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PenGun
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Re: Winter weather

Fri Jan 31, 2014 3:16 pm

The Daily Show ripped Atlanta a new one. I was far more gentle. ;)
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Rectal Prolapse
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Fri Jan 31, 2014 5:51 pm

keltor wrote:
You (PenGun) 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.


As a Canadian who lived in Edmonton, Calgary, and the interior of British Columbia, it was very rare until the last handful of years that people put on winter or snow tires on their cars in the winter.

Chains are illegal except on logging roads, and studded tires are illegal in most provinces except maybe parts of Quebec and Ontario (maybe Manitoba?) and of course the northern provinces closer to the arctic circle.

Cars sold here come with all-season tires. That's it.

I've driven 100 km/hr on the highway in a raging blizzard 1 hour after sunset, which was very stupid of me as I could not see the road - I used the tree line as my guide. I don't think I'll ever do that stunt again. These were on a Honda Accord with no traction control and Toyo Ultra tires. The scariest thing was that a 4x4 truck passed me at 130 km/hr on that same isolated stretch of invisible road! And I thought *I* was the crazy one.

It boggles my mind that people would drive with summer tires in the 1970s with rear-wheel drive behemoths in the winter...with no airbags and wearing no seat belts! It's almost like they were a different species in those days.
 
The Egg
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Re: Winter weather

Fri Jan 31, 2014 7:03 pm

Coming from a northern city, it's amusing to think that the entire problem was caused by southerners not knowing how to drive in 2" of snow, but that really wasn't the case (though I'm sure it didn't help). The problem was the local government deciding to release ALL the children from the schools, and ALL the workers from private and government jobs at the exact same time. This, in a city which already has some of the worst traffic in the nation. It was almost criminally stupid.
 
Neutronbeam
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Fri Jan 31, 2014 7:49 pm

chuckula wrote:
Don't exaggerate the situation!

It was more like 2" of snow that did it.


Yessss....but it was a REALLY vicious tough 2". Actually about 2"-3" of the prettiest white powder. My son had great fun sledding and my office closed for three days.

And BTW--after Denver, Atlanta is the second-highest city above sea level. It is built on a ridge and the entire city is hills. When it ices you have to stay put.
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Captain Ned
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Sat Feb 01, 2014 12:23 am

Neutronbeam wrote:
And BTW--after Denver, Atlanta is the second-highest city above sea level. It is built on a ridge and the entire city is hills. When it ices you have to stay put.

Not quite.

http://www.altimeters.net/cityaltitudes.html
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BIF
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Re: Winter weather

Sat Feb 01, 2014 4:45 am

LOL.

I did not know that Colorado Springs was higher than Denver. Learned something new today and the sun isn't even up yet.
 
ludi
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Feb 05, 2014 11:32 am

So yesterday's "snow flurries" turned into six inches of ultra-light powder, and then the cold arrived on schedule. -8F right now and today's high is supposed to be around 3F. They say we will return to the double digits going into the weekend.
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FireGryphon
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Re: Winter weather

Thu Feb 13, 2014 4:04 pm

We had a lot of snow last night in DC, but by morning the streets were clear. It's above freezing, it's raining, and there's lots of running water outside. I dug my car out, but I'm the only one on the block who did so. Perhaps digging the car out after each bout of snow is a northern ritual. More snow coming tonight, and the schools are closed today and tomorrow.

This gives me ample opportunity to cook dinner. Pacific Whiting with a worcestershire & tomato sauce, with mashed potatoes and yams. Yum.
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Arvald
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Thu Feb 13, 2014 4:27 pm

Rectal Prolapse wrote:
Chains are illegal except on logging roads, and studded tires are illegal in most provinces except maybe parts of Quebec and Ontario (maybe Manitoba?) and of course the northern provinces closer to the arctic circle.

Cars sold here come with all-season tires. That's it.

Chains and studs are illegal on roads in Ontario.

I seem to remember that Quebec is the same.
Quebec has a winter tire law that makes them mandatory for Quebec registered cars.
 
Captain Ned
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Re: Atlanta shut down by 3 inches of snow.

Thu Feb 13, 2014 4:41 pm

Arvald wrote:
Quebec has a winter tire law that makes them mandatory for Quebec registered cars.

They need the Snow & Mountain symbol.

http://tires.about.com/od/understanding ... wflake.htm

Never been there to prove, but various fora claim that if you've got all 4 on proper snows (i.e. with symbol) and are driving an AWD vehicle, the chain requirement may be waived.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
lonleyppl
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Re: Winter weather

Thu Feb 13, 2014 9:32 pm

We got 16 inches or so here in Central VA. It's been lovely, though my camera broke last night, so I had to go out with my film camera and phone.
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Captain Ned
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Re: Winter weather

Fri Feb 14, 2014 3:24 pm

Well, the snowmobilers are loving all of the fresh powder. I can hear their 2-stroke serenade as they play in the sand pits a mile or so behind my house.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
superjawes
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Mar 12, 2014 8:06 am

We got rain, ice, and wet, heavy snow last night. When I left the building, one of the trees had broken in two different locations. I might try to post pictures later.

I also slipped and fell right on my ass walking into work. This winter can go terroize the southern hemisphere any time it wants.
On second thought, let's not go to TechReport. It's infested by crypto bull****.
 
