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tanker27
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 29, 2014 5:55 pm

After looking at the pics and watching the news I am sure glad I dont live and work in Atlanta anymore. After college I was working at Coca-cola HQ downtown and driving the 400 monster north and south from Cumming every day.

I dont wish Atlanta traffic on my worst enemy on a good day let alone on a truly horrendous one like yesterday.
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Captain Ned
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 29, 2014 5:58 pm

tanker27 wrote:
After looking at the pics and watching the news I am sure glad I dont live and work in Atlanta anymore. After college I was working at Coca-cola HQ downtown and driving the 400 monster north and south from Cumming every day.

I dont wish Atlanta traffic on my worst enemy on a good day let alone on a truly horrendous one like yesterday.

My wife almost got transferred down there some 10 years ago. After watching the traffic cameras for a while I told her to back out of it any way she could. Good thing, as the Atlanta office closed 2 years later.
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vargis14
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:14 pm

Captain Ned wrote:
I'd be happy if the 6 inches of ice in my driveway somehow spontaneously melted though, with my luck, it would spontaneously convert to Ice-nine. The usual January thaw will only take half of it, meaning it's nothing more than the Zamboni From The Sky. Just what I need, ice made smoother.

One step off the front porch and you're on all fours if you don't want to hurt yourself. I even asked a buddy who ice-climbs if he had an old & dead set of crampons he could spare as it's really that bad. If Mr. Sun ever obliges, I'll take pics.


The cheapest way to take care of your slipping on that ice on your driveway is to go out to the store and by 3-4 Big bags of the cheapest kitty litter you can find. Then spread it in a evenly over the driveway with the clay grains around 1/4" apart, some closer uniformly over the driveway. Then lay a little bit extra on the paths you travel most. It is truly unbelievable how much traction you get from the clay pebbles that have millions of pores in them making them grip the ice with ease...thus you do not slip on it unless you are a klutz or trying to fall/going way too fast. I used it as a stopgap measure at my wife's Hair Salon since salt was nowhere to be found in the SE Philadelphia suburbs that has 6 parking spots on 20degree angles sloping towards the road. But the kitty latter does a fantastic job since the salt is not worth a damn when it is 5-10f outside with at least 10mph winds all the time. Kitty Litter works better then sand also.

There is one Big pain in the arse about using it. It tracks all over the place...sure salt does too but kitty litter is about 2x as bad. But if you take your shoes off at the door or in a pantry shed type entrance just remove your shoes in there before entering your house.
Once again I have the praise the amount of traction you gain.

Better then crawling on all 4s or walking on 2 ft ..slipping and breaking a wrist catching your fall, or the mother of all slipping on ice injuries " and nasty head trauma and compound fractures are not included" would have to be slipping and breaking both your left and right wrists at the same time.

No lie in a span or 4 years with 3 different paper boys...2 of them roller skated when doing their paper delivery routes. After approximately 6 months of delivering papers on their routes each of the rollerblader's had fallen and broken their wrists. 3 months later after one of the kids wrist healed he broke the other one. It is actually in most cases safer to fall on your Butt instead of trying to break your fall with your hands, wrist and arm. Always protect your head and face. Do not need any concussions or missing teeth :lol:

Kitty litter is also awesome at getting a crappy car unstuck outta the snow. Works well on nice cars also:)
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Captain Ned
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:31 pm

vargis14 wrote:
The cheapest way to take care of your slipping on that ice on your driveway is to go out to the store and by 3-4 Big bags of the cheapest kitty litter you can find. Then spread it in a evenly over the driveway with the clay grains around 1/4" apart, some closer uniformly over the driveway. Then lay a little bit extra on the paths you travel most. It is truly unbelievable how much traction you get from the clay pebbles that have millions of pores in them making them grip the ice with ease...thus you do not slip on it unless you are a klutz or trying to fall/going way too fast. I used it as a stopgap measure at my wife's Hair Salon since salt was nowhere to be found in the SE Philadelphia suburbs that has 6 parking spots on 20degree angles sloping towards the road. But the kitty latter does a fantastic job since the salt is not worth a damn when it is 5-10f outside with at least 10mph winds all the time. Kitty Litter works better then sand also.

