What safety precautions should residents take during snowmelt season?

[OmCheeto]

i HATE the snow :(

the day before yesterday, my mom put all new tires on my car. new tires + snow = BAD. especially when theyre summer tires LOL i was all over the road :( than, this morning when i was getting ready for work, my e-brake was frozen! UGH

We went out earlier, got some groceries, and had the bad luck to find out that the car's battery needs to be replaced.

Speaking of cars, their proclivity to break down at the worst time, and frozen e-brakes.
On Monday, I thought I had a frozen emergency brake shoe. I drove all the way to work, only to find out that my rear wheel bearing had disintegrated. I spent the next 36 hours fixing it myself, out in the snow and wind. All of the auto shops had lines around the block getting geared up for our little winter storm.

But all is better now.

 

[Astronuc]

I'm having a pre-Christmas special. Free snow!

We're having flurries and snow showers - with a few inches of accumulation so far.


We just saw what looked like a small Cooper's Hawk sitting on the bird feeder outside the window next to the computers. By the time my wife was set to take a picture, he/she flew away. Plummage was grey on top (posterior) and white with brown speckles/splotches on the breast.

 

[turbo]

Looking at picking up maybe 18" tonight. No joy.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

We were supposed to be a foot deep in snow right now, but a warm front crept in, the temps jumped, and instead we are getting lots of rain. As much as I like the snow, based on the roar of the creek, snow would have been a bit much. We would certainly be stranded right now - with a foot of snow, we can't even get up the driveway. One year I tried to get up the driveway in a heavy snow with the pickup truck, and the truck ended up sitting in the flower beds for two weeks.

 

[Janus]

Here's what we're getting right now:

http://home.earthlink.net/~parvey/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/snow.jpg

Here's some of the ice build up that we got from the freezing rain earlier this morning:

http://home.earthlink.net/~parvey/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/ice.jpg

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I heard the locks got 18" yesterday!

No power outages yet?

 

[George Jones]

Blizzardy, white-out conditions here right now.

 

[OAQfirst]

I'm expecting up to 20" overnight. It was almost 30 below last night. My car would not start. I had to bring the battery in.

This is a bad time to be homeless. I knew one homeless guy a few years back who lost all of his fingers in similar weather. There's also a gull that watches for me; it's missing it's right leg. But I haven't seen it lately. I hope it manages the winter safely.

 

[mgb_phys]

Vancouver police have blockaded some roads and are urging motorists to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary as the Lower Mainland continues to be pummeled by snow.

This is because of a forecast of 10cm of snow and temperatures of -4C !

 

[Janus]

I heard the locks got 18" yesterday!

No power outages yet?

Not for us, but my Mother-in-law just called and said that she has lost hers. If it's not back on by morning I'll go pick her up and bring her to our place.

 

[lisab]

Extraordinary snow here. Walking through my neighborhood, I can't tell where the street ends and the curb begins. It's just all a beautiful snow blanket...an unusual week, so much snow here in the Seattle area!

 

[Janus]

Extraordinary snow here. Walking through my neighborhood, I can't tell where the street ends and the curb begins. It's just all a beautiful snow blanket...an unusual week, so much snow here in the Seattle area!

I had a two foot drift in front of our driveway today. spent a good part of the morning getting rid of it and the clearing the driveway so that I could get the car out if needed. It started snowing again about 4 pm, and now I have another drift, though not quite as large. We might get more snow tonight so we'll see how it is in the morning.
The good news is that my Mother-in-law's power just came back on.

 

[turbo]

Still snowing steadily, and we have well over a foot on the ground. I got up to re-build the fire in the wood-stove and may have to get up again in a few hours to help my wife get out of the driveway and head to work.

 

[OmCheeto]

Still snowing steadily, and we have well over a foot on the ground. I got up to re-build the fire in the wood-stove and may have to get up again in a few hours to help my wife get out of the driveway and head to work.

