Severe Weather

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

This is just almost weird here in Athens. Virtually no snow, maybe a 1/4" of sleet just sitting on the ground, now being covered in a light but steady freezing rain.

The words "biblical" and "catastrophic" are getting used a LOT and I'm starting to understand why.

Yeah, if it's raining, you're in quite a pickle.

I remember an ice storm we had about 10 years ago here in KC. Had nearly an inch of freezing rain. Power was out for several days. We just sat in the house and stayed near the fireplace. You could hear trees creaking and crashing to the ground all around the neighborhood. It's a really scary and helpless situation.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Yeah, if it's raining, you're in quite a pickle.

I remember an ice storm we had about 10 years ago here in KC. Had nearly an inch of freezing rain. Power was out for several days. We just sat in the house and stayed near the fireplace. You could hear trees creaking and crashing to the ground all around the neighborhood. It's a really scary and helpless situation.

In Lawrence, it was a good 48 straight hours of freezing precipitation. That sucked

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Yeah, if it's raining, you're in quite a pickle.

This is starting to feel like it may extend beyond pickle & head straight into fornicating

In the past hour or so we've gone from maybe a quarter inch of sleet on the ground to a sheen of ice on the trees. That is NOT good.

[flere-imsaho]

Yeah, that doesn't sound good, guys. Stay safe.

[Logan]

Living and working in NYC, it's hard for me to justify working from home for weather, even though my boss doesn't care if I do. But I want enough snow this time around solely to justify staying home so I can watch the USA hockey game at 7:30.

[lighthousekeeper]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Yeah, if it's raining, you're in quite a pickle.

I remember an ice storm we had about 10 years ago here in KC. Had nearly an inch of freezing rain. Power was out for several days. We just sat in the house and stayed near the fireplace. You could hear trees creaking and crashing to the ground all around the neighborhood. It's a really scary and helpless situation.

that was the 1 year i lived in KS. it was craazy. I remember sitting on our 3rd story deck watching the sky light up for hours as transformers blew out across the city. the next day it looked like every tree in the city had fallen, and mountains of branches littered the streets for weeks after.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I guess somebody didn't get the memos from Atlanta's recent experience.

RALEIGH: Snow arrives in the Triangle, causing gridlock on the roads | Weather News | NewsObserver.com

[Radii]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I guess somebody didn't get the memos from Atlanta's recent experience.

RALEIGH: Snow arrives in the Triangle, causing gridlock on the roads | Weather News | NewsObserver.com

Its really amazing. Multiple friends of mine on facebook were posting about being in traffic, one mentioning that she was just out shopping...

Wake County has basically been in the dead center of the "snow + ice" area of every map I've seen. There was no way we were avoiding this one. The expected arrival time/start of the bad weather even got bumped back a few times in forecasts, yet people still couldn't manage to get off the damn roads in time!

[Wolfpack]

To be fair, just about all the reactions I've seen were of some variety of "I've never seen it pile up that fast." I'm inclined to agree. I remember when I saw the first flakes around 12:30, I felt okay with leaving around 1:00 because I figured it would take a little time to stick. 15 minutes later, I'm noticing the parking lot and the cars get covered and that's when I decided to get going. By that time it was too late and the gridlock was already forming. Even so, I got home okay, though a 20-minute commute on 540 turned into an hour. I still got away early enough that the roads weren't causing people to quit their cars like they did later in the afternoon.

This is about the fastest accumulation I can remember from any storm around here. It was an inch an hour overall. We ended up with 4" on the back deck before it started switching to sleet around 4:30. Will be an interesting night. The lines are buried in the neighborhood, but there's still a damn lot of trees around here. Hope the icing won't be as bad as expected.

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I guess somebody didn't get the memos from Atlanta's recent experience.

