Just another day ...in the snow belt..

[ironglow]

  All in what you get accustomed to:   

 

[Conan The Librarian]

I have seen a few news headlines to that effect too, but I don't agree. When you have ice on the roads, it's dangerous, and that's what they have been having in the South. Snow actually has pretty good traction (at least when compared to ice), and it's a lot like driving on sand. Ice has no traction, and if there's a lot of it, as there has been in Altanta, it's dangerous, as the news pictures show. Compound that with the stress on home heating systems from cold that they are not designed to handle, and you've got a really bad situation.
 
I expect a lot of people are having burst pipe problems too. I hope I'm wrong. If you're reading this and you live in FL/GA/AL/MS/LA, can you let me know if your area is having pipe problems? I'm really curious. I'm heading south next week to visit some old folks and I need to know more about the care and feeding of Southern houses.
 
I remember long ago when I lived in the South there would be quite a few house fires because home heating systems overheated and caused a fire. Does that still happen?
 
Anyway, be safe. I've broken bones slipping on ice, and it's not fun. One friend had a severe break a couple of years ago.

[Old Fart]

I like to joke that I used to live in Duluth MN and that's why I don't live in Duluth MN. 

I saw this one and it struck me as pretty funny.


I know what happened in the south isn't funny as a lot of people got stranded because of others. But the "You're going to school." line cracked me up.

[ironglow]

C'mon Conan, it's not as if we don't get ice here also..   The real problem was likely exacerbated by the problem that they didn't have the equipment to handle snow or even ice, which is of course understandable.
  When I lived in the south I noticed that when people who lived life-long in frost free areas, they had not the rudiments of driving on ice.  Of course it only takes a couple drivers who have no concept of winter driving, to tie up a thousand other drivers.
   Worst of all is the occasional "black ice", when all seems well until you hit an overpass or bridge.  An alert driver can observe two things to avoid the black ice hazard..

1) if you see vehicles off the road up ahead at a bridge or overpass.. get ready..

2) When black ice is around, watch vehicles up ahead as their brake lights come on..  A glossy reflection on the road tells you something, pay attention..

     I know... the brake light should not come on ..but they do..

[Conan The Librarian]

IronGlow,
 
Yes, I have heard a rumor or two about ice having been spotted in Minnesota.
 
Here's a traffic cam picture taken yesterday not far from my house (they are sliding on fresh snow, which has relatively high traction compared to ice.)
 
http://www.kare11.com/story/news/local/2014/01/30/massive-pileup-snarls-i-35-near-forest-lake/5051757/
 
The picture of Lake Superior at Duluth might give Old Fart a flashback. The truck is driveable and is made with 11,000 pounds of ice. I uploaded the pictures, so you probably need to be logged on to see them.
 
 

[hillbill]

driving on ice is something you can only learn how to do by "driving on ice". however a bit of common sense is called for even if your not used to it. the best thing most folks can do is just stay home.at age of 48 ive drove everything from dump trucks to lil cars on ice and dont find it that hard really.you do have to think ahead a bit.


the people that really get in trouble are the ones in a hurry.on ice everything should be done in slow motion.my favorite thing to drive on ice is a small front wheel drive car, with good tires.they just go. if its bad i carry a couple buckets of chat or sand and a shovel.


ive drove a million miles on ice and snow in a single axel dump truck loaded with 8 tons of sand and cinders. so anything else is a breeze.

[hillbill]

one of the posters mentioned black ice. a old man i used to work with showed me a trick. stop your car on the shoulder, open door and rub your boot sole on the road. that will tell you exactly how slick it is.sometimes it will scare you..

[Old Syko]

Most folks have at best, the driving ability of a drunken chimp even on their best days any more.  Throw in a little snow and ice and things certainly don't get better.  It's not that unusual for us to get a couple feet of snow around here at one time and for the most part things come to an absolute standstill for a few days.  We just laugh and drive around them all and go where we want. 


Went to Atlanta some years ago and saw what it was like in the snow there.  They got at best 2 inches over night.  Walked out of the hotel in the morning to what sounded like a demolition derby.  We walked the 2 blocks to the show we were there to attend.  Took well into the next afternoon to clear the street of wrecked cars so that we could get out of the parking garage and go any place. 

[Empty Quiver]

With the parking lot they allowed the hi ways to become, the best snow removal equipment and crews could not help them.

A good lesson learned up here is that you must get ahead of one of these storms. Ice preventer not ice melter if you will. Especially if you don't have the equipment to be everywhere at once.

North Dakota will use a hopper bottom semi trailer loaded with sand and salt. Crack the doors and drive for a long way before needing refilled. The trailers are nothing special neither are the tractors, sand ain't too special other than dry enough to flow. A tank trailer loaded with liquid salt, gravity fed is also nothing special. Contract with a few local road construction companies and you would be set.

Plows are quite an investment in the number needed to make an impact. I can understand the reticence to invest in them for 500 miles of use once every 2-6 years. Especially when you understand that they do nothing but polish ice, not remove it, that takes the salt.

Ignorance (nothing to be ashamed of if you learn from the experience), and the desire to not waste resources that might be Better used elsewhere. What are the chances something was learned?

[mechanic]

I've driven through snow quite a bit, esp. in Pennsyvania, Delaware, Maryland areas.  Drove a few hundred miles in snow so heavy I couldn't see 50 yards..

What we had in my area, (LaGrange), and I assume the Atlanta area as well was not snow.  It was mixed rain and sleet, followed by about an inch or more of ice pellets.

The warm asphalt began to melt them, but the temps were so low they immediately froze back into about an inch of glare ice.  Then a little snow fell to cap it off.

Unless you've got studded tires, you can't drive on ice.  I managed to get around  to work, but I have a heavy rear wheel drive van with about 2500# of tools and equipment.

A two wheel drive pick up was about as useless as can be, and a front wheel drive or 4 wheel drive in the hands of someone who has never driven on such is just danger on 4 wheels.

We have no salt shakers, no sand trucks, now plows to speak of.

Was it a lot of craziness?  Yep, made worse by the fact that everyone hit the road at once....

Will it happen again?  Probably.

Ben

[ironglow]

one of the posters mentioned black ice. a old man i used to work with showed me a trick. stop your car on the shoulder, open door and rub your boot sole on the road. that will tell you exactly how slick it is.sometimes it will scare you..

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Problem is, black ice is not a general covering, you can try the surface here and find it good...then 35 yards up the road you may have a patch of black ice.  Black ice most often occurs at temps just above freezing, when the road is still only wet, but the bridges and overpasses, due to the "venture effect" of the wind passing over and under drops the temperature there to below freezing.  It can also happen below freezing where a thin sheet of water had flooded across the highway.
  The biggest mistake even folks from here among the frozen chosen may make, is to think that they can travel faster than others because they have 4 wheel drive.  It doesn't matter if one has 4, 6, front or rear wheel drive, a skid on ice can happen as easily to any of them.  As an Army tanker, I've seen tanks skid on glare ice...