Well, here in rural VT I'd be talking 3-4 pallets of kitty litter to safeguard my driveway. Luckily there's enough snow on top now for semi-decent traction, and my buddy finally fixed his pickup (Behemoth F-350 SD with the V-10. You don't drive it, you navigate it.) with the spreader in back. Real problem here in VT is the muy cold temps and no snow cover, which has had Burlington & Winooski city repair crews chasing down water main breaks all day. Newspaper & mail are delivered by car and anyone walking past my driveway is an idiot since it's slippery and the traffic is doing 50 MPH.

It's also why the wife & I drive Subarus with Hakkapelliitas. There's a reason it's the standard VT winter combo.
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:52 pm

Down in DC, we're getting *real* winter weather. It's been in the 20's for the better part of two or three weeks. It snows every once in a while. I love this weather! Had to break out the long underwear and I'm wearing it every day. Fortunately the drivers around here acclimate to the cold well, and there hasn't been much ice hazard.
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 29, 2014 8:11 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVpAVzws0ig

Road maintenance tech is fascinating stuff. I also like the zipper trucks that move concrete lane barriers around.

Tangentially, winter on the Keweenaw Peninsula is interesting.
 
SpotTheCat
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 29, 2014 8:47 pm

This has been a cold winter. Many mornings below -20F on my doorstep. I'm a ways away from the urban heat island of Minneapolis. I wonder what snows the late winter will bring. When the temps start to rise the moisture pics up and the snow totals add up quite a bit more.
 
anotherengineer
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 29, 2014 9:03 pm

UberGerbil wrote:
Ryu Connor wrote:
Atlanta has fallen apart.
It seems downright apocalyptic. Meanwhile, in Alabama...


Oh dear god, I didn't realize people were so ignorant of winter road conditions, what a mess. I guess if you never experience it you don't know, but geez 5000 pounds of metal doesn't stop too well on ice, especially with summer tires.

I supposed I am just way more accustomed to it since we have to drive in those conditions about 6 months of the year.

Still wow, just a mess!!
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JustAnEngineer
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 29, 2014 9:07 pm

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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 29, 2014 9:32 pm

JustAnEngineer wrote:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2014/0129/Atlanta-descends-into-complete-gridlock-after-3-inches-of-snow-video


Do they delay school if it rains?
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 29, 2014 9:38 pm

Rain is common enough that drivers have practice navigating in it.

Snow is so rare that unless you lived as a Yankee at some point you have no experience at all. There is also no commercial market for studded tires or chains here. Snow is so rare it doesn't even make sense to buy such things.

In 2011 the city of Atlanta owned twenty salt trucks in total. It does not make sense to spend significant tax payer dollars on equipment that may well sit around for half a decade or more before it sees use.

There were some other leadership mistakes within the city that didn't help this situation, but we only need the above items to lead us to the terrible outcome you see.
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JustAnEngineer
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 29, 2014 10:04 pm

Those 20 salt spreader trucks in Atlanta are probably the closest ones to the gulf coast. I know that when we had a significant snow event several years ago, the closest snowplows were in Montgomery, and they had a grand total of 7 of them to cover a few hundred miles of interstate highway. Our county folks load up a few dump trucks with sand (which is plentiful and cheap) and park the trucks inside so that the sand won't freeze solid when the cold weather comes. After the storm hits, they shovel the sand out on one lane of the most important bridges in the area, then they tell us to stay off the roads until the ice melts. That doesn't usually take more than two days like it will this time.


