Winter Wonderland

ARFlyer

ARFlyer

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ARFlyer
So it has been snowing and freezing raining all day here in Little Rock, Ar. As of 11:30pm I estimate we have a little over 10-11" of heavy wet snow. This morning we received around .25" of ice. We've also had thundersnow which is a first for me. So combine all of this with 25-40kt winds you get most of the state without power.

It's freaking spooky and down right dangerous outside. We live in the rural area west of town. So its interesting to listen to all the pops and bangs. Trees are coming down left and right and you can hear power substations poping in the distance. I went outside to check on our 110' tower and was almost hit a few times by falling branches.

We are running on our back up generator right now and have the fireplace going full boar. So it's dark in the room right now besides the fireplace. Kinda peaceful if not for the generator screaming down stairs......

I bet the countryside will look beautiful tomorrow morning. I wish I could go fly above it all, but alas my aircraft is snowed in 60 miles away.
 
ARFlyer said:
So it has been snowing and freezing raining all day here in Little Rock, Ar. As of 11:30pm I estimate we have a little over 10-11" of heavy wet snow. This morning we received around .25" of ice. We've also had thundersnow which is a first for me. So combine all of this with 25-40kt winds you get most of the state without power.

It's freaking spooky and down right dangerous outside. We live in the rural area west of town. So its interesting to listen to all the pops and bangs. Trees are coming down left and right and you can hear power substations poping in the distance. I went outside to check on our 110' tower and was almost hit a few times by falling branches.

We are running on our back up generator right now and have the fireplace going full boar. So it's dark in the room right now besides the fireplace. Kinda peaceful if not for the generator screaming down stairs......

I bet the countryside will look beautiful tomorrow morning. I wish I could go fly above it all, but alas my aircraft is snowed in 60 miles away.
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What kind of 110' tower is that?
 
Dave Krall CFII said:
What kind of 110' tower is that?
Click to expand...

Just a basic 8" steel triangle design. Three point guy wire system anchored to three 10' steel I beam poles. The tower has a few VHF antennas on top and our wind gauge for our weather station.

There are also two inverted V HF antennas that go from 10 up to 60 meters. However those antennas are on the ground or hanging from the trees right now.
 
ARFlyer said:
Just a basic 8" steel triangle design. Three point guy wire system anchored to three 10' steel I beam poles. The tower has a few VHF antennas on top and our wind gauge for our weather station.

There are also two inverted V HF antennas that go from 10 up to 60 meters. However those antennas are on the ground or hanging from the trees right now.
Click to expand...

Is that for a little airport?
 
We were supposed to get 8 to 12 here overnight but I don't see near that much out there this morning. But the front yard looks pretty wind blown so maybe it's all drifted up down at the south end. We'll see once the sun comes up.

Stay safe down there.
 
Better you than me.
Only a dusting here in mid Michigan.
We will get our butt handed to us another time, another storm.
I did glance at my towers just now, now that it is light. All three are OK.
When I go in the house for a fresh cup in ten minutes, or so, I am going to stop by the backup generator and let it run for a bit - belt and suspenders.
Anyway, good luck there, bud.
 
The east slope of the WA Cascades got hammered this past week. We got a couple feet of wet heavy snow, hundreds of trees down, power lines, etc. Power's been out in the Lake Wenatchee area for days.

On the highway that runs between here and Seattle, one car hit by falling tree on Friday killed 2 and critically injured 4 others. Car hit on Saturday seriously injured the occupants. WSP had enough and closed the highway for three days.
 
ARFlyer said:
So it has been snowing and freezing raining all day here in Little Rock, Ar. As of 11:30pm I estimate we have a little over 10-11" of heavy wet snow. This morning we received around .25" of ice. We've also had thundersnow which is a first for me. So combine all of this with 25-40kt winds you get most of the state without power.

It's freaking spooky and down right dangerous outside. We live in the rural area west of town. So its interesting to listen to all the pops and bangs. Trees are coming down left and right and you can hear power substations poping in the distance. I went outside to check on our 110' tower and was almost hit a few times by falling branches.

We are running on our back up generator right now and have the fireplace going full boar. So it's dark in the room right now besides the fireplace. Kinda peaceful if not for the generator screaming down stairs......

I bet the countryside will look beautiful tomorrow morning. I wish I could go fly above it all, but alas my aircraft is snowed in 60 miles away.
Click to expand...

The worst ice storms (2) I have ever driven in were both near Little Rock. One in the early 80's, if not 1980 and the other around late 1994.
I feel your pain.
 
Lots of wind howling here, but no snow as of yet. :rolleyes2: We'll see how it is when it's time to go to work tonight. The husband was rather grumpy this morning when he came to pick me up and there was no snow. Oh well, perhaps I can convince him to drive me to work tonight too. :yes:
 
Washington Wet side is 41 degrees and clear.
 
We are getting what came through there right now. Good day to stay inside.
 
flyingmoose said:
We are getting what came through there right now. Good day to stay inside.
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Well it's good skiing snow. It's very dry and powdery. Its starting to loosen up around here. The trees are starting to spring back and either stap or bend upright. We have a lot of trees down around the property. The road next to us still has numerous large trees across the road and lines. I figure it wont be cleared until late today it not tomorrow.

Entergy said around 193k were without power at the peak of the storm. Right now it's hovering around 186k. The power lines look like low hanging logs. The ones along the road are about four inch around. It's kinda crazy looking. Entergy said not to expect the power to be back until the earliest Friday and the at the latest next Thrusday. All they are doing today is line survey.

