, I started my shift at 1 pm. At 2 pm, we started getting snow, but it wasn't sticking, but it was really pretty.

Then, at 3:15, it really dumped, and it snowed hard enough to overcome the wet ground's melt factor, so it started to stick. I went around a corner, and the road went from wet, to an inch of buildup. So, I slowed way down, as did everyone else, and I pulled over into a parking lot, and called my dispatcher. He called my boss, who came out and we chained up my van (while a man in a wheel chair and another man waited onboard). I took those two home, went out and picked up a lady, and promptly lost a link and busted a chain. Luckily, no damage, and it was melting, so I just pulled that chain, and finished my last two rides for the night no problem.

Then, yesterday, at 8 am, we started getting snow again. It snowed non stop until well after 2 am this morning. I started at 1:30 pm, and my manifest for the day had been lightened by cancels and extra drivers being called in. My boss made an incredibly good decision and put us all into the minivans, and sidelined our E350 vans. By around 4 pm, we had 3-4" on the ground, and 1-2" in the roads. I finished my shift around 6 pm, and by the time I got home, there was a solid 6" on the ground. I went out at 1 am to check out the conditions, and we had at least 14" of snow in our driveway.

This morning, at 9 am, our power went out. I got up at 10 am, went into town for breakfast, and my boss called me to let me know they were closing for the day. So, I ate, went home, and took a nap (aaaaah, yes, the joys of getting older). Then, again at about 3 pm, my boss called again and told me that our service was going to be closed for tomorrow.

Luckily, at around 6 pm, our power came back on. Really lucky, it's 9*F outside right now, and still getting colder.

So, the last time this area had more than 8" of snow was 1977, when we got 10", which was the record for snowfall. The last time it got under 10*F was 1997, when it was 8*F. Interesting start of 2017, I'm enjoying it a lot. I would like to be working, but meh, I'm making enough per hour that missing 3 days of work won't be a big issue for me.

I'm also glad, none of my neighbors were injured during this storm. We still have 12" of snow in the driveway, though the streets have been plowed (they called in the plows that clear off the mountain passes). I'm also grateful that while I've been driving in crappy weather, most other drivers have also been driving slowly and carefully, which has resulted in a remarkably small number of crashes.

 

[Peaker]

We are just coming out of a 100 year event, storm surge with water levels 6 feet over normal in some parts of Denmark.

In my part no storm surge worth mentioning and the winters first snow with 2 inches here and max 4 inches in the worst hit areas.

I think thats winter for us this season.

 

[C*H*U*D]

You never said what area you're in. We got a pretty good snowstorm overnight but this is Colorado so we're usually prepared. At least with plows and what not.

 

[svt923]

Sounds like most of North Carolina.

We are supposed to get 3-5 inches on Saturday and people are already losing their minds. The local news runs continuous coverage for the whole time from forecast to when the final flake has melted and it is safe to go back outside.

I lived most of my life in New Jersey so the snow is more of an annoyance than a cause for panic but I moved to the south to get away from that crap. Luckily I usually only have to see snow a couple days out of the year.

 

[CM9000]

why don't yall come live in Michigan where its 48* one day and 20* the next. we get snow a few times too. quite fun watching everybody freak out over snow.

 

[Sarra]

why don't yall come live in Michigan where its 48* one day and 20* the next. we get snow a few times too. quite fun watching everybody freak out over snow.

I lived in Utah for a winter. We had -35* nights and -20* days for 3 weeks straight.

I'm in Southern Oregon, just north of the border. The mountains around here get snow in the winter, but not the valleys, typically. It was 7* last night, broke our all time record...

 

[CM9000]

youd like south korea if you like cold winters then. gets so cold it wont snow.

 

[Chiphead]

I lived in Utah for a winter. We had -35* nights and -20* days for 3 weeks straight.

I'm in Southern Oregon, just north of the border. The mountains around here get snow in the winter, but not the valleys, typically. It was 7* last night, broke our all time record...

I was wondering if you were near Southern Idaho. I have sister that lives in Twin Falls. I hear that area got a crazy amount of snow (for them). She got her mini-van stuck right in front of her house. :lmao:

Seems the storms are just North of me. In the past few days we kept getting warning of "huge storm" with "Massive Snow Amounts". So far we got about 4 inches. Sucks because a few us around here do backcountry skiing/snowboarding (splitboards) and the snow is still a little skinny to ski.

 

[k goodrich]

A week before Christmas we got 3 ft in one day. The schools closed for a day.... that hasn't happened or years. On Tuesday another storm hit with 1-2 feet more. Central Oregon snow fall is a normal but the last few storms have been big single day dumps. Last year the streets had snow on them until the end of April. The best news with this type of snow fall is racing quads on the weekend. A friend has a business with a large parking lot everyone brings some food and let the BBQ begin.