Torrential rain is a very common event in this area. We get scattered severe afternoon thunderstorms throughout most of the summer. A tropical storm doesn't shut down businesses or deter drivers along the gulf coast (we don't really get excited until you reach category 2 or 3 hurricane status). Look at how badly New Jersey and New York were prepared for tropical storm Sandy or look at how tropical storm Irene devastated Vermont as unusual weather events before you condemn southerners for being unprepared for the snow and ice of winter storm Leon.
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tanker27
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Re: Winter weather

Thu Jan 30, 2014 8:25 am

JustAnEngineer wrote:
Look at how badly New Jersey and New York were prepared for tropical storm Sandy or look at how tropical storm Irene devastated Vermont as unusual weather events before you condemn southerners for being unprepared for the snow and ice of winter storm Leon.


QFT. We are prepared for tropical storms and hurricanes for the most part because we see that regularly.

As for the snow shutting down Atlanta it just wasnt that. It rained for a good 2-4 hours (in some parts) before the cold front moved through (even if you 'could' pretreat this the rain would have washed it aside or down the drains). Thus that rain turned to ice almost instantly then the snow came. Most people understand Ice, then snow is a bad combination. In my area of Georgia we call it the decade storm, once every 10 years we get this combination and everything grinds to a standstill. (last one of these was in '03 and before that the early to mid 90's)

Another factor in the Atlanta debacle was that even forecasters couldn't agree when the cold front was going to arrive. Computer projects/models were changing every half hour since Monday.

I just wish this would be the wake up call for Atlanta to get a true mass transportation system READ: A proper subway, that goes out to the burbs. As big as Atlanta is their public transportation is a joke because its practically non-existent.
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JustAnEngineer
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Re: Winter weather

Thu Jan 30, 2014 11:19 am

I waited an extra half hour and didn't leave for work until first light (about 25 minutes before official sunrise) this morning. My 50-mile commute was an icy 13°F mess for the first part and mostly clear (except for the bridges) for the last 10 miles. The good news is that there was very little other traffic on the road at that hour and it's all going to melt away this afternoon.
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Re: Winter weather

Thu Jan 30, 2014 11:29 am

According to the weather dudes locally, this has been the coldest winter on record going back to the late 1800s in central Illinois. 4 of the 10 coldest individual days on record (average temp for a 24 hour period) have been in January 2014, making January 2014 the coldest month on record. I totally believe it.
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Re: Winter weather

Thu Jan 30, 2014 11:58 am

Our pond has frozen at least 12" deep. The past two winters we barely made 4" for a couple of days before it was gone again. Pure black ice, great skating apart from the massive cracks formed by the shrinking surface of the ice in the bitter cold. Kind of harsh when your skate goes in it! A true winter, and I will take it.
 
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Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Thu Jan 30, 2014 3:11 pm

Just discovered this and it's really hard not to burst out laughing. They did a complete gridlock with the National Guard in attendance with thousands sleeping in their cars.

Now I am Canadian so this is almost unbelievable, and I'm sure there are lots of Americans in the same boat. We don't even get any trucks out for 3", they wait till they have something to plow.
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Thu Jan 30, 2014 3:18 pm

Don't exaggerate the situation!

It was more like 2" of snow that did it.
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Thu Jan 30, 2014 3:21 pm

PenGun wrote:
Just discovered this and it's really hard not to burst out laughing. They did a complete gridlock with the National Guard in attendance with thousands sleeping in their cars.

Now I am Canadian so this is almost unbelievable, and I'm sure there are lots of Americans in the same boat. We don't even get any trucks out for 3", they wait till they have something to plow.

You also probably drive winter tires year round, and probably sport studded tires during the winter, plus trucks are allowed chains - and your road designs are different to help cut down on ice sheeting. I've driven pretty much all over and can say that I'm not a big fan of snow anywhere where they get a lot of flooding, because a little bit of snow becomes a gigantic sheet of ice.
 
sirsoffrito
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Thu Jan 30, 2014 3:29 pm

I really wouldn't be making fun of human suffering. Down south they don't have the equipment to handle this kind of weather. People were caught off guard, parents separated from their children, cars abandoned all over the roads, blocking the roads and leaving people unable to get home. You guys are used to such weather up there. I would know because I was substitute teaching in Birmingham when the snow hit, and I just happened to be lucky enough to have a friend's house within two miles that I could walk to. Other's weren't so lucky.
 
