Mid-Atlantic and Southern Storm

About 20 inches here with up to another 7 on the way. This is not exactly unheard of in New England, though.

IMAGE(http://img2.pict.com/fa/b2/94/2255191/0/snap12.jpg)

What's the problem?

Ug. It's up over my knees this morning, and I'm a pretty tall guy. And I have to drive my wife down to Richmond today to go visit family, then head back up here tomorrow. Definitely not looking forward to it.

On the brighter side, we did throw our 6" high maltese in one of the thicker parts last night. If I get a chance, I'll post the picture of him scrambling to get back inside. We actually had to shovel out a path just to get him to go outside and pee.

Jeff-66 wrote:

IMAGE(http://img2.pict.com/fa/b2/94/2255191/0/snap12.jpg)

What's the problem? :twisted:

Man, I feel sorry for you! A life without snow (around where you live, not just in the mountains to visit) is no life to be lived.

PurEvil wrote:

Ug. It's up over my knees this morning, and I'm a pretty tall guy. And I have to drive my wife down to Richmond today to go visit family, then head back up here tomorrow. Definitely not looking forward to it.

Hope you have 4WD. Or AAA.

The snow's still coming down here in southeastern Massachusetts, but it looks like the storm's on its way out.

For all you folks who moved away from the colder climates, here's what you're missing...

The view from my front door:
IMAGE(http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4/merphle/Blizzard%2020091220/DSCN0745.jpg)

Picnic table on the deck:
IMAGE(http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4/merphle/Blizzard%2020091220/DSCN0747.jpg)

merphle wrote:

The snow's still coming down here in southeastern Massachusetts, but it looks like the storm's on its way out.

For all you folks who moved away from the colder climates, here's what you're missing...

The view from my front door:
[IMG]http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4...

Picnic table on the deck:
[IMG]http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4...

Honestly, I can't say that I miss it.

This storm canceled every flight to the Caribbean along the Eastern Seaboard for a week, and effectively put the kibosh on my and Sleipnir's fabulous and much-needed Christmas retreat to Mexico. It can officially bite my ass.

ETA: Oh, and not a single flake here in Rochester,snow capital of New York. KAT SMASH. KAT CRASH. RARR.

I measured a few places and I'd say 21" in my neighborhood is representative. Everyone is digging out today. Thankfully, it's powder and both holds it's shape and is easy to lift.

So the mode in my neighborhood seems to be 14" though there are taller drifts all over the place up to 22".
IMAGE(http://i50.tinypic.com/2zz5b7o.jpg)

Extensive analysis leads me to believe this artifact is a car.
IMAGE(http://i49.tinypic.com/96e1kn.jpg)

The pond my dog fell into and couldn't escape. The water is about 3 feet deep.
IMAGE(http://i45.tinypic.com/16bwx8y.jpg)

The dog that fell into the pond. The snow is up to her waist, though she pretty much sticks to the paths that me and my other dog make. She hasn't been outside an hour total since the snow started.
IMAGE(http://i45.tinypic.com/25h0mxt.jpg)

Things are moving in Falls Church, but the secondary roads are still pretty bad.

The firm I work for downtown follows the Federal Government personnel management operating status for snow policy.

So if fed employees get off Monday, then I do too. Really seems like a toss-up at this point. The bulk of regional public schools are already closed both Monday & Tuesday, so that could tip some scales in my favor for the fed's decision.

Fingers are crossed either way.

Our dogs have been romping tremendously. They are fully matted with snow globs, to the point where I had to spend about 20 minutes with a blow-dryer breaking the ice off their fur. Now they are happily sleeping.

Aaron D. wrote:

Things are moving in Falls Church, but the secondary roads are still pretty bad.

The firm I work for downtown follows the Federal Government personnel management operating status for snow policy.

So if fed employees get off Monday, then I do too. Really seems like a toss-up at this point. The bulk of regional public schools are already closed both Monday & Tuesday, so that could tip some scales in my favor for the fed's decision.

Fingers are crossed either way.

I bet it'll all depend on whether Metro is fully open. The government generally uses a Liberal Leave policy, what with all the telecommuting policies they've been pushing.

Spent about 5 hours shoveling out my, my parent's, my friend's, and my child care provider's driveways. P90X can wait.

Most of the roads here are clear, but the residential areas are still a mess. There is a good 2" of ice underneath all the snow here.

Bullion Cube wrote:

Have you heard from the wife Nightmare?

Thanks for asking - thought I had posted that she had made it down there OK. They are on their way back right now. I64 and I95 seem to be in spotty shape, according to her. VDOT has marked that I95 north of Fredericksburg in not in good shape though and they still need to get through there.

We ended up with 20 inches here. We haven't seen the HOA's plow guy yet so the roads here are still snowed in, I'm sure getting into work tomorrow will suck royally. I hope the Feds have off, at least traffic will be OK.

Oh yeah, shoveling snow sucks. Just in case anybody had any doubts about it

Tannhauser wrote:

Extensive analysis leads me to believe this artifact is a car.
IMAGE(http://i49.tinypic.com/96e1kn.jpg)

I believe that's my car's long lost twin.