The weatherman said we haven't had this much snow in 40 years. One of my employee's just called and asked if he had to go to work. I checked on-line and I was quite surprised that non-essential personnel don't have to go to work in the morning. Bus service has even been canceled. I've been working there for 25 years and I've never seen them do this before.

This afternoon, the "Flake-Watch '08" TV crew interviewed some people who had driven all the way from Denver. They said this area was the worst they saw it on the whole trip. There is a 50 mile stretch of the interstate that has been shut down for 24 hours, and they expect it to be shut down for another 24.

On the upside though, tomorrow will be the first day I've had off since July.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It would be pretty tough getting up that hill! Do you know if the tram can operate under these conditions?

 

[OmCheeto]

It would be pretty tough getting up that hill! Do you know if the tram can operate under these conditions?

They are recommending to anyone who has to go to work that they park on the waterfront and ride the tram to the hill. I believe it was designed and built by a Swiss company, so I imagine that it's in it's element right now.

After it had been operational for a few months, I found that it was designed to operate in 70 mph sustained winds. They shut it down though when the winds exceed 50 mph. People kept barfing. Quite the e-ticket ride on a windy day.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Quite the e-ticket ride

That's a common expression of mine that not many people understand any more.

 

[OmCheeto]

That's a common expression of mine that not many people understand any more.

According to wiki, they've a new "e-ticket". Although now the 'e' stands for "electronic".

But back to the weather.
The snow is slowing down after dumping another 6" since last night.

Yesterday at 8am:

Today at 8am:

And yes Evo, that's an old bedsheet stapled and bungied to my carport. I did try and use my most christmassy colored one on the front.

 

[hypatia]

I just had to buy a roof shovel, I had over 13 inches on my roof, and ice damns were forming. But on the bright side, shoveling the roof is more fun then the driveway.

 

[Evo]

Wow, I am so glad the snow and ice missed us. The extreme cold is bad enough. Having to dig out is just miserable.

 

[turbo]

I just got back in from digging out of 18" of the stuff. The worst part is that the snow was fine and light, and the wind is howling, switching directions and gusting frequently. No matter what way I wanted to blow the snow, about half the time the wind wanted to drive it back into my face. Brr.

 

[Astronuc]

We have an accumulation of about 12-14 inches (30-35 cm).

Last night the low was 10°F (-12°C), and this afternoon, the high temperature might get to blistering 24°F (-4°C).

Tonight our low temperature is expected to be ~ 5°F (-15°C).

 

[Janus]

My two foot drift was back this morning. Just finished clearing the driveway back out. Unfortunately, I lived on a dead end street that the city hasn't gotten around to plowing yet, and even if I get out of the driveway, I might not be able to get to the main street.

I did walk over to NAPA auto parts and got a new battery. (up to now I was prepared to jump the car by using the battery from the Honda if I really needed to try to get out.)

Here's what it looks like today at 11:00 am, and it's still snowing.
The red car in the fore ground is the Honda, The other car is in the carport.
Portland may recycle, but apparently not in the snow, as our blue recycling container has not been touched.

http://home.earthlink.net/~parvey/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/snow3.jpg P.S. I just heard the the City of Gresham, A suburb just East of the Portland has declared a state of emergency. Also, the The Interstate bridge lift span is frozen and they can't lift it. This means that certain river traffic won't be able to get up or down the Columbia river.

 

[hypatia]

The city informed us that no side streets will be plowed this year, due to cut backs. So I shoveled the front of my house, then put one of the cars out there. THEN a snowplow comes by and ...yup..plows in my car.
As I stand in disbelief, shaking my fist and ..maybe cussing a bit. A neighbor comes out and explains to me that our street will always be plowed. Its a school bus and emergency route.

 

[Evo]

The city informed us that no side streets will be plowed this year, due to cut backs. So I shoveled the front of my house, then put one of the cars out there. THEN a snowplow comes by and ...yup..plows in my car.
As I stand in disbelief, shaking my fist and ..maybe cussing a bit. A neighbor comes out and explains to me that our street will always be plowed. Its a school bus and emergency route.