PenGun
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Thu Jan 30, 2014 3:59 pm

sirsoffrito wrote:
I really wouldn't be making fun of human suffering. Down south they don't have the equipment to handle this kind of weather. People were caught off guard, parents separated from their children, cars abandoned all over the roads, blocking the roads and leaving people unable to get home. You guys are used to such weather up there. I would know because I was substitute teaching in Birmingham when the snow hit, and I just happened to be lucky enough to have a friend's house within two miles that I could walk to. Other's weren't so lucky.

I did say it was hard not to laugh but I do appreciate the suffering. The thing is we don't even get our equipment out for that much snow. I'm just not sure how 3" could cause that much havoc, we just drive through it. My Lincoln has nice tires but she does not go out in the snow. My Suzuki has crap tires, I should swap em' front to back actually, and it does all the work in the snow.
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Captain Ned
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Thu Jan 30, 2014 4:12 pm

Merged into "Winter Weather" thread.
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Thu Jan 30, 2014 4:44 pm

PenGun wrote:
I'm just not sure how 3" could cause that much havoc, we just drive through it.


Because they rarely if ever "drive through it" and our species does not instinctively know how to handle automobiles in wintery conditions.

Yay for empathy!

@thread: Sledding down Crestwood Blvd 1.28.14
 
PenGun
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Thu Jan 30, 2014 5:03 pm

Jambe wrote:
PenGun wrote:
sirsoffrito wrote:
I'm just not sure how 3" could cause that much havoc, we just drive through it.


Because they rarely if ever "drive through it" and our species does not instinctively know how to handle automobiles in wintery conditions.

Yay for empathy!

@thread: Sledding down Crestwood Blvd 1.28.14

I did say I appreciated the suffering involved.

Did you know that our species has no instincts at all about driving cars?

It's just funny to see so much disruption over almost nothing. I understand they have no skills but wow, just wow.
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tanker27
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Thu Jan 30, 2014 5:13 pm

PenGun wrote:
I understand they have no skills but wow, just wow.



And apparently you have no skills at comprehending what has happened. Its not a laughing matter.
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PenGun
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Thu Jan 30, 2014 5:30 pm

tanker27 wrote:
PenGun wrote:
I understand they have no skills but wow, just wow.



And apparently you have no skills at comprehending what has happened. Its not a laughing matter.

It is sad that they had to suffer, but it is very funny. Sorry.
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Jambe
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Thu Jan 30, 2014 5:33 pm

PenGun wrote:
I did say I appreciated the suffering involved.


I noticed that and called attention to your apparent incapacity or refusal to empathize, as you go on to demonstrate:

PenGun wrote:
It's just funny to see so much disruption over almost nothing.


It's decidedly not "almost nothing" to them, hence the state of affairs (and hence my admonition to empathy).

So your humour, essentially, is "ha, some people are not like me in that they cannot drive in the snow".

Yes. Right. Ripping good laugh.

I do find some of this stuff amusing, fwiw, but not the "har har them Southerners cain't not drive nun" stuff.
 
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Re: Winter weather

Thu Jan 30, 2014 5:54 pm

Oh well I guess I'm a monster then. You do understand most of Canada and a lot of the US is amused by this.
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tanker27
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Re: Winter weather

Thu Jan 30, 2014 6:30 pm

PenGun wrote:
Oh well I guess I'm a monster then. You do understand most of Canada and a lot of the US is amused by this.


And there has been numerous posts, blogs, interviews, news articles and explanations (here and everywhere) on how this 'perfect storm' went down and most change their tune when they realize certain facts about the situation. To do anything else makes you look.....well like a A-hole
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Re: Winter weather

Thu Jan 30, 2014 7:10 pm

Hi ho. ( Kurt Vonnegut's reaction to the bombing of Dresden} So this is global warming in action, I hope you understand.
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