Brrrr!!!!!

[Black Aeronaut]

Eh, at least you guys only have rain and snow to deal with. Try being out in the Yellow Sea for Winter and see how long you can keep your meals down.

[ECSNorway]

Eh, at least you guys only have rain and snow to deal with. Try being out in the Yellow Sea for Winter and see how long you can keep your meals down.

I've been on Lake Ontario through one major storm.
Once was enough.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Star Ranger4]

Eheheh... Sea (state) Stories? Try going round the Horn.

Though the one that sticks in my head wasnt so much the seas involved as the person. Storeskeeper 2nd "Barnacle" Bob Bossart, who would wander the passageways in our first heavy seas (usually just after passing through the Golden Gate, this is back when NAS Alameda was an actual NAS) slurping on tinned sardines in mustard sauce just to see how many newbies he could make yarf
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[s3yang]

Eheheh... Sea (state) Stories? Try going round the Horn.

Though the one that sticks in my head wasnt so much the seas involved as the person. Storeskeeper 2nd "Barnacle" Bob Bossart, who would wander the passageways in our first heavy seas (usually just after passing through the Golden Gate, this is back when NAS Alameda was an actual NAS) slurping on tinned sardines in mustard sauce just to see how many newbies he could make yarf

.... tinned sardines in mustard sauce? Are heavy seas even necessary for yarfing when contemplating someone eating such things?

[Wiregeek]

tinned sardines in mustard sauce

That sounds delicious.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[s3yang]

tinned sardines in mustard sauce

That sounds delicious.

Meh, exactly what I expected from the guy with the (demented clown) Goat for an avatar.

[Wiregeek]

Pthbt!

I'll be you've never ate tounge, either.. or tripe.. or land-oysters..

I draw the line at brains. I do NOT like the idea of prions. Nope nope nope. Everything else on this planet is free game.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[robkelk]

tinned sardines in mustard sauce

That sounds delicious.

Meh, exactly what I expected from the guy with the (demented clown) Goat for an avatar.

Meh back at you - I like those, too.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Black Aeronaut]

My dad and I used to eat pickled herring in front of my mom just to gross her out. Wonder if I could accomplish the same around here. I've just about hit the same tolerance as SH2 Barnacle (fifteen foot swells just annoy me for making it tricky to navigate p-ways without hitting something) - for me, it's now a matter of keeping myself well-fed enough to keep my stomach settled.

[Kurisu]

blackaeronaut, what kind of ship are you serving on, 'cause I was on a Knox-class frigate and because of it's size, Sea State 2 was kinda entertaining.

(bow-jumping in the Anchor-Windlass space, and hitting the overhead.)
_____
DEATH is Certain. The hour, Uncertain...

[Black Aeronaut]

An Arleigh-Burke-class destroyer, Flight-1 (the kind that do not have helo hangars).

Gotta admit, it's pretty smooth - we have stabilizers and sea-water compensated fuel tanks - but once we hit the Yellow Sea, especially in typhoon season, you're all but guaranteed to see some poor sap losing his meals.

One ship that I feel pity for is this one Frigate that pulled in about six months ago. They had somehow lost one of their stabilizers during the trip. While that's an inconvenience, it's not one big enough to warrant an emergency trip to the dry-dock. Felt bad for that crew because they were in the middle of a nine-month West-PAC cruise.

[Kurisu]

Ouch... extended.... that sucks.
Stabilizers... lucky bastard...
Sea State 2 and turned into the waves, if the dome came out of the water, it feels like an earthquake.
_____
DEATH is Certain. The hour, Uncertain...

[Star Ranger4]

CGN-41 Arkansas... And the big thing there wasnt so much the size (she rode damn well for a ship her size) as the direction... entering or leaving SF bay your crossing the California currents, which puts the waves of your beam.

Might have been just me, but it seemed like no matter what we were doing if we had to hold a course the waves would shift till they were on our beam.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[Kurisu]

Whoops, my bad...

FF-1088 Barbey.

She was decommissioned, and sold to Taiwan.
_____
DEATH is Certain. The hour, Uncertain...

[Black Aeronaut]

Yeah, lucky until some moron in the pilot house tries to turn us into a wave at 20 knots! That happened the underway before last (the last being that big exercise the media was going bonkers over), someone pulled that shit and just about anything that wasn't secured wound up on the starboard side of whatever space it was in. Gave me a good scare because I was in an office space with a huge stack of boxes of printing paper on the other side.

Anyhow, we get the earthquake effect pretty regularly on my ship simply because we can brave heavy seas like it's nobody's business. Although, my hat's off to the carriers - some of the shit they'll plow through is phenomenal.

I'm a bit uncertain about the codification of sea states. An article on Wikipedia says that Sea State 2 is pretty calm and what you describe sounds more like Sea State 5.

Well, I wouldn't worry for her, Kurisu. Those people tend to take as good care of their ships as possible (as new hulls are hard to come by).

[Dartz]

Snow up to my knees.

