(North-)East Coast USA Snow Storm Thread

[Wiregeek]

In all seriousness, I'm trying very very hard to keep a respectful tone in my text on this thread. A 'minor' snow inclusion by my standards is still enough to be crippling to people who aren't prepared for it. For example, I present the boss, who has narrowly avoided spraining his back (just think about it. Localized soreness = strained muscle. It's a very short step from there to permanent skeletomuscular damage)

But, on the flipside...

I just taught the neighbor how to make a snowman. He was trying to rake up snow with a gardening hoe - they don't have snow shovels here.

Then, I taught a neighbor girl who was watching us, down the street in her front yard. She was bored because there was no school and the highways were closed earlier. As she said: "In all my 12 years, Ah've only seen snow twice, and this is the firs' time ah have ever made a snowman!"

My next door neighbor's snowman fell apart, and the top two balls shattered when they fell off, so on my way back to the house, I remade his snowman. Then, rolled a flat disk of snow and a cylinder to give it a top hat.

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

[Logan Darklighter]

Oh I know this ain't no big deal to you Northerners. (On the flip side, most of you have never dealt with a Texas summer either. )
I'd rather have snow than what we usually get this time of year, which is freezing rain and ice. Which is just miserable. If we're lucky it doesn't stick. If we're really unlucky it glazes. And if you think we can't drive on snow, you haven't seen the mayhem that ensues from that sort of thing.
I LIKE snow. I can drive on snow. I've got a big SUV with good traction. I like snow because it's so rare. And the last time I saw any in these amounts around here was when I was a kid of 10-11. I went out to the park nearby just to take it in. I loved that it muffled all the usual city sounds. The way it looks falling in the light of the streetlight outside just down from my house. I drove around and saw on every other house someone had made snowmen. (In one case a snow kitty.)
This has been a real treat to me, really.

[Bob Schroeck]

(On the flip side, most of you have never dealt with a Texas summer either. )

I have, long enough to attend a friend's wedding in Austin. Never again.

I'm glad you're getting such joy out of the weather down there -- your post is such a distinct counterpoint to all the horror stories that are showing up on the news up here.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Black Aeronaut]

Oh, don't get us wrong, Bob. It's probably gonna be a while before they can get those roads cleared. It's probably worse than Indiana - they are literally not equiped for snow removal down there in Dallas. They're probably having to contract out to some firm in the mid-west to get their roads cleared and it'll take a day, bare minimum, to get the equipment out there.
That is, if it stays cold enough for it be around for that long. It may or may not, depends on when that cloud cover clears up. And even then there may be some re-freezing going on. Black ice has always been an issue in Texas, even on the Interstates as they pass through the larger cities like Dallas/Ft. Worth and San Antonio. It's what killed an Uncle of mine some years back (though the booze probably didn't help much).
Until then, c'est la vie, and dream of hot, muggy summers. Remember, kiddies! Texas ain't as dry as you think it is!

[Jeanne Hedge]

CattyNebulart wrote:

---

That is because if you take a 50 mile wide marker and draw a line between washinton dc and new york you get most of the people in the usa, with most of the remainder huddling on the other coast. It's flyover country because there are only a few million people living there, and there is a huge amount of space.

As this is a census year, allow me to use older census data to correct a fallacy - unlike our northern neighbors, most of us don't live within 200 miles of any particular location or border. Not even close.
That 50 mile zone between DC and New York City, including the entire states of Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania (all of which extend at least 200 miles west of that 50 mile strip - their populations actually within the zone are much smaller than their total populations), doesn't quite make it to 20% of the population.
The states along the US east coast, including those close to but not bordering on the Atlantic Ocean (Vermont, Pennsylvania and DC), is the home of slightly more that 1/3 of the population.
The west coast states (California, Oregon, and Washingon) is where slightly more than 15% of the population lives. Add in Alaska and Hawaii and the number still isn't up to 16%.
"Flyover country," the people who don't live on the east or west coast, is home to 47% of the population (and 4 of the 10 most populous states).

Yes, I'm cranky today - it's snowing AGAIN.  Four days of sunshine, and that drift is still on my roof and the ice still hasn't melted off my drive. After we get our "gift" for the day, and we clean up and dig out, it'll be just in time for the next round, schedule to arrive on Saturday.

Jeanne Hedge
www.jhedge.com

"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem."
-- Gabrielle of Potadeia

[ECSNorway]

blackaeronaut wrote:
Until then, c'est la vie, and dream of hot, muggy summers. Remember, kiddies! Texas ain't as dry as you think it is!

Don't you miss those hot summers? Hate those cold winters?
Contribute to Global Warming. Buy an SUV.