RALEIGH: Snow arrives in the Triangle, causing gridlock on the roads | Weather News | NewsObserver.com

And it's not like Atlanta's experience was all they had to lean on. They had the epic one-inch storm that crippled the city in 2005, as well. The problem was that it came on quick and it stuck from the first moments, meaning unless you left work at about 11:30 or maybe noon, you weren't getting a smooth commute home. They didn't have to worry about the schoolkids this time like they did then because they canceled classes in advance today.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I guess somebody didn't get the memos from Atlanta's recent experience.

RALEIGH: Snow arrives in the Triangle, causing gridlock on the roads | Weather News | NewsObserver.com

Working from home past 2 days and likely tomorrow. Feel for Raleigh but glad Atlanta is out of the news.

[claphamsa]

8 inches of snow.... its currently raining, and where i stepped outside left a slushy footprint. this is gonna melt just enough that when it freezes again tonight its gonna be a disaster.

[GrantDawg]

In the end, the ice accumulations where not as bad as they predicted. I think the wind also helped more than it hurt, and threw some of the early ice out before the rest came last night. Trees are slightly bent, but not as bad as I have seen before. Still, almost a quarter of million without power this morning. Luckily, I'm not one.

[JonInMiddleGA]

After finally getting a little bit of snow to top off all the ice overnight, looking like a fast melt is underway here in Athens.

My preliminary guess is school tomorrow with delayed opening.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

We were supposed to get more ice from the last storm in Myrtle Beach a couple weeks ago, but right now seems like we are getting more-couple big branches down here and across the street-thankfully our power lines are all underground here so don't have to worry too much about power outages. Some reports are saying an inch or more of ice around Columbia-glad I'm not there.

Mother Nature got the last laugh on me-lost power about an hour later-didn't get it back for about 3 hours....but cable and internet (Time Warner) did not come back till a half hour ago. Have a lot of big branches down here and in the neighborhood, no trees that I could see. Very strange walking around the neighborhood, we back on an undeveloped wooded area-so lots of noise of trees and ice falling there. And we got very little ice-roads were not slippery at all-inland from Myrtle Beach I'm guessing it was/is pretty awful.

[claphamsa]

not sure if its freeving rain or sleete... but its pretty bad out there now.

I got 8 inches of snow here, its probably down to about 5 now, but its freezing soon, and were expecting another 2-4 inches, and were gonna be ice skating.

[flere-imsaho]

Full on blizzard conditions here in Portland, ME. Started snowing for real around Noon and I just went out with the dog and I'd say we have 10 inches already. People still driving about OK, although not much is plowed. Supposed to turn to freezing rain, then sleet, then back to snow overnight, so I imagine tomorrow will be interesting.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

After finally getting a little bit of snow to top off all the ice overnight, looking like a fast melt is underway here in Athens.

My preliminary guess is school tomorrow with delayed opening.

For some reason we had tomorrow(looks like an in-service day) and monday off from school here. They took back Monday due to us missing our required amount of snow days. I'm praying that this is it for this winter. Outlook has us approaching 50 next weekend(holy shit), which is pretty awesome. I know it's winter and I live in Pennsylvania, but I was praying that this would be a reasonable winter like many of the past 5 years.

[JonInMiddleGA]

We ended up no school tomorrow (secondary roads & neighborhood streets untreated & still in pretty bad shape, plus the school itself has a nasty hill leading to it) ... no school Monday either, due to a regularly scheduled holiday.

Students, however, are to check online for homework assignments being issued for the weekend :/

[stevew]

What kind of Radius does Athens academy pull from? Do you guys have some sort of school busing system in GA? Like I can't afford a privateschool but in PA the district busses kids to the private school.

[CU Tiger]

Yep no school here either.

I took the kids last night out around 9:00 pom and we drove the 18 miles to the nearest "town"...they were amazed aat the ghost town...and had to take a picture of the WalMart Closed sign...

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by stevew

What kind of Radius does Athens academy pull from? Do you guys have some sort of school busing system in GA? Like I can't afford a privateschool but in PA the district busses kids to the private school.

