Severe Weather

[Dutch]

Props to the driver of the Wal Mart truck who stops so far back that it must've given drivers a point of reference in what must have been poor visibility. That was the beginning of the end of the pile-up as far as I can tell.

[nilodor]

It always amazes me how insane people are when it's winter conditions out there. In that video people are just cruising in at at least twice the speed of the vehicles around them. Even here where it's winter 7 months of the year, people jumping on breaks, breaking hard on ramps that slope down towards the road, randomly jumping on their brakes. I just don't understand where the disconnect is. Are they new drivers? New to northern climates? Not paying attention? Overestimating the conditions?

[Lathum]

Sadly that video doesn't surprise me. I deal with these morons every day. Idiots think because they have four wheel drive they are invincable. The people I feel bad for in that video are the ones who are paying attention and slowed down just to get blasted from behind.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Mike D

Props to the driver of the Wal Mart truck who stops so far back that it must've given drivers a point of reference in what must have been poor visibility. That was the beginning of the end of the pile-up as far as I can tell.

Yeah - and then turns his truck to block the road too. Mega props!

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by nilodor

It always amazes me how insane people are when it's winter conditions out there. In that video people are just cruising in at at least twice the speed of the vehicles around them. Even here where it's winter 7 months of the year, people jumping on breaks, breaking hard on ramps that slope down towards the road, randomly jumping on their brakes. I just don't understand where the disconnect is. Are they new drivers? New to northern climates? Not paying attention? Overestimating the conditions?

It's the lack of uniformity in the conditions though right? It can be icy in one spot and clear a couple feet down the road where the sun hits.

I'm with you on people driving recklessly in the snow (we always joke that it takes 1-2 snowfalls for people to adjust their driving habits down here in NE), I think that's a combination of having to adjust to the conditions and not paying attention. I'm not with you on people OVERestimating the conditions though - that seems to say that you think people should be driving faster in the snow.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Mike D

Props to the driver of the Wal Mart truck who stops so far back that it must've given drivers a point of reference in what must have been poor visibility. That was the beginning of the end of the pile-up as far as I can tell.

Well, you'd think it was, but then about a minute later, people start swerving to avoid him (because they're going too fast) and end up sliding sideways. That created a second round of pileups and honestly the much scarier part of the accidents.

Haven't seen it mentioned either, but the idiots getting out of their cars are nearly as mind-numbing as the people going too fast.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Well, you'd think it was, but then about a minute later, people start swerving to avoid him (because they're going too fast) and end up sliding sideways. That created a second round of pileups and honestly the much scarier part of the accidents.

Haven't seen it mentioned either, but the idiots getting out of their cars are nearly as mind-numbing as the people going too fast.

yeah couldn't believe people were getting out of the cars-I mean kudos I guess to check on the other cars, but in the middle of a snow storm with cars still crashing into each other is not the time to be out of your car

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

I'm not with you on people OVERestimating the conditions though - that seems to say that you think people should be driving faster in the snow.

Sorry I was thinking of it from the other perspective. I was thinking overestimating how good the conditions are, underestimating how bad they are.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by nilodor

Sorry I was thinking of it from the other perspective. I was thinking overestimating how good the conditions are, underestimating how bad they are.

Makes more sense that way . Then yes, with you all the way.

I still think it has a lot to do with the variability of conditions from spot-to-spot though.

[DaddyTorgo]

Lost Nevada family warmed rocks by fire to survive snow for 2 days - CNN.com

[Matthean]

Fish-tailed into a fire hydrant. Front driver side door is done. Back side door needs repair.

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

yeah couldn't believe people were getting out of the cars-I mean kudos I guess to check on the other cars, but in the middle of a snow storm with cars still crashing into each other is not the time to be out of your car

Even if it is just a single car on the side of an icy (major) road you need to be extremely careful. All too easy for this to happen.

Man fatally struck on Deerfoot Trail while inspecting damage to his truck

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by nilodor

Even if it is just a single car on the side of an icy (major) road you need to be extremely careful. All too easy for this to happen.

Man fatally struck on Deerfoot Trail while inspecting damage to his truck

I have two firefighter friends who both double as EMS on calls. They've told me enough stories in regards to people getting hit that I likely wouldn't exit my vehicle until police show up when it's on a major two or four lane highway.

[mauchow]

Germantown Hwy 41/45 pileup captured on camera | Waukesha County - WISN Home

Nothing brutal happens but it's amazing how you just keep on going when it's icy.

[PilotMan]

This is a wicked storm rolling along. We just had winds somewhere around 60mph at the house. The kids are all nervous.

[Matthean]

We're getting hit with freezing rain.

[Blackadar]

70 degrees here today. Unseasonably warm.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

This is a wicked storm rolling along. We just had winds somewhere around 60mph at the house. The kids are all nervous.

I'm in jersey right now. A little worried about my house. Lots of big trees around it.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I'm in jersey right now. A little worried about my house. Lots of big trees around it.

