It has died out in my neighborhood. It's a wet gloppy mess, but no icy roads. Yay!
Karen
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It has died out in my neighborhood. It's a wet gloppy mess, but no icy roads. Yay!
Karen
One product issued by NWS for: Frederick MD
Winter Storm Warning
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
304 PM EST MON FEB 8 2010
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-WASHINGTON-FREDERICK MD-CARROLL-
NORTHERN BALTIMORE-HARFORD-MONTGOMERY-HOWARD-SOUTHERN BALTIMORE-
PRINCE GEORGES-ANNE ARUNDEL-LOUDOUN-FAIRFAX-
ARLINGTON/FALLS CHURCH/ALEXANDRIA-JEFFERSON-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...WASHINGTON...HAGERSTOWN...FREDERICK...
WESTMINSTER...GAITHERSBURG...COLUMBIA...BALTIMORE...ANNAPOLIS...
LEESBURG...FAIRFAX...ALEXANDRIA...FALLS CHURCH...CHARLES TOWN
304 PM EST MON FEB 8 2010
...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TUESDAY TO 7 PM EST
WEDNESDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A
WINTER STORM WARNING FOR...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TUESDAY
TO 7 PM EST WEDNESDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN
EFFECT.
* PRECIPITATION TYPE...SNOW.
* ACCUMULATIONS...10 TO 20 INCHES.
* TIMING...MID-AFTERNOON TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.
* TEMPERATURES...TEMPERATURES NEAR FREEZING AT THE ONSET TUESDAY
AFTERNOON. TEMPERATURES WILL DROP INTO THE UPPER 20S TUESDAY
NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY.
* WINDS...LIGHT SOUTHEASTERLY WINDS TUESDAY BECOMING
NORTHWESTERLY 15 TO 25 MPH WEDNESDAY.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE
EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. THE COMBINATION OF SNOW AND STRONG WINDS
WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS.
Several of my neighbors have put chairs in the parking spaces that they were parked in to prevent anyone from taking them while they're out. But our condo association's parking policy prohibits reserving spaces. If I come home and find the only open space has a chair in it, I'm moving the chair and parking there.
But then I have done more shoveling in this parking lot than anyone else over the past 10 days, so I will laugh if someone complains to me if I take "their" space.
I spent 4 hours shoveling yesterday and 3 hours shoveling today. After I cleared my car out yesterday, I worked on some of the common area of the lot. It was plowed but there are still large areas of packed snow and ice. I worked on it more today.
I can't even think about getting 10 or more inches again tomorrow. It's overwhelming. There is just no room for any more snow.
I just saw the updated forecast. The good news, the snow will be drier. The bad news, more wind, drifting, etc. More potential for power outages.
We couldn't drive, even if we wanted to, because the street has not been plowed. If they don't make it in for a pass before this next one hits tomorrow, I might just start to shovel out the street and see if anyone joins me. People are getting desperate enough that I think a few folks will help.
DH and I will be hoofing it to the grocery store tomorrow morning to replenish a few supplies.
That's good news.Quote:
Originally Posted by owlice
Poor decrepit cat, can't you give him a better name? How about Grampa or something?
or just "DC"Quote:
Originally Posted by Zen
Good one!
I would like to make one thing perfectly clear: when I wrote this, I was not asking for yet another ****ing snow storm!Quote:
Originally Posted by ny biker
My sister will celebrate her 50th birthday during our next storm. Apparently Mother Nature has decided to make it memorable for all of us.
The decrepit cat does have a name; he regularly hisses at me (though I've been feeding him for a few years now), so his name is Alger Hiss. That's one thing -- the name -- that my someday-will-be-ex-husband left behind that I don't mind holding on to!
I spent over seven hours -- seven hours out of my life that I will never get back -- shoveling over the past three days. I.hurt.EVERYwhere. I was able to back my car ever so carefully down my driveway without dragging the sagging phone lines with me. I went to the store because I absolutely, positively had to buy cat food. And chocolate, because I ate the very last of the chocolate when I came in from today's first shoveling foray.
I usually like snow, but I DO NOT WANT ANY MORE! THERE IS NO MORE ROOM IN MY YARD, ON MY PATIO, OR ON MY ROOF FOR MORE SNOW!
I will say this: experience doing 3+ hour bike rides is helping me spend 3-4 hours shoveling snow. Not helping physically, but mentally.
BTW I just read that the federal government will be closed again tomorrow. I haven't decided yet if I will go into the office for a few hours or if I will just work from home all day to save my parking space.
If they're closed tomorrow, I can't imagine they will be open on Wednesday. But then how can they be closed for 3 days in a row? Crazy.