OH NO!

I remember so many times I would kill myself shoveling my driveway so I could back my car out, and just as soon as I finish, the snow plow would come through and push 3 feet of heavy ice and snow across the bottom of my driveway so I couldn't back out without shoveling again. That plowed snow is like trying to shovel a brick wall.

 

[Andre]

OH NO!

I remember so many times I would kill myself shoveling my driveway so i could back my car out, and just as soon as i finish, the snow plow would come through and push 3 feet of heavy ice and snow across the bottom of my driveway so I could back out without shoveling again. That plowed snow is like trying to shovel a brick wall.

I know all about that. We did have some very friendly county payed professional snow shovelers, who managed to aim their shovel to the next hill, keeping our driveway clear.

It's not cheap though

 

[Borek]

At least now you know you don't have to shovel the street.

Always look at the bright side of life

 

[turbo]

My pet peeve is the way the town applies "sand" to the roads for traction. Often the "sand" contains stones of an inch or more, which are h-e-double hockey sticks on windshields. Then the plow trucks sail through at speed, winging back the snow banks, and tossing the sand and stones onto lawns. Then, when it gets slippery after more traffic has compressed the remaining snow, they "sand" again. I need to start a sand pit! It's a racket.

 

[OmCheeto]

At least now you know you don't have to shovel the street.

Always look at the bright side of life

I hate having OCD. I shoveled my street again this morning after the weatherman said we wouldn't have any more snow.
Now it's snowing buckets again.
I think I'll let the mailman fend for himself.
Gads.

Bright side?
hmmm...
There's a chicken roasting in the oven.
I've got a nice warm fire going.
Fresh coffee.
I got the day off.
And they don't sell roof shovels within 100 miles.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

This is the time of year when I start thinking about Aruba. My wife said we were leaving the country if McCain won, and I said we would leave if Obama won. So it was inevitable that it would come to this, yet another all expenses paid two week vacation to one happy island. While you guys are shovelling the snow out of your driveways, we'll be shovelling the snow out of our Margaritta glasses. Right now I got to go take a look in my driveway. Someone left a lifesize ice scupture of my car there.

 

[turbo]

Right now I got to go take a look in my driveway. Someone left a lifesize ice scupture of my car there.

I just had huge piles of snow. Imagine my joy when I started digging around in the piles and found nice vehicles buried in there.

 

[edward]

Gees, I would hate to think this is all happening because a humming bird saw its Shadow at my house last Friday.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/147/copyof1001050jpghumminghe9.jpg

We had a freeze warning the night before and I had just uncover the plants when this critter showed up.

 

[Evo]

Oh how cute! This was last week? Where do you live, because I want to be there!

 

[turbo]

Gees, I would hate to think this is all happening because a humming bird saw it's Shadow at my house last Friday.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/147/copyof1001050jpghumminghe9.jpg

We had a freeze warning the night before and I had just uncover the plants when this critter showed up.

That means 30 more weeks of winter, edward! I'm beginning to feel some animosity toward you - hummingbirds and petunias, indeed!

 

[Astronuc]

P.S. I just heard the the City of Gresham, A suburb just East of the Portland has declared a state of emergency. Also, the The Interstate bridge lift span is frozen and they can't lift it. This means that certain river traffic won't be able to get up or down the Columbia river.

We had a state of emergency on Friday. Cars that we parked on snow emergency routes/streets had to be removed or they were towed.


Janus's post also reminded me of the situation about some (~12-15) years ago when the NE US had record cold weather with temps down around -20 to -10 F. Coal piles on barges and at coal-fired power plants froze, some rivers froze and so barges would deliver oil or coal, natural gas was diverted to heating and away from gas-fired power plants, and the reserve margins on the electrical grid was down to about 0.2%, rather than the normal value (which I don't recall at the moment). If any large plant had gone off-line, much of the NE was at risk of a blackout. The nuclear power plants kept the grid up!