Never had that happen before. Thought it was bad a couple of weeks ago. What the hell is going on? I've never seen anything like this before. How do other country's deal with this sort of stuff? Everything's just grinding to a halt.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Sofaspud]

Up to your knees, you put on extra socks and a good thick pair of boots.  Up to your waist, add longjohns and snowpants.
Up to your chest, might be time to start thinking about laying in extra firewood.
Up to your head... build an igloo.  (Actually, that's not a bad idea.)
In all seriousness, though... the trick to handling deep snow is to stay warm, don't sweat (and I mean that literally), and stock up.  If you absolutely need to go somewhere, any car with front-wheel drive and a set of chains (cost: $20-$60 USD, as far as I know can be shipped worldwide) can handle up to two feet of the stuff, properly motivated.  Chances are if it's knee-deep on you it's about six-eight inches on the roads, so a shovel will get you to where you can get moving.  Keep a shovel on hand and a bag of sand, gravel, and/or salt.  Despite what you may have heard kitty litter is NOT a substitute -- it soaks up the water and turns into foul grey slush, worsening your situation rather than helping.
But really, don't go out and about any more than you have to.  Stay home as much as possible, stoke the fireplace if you have one, enjoy a cup of cocoa and have a snowball fight or three.
(My area routinely gets 2-4 feet at a time, though the year before last we had six feet in a matter of days, peaking at eight in spots.  Was much fun!  (I left the car parked two blocks away at a grocery store for most of the winter rather than try to get in and out of my street)

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[firvulag]

A toque, good boots, tires appropriate to the season, and thousands upon thousands of dollars spent on snow removal and an excessive amount of rock salt.
--
What the gods would destroy they first submit
to an IEEE standards committee.

[robkelk]

A toque,

For those without access to Canadian clothing stores, a thick wool watch cap will suffice as a substitute.

But it isn't as stylish as a toque.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Wiregeek]

the problem is, you have to get it often enough to justify the dedicated infrastructure of plow trucks and sanders to cope with it..

If your community is unprepared, take a seige mentality - miss two days and the roads will be vastly better.

Slow down.

Follow Further

It will take longer to stop than to start.

Don't Panic.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Sofaspud]

I put a ball cap on to keep the sleet out of my eyes, and let my ferocious hair and manly beard take care of keeping me warm.
Ahem.
Anyway... I dunno how it is other places, but the ones I've lived that routinely get snow, the city assumes that the citizenry have basic winter skills and only plows when necessary.  Their Stage One snow plan doesn't call for the plows to come out until we have 4 inches on the arterials, at which point they plow the main roads and cover the side roads afterwards.  Stage Two is when we have 6 or more inches, at which point they say "Yer on yer own" about the side roads and only worry about the main roads.
They'll use de-icer sometimes, but to keep costs down they use one that only works down to about 12F or so.  If the temp drops below that, it actually makes the ice worse, so they don't bother using it and instead throw a few handsfuls of sand about.
The tire stores round here make a killing selling snow tires to the panicky ones.  Those of us that've been around a few seasons get our all-season tires siped and go about our merry way.

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[firvulag]

To further what Wire said, people seem to panic[0] about driving when
there's a large snow fall, even the ones who ought to know better, so
be careful and don't rush.  Getting there alive is more important than
getting there now.  Also, watch out when stopping on hills, give the
person in front of you extra room.  They may slide back a bit when they
release their brakes.

Plowing happens around here much the same as it does for Spud, though I don't know the amounts of snow and salt is more common in my experience than sand, at least on roads.  Sidewalks are more likely to get sanded than roads.  There are some interesting regional variations though.  Where I was growing up it was more or less mandatory to shovel the sidewalk in front of your house, if you were home, but when I lived in Montreal I learned that it's illegal for a homeowner to shovel the sidewalk[1].  Quebec's also got some interesting laws regarding tires.  You can't legally use All-Season tires past the 15th of December, they have to be Winter tires.

[0] Or maybe they just get really dumb.
[1] Note that's the sidewalk (city property), not the walkway leading to the house.  The homeowner is still responsible for that, especially if they want mail delivery.

--

Ski!: A shout to alert people ahead that a loose ski is coming down the

hill.  Another warning skiers should be familiar with is "Avalanche!"

(which tells everyone that a hill is coming down the hill).

- from "The Skier's Dictionary"

[Wiregeek]

Those of us that've been around a few seasons get our all-season tires siped and go about our merry way.

And those of us who prefer to go Full Gonzo at any given intersection have already pulled the snow tires out of storage and swapped over to them..
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Dartz]

Yeah... the problem is I'm in one of those places that doesn't get it enough to justify any more infrastructure beyond a truck and enough grit and salt for the main roads. I've got good boots and waterproof gear alright. Thing with driving anywhere, is it's not just me on the road... I'm sharing it with people who think that accelerators only have an On and Off position.... and last minute Xmas shoppers. And nowhere near here sell "winter" tyres....

I suppose I'll have to dig it in the morning in anyways....
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Wiregeek]

for the love of everything, make sure your insurance is paid up and active, make sure your card is present and accounted for, your registration is current, and your driver's license (and tax disc?) are valid...

At this point, you have paranoia and preparation on your side, but if you do get in a wreck, you want to make sure your papers are in order...

A note on driving in this crap -

Slow. Slowly accelerate, slowly decelerate. Once your tires have locked up or are spinning, you are accomplishing very little. 1% throttle, 1% brake. craaaaaawl your way through or up or out of or down.

If downhill, do not stop or attempt to stop without extreme caution. Once your tires are locked up/stopped, you have zero control of your direction. Take your foot off the brake and steer away from the worst of the hazards facing you.

At no point stop. Intersections - 'stop' as far back as you can get away with and crawl forward. Going a constant 1mph or thereabouts is possible through the most amazingly hellish conditions, so long as you just keep that 1mph. Starting from a dead stop in low-friction conditions is a surprisingly difficult accomplishment.

May the Lady smile upon you, you're in for an interesting few days.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies