Major winter storm of 2011

[Ghery]

Thank you for your concern, but no worries from Puget Sound, we are having a beautiful day of high overcast, filtered sunshine, and 52 degrees. Our Daffies are up about 6" in very soggy ground, after 3 weeks of heavy rain, which did not require shoveling, nor did have to chain up the jeep.

Spring has sprung in the northwest.

Clear skies today driving into work around the south end of Puget Sound. Snow? What's that?

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

We have been paralyzed by a crippling winter blizzard. I guess that means no mowing til the weekend. See pic.

Believe it or not, this - yes this - tiny amount of snow has caused numerous cancellations of all nature, including employee no shows. Unbelievable!

 

[fgcason]

Believe it or not, this - yes this - tiny amount of snow has caused numerous cancellations of all nature, including employee no shows. Unbelievable!

I had to look at that for several seconds before realizing there was actually snow in the picture.


Next winter I think I may stay north where it's fun and I have a purpose. This summer weather stuff is silly this time of year. It's just wrong.

 

[steingar]

The Steinholme got iced a little, but temps came up and most of it broke up. They really got clobbered farther north.

 

[mikea]

Well, I'm hoping for a snow day on Wednesday, and also hoping to get off early Tuesday to trade the rental Civic for the SUV. Made sure this evening that I could fire up Mike's old snow blower. After I gave it fresh gas, I was able to get it going.

It wasn't that old. You did a oil mix, right?

I ran to the lonely airport yesterday and bought 5.8 gallons (spilling!) of 100LL to make the ol' John Deere happier for snow blowing.

I just got back from the last grocery and ice melt run.

incazzato: Everybody is just running in for a few things so Everybody thinks "I'm just running in for a few things, so I'll park the Family Truckster right here blocking the door, the aisle, in the handicap spot. What a country.)

 

[nddons]

Yee ha! Here it comes. I'm watching Lake Michigan kicking up out my office window. Not much snow yet (well about 5" last night) but getting more windy by the hour.

Here's the METAR at Milwaukee: [FONT=Monospace,Courier]KMKE 012152Z 04022G34KT 4SM BLSN BKN024 OVC032 M05/M09 A3014 RMK AO2 PK WND 05034/2143 PRESFR SLP220 T10501094[/FONT]

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Well, classes got cancelled for tomorrow. Woohoo! An extra 5 days to get my Electromagnetic Fields homework done.

This is the first time I remember the university cancelling classes for weather since January of 1994. And that time, it wasn't a "snow day" it was a "holy **** the wind chill is -90ºF day". (Whoo boy, that was cold - There was about 1.5" of ice on the *inside* of the window in my dorm room, inside air temp dropped to about 45-50ºF with the heat on full, you could see your breath in the elevators and it was below freezing inside the commons... Insulation fail!)

 

[Keith Lane]

Well, I'm stuck in Kansas City due to the snowstorm.
We had instrumented some 40 meter long windmill blades and were moving them by train from the port in Houston to Manly, Iowa when the railroad and GE decided to end he test in Pittsburg, Kansas last night due to the weather. Hopefully we might get out to ATL tomorrow. Looking out my hotel window is supposed to be interstate 29. Can't see a thing even though it's only 300 feet away.
It was 76 in Houston Friday too. At least we didn't have to de-instrument in Manly, it was supposed to be minus 10F at the time.

 

[Matthew]

Well, I'm not going to get too worried about our weather unless Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel shows up here. Oh, wait....I just saw that he is in Chicago right now.

Heard from my daughter in Rolla earlier today. About an inch of ice pellets, and was still coming down (that was about noon). Supposed to get 5"-8" snow on top of that this afternoon.

I'd rather have that ice as pellets, than weighing down all the trees. How are you holding out this afternoon at your place?

 

[markb5900]

Here in KJEF it is pretty ugly.
Have about 2 feet or so on the deck, shoveled it 4 times today so the dog could at least go out.

 

[flygirl34q]

Here's my winter driving photo this afternoon... ugggh. Christopher had today off and probably tomorrow too. People in academia get all of the breaks! Jealous as hell.

 

[mikea]

I fired up the snow Deere to get a jump on the first 6 inches. All was going well until it sucked up the tire chains that were laying on the paved deck.

I kinna win.

 

[gprellwitz]

It wasn't that old. You did a oil mix, right?

I ran to the lonely airport yesterday and bought 5.8 gallons (spilling!) of 100LL to make the ol' John Deere happier for snow blowing.

I just got back from the last grocery and ice melt run.

incazzato: Everybody is just running in for a few things so Everybody thinks "I'm just running in for a few things, so I'll park the Family Truckster right here blocking the door, the aisle, in the handicap spot. What a country.)

Yes, I mixed in the oil in the new batch. It did not want to start with last year's fuel mixture .

Here's my winter driving photo this afternoon... ugggh. Christopher had today off and probably tomorrow too. People in academia get all of the breaks! Jealous as hell.

both leslie and I have tomorrow off because of the blizzard. Only I am in academia.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Well... I got stuck for the first time in forever. That 30-inch drift across the alley was quite well-packed.

Walk to house, grab shovel, shovelshovelshovel, park, inside, and I'm not goin' anywhere via four wheels 'til this one's over... Tomorrow at 5 PM the snow's supposed to stop.

 

[denverpilot]

It's gettin' nipply out there...

METAR KAPA 020753Z 00000KT 9SM -SN FEW005 SCT050 M24/M28 A3029 RMK AO2 SLP410 P0000 T12441278

Supposed to make it to M26 before morning, perhaps as low as M28.

But Cheyenne, WY is ridiculous already...

METAR KCYS 020753Z AUTO 29007KT 10SM CLR M29/M33 A3023 RMK AO2 SLP420 T12941333

Glad this all blows out by Friday...

 

[Diana]

How are you holding out this afternoon at your place?

Thanks for asking. We still have power. Official snow amount here is 18". It's hard to believe that I-70 is closed from St. Louis to Kansas City and I-44 is closed from Springfield to the OK border. That really puts a halt to people crossing the country here in the Midwest right now.

The drifts around here are higher than my waist...the ones down our driveway are above my knees. Tom took a photo of me walking to get the mail...it took a l-o-n-g time to get out to the mailbox. Of course, the mail didn't come yesterday...I was being overly optimistic.

I'm looking forward to going out to get photos today. This kind of snow always makes for interesting photos. Here are a few I took of our hangar when I went out to check on things. The snow blew through the cracks in the hangar door.

We will be stuck here for days before someone with a tractor and a blade shows up to clear our driveway. But, we have lots of food.

How's everyone else doing today?

 

[timwinters]

Looks beautiful Diana, please post more photos when you get them. I'll take what we got though...nothing. Ours was 1.5" of rain yesterday as it stayed in the mid to upper 30s all day. We were lucky. Go 40 miles north and it's a completely different story. Lots of ice.

 

[ScottM]

Woke up this morning to 4 feet of snow drifts surrounding the house. It is going to be a chore just to get to the garage to get the implements of destruction. What is funny is that at one corner of the house, on the driveway there is no snow whatsoever. The wind cleared that little spot to the ground. My garage roof has over a foot of snow on it. I hope the house roof is ok.

 

[Matthew]

Thanks for asking.

We dug about 4" off the driveway at noon yesterday, then another 6" about 4-5 hours later. Looks like I have another inch left from overnight.

Just opened up I-70 from KC, eastward, this morning at 6:30. Don't know how far anyone will get, though, there wasn't a good feel for how far east until the next closure.

Campus at Rolla is closed again today.

 

[wsuffa]

DC lucked out on this one. Supposed to be an ice storm, but the temps came up earlier than expected so all we got was rain. Whew.

 

[SkyHog]

We moved at the right time. Temperatures back in New Mexico are scary:
In Edgewood, NM (where my in laws live), the Wind Chill is -33
In Santa Fe, NM (where we used to live), the wind chill is -20

And Albuquerque has posted massive amounts of snow. Crazy.

Here in Winston-Salem? A little rain. Supposed to be in the 60s today.

 

[ScottM]

both leslie and I have tomorrow off because of the blizzard. Only I am in academia.

My work closed for today too. Also not academia. The McHenry Co. Sheriff has closed many roads. I got a WX warning on the radio that Lake Co. has closed all roads to everything but emergency and essential traffic. About 18" of snow where I am, with lots of big drifts. There is a drift at my front door that is waist high.

 

[Greg Bockelman]

They say that we got 15" here in Dubuque. I am not sure if it is our snow or snow from the next county. Rather windy here. We have some rather impressive snow drifts here. Unfortunately Sharon has the camera and she is in Phoenix. She picked a good week to leave town.

I was supposed to go to Beijing today but United canceled all flights into and out of O'Hare from last evening until tomorrow morning. I am on standby for tomorrow and Friday, so I may still have to make my way to O'Hare, but we will see, depending on what they actually assign me to.

But, knock on wood, the power is still on and the house is still warm, so all is good, so far.

 

[somorris]

We didn't get any of that stuff in Memphis. My son (Fayetteville, AR) said they got about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of ice then 7 inches of snow on top of that. They never lost power.

Boy, Diana! You guys got slammed! It must have really been windy to blow the snow in the hangar like that. Glad you are okay. Just relax, hole up and enjoy each other's company.

 

[lprellwitz]

Will county closed the roads too. Mighty impressive drifts around the house, can't see any of the lawn lights in the front yard, they stand about 15" high at their tallest point. Grant's out snowblowing the driveway now; the snow looks about knee-high there now, but that's after he took the snowblower to it twice last night....

Thankful that we've had no interruptions in power, heat and water; office is closed, but VPN is functioning, gives me a chance to get some analysis done.

 

[Diana]

Hi Diana! Generators are a good thing! I'm in TX and I'm not going back to AR for this storm :wink2:. I did the last two years of the 'no power for however many days' thing. I figure I'll just wait 'till the spring thaw this time :wink2:. Seriously, stay safe and warm!!

