Ice Storm

[sachmo71]

We had a pretty good ice storm here in Texas last night, and so I'm stuck at home with a sick wife and baby. Hopefully they will both fall asleep so I can play some EUII! :D Any of my fellow Texans socked in today? Word has it that we can expect more sleet/freezing rain/snow tonight. I hope I don't get cabin fever!

[bigdawg2003]

I'm still waiting to hear if my school is shut down for today, but its a private school, so I'll probably end up going. I heard on the radio that UT is shut down.

[Dr. Sak]

You can complain about that crap when you get 36" of snow in one weekend like the northeast did. You guys in the south throw a fit when a few inches fall ;) . This winter has been terrible. I am so sick and tired of the cold and especially the snow. Spring come soon!!!

[bigdawg2003]

There's white stuff on the ground outside my house. What is it? Did God have an orgasm?

[mrushh]

That's nasty. :)
It was a bitch shoveling all that sleet and snow so I could open my door, bsak16,. It was back-breaking, and when I finished, I had at least 3 inches accumulated. Now I know where they got the title for "Dude, Where's My Car" cuz I can't find mine. :D

Dallas schools are closed, yea, so I get an extra day to waste on my puter.

[McSweeny]

3 inches! egad man! try shoveling FEET of snow, FEET i tell you

[Tasan]

Yay ice, just grinds Dallas/Ft. Worth to a halt every time we get it. Every school around is closed and the roads are a mess. The problem in Texas is that we don't have chains or even the right tires for this stuff because we just don't get it often at all. And the only folks that seem to have the 'magic sand' stuff is the Toll Authority, so they have to dole it out to the city and that is taking them a lot of time. Kinda silly to watch everyone out here. Makes me glad I'm a stay at home dad. The wife got to work safely, and thats my main concern today.

Edit

This isn't snow, its a layer of ICE 3-4 inches thick all over everything. I've lived in Germany and I know the difference between a snowstorm and an icestorm. Icestorms can be a lot worse in smaller amounts.

[JeeberD]

Classes are cancelled for me, thank goodness. My roommate had to work last night and it took him two hours to drive what normally is a 20 minute drive. Coming home was even worse for him. I called him at one point and he had been on the road for an hour and a half and had only gone a couple of miles.

I sure hope work doesn't need me tonight...

[bbor]

umm...you all have to come to Canada......school/work...is'nt cancelled here unless the snow is piled higher than the street light.

[sachmo71]

Well, at least the news is entertaining. No, you can't control your SUV at 50 mph on black ice. Watch out for that...ditch. Goodness.

[Tekneek]

Ice is not snow. I'd rather have a few feet of snow than ice.

People who are too proud of being from the northeast get right on the roads here when the weather gets real bad. You know what they do? Spin out and wreck like everyone else, because the reason they handled it so well up north was because of snow plows and such. Those things don't exist here. They try to be proactive with the salt trucks, but if that fails you are done for.

[Senator]

CABIN FEVER - MUST BE OUT IN THE WORLD!~~~

[Cards4ever]

Originally posted by Tekneek
Ice is not snow. I'd rather have a few feet of snow than ice.

People who are too proud of being from the northeast get right on the roads here when the weather gets real bad. You know what they do? Spin out and wreck like everyone else, because the reason they handled it so well up north was because of snow plows and such. Those things don't exist here. They try to be proactive with the salt trucks, but if that fails you are done for.

You are absolutely correct.

We deal with the stuff all winter and still have a tough time with it, even with the plows and sand trucks. Hopefully it gets back to normal soon without any one getting hurt or killed.

[sachmo71]

200 accidents last night, and at least 100 so far today. With more freezing rain and sleet in the forcast, it's an insurance adjusters nightmare.

[HornedFrog Purple]

We had 67 accidents in my zone, none of them fatal or which started a fire. Someone was looking out for me when I got the 24-27th off. :)

[astralhaze]

Damn, and here I thought this was going to be about the Ang Lee movie.

[Senator]

HornedFrog Purple - how big a zone? That is crazy!

[wbonnell]

Originally posted by astralhaze
Damn, and here I thought this was going to be about the Ang Lee movie.

Are we going to be "iced in" tomorrow as well? Fortunately, I can VPN in, and control my work computer using Timbuktu. Sure, it's laggy, but it's better than nothing.