KLIT is open, but only with one runway out of three open. The airport is only plowing one runway and two taxiways. The navaids are either offline or unmonitered. My airport is open but the runway is not plowed. Normally we just let the snow melt off. However our new FBO secretary might not like that and call the city to come with everyone and plow it. Either way no is flying for the next few days down there. I was having to work tomorrow, but I called in saying I will be stuck until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.
 
Update:

So as of today we are still without power along with 130k other people. The power company is saying to expect to be without power for a week or more. They are attacking the rural parts of the state first and then the capital. Most of the outages are in Hot Springs and Little Rock, which won't be fixed until late next week. A lot of people in Little Rock are angry over this decision.

We are forecast to get a additional .10-.25 of ice and rain tonight. The NWS had originally said we would be in the upper 30s today. However the snowpack is keeping us in the upper 20s to low 30s with freezing fog.

I been cooking some good ham with some leftover bread stuffing over the fire. Since we can't clean the grittle the food has been getting tastier. So not all is bad... :D
 
Geico266 said:
Dear Jay,

You suck!

Geico. :mad:


;)
Click to expand...

Thanks! I resemble that remark! :D

Hey -- I spent half a century digging my sorry butt out of that sort of snowy, icy mess. I know exactly what everyone is going through -- and calling it a "winter wonderland" is accurate for the first ten minutes of the first snow of the season.

After that, it does nothing but suck, bigtime. Don't EVER want to see it again.
 
Wow. Maybe I should think about packing up my tree gear. I spent 5 weeks climbing trees around Fayetteville after 3 inches of ice there several years ago. Couldn't believe the devastation. Looked like a F1.5 tornado had hit EVERYWHERE.



ARFlyer said:
So it has been snowing and freezing raining all day here in Little Rock, Ar. As of 11:30pm I estimate we have a little over 10-11" of heavy wet snow. This morning we received around .25" of ice. We've also had thundersnow which is a first for me. So combine all of this with 25-40kt winds you get most of the state without power.

It's freaking spooky and down right dangerous outside. We live in the rural area west of town. So its interesting to listen to all the pops and bangs. Trees are coming down left and right and you can hear power substations poping in the distance. I went outside to check on our 110' tower and was almost hit a few times by falling branches.

We are running on our back up generator right now and have the fireplace going full boar. So it's dark in the room right now besides the fireplace. Kinda peaceful if not for the generator screaming down stairs......

I bet the countryside will look beautiful tomorrow morning. I wish I could go fly above it all, but alas my aircraft is snowed in 60 miles away.
Click to expand...
 
I used to hate having to shovel the three to six feet in front of the hangar. Ugh. At least I faced south. Wait til 11am or so and it went a little easier.

Only advantage is the climbing like a homesick angel in -2000' DA.
 
Sounds like some years around here but not this year. Almost no serious snow yet and just finally got truly cold in the last couple of weeks.

Watch out for falling ice from the tower. That will ruin your whole day. I watched someone take a chunk to a hard hat once and they were okay but it could have been much worse.
 
We had a light dusting before xmas and it was gone in 24 hrs.

OP should look into Spray Foam Insulation when the weather clears. Takes next to nothing to keep the heat in during the winter and keep the heat out during the summer. Its expensive but pay for it once and life is a whole lot more comfortable even when the power is out, takes less stoking and wood.

It is colder than the dickens here now..... Hope that ends soon. Probably why we have not had much snow, too cold to snow.
 
These are ice houses on frozen lake. Yes, people drive cars and pickup trucks on the ice. I would say that good "safe" ice is 1-2ft. thick on an average year. I say "safe" because there is no such thing as safe ice--it's always a calculated risk. If I see other people on the ice, great. I wouldn't go out there all by myself though, if you went through, nobody would even notice.

181929_206863772660928_2736229_n.jpg


This is Powder Ridge ski area in Kimball, MN. Vertical drop is around 300ft... yes, this is what passes for downhill skiing in the Midwest. :lol:

181580_206863632660942_381991_n.jpg


This is 6D1 airport in Brooten, MN. The runway is slightly contaminated with snow but not too bad.

183670_206864152660890_3738696_n.jpg


This is FCM airport in Eden Prairie, MN. This is a fairly busy airport with a good amount of corporate jet & turboprop traffic as well as GA.

198969_207838772563428_6259799_n.jpg
 
Jay Honeck said:
Gee, and I was feeling bad cuz it rained today on the island. :)
Click to expand...

It's just been cold here, low 30s at night, mid 50s for a daily high. Another front moving through next Sunday, 20% chance of snow/rain overnight, depending on altitude, snow for the mountain. Then overnight lows forecast in high 20s for a few days around new years day, highs about 45F.
 
Here's what I woke up to yesterday morning.

snow1.jpg


snow2.jpg


Not bad, really. The plow guy had already arrived before 8:00 a.m., so all I had to do was dig the car out and shovel the walk.

One thing I don't have to worry about very much is the road conditions. Among the many things that our local government here does well is snow removal. This picture was taken pretty early in the day, and my mountain road was easily navigable.

snow3.jpg


The weather man says more snow is on tap for tomorrow. Route NY-17 / I-86 is supposed to get hit especially hard, as are I-81, I-88, I-90, and I would think I-84 (although they didn't mention that last one).

Snow's really just a minor PITA here. The county and local governments do a really good job of keeping the roads cleared, which is the major thing. The spring thaw can be a problem, though, what with all the rivers and streams running through these parts.

Still, I'll take this to sweating my hindquarters off and swatting at mosquitoes all winter in Florida.

-Rich
 
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