Oh, they can. I'm guessing you weren't here for the last blizzard in 97 or when Clinton was in office, the budget conundrum.
http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/s...aughing002.gifQuote:
Originally Posted by owlice
The blizzard of '96 started late Saturday evening. The federal govt was closed Monday and Tuesday then reopened on Wednesday - even though metro was still only running underground so most of us weren't able to get into my place of work. Lots of people tried to get to their places of work though. The local governments then had a fit and said that their ability to clear the roads was hindered by so many more people back on the roads on Wednesday. The federal govt then shut down Thursday and Friday. And then Monday was MLK day so we were closed then too.Quote:
Originally Posted by ny biker
Ah, the blizzard of '96, I remember it well. :)
I can't believe how bad Georgia Ave is up here in Olney, barely even one lane wide in many places with intersections being a foot deep and rutted, with no visibility. I worked from home today and there's no way I'm going to try that road when it's busy tomorrow.
I've shoveled for six hours since Friday, and surprisingly I don't hurt at all. I have, however, been hitting the chocolate quite heavily also.
And I've got a whole Lindt dark chocolate bar and tons of clif chocolate brownie zbars (deliciously decadent when heated in the microwave) to get me through the next storm. :)
And that was after three weeks of being furloughed, wasn't it?Quote:
Originally Posted by Possegal
The second furlough didn't affect my job. The defense dept had a budget passed by that point. (As did a lot of other agencies, I do believe.) So my memory of how widespread that furlough was is not very good. Because mostly, it's just all about me. :) My work was shut down (other than the military folks) for the week in November of '95, but I was at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego. I was, of course, all bummed out I was missing out on days off. Co-workers were quick to point out that I was in sunny San Diego and I should quit my complaining. I do remember folks from the NIH being told to come home and that their travel wouldn't be reimbursed if they stayed. So we all panicked that the same would happen to us, but it did not.Quote:
Originally Posted by divingbiker
I lived in NYC back in '96. They plowed every street in all 5 boroughs twice before DC had plowed their streets once. Not that NYC and the suburbs wasn't greatly affected by the storm, but the recovery was much better.
I'm Back!!!!!
We got power restored today at 4:15 -- about 60 hours of no lights. :eek:
48 hours from the last snow fall to see a plow.
But still, we had it easy compared to some: we have a wood stove that kept the house around 60 degrees (except when we overslept and it got cold overnight), a gas range for heating food, and a gas water heater that allowed us to clean up. We're both exhausted after days of heavy shoveling. The berm created by the plow when it finally showed up was the straw that nearly broke this camel's back. I'm glad the microwave is back on line so I can heat up my heating pads!!! :rolleyes:
In my area, we measured 27 inches of snow. It was a trying weekend for many of my neighbors. Some hiked out through thigh-deep snow to get to a nearby plowed church parking lot so friends and family with heat and lights could take them in for a while. Down the street, an elderly neighbor lives alone. On Saturday afternoon, we saw her son and DIL trekking down to check on her. By Sunday morning, we saw he had returned with a posse of friends...one carrying an armload of shovels, another carrying a folded wheelchair, and then, later, about 8 were dragging the woman up the snow covered street on a plastic sled. It was absolutely impossible for any vehicle to get through. This morning, emergency vehicles tried and failed to get down our street. DH and I helped one get out from the snow. It was a crazy weekend. And more to come tomorrow. Oh, joy. :rolleyes:
Here are some pix and a video of our backyard (I hope these work...I have to re-learn Photobucket everytime I sign on....they keep changing it):
The truck is buried, but the driveway is clear.
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z...h_IMG_1278.jpg
The house:
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z...h_IMG_1282.jpg
Our unplowed street:
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z...h_IMG_1284.jpg
When you reeeeeeally need coffee, and your grinder doesn't work, you get creative!
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z...h_IMG_1296.jpg
I highly recommend a hand-crank/solar radio to keep you up to date on news and weather....and to listen to the Super Bowl:
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z...h_IMG_1298.jpg
I hope this "embed code" works for a video - a 1-minute tour through our back yard:
http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z...t=MVI_1288.flv
I suppose by clicking on any of those pics, you can scroll through any/all of the pix in the album, too.....
Hi Regina!
I'm glad that you and Tom made it through pretty well. Sounds like your wood stove was a life saver.
Snowtorious B.I.G.
Snoverkill
Snowfecta
7!! Welcome back!! How long are you here for? :eek: :p :)
I'm glad you're okay, and hope you stick around through the next storm!
As I drove home from the grocery store today -- the long way, to take advantage of plowed roads in the other county -- I saw that one of my neighbors has it pretty tough. Not just all the snow, but a Bradford pear tree split into two, and the half that fell... landed on one of the cars in the driveway. (The one closer to the road, of course.) This is one time I wish I had a chain saw; they can't go anywhere until the tree is moved, and they don't have all that much time to get out if they need to to restock.
ny biker, how about "Friggin' Pain in the Arse"? That's what I'm calling it!
Capital Weather Gang is now calling it Wintergeddon.
I'm not attempting a