Joyce, how are you doing in Texas? Do you still have power? My son in Dallas (actually Keller) lost power...don't know if he got it back yet.

 

[CJones]

My parents sent a picture of the front of their house in Muscatine, IA. They had a 5' drift right up to the front door.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

Apparently Detroit must have better meteorologists than some other places - they were up all night on TV working on snowmagedden and managed to keep it down to about 6" here (so far, but I think 1 or 2 more inches will be it.)

I am working from home today (ok, goofing off from home at the moment) just because it is a lot easier - the fancy low profile tires on my car really suck in the snow.

 

[Diana]

We didn't get any of that stuff in Memphis. My son (Fayetteville, AR) said they got about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of ice then 7 inches of snow on top of that. They never lost power.

Boy, Diana! You guys got slammed! It must have really been windy to blow the snow in the hangar like that. Glad you are okay. Just relax, hole up and enjoy each other's company.

Stacey, glad to hear Memphis didn't get it bad. Sounds like Fayetteville sure got hit. It's a wonder they didn't lose power.

We're supposed to get down to -11° tonight. Brrrrr. We're watching the roof over the greenhouse...it may collapse under all the snow on top of it.

Yesterday as I was carrying stuff back from the hangar, I fell into a 4' drift and was surprised at how hard it was to get up! It's a good thing Tom didn't get a picture of THAT.

 

[EppyGA]

Picture my sister sent me this morning near Chicago.

 

[Obi Heed Kenobi]

You know it's cold when a frozen creek is...steaming. It was supposed to be -32 here (Colorado) last night; it's somewhere between 20 and 25 below right now.

Hope the rest of y'all are staying warm!

 

[dmccormack]

It's the Gore Effect.

 

[Bob Bement]

We're just far enough south that the precipitation is supposed to stay liquid. Maybe a little snow on Wednesday, but nothing like the poor folks in the St. Louis area are supposed to get. The freezing stuff is supposed to fizzle on a line about 60mi S of STL.

But even if all hell breaks loose and we lose power, I have plenty of beer, I have a whole house generator in the barn and about 50 gallons of gas (and probably another 100+ in various vehicles that I could syphon if it comes to that). We might even have a little food around here too but that's not nearly as important as the beer. ;-)

We'll survive!

If anyone finds themself forecast to be out of power for an extended time and wants to come down...COME ON DOWN!!!! (dead serious)

I need a Lat, Long. to put in my GPS to find you. It is above freezing here in Portland, OR. area. but I am out of beer.

 

[westslopeco]

You know it's cold when a frozen creek is...steaming. It was supposed to be -32 here (Colorado) last night; it's somewhere between 20 and 25 below right now.

Hope the rest of y'all are staying warm!

-39f at my house this morning. I am going to fly up to Cody, Wy with someone this afternoon to pick up one of our club planes that got left there on Monday due to Wx. DensAlt is pretty low!!!!!!!

 

[mikea]

Woke up this morning to 4 feet of snow drifts surrounding the house. It is going to be a chore just to get to the garage to get the implements of destruction. What is funny is that at one corner of the house, on the driveway there is no snow whatsoever. The wind cleared that little spot to the ground. My garage roof has over a foot of snow on it. I hope the house roof is ok.

I was amazed last night that the driveway was bare in the middle but the wind kicked up drifts of 4-5 feet at the edge of the carport. Not so lucky this morning. There snow was 3-4 feet everywhere and piled up in the middle of the street! Imagine. The snow is up to just 6 inches below the mailboxes and it's flat to piled higher across the street.

At least I could get the front door open under the carport roof. i was concerned that Jake wouldn't be able to get out to do his business. His doggie door was clear. He's such a good boy he clambered up and went doggie-snowmobile as far as he had to. Did he like it? I opened up the front door and he went about 4 feet before he dove back in.

The county has issued a civil emergency order that all roads are closed. There are still a few going down the state route out front - mostly SUVs and trucks with plows.

 

[Obi Heed Kenobi]

-39f at my house this morning. I am going to fly up to Cody, Wy with someone this afternoon to pick up one of our club planes that got left there on Monday due to Wx. DensAlt is pretty low!!!!!!!

Brrrrrrrrrrr! It's a beautiful day, though.

 

[SCCutler]

Rolling blackouts here in the Dallas area; many power plants off line for annual mx, because summer is the high-demand time of the year.

Emergency genset for my building is on roof, above my office. Whole room is shaking, but they are not switching it off because the utility has promised more blackouts (they last about 15 minutes), and each time that happens, if the genset is not already running, all elevators get stopped for a time before restart. Some folks take that the wrong way.

Lovely.

 

[ApacheBob]

Pretty good sized drifts west of Chicago!

 

[ScottM]

Pretty good sized drifts west of Chicago!

Huge drifts around my house too. 3 to 5 feet deep of snow the entire length of the driveway from the drifts. Hope you are able to dig out Bob.

 

[ScottM]

Some pics of Snowmagedon 2011.