 

[BigSki]

Baltimore is a lot like how you describe your town. We're supposed to get an inch or 2 of snowy/icy stuffs tonight. There will be 3" of road salt on top of it by the morning and literally 100's of car crashes. People just go into self-destruct mode around here. Its absolutely scary how inept people really are.

 

[Mike Flea]

You're all getting snow, and I'm sitting here in Chicago wishing for it. We had a good December, I had snow on my birthday and Christmas, but then we got a warm snap and all the snow melted.

I work for the local public works, and run the ice and snow control in the winter, so I'm missing the overtime listening to all the snow you guys are getting, and that snow event hitting the west coast now, is supposed to pass to the south of us by the time it gets close to Illinois.

 

[chevy4life]

I will chim in.. I live in meridian ID, (next to Boise). I have a good 2 feet of accumulated snow over the last week and a half. Which is quite a bit above the norm for us. The problem we are having is they won't plow the neighborhood's and we are now getting colder temps so all the ruts that were formed are now frozen. Currently it's -5 outside. So unless you have a truck or awd you can't get out of the neighborhood. Pretty much a pain in the ass.

 

[distinctive pd]

I lived in Utah for a winter. We had -35* nights and -20* days for 3 weeks straight.

Gotta love that Utah weather. 120f in the summer and -30 in the winter. I have 2ft if snow on my lawn and it's is in the negatives tonight. My damn windows and doors were froze shut on our 4 runner tonight heading into town. But. ... it is hard to beat the snowmobiling and the rock crawling here!!!"thumbsup"

 

[Sarra]

I miss Utah, actually. The summer temps did a huge number on me, I have severe troubles with heat. The winter was pretty and fun, and watching idiots wrecking was entertaining. Some lady managed to roll her car 4 times on a totally dry road, all I saw was a man hole cover with ice on it, so i have no idea what she did. Then again, they have a shocking number of wrecks during the summer, so it's no wonder that a little snow can screw them up so bad.

We still have a foot of snow on the ground here, and it's supposed to be 42* tomorrow and rain, so we'll see if we get a repeat of our 1997 floods. 1997 was a weird year, we had a heavy snow, heavy rains, an earthquake, and flooding, all in the same year.

 

[makya]

Sarra, I'm in the same type of spot that you are.

we live at the snowline on hwy 88. south of us doesn't get snow. we get it a few times a year, but nothing big.

Unfortunately, when the snow does hit more than a couple of inches, all the SoCal and bay area transplants that moved up here either slow down to 5mph, or not at all on the two lane hwy. Since we have only one two lane hwy going up to kirkwood (the local ski resort) we also get all the tourists hauling ass through here too. I'm really wondering what's going to happen this weekend when the big storm hits. snow elevation has been lifted up to 8000 ft. and we're at 3200, so we're expecting a lot of the creeks and rivers to flood on there way down to the valley. Luckily (fingers crossed) we haven't lost power from any of the storms so far this winter, but just in case we've made sure to have fuel for the generator to keep the fridge and lights running and put plenty of firewood up on the porch so we don't have to go out in the rain.

 

[CM9000]

one of these days ill take a trip to Utah in the winter. point break has me wanting to take a trip.

 

[Tossedman]

 

[hpiguy]

I grew up in the mountains in NC, went away for school and work for a number of years, and I've been back for about 11 years now. When I was a kid, we would usually see snow by Haloween, and have fairly regular snow until about April. Nowadays, that's changed, we don't get near the snow we used to get. I think that's part of the issue, younger drivers these days have never driven in snow. The other issue, at least in my area, is the huge influx of people that moved here from a state with a total of 9 curves and 50ft of elevation change. They shit their pants going down some of my favorite roads on an 85 degree day, much less adding snow into the mix. I just came in from some playtime in the new Subie. I've owned quite a few 4wd rigs in my time, and I'm highly impressed with this thing.

 

[Sarra]

I learned to drive in a Subaru. I've owned 6 of them now. I've always had good winter tires, because I like going up in the hills if I can swing it. I've buried Subies up to the top of the wheel arches in snow a few times. I've got a Baja right now, and have yet to get it stuck. I got my WRX stuck once, and I had to have a DOT guy pull me out, but in my defense, I was pulling over to help some idiot stoners that rolled their crappy 1981 Corolla 7 times into a ditch, and I found a culvert that was totally hidden by some tall grass.

I'm looking on my weather app right now, and I'm a bit worried. It was 18*f when I drove home from work, and a huge storm is blowing in. We're forecast to get 1-2" of rain, or 12-16" of snow, or a combination of that, and with a foot already on the ground, this area might be paralyzed for another whole week at this rate. School's been out for 4 days, and I've missed two days of work so far. Luckily, I got called and told not to go in, as opposed to me being unable to make it in. Either way, if we get an inch of rain and 40+*F temps, we're gonna have some really ugly flooding.

 

[RANOVRU]

We got 10" of snow today. Tonights gonna be 9* high tomorrow of 27*. Tomorrow night 4*.

This coming Fridays high.....67*.


Welcome to VA....