--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Bob Schroeck]

Just to a festive note to the proceedings, it's snowing again here. 1-3 inches expected by the morning.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Black Aeronaut]

ECSNorway wrote:

---

Don't you miss those hot summers? Hate those cold winters?
Contribute to Global Warming. Buy an SUV.

I'm a Texan, not a Republican.  There's a difference. 
Besides, aren't those cold winters being attributed to global warming as Mother Nature's way of balancing things out?
  

[robkelk]

Just to a festive note to the proceedings, it's snowing again here. 1-3 inches expected by the morning.

I don't suppose you could send some of that snow our way, Bob? We've got patches of not-covered ground here.

In Ottawa.

In February.

Actually, ship it to Vancouver instead. They need it for the Olympics.
--
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

[Bob Schroeck]

Well, the overnight fall was... odd. Two inches everywhere but the streets and driveways.

The fall is currently paused, but is supposed to resume later this afternoon. However, the worst of it is apparently going to be north and east of us; we probably won't get more than a dusting.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Wiregeek]

I don't suppose you could send some of that snow our way, Bob? We've got patches of not-covered ground here.

In Ottawa.

In February.

Seconded, in Alsaka, in February. This isn't right.

Two inches everywhere but the streets and driveways.

Normal, actually. All that dark surface area can maintain itself several degrees above ambient, and will utilize nearly every erg of solar energy available. When the 'ambient' is close enough to 32 degrees f, that makes a big difference.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Foxboy]

Again, I'm echoing the complaint from Alaska, Ottawa, and Vancouver.

Northern New England should still have ground cover at least at this point of time. I've seen kids whining that they don't need to wear their winter jackets because there's no SNOW.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Bob Schroeck]

Hadn't thought of that, WG, but yeah, we've been floating at just about freezing for a while. So a degree or two will indeed make a difference.

In other news, the snow restarted midmorning. Slow, fluffy snow that ought to be on a Christmas card, not in my yard.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Sofaspud]

Eastern Washington (state) is echoing the complaints too.  I haven't had to wear a jacket in three weeks.  A raincoat, maybe -- if I were interested in keeping rain off me -- but nothing to stay warm.  I've been working outside in rolled up shirtsleeves.
Warmest.  Winter.  Yet.
Blargh.

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

[ECSNorway]

Hrm. What's the JetStream looking like these days? Is it north or south of you, Spud?
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Wiregeek]

Bob, you available wednesday night?

we, ah, need to go for a drive....

http://jalopnik.com/54706...sideways-into-the-freeze


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

[Bob Schroeck]

Dear god, no.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Sofaspud]

ECS: Looks like it's north of me by a huge margin today -- northeast, if we want to be technical .  Both WeatherImages.org and AccuWeather.com agree on that.  They disagree on the forecast, though.  WeatherImages says it'll be right on top of me by tomorrow at 6am; AccuWeather says it'll move farther north, instead.
I dunno, I just know that it's rainy and gray and miserable outside, and it hasn't dipped below freezing (except for one day) in weeks.  The MUD is getting annoying.
I'm in Spokane, WA. That's roughly centered between north and south borders in Washington state, 30 miles from the Idaho border.

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

[Star Ranger4]

Dont look at me. Northern California is basking in the sunshine and enjoying every darn minute of it after the past weeks of almost constant rain.

And still the local resivoirs are low after last winter's drought
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

[robkelk]

Bob, you available wednesday night?

we, ah, need to go for a drive....

http://jalopnik.com/5470603/hungarian-s ... the-freeze

Dear god, no.

That's right - Bob's too busy looking for work.

Wait until the weekend.

8)
--
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

[Kurisu]

Bob, you available wednesday night?

we, ah, need to go for a drive....

It's Initial D minus!!!!
_____
DEATH is Certain. The hour, Uncertain...

[Black Aeronaut]

Snowdrifting... That shit is fun as all hell. When we were all living together in Emmaus, PA my family and I went snow drifting in the local High School's parking lot when it snowed as it usually does there in the winter. Of course, we were driving an old Ford Windstar Minivan. (^_^) Wheeeeeee!
Oh, and this is fun looking... though I wouldn't have quite as drastic of a modification to the chassis to get the tracks under there.
http://jalopnik.com/54680...on-for-the-snowpocalypse

[Wiregeek]

That one looks a little more suited for the boss, since a rally-spec deathtrap is ruled out
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Bob Schroeck]

Have I mentioned recently that I hate snow? If I had my druthers I'd stay inside until Spring.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[ordnance11]

That's the reason I love So Cal
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell