"The Blizzard of 2011" !?!?

[tomturbomatic]

Distinguishing the edge of the road

Ralph, in the Fall, the DOT folks place large poles with reflective paint on them along the shoulders of roads to serve a guides for snow plow operators so they know where to go when there is nothing but flat whiteness. Streets with sidewalks usually have enough signs sticking up to help show where the road is, but it would be pretty frightening to drive a snow covered route without having an inkling of what it looks like under the snow.

For a long time we did not have reflective lane markers on our Beltway and other highways because they used to be surface mounted and the plows would scrape them up with the snow. Then there was an advance in technology and recessed reflectors were installed to mark the lanes. YAY!

 

[steved]

snow-blower tip

Matt, since the design of our house and driveway force me to throw the snow to one side AND over some shrubs, I need as much power as possible. I spray all interior parts of the snowblower with cooking spray before I use it (or WD-40 in a pinch). This really helps when the snow is wet.
SteveD

 

[58limited]

Here in lovely Port Arthur by the sea, it got to 22 degrees last night with a wind chill of about 10 ( last year we dipped down to 17 degrees and my heater was not working then). The storm line that came through yesterday was not bad. The weather service predicted very severe storms with tornadoes and hail. It didn't even thunder. I understand the storms were worse as the line traveled east. I know people in NE Oklahoma who have had 12" of snow, but looking on the radar, this doesn't look like the huge killer storm the media is hyping it up to be, but it looks bad none the less.

 

We are supposed to get freezing rain Thursday and Friday. I hope power doesn't go out, but I've got a 5500 watt generator that I can use to run the central heat unit (its gas).

 

[retropia]

The electricity went down around 9pm last night; local news says 100K homes in Central Ohio are without electricity. Temperature is supposed to get to 10 tonight, 25 tomorrow and 10 again tomorrow night.

A fellow in an older neighborhood reported that the local utility told him it would be 6-10 days before electricity was restored in his neighborhood.

We have a backup generator (runs on natural gas) connected to the most critical circuits, so we're ok. Satellite is still working for the TV, however, broadband-by-cable is down for internet service, and my wired phone line also isn't working.

The dishwasher is one of the circuits not connected to backup power, so I have to resort to hand-washing dishes ... the horror! I was running the dishwasher when the electricity went down. The dishes were pre-rinsed and the power ended towards the end of the pre-wash cycle with soap. Everything looked clean; I gave the dishes a quick swish in the sink, then rinsed and air-dried.

Question: there is soapy water sitting in the base of the dishwasher. Is it safe to leave there until the electricity is restored or should I bail it out now? The detergent I used was vintage Cascade with phosphates and enzymes. Would the enzymes damage anything sitting there for several days?

 

[circlew]

Temp is now in mid 20's and still rather windy, but has calmed down from this morning when wind was very strong.

We got lucky here that it warmed up for a couple hours and rained, which melted the ice off the trees and wires before the high wind arrived. Otherwise, I'm quite certain my power would have been out.

Have seen a few flakes of snow flying around, but not the 6"-8" originally forcast. Hope I can make it to the gym this evening as I decided not to go the last couple days due to the weather.

 

[mattl]

Well here in mid MI we supposedly got a whole 9", not really that much.  Chicago really got hit, saw a report that 800-900 cars are left abandoned on Lake shore Drive, quite a mess.  It was funny hearing the reporters on Tv backpedaling and hemming and hawing as to why they predicted so much snow and we got so little.

 

Well, the ground hog did not see his shadow,  so Spring is just around the corner!

 

[rp2813]

My cousin lives 1/2 block north of Wrigley Field.  I'll bet she's glad she's retired. 

 

They use the recessed reflectors here on the highways at higher elevations that get snow.  I noticed recently that they've even installed them on the highway over to Santa Cruz, which only reaches an elevation of 1,800' at the summit.  Snow up there is rare, and even rarer still is so much snow that it needs to be plowed but with the amount of commute traffic going up and over that hill every morning and evening along with beach traffic on nice days, the raised reflectors were always coming unglued, so that may have been a bigger factor behind the decision to make them recessed.  That road takes a real pounding.

 

Sorry if the storm that passed through here over the past weekend had anything to do with all of the mess east of here.  It sure didn't amount to much around these parts.