Probably 35-40 miles or so really. Elberton to the northeast has a sizable cluster of students, Greensboro to the east, Madison to the south. We don't draw much from the west since you start getting into areas where there are Gwinnett options that are comparable to us.

There are 4 buses, all owned & operated by the school. They probably handle around 20% of the total K-12 enrollment.

Two run the local routes (basically splitting up Clarke County/Athens and Oconee County, where the school is technically located by about a mile, between them). Then there are two distant routes. One makes the trip 35 miles east over to Greensboro/Lake Oconee/Reynolds Plantation area. The other goes south to Morgan County/Madison, where some of the more distant kids are driven to be picked up.

The large majority of students are parent drop-offs (some as much as 50 miles each way), while the large majority of the high school students drive themselves once they're old enough.

edit to add: I had to look up the latest figures, total enrollment is currently 957 students from 19 counties (!)

[claphamsa]

there is slush falling from the sky now.... tomorrow is gonna be a mess

[SirFozzie]

We got "porn star" snow (8-10" so far), and the rainy mix tonight.. it's going to be a fun ride over to my folks in the morning.

[bob]

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that every single one of the lazy people on my team have already emailed me to say that there's no way they can make it into work tomorrow despite all the melting in our area. Especially since everyone else said they doubt there will be any issue.

I don't want to be a jerk, but these are the same people that insisted on leaving at noon on Monday to avoid traffic. It started snowing Tuesday afternoon.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Probably 35-40 miles or so really. Elberton to the northeast has a sizable cluster of students, Greensboro to the east, Madison to the south. We don't draw much from the west since you start getting into areas where there are Gwinnett options that are comparable to us.

There are 4 buses, all owned & operated by the school. They probably handle around 20% of the total K-12 enrollment.

Two run the local routes (basically splitting up Clarke County/Athens and Oconee County, where the school is technically located by about a mile, between them). Then there are two distant routes. One makes the trip 35 miles east over to Greensboro/Lake Oconee/Reynolds Plantation area. The other goes south to Morgan County/Madison, where some of the more distant kids are driven to be picked up.

The large majority of students are parent drop-offs (some as much as 50 miles each way), while the large majority of the high school students drive themselves once they're old enough.

edit to add: I had to look up the latest figures, total enrollment is currently 957 students from 19 counties (!)

That's a helluva draw. Sounds like they have the busing set up as good as you probably can get. I know they changed it several years ago(5-10) around here where you could get some crazy reimbursement rate if you drove your kid to private school. Like 40cents/mile. A parent headed that direction already could grab some serious free coin by dropping their kids off and billing the district 3-4k/school year.

[claphamsa]

the gov is open tomorrow... which is great news since I have expensive ass flowers going to my GFs office...

[Butter]

Originally Posted by bob

I don't want to be a jerk, but these are the same people that insisted on leaving at noon on Monday to avoid traffic. It started snowing Tuesday afternoon.

Those people need to take the day off if they can't make it in, sounds like. That's what we have to do at my work to avoid all the issues. It's purely the manager's call, but I've had to make that call more than once. If you need to stay home today, you need to take it out of your paid time off.

[ColtCrazy]

What was to be nothing more than a dusting today is now up to 3 inches starting at 1. I'm guessing we'll have early dismissal. Luckily, it got to 46 today so most of the black ice that was around is gone from the roads. Ground is still covered in about 3 inches of solid ice. School is planning on adding an hour to the school day for 2 months to erase some of the time we've missed.

[claphamsa]

everything is covered in ice now.that being said, its 34 degrees and sunny... so well melt a ton today.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I don't think I posted this yet (if so, apologies). The sheriff in the next county over from me is getting national press after his bold move to help us all during the latest winter storm

In midst of storm, Georgia sheriff's office 'cancels' Valentine's Day - TODAY.com

edit to add:
CNN also picked up the story
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/13/us/geo...ls-valentines/

[PilotMan]

Sent the kids to school 2.5 hours ago, just got a call for dismissal in 1 hr. It's supposed to start snowing here in a couple hours. What a bunch of crap. Just so they don't have to make up another school day. 1 hr notice!?