Captain Ned
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Mar 12, 2014 9:02 am

Well, we're supposed to get 12"-18" of wet snow between today & tomorrow. However, daughter's school called a pre-emptive snow day, which means the storm will fizzle to nothing.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
cynan
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Re: Winter weather

Thu Mar 13, 2014 12:34 pm

The Seven Day Forecast. When Canadian winters drag on, government meteorologists go above and beyond to look out for their fellow Canadian's mental health.
 
Captain Ned
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Re: Winter weather

Thu Mar 13, 2014 12:43 pm

A fresh 20" of Global Warming in the yard. Thankfully the wet/heavy didn't take place and it's powder, but I've still got a buried car to deal with.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
Captain Ned
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Re: Winter weather

Thu Mar 13, 2014 12:46 pm

cynan wrote:
The Seven Day Forecast. When Canadian winters drag on, government meteorologists go above and beyond to look out for their fellow Canadian's mental health.

I miss the glory days of Royal Canadian Air Farce and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. CBC/CTV in the cable plan is one of the benefits of living but 45 miles from the border.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
Darkmage
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Re: Winter weather

Fri Mar 14, 2014 12:35 pm

Ugh. This is what happens when you drop the groundhog.
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FireGryphon
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Re: Winter weather

Tue Jan 27, 2015 8:49 am

The northeast is getting hit hard, but the mid-Atlantic is slushing along today. A bit chilly, and very wet.
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DancinJack
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Re: Winter weather

Tue Jan 27, 2015 8:54 am

Not too bad here in Boston honestly. Probably a foot or so. Still snowing though.
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The Egg
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Re: Winter weather

Tue Jan 27, 2015 9:51 am

Lately, whenever I hear a weather report I want to kick someone in the nuts. Lets take these weather reporters to Siberia or the Yukon so they can see a real blizzard.
 
Captain Ned
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Re: Winter weather

Tue Jan 27, 2015 9:55 am

The Egg wrote:
Lately, whenever I hear a weather report I want to kick someone in the nuts. Lets take these weather reporters to Siberia or the Yukon so they can see a real blizzard.

Blame it on The Weather Channel and its need to drive viewership by "naming" winter storms. Back when I was a kid in the late 1960s one would wake up, notice a fresh foot or so of snow out the window, and comment that it snowed a bit last night. Nowadays the threat of a foot has supermarkets looking like war zones.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
paulWTAMU
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Re: Winter weather

Tue Jan 27, 2015 10:42 am

snow's always done that. I remember working at a grocery store in high school (12-15 years ago, DAMNIT) and news of snow would send people running and scrambling. And this was in Colorado, where you kind of expect snow.
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superjawes
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Re: Winter weather

Tue Jan 27, 2015 10:48 am

Captain Ned wrote:
The Egg wrote:
Lately, whenever I hear a weather report I want to kick someone in the nuts. Lets take these weather reporters to Siberia or the Yukon so they can see a real blizzard.

Blame it on The Weather Channel and its need to drive viewership by "naming" winter storms. Back when I was a kid in the late 1960s one would wake up, notice a fresh foot or so of snow out the window, and comment that it snowed a bit last night. Nowadays the threat of a foot has supermarkets looking like war zones.

QFT on hype. Drop the names from winter storms. Heck, let's stop naming hurricanes while we're at it .

I can see it being a real deal in some cases. The South didn't fare too well in Winter 2013/14 with all the ice it got, and Indiana was completely unable to cope with those winter storms. It all depends on how well your state/city is prepared.
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notfred
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Re: Winter weather

Tue Jan 27, 2015 11:04 am

Linus Torvalds wrote:
You people on the East coast think you have it bad, with snow-storms and whatever.

That's nothing. My coffee maker broke, and calling the service hotline says "we're not open today due to inclement weather".

You guys get a little snow, and suddenly civilization breaks down.

My coffee maker is broken and nobody is answering the phone.

And CNN just keeps talking about snow. What about my coffee? Priorities, people, priorities.

What am I going to do without my coffee maker? I'm going to sit here in a corner, crying, that's what.
 
Kougar
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 28, 2015 8:18 am

Just move to central Texas. 77 yesterday, supposed to be 77 again today... I was chuckling at all the snow Amarillo got by comparison. :P
 
Deanjo
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 28, 2015 8:49 am

For the last couple of weeks we have had well above normal temps, enough that the perennials were coming out of their dormant state. Unfortunately our temps are now returning to normal back down to the -20 to -30 range. At least it got rid of most of the snow so we will have less concern about flooding this spring.
 
anotherengineer
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 28, 2015 10:32 am

No big storms like that here, just 6-8" at a time here and there. Probably close to 3-1/2" feet here now. The city has pulled out the big snowblowers to remove the 6ft snowbanks and widen the roads up a bit.

edit - lol found some actual pics, probably from another year though

http://storage.timminstimes.com/v1/dyna ... 8074600000

http://storage.timminstimes.com/v1/dyna ... 8074664806
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the
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 28, 2015 12:25 pm

And randomly it is going to be 70 F (22.2 C for the rest of the world) later today... and I'm in Kansas. In about a week I'll be looking at 18 F (-8 C) temperatures.
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paulWTAMU
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Re: Winter weather

Wed Jan 28, 2015 12:53 pm

that's OK Kougar, we up here laugh at you pansies down south that can't hack 40 degree weather :P
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