Nightmare wrote:

Oh yeah, shoveling snow sucks. Just in case anybody had any doubts about it :)

My screaming back, seconds this.

After all the predictions of doom, it looks like any part of New York north of Westchester County got a dusting, at best. I am quite surprised.

Well, at least there's a nice sunset:

IMAGE(http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af229/imbiginjapan_1/DSCF1195.jpg)

KaterinLHC wrote:

ETA: Oh, and not a single flake here in Rochester,snow capital of New York. KAT SMASH. KAT CRASH. RARR.

Lol.

Yeah, I was very surprised too. But then again, Rochester always seem to be one of those places that would get less snow than every other cities around us...

I too have to change my travel plan drastically.

I'm hoping my office is open tomorrow, I'm going stir crazy here to the point of buying games on PSN just to trophy whore them. By the way, Noby Noby Boy has about the easiest gold trophy known to man.

Edit - I'm seeing on the local CBS affiliate that federal agencies will be closed Monday.

Good catch Evo. I was just planning my morning commute.

As annoying as all this is (sorry, Kat!!), Europe's got it even worse.

Cold snap wreaks havoc across Europe:

Snowstorms and sub-zero temperatures have killed at least 19 people across Europe as well as severely disrupting air, rail and road transport.

At least 15 people froze to death overnight in Poland as temperatures dipped way below freezing. In parts of Germany a figure of -33C was recorded.

-33C is about -28F.

Fun fact: -40 degrees is the same temperature in both C and F.

I was out and about today. Didn't get the car dug out till about 1:00'ish. Figured, "Hey, if I can make it to the stores I might actually be able to do some Christmas shopping because everyone will still be buried at home." No such luck. There were still tons of people out shopping, so much for that idea. I saw two cars that had slid off the road and were stuck, and I saw one car fishtail and recover.
And there were a couple SUV's driving around that still had like a foot and a half of snow on their roof! That just drives me nuts. I kept thinking "That guy is going to kill someone when that roof snow slides off. How hard is it to broom off the top of your car?"

The primary roads are supposedly clear or at least have lanes open in the Asheville area, but we wouldn't know as our road has not seen the first sign of a plow. I did shovel my first ever driveway today, so hopefully the plows will reach us Monday, and that coupled with highs in the 40s, we can hopefully get out. Still, I guess we are better off than the roughly 20% of Asheville metro without power.

Around here, you're required to clear snow off the top of the car. If you cause an accident or damage by not doing it, it's your fault.

The last few times we had serious snowfall (it's been a few years) I was huffing and puffing, and my heart kept redlining when I was shoveling snow. But with the fabulous Kung Fu Workout (tm, mr, etc) I was in faaar better shape and shoveling was no problem. I was able to keep going as long as I needed. Long enough to shovel our sidewalk, cars, neighbor's cars...

Long enough to make every muscle and joint in my body ache. Sigh...

Yeah. My lower back was sore yesterday, but I'm pretty much all better this morning.

I was rooting for a ton of snow just so my two youngest kids (9 and 6) could say they've seen a Big Freakin' Snow.

Central North Carolina (specifically Greensboro) got 3 inches of snow and an inch of sleet on top of that -- meh. That was enough to do a little bit of sledding on Saturday but not enough to cancel a birthday party my daughter was going to at noon.

I actually saw a snowplow on my street Sunday afternoon. My street doesn't come close to qualifying as a major street, and there really wasn't much to plow. The only reason for it that I can think of is that a member of the city's planning board lives a few doors down.

Rob_Anybody wrote:

And there were a couple SUV's driving around that still had like a foot and a half of snow on their roof! That just drives me nuts. I kept thinking "That guy is going to kill someone when that roof snow slides off. How hard is it to broom off the top of your car?"

We're more than far enough inland that we only got a couple of inches worth of snow off the outer edges of the storm, but this reminded me of something.

A friend of mine was on the interstate riding with his dad last year or maybe the year before when we had a really bad ice storm. They had one car in front of them, and in front of that guy was a Semi. They all got on the interstate at the same time. Right about the time they started to really get moving around the speed limit a huge sheet of ice slid off the top of the Semi's trailer and completely and utterly destroyed the windshield on the car directly behind.

I've avoided trucks like the plague whenever we've had heavy snow or ice ever since.

I am pretty sure we have an ordinance against driving with snow on top of your car, but I'm not sure. Didn't see too many cops out to enforce it anyways, and the ones I did see were pulling people out of ditches.
Luckily all the SUV's with snow on them were going to other way while I was driving.
On a side note, got to work late this morning 'cause I stopped to help a girl get un-stuck. She had slowed down and then given it too much gas so the tires spun. I told her to "rock" the car while I pushed. Blank stare. Eventually 3 guys came by and helped to push and we got her going. Went back to my car to get going and guess what. I was stuck now. Fortunately I know how to rock myself out.

Ended up not going to a couple of holiday parties on Sat. because I didn't want to deal with losing my spot/finding parking as the parking situation over here sans snow is cutthroat enough. Fortunately, my car wasn't buried so I didn't have to shovel this morning. Commute was ok too except for one driver who made me swerve out of the lane when she decided to merge onto the expressway at 10-15 mph.