[ACStrider]

People up north don't understand why things shut down when it ices here. Having grown up in Dallas and having lived in Minnesota I can honestly say that the ice systems here in the winter are sporadic but awful. Weather systems in Texas fluctuate so rapidly. For example, earlier this month I saw snow one day, then literally two days later it was in the 70's! When there's a heavy rain followed by a sudden freeze, there's nothing that you can do about it and you're left with a nice skating rink outside. Up north, yeah, it snows and ices there, but there's a good 3/4 (sometimes 5) month period where the temperature doesn't rise above freezing. You have to break out the snow shuvels and the snow blowers, and the trucks have to hit the road, but the roads are drivable at slower speeds.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Senator, I will clarify what I mean by zone and accident in legaleze. This will not mean diddly to anyone not in the area so sorry.

The zone I work in covers about halfway down 820 between the 183 turnpike and a couple of miles west past I-35, then north on I-35 towards Denton a bit. It covers part of Watagua and some of the area north of there.

What I mean by accidents is how many vehicles actually were dinged up by pileups etc. Each one is treated separately in an incident report. So there were maybe 20-30 separate accidents but 67 cars involved. This is something newscasts will gloss over obviously.

820 east had a doozy last night which happens regardless of weather because our highway planners had this incredible idea of narrowing 820 to 2 lanes after the 183 turnpike. They spent all that money building up that turnpike allowing all these cars to get bottlenecked on 820, which is just mindboggling. Rush hours in the morning and afternoon are insane.

The good news is there was money budgeted for expanding 820 to 4 lanes each way but you know how our DOT is. :rolleyes:

[JeeberD]

Hurrah, work doesn't need me tonight. I called at 530 to see if they were going to need me in at six, but apparently they have less than 100 guests at the retaurant all day and they're probably going to close early again.

Hmm, I wonder if classes will be cancelled again tomorrow...:D

[PilotMan]

Damn, I thought that this thread was about my Hattrick team. :)

[Vince]

Ice? Snow? What're those? :D

I can't imagine living in stuff like that. I'm sure I'd adjust, but man. I'm definitely a Californian, that's for sure. I'll take my snow in weekend doses when I hit the slopes.

[Senator]

They spent all that money building up that turnpike allowing all these cars to get bottlenecked on 820, which is just mindboggling. Rush hours in the morning and afternoon are insane.


I know man, I drive this beast every day of my life.

Saving up for a helicopter.

[Tasan]

HFP, you've just described the bain of my existence, that stretch of north 820 in Richland Hills. I used to live over that way, and now my sister-in-law does, and I curse that stretch of road every time we go over there. I do not want to see it in this kind of weather.

[JasonTobiasIV]

Senator, you too are saving up for a helicopter?

I knew you were cool.

[korme]

A salt truck slid into the Ohio river last week. It was humorous. The guy was ok.

[Airhog]

This is the longest streach of snow I can remember in quite some time here in central oklahoma. It has really been a white winter down here.

[SplitPersonality1]

Originally posted by Vince
Ice? Snow? What're those? :D

I can't imagine living in stuff like that. I'm sure I'd adjust, but man. I'm definitely a Californian, that's for sure. I'll take my snow in weekend doses when I hit the slopes.

I usually reserve this for Marmel, but your comments deserve it.

Bite me Vince! :D

[mrushh]

Sunday when I went to "Old School" in Plano, it was 75 degrees. Monday's temperature was 28 or so for high. That is Texas weather in a nutshell.

Yes, school is closed again tomorrow (wednesday). Yippeee. :)

[Samdari]

Originally posted by Tekneek
Ice is not snow. I'd rather have a few feet of snow than ice.

People who are too proud of being from the northeast get right on the roads here when the weather gets real bad. You know what they do? Spin out and wreck like everyone else, because the reason they handled it so well up north was because of snow plows and such. Those things don't exist here. They try to be proactive with the salt trucks, but if that fails you are done for.

Not true at all. I grew up in the NE and lived in OK for several years. I drove by many natives in ditches during snow/ice. The reason that people in the NE have less problems driving in that kind of thing is because they have so much practice doing it.

[sachmo71]

Another ice day. :(