[Lathum]

Just saw on CNN that 49 states woke up to some sort of snow this morning.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Sent the kids to school 2.5 hours ago, just got a call for dismissal in 1 hr. It's supposed to start snowing here in a couple hours. What a bunch of crap. Just so they don't have to make up another school day. 1 hr notice!?

And the keep pushing back the start time for when they expect the snow to come. Was 10 AM last night, now I am seeing 1:00. I bet we don't even really get anything.

[Logan]

PA Turnpike:

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Logan

PA Turnpike:

I swear, I'm not truly making light of anyone's misfortune (and I hope everybody walked away from that relatively okay), but ... I thought it was only us Southerners that sort of thing happened to?

My guess is that's ice related ... and nobody really drives on that stuff truly safely, I don't care who you are.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Lathum

And the keep pushing back the start time for when they expect the snow to come. Was 10 AM last night, now I am seeing 1:00. I bet we don't even really get anything.

Wife and I are going out to dinner tonight and have Funny Bone Newport tix to see Christopher Titus tonight at 1030p weather be damned.

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Wife and I are going out to dinner tonight and have Funny Bone Newport tix to see Christopher Titus tonight at 1030p weather be damned.

Wife and I will be at the Levee tonight as well. Naked Chopstix then a movie.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

Naked Chopstix then a movie.

Is this like naked scissoring?

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by Logan

Is this like naked scissoring?

I have no idea what naked scissoring is...

I misspelled the name of the place, it's Naked Tchopstix. No idea why there's a "T" in front of it.

[cartman]

When the first word is 'naked', does it really matter how the second word is spelled?

[Logan]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

I have no idea what naked scissoring is...

You should look it up.

From home.

When your wife is gone/sleeping.

[Suicane75]

That pileup is scary shit since it's like 10 minutes from where my mom works. got at least a foot yesterday morning, then an ice/rain storm at night that included thunder & lightening and was just a deluge of liquid, then another 4-5 inches of snow overnight.

We've gotten close to 6 inches of liquid in February alone, which if you go by .1=1 inch of snow would be 60 inches, except that a lot of our snow has been of the 1.5 or 2 inch per .10 of liquid. That's in 13 fucking days.

There are spots in my yard close to 5 feet high, and that's with a ton of ice and rain to pack it down.

I want to play wiffle ball.

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Sent the kids to school 2.5 hours ago, just got a call for dismissal in 1 hr. It's supposed to start snowing here in a couple hours. What a bunch of crap. Just so they don't have to make up another school day. 1 hr notice!?

I hate to tell you this, but I don't think it even counted for a day. Read bad call by the Super.

[BillJasper]

Covington Independent released at 1 today instead of 2. I have no reason why? The snow isn't even suppose to start until 3.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Just saw on CNN that 49 states woke up to some sort of snow this morning.

Ironically, Alaska was the one that did not

(I'm going to guess Hawaii, right?)

SI

[claphamsa]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Ironically, Alaska was the one that did not

(I'm going to guess Hawaii, right?)

SI

there is almost always snow on the top of the volcano

[cartman]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Ironically, Alaska was the one that did not

(I'm going to guess Hawaii, right?)

SI

Florida. One of the big volcanoes on one of the Hawaiian islands usually has snow at the top.

[flere-imsaho]

Florida. Hawaii has snow on top of the biggest volcanos. I think.

[sterlingice]

I was guessing this southern storm might have caught the panhandle or something but I guess not

SI

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

I hate to tell you this, but I don't think it even counted for a day. Read bad call by the Super.

Originally Posted by BillJasper

Covington Independent released at 1 today instead of 2. I have no reason why? The snow isn't even suppose to start until 3.

NWS has upped our snow from 2-4 inches to 4-6 inches tonight. Right when we are supposed to be out. Lovely.