I walked around the neighborhood today and didn't seen any major damage. Our neighbors lost their table and umbrella and other neighbors lost a deck canopy that they hadn't taken down for the winter. We had a butterfly bush break, but otherwise all the big stuff was still there.

[Matthean]

Lansing area is essentially shut down. The typical response from the power companies is it will be a week before people get power. My brother had a rather large branch fall on his truck. His wife went out to clean up and a branch came down and knocked her out for a bit.

[JPhillips]

I just helped mu father-in-law cut down a tree as almost half of it was broken and hanging over the drive. Lots of trees down around this part of KY.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Lansing area is essentially shut down. The typical response from the power companies is it will be a week before people get power. My brother had a rather large branch fall on his truck. His wife went out to clean up and a branch came down and knocked her out for a bit.

wow hope she is okay

[Buccaneer]

Stay safe, don't go out if you don't have to.

[Matthean]

FYI, that's not purely snow.

[Solecismic]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Lansing area is essentially shut down. The typical response from the power companies is it will be a week before people get power. My brother had a rather large branch fall on his truck. His wife went out to clean up and a branch came down and knocked her out for a bit.

Sorry to hear it - I hope she's OK. My wife's house (which we're trying to sell) is in Lansing. She heard there's a huge amount of damage all over the area - we'll need to go out there and clean up this week. It looked like you guys were hit early and often with the ice. Just down the road a bit, we were basically untouched. There's a small coating of ice on trees, but most of it came down as rain. Just a half-degree or less makes a huge difference in these things. DTE was telling us to expect up to a week without power just as the storm started. I hope those estimates were wrong and everyone gets to enjoy the holidays.

[Matthean]

Sister-in-law got decently roughed up but nothing rest can't overcome.

[Mota]

In Toronto we had quite a bit of freezing rain. Our power went down Sunday at 9am, and just came back up Monday at 1pm. We had just loaded up our fridge as we're hosting Xmas for the family. Thankfully it was still at the point where your food is still good, we were getting ready to pack the food into coolers and store them outside where it is below freezing.

Similar to the picture above, we had 1-2 inches of ice on our tree branches, and it has caused huge issues with power lines getting taken down by fallen trees. My boss lives in a more mature neighborhood with a lot of big trees, and it's a disaster, there were fallen trees and power lines everywhere, and he's only expecting to get power back up after Xmas. THAT sucks.

[sterlingice]

Was up in Rockford, IL visiting relatives and they had ice on Friday coating the entire city, about 6" of snow on Saturday, and now I'm in Iowa City where it's expected to be -17 tonight. Suck

I'm happy with Houston weather

SI

[Balldog]

We lost power Sunday afternoon. DTE has been saying we would be back on Monday by 11:30 but no luck. I didn't think we would anyway but now they are not giving any update.

Luckily we have a generator but still no furnace. Trying to get the fireplace fan going today so we can avoid a hotel and the boys can be home for Christmas.

This tree just missed our Playscape:

[sterlingice]

So, uh, highs the next 4 days, according to NOAA: 73, 72, 71, 70

SI

[stevew]

Witnessed the Thundersnow phenomenon tonight. Amazing. Thought it was just a bad joke punchline like a sharknado.

[ColtCrazy]

Today we missed our 8th day of school this year. The highway is closed for a 60 mile stretch all around where I live (between Louisville and Indy). It's pretty nasty out there with blowing snow and ice covered roads.

[Eaglesfan27]

Expecting anywhere from 6 to 12 inches here. Picked my kid up from school at 11:30 which was a good call as the snow just really started at that point.

[gstelmack]

Expecting 1-2 inches of snow, but it's coming just after some rain, and while temps are dropping from the 40s down well below freezing. So as it gets dark around rush hour, likely to be a traffic mess, and much like 2005 we'll have most of the country laughing at us and how gridlocked we get over 2" of snow while ignoring the 1/2" of ice that's covering everything...

[ColtCrazy]

Announcement that emergency travel only for the remainder of the day here. Snow has stopped. Got 6-7 inches, but the wind is making drifts dangerous.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Expecting 1-2 inches of snow, but it's coming just after some rain, and while temps are dropping from the 40s down well below freezing. So as it gets dark around rush hour, likely to be a traffic mess, and much like 2005 we'll have most of the country laughing at us and how gridlocked we get over 2" of snow while ignoring the 1/2" of ice that's covering everything...

Yeah had something similar happen here this morning... rain last night, temperature dropped, and only about an inch of snow this morning but major traffic incidents. My wife called me frantically when she got to work and said a tractor trailer slid off the road like 2 cars in front of her. Then I see a stay at home mom on facebook bitching about why their kids are home from school today. I want to say one why don't you go to work and send your kids to daycare if it annoys you so much you get to spend more time with your kids and two you would be the first one in line to sue the school district if your kids bus was hit by that truck. But it seemed like more harm would come from that than good. Plus I very much enjoy having the day off with my kid where by the afternoon the roads are all clear and we can go out and do stuff. Would love for me or my wife to be home all the time with him.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by panerd

Yeah had something similar happen here this morning... rain last night, temperature dropped, and only about an inch of snow this morning but major traffic incidents. My wife called me frantically when she got to work and said a tractor trailer slid off the road like 2 cars in front of her. Then I see a stay at home mom on facebook bitching about why their kids are home from school today. I want to say one why don't you go to work and send your kids to daycare if it annoys you so much you get to spend more time with your kids and two you would be the first one in line to sue the school district if your kids bus was hit by that truck. But it seemed like more harm would come from that than good. Plus I very much enjoy having the day off with my kid where by the afternoon the roads are all clear and we can go out and do stuff. Would love for me or my wife to be home all the time with him.

Yeah, but having the kids home is disrupting her mani-pedi, and her 2-bottle-of-wine lunch with her girlfriends and such. Priorities panerd!

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

Announcement that emergency travel only for the remainder of the day here. Snow has stopped. Got 6-7 inches, but the wind is making drifts dangerous.

how far from Cincinnati are you? Its not that bad here

[panerd]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Yeah, but having the kids home is disrupting her mani-pedi, and her 2-bottle-of-wine lunch with her girlfriends and such. Priorities panerd!

Yeah I told myself I would not become one of those "people" when I had kids that all of a sudden changes their views on kids at restaurants or the movies or a guy who always voices concern on issues "for the children!". And I have been really good I think of seeing both sides but my wife and I have done calculations every night on how to not have to send our boy to daycare and stuff like that facebook post really rub me the wrong way.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by panerd

my wife and I have done calculations every night on how to not have to send our boy to daycare and stuff like that facebook post really rub me the wrong way.

totaly OT and may make for an interesting thread, but why not send your son to daycare? My kids go and I think it is great. They learn tons of skills such as sharing, interacting with other kids, etc...My son, almost 4 can count, know letters, colors, etc...

Not saying we can't teach him some of that at home, but to me daycare/ preschool is so much better than keeping them isolated at home.

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by Lathum

how far from Cincinnati are you? Its not that bad here

About 1.5 hours from Cincy. Apparently this area got the big pocket of snow. Interstate still closed in spots. Several parents are freaking on FB around here too after the news of the shooting at Purdue came out.

[DanGarion]

Ugh... I'm supposed to be flying to Boston and driving up to New Hampshire for work... I've NEVER dealt with weather like this before.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Ugh... I'm supposed to be flying to Boston and driving up to New Hampshire for work... I've NEVER dealt with weather like this before.

can you even get into Boston right now?

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Lathum

can you even get into Boston right now?

Well I fly tomorrow, I guess I will find out when I wake up at 4:30 am to get ready.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by Lathum

totaly OT and may make for an interesting thread, but why not send your son to daycare? My kids go and I think it is great. They learn tons of skills such as sharing, interacting with other kids, etc...My son, almost 4 can count, know letters, colors, etc...

Not saying we can't teach him some of that at home, but to me daycare/ preschool is so much better than keeping them isolated at home.

Two main reasons really and besides them I am not in disagreement with you about the positives. One is that he is 15 months old and is sick all the time and even when it isn't a fever or something big (which seems to happen about once a month) he always is stuffed up. The second without going too deep into our financials is that my wife doesn't make a lot but is right on the line where we can't afford for her to stay home on my salary alone but daycare eats up a big chunk of hers. So she is working for barely anything at a job she doesn't really like. I guess I see more benefit around the pre-school age of your son than I do for a little guy.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Well I fly tomorrow, I guess I will find out when I wake up at 4:30 am to get ready.

No idea if you will get delayed in getting here, Peak of the storm is going to be tonight and the snow will finish up in Boston around 10am-noon tomorrow. Boston is going to likely get around 8-10 inches of snow, so that is going to cause it to be a mess for your drive to New Hampshire.

The good news is the further north you go, the less snow they are getting, so if you can get out of the Boston area, in about an hour you should be out of the worst of it.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Alan T

No idea if you will get delayed in getting here, Peak of the storm is going to be tonight and the snow will finish up in Boston around 10am-noon tomorrow. Boston is going to likely get around 8-10 inches of snow, so that is going to cause it to be a mess for your drive to New Hampshire.

The good news is the further north you go, the less snow they are getting, so if you can get out of the Boston area, in about an hour you should be out of the worst of it.

I think my flight comes in at 5 PM. Driving up to Manchester. Flying back home on Friday.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Lathum

can you even get into Boston right now?

I'm already hearing of flights heading OUT of here tomorrow being canceled, so I'd guess the answer will be no.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

I'm already hearing of flights heading OUT of here tomorrow being canceled, so I'd guess the answer will be no.

Woohoo... ugh.

[Blackadar]

I'm in DC on business. Lovely day.

Started out around 40. Dropping to 5 degrees tonight. 5-10 inches of snow expected (already started). 20-30 MPH winds.

I came in yesterday and worked. Federal holiday, so my client was closed. Closed today due to weather. Probably will be closed tomorrow. I fly home Thursday evening. Needless to say, not much is getting done because they're not here but I get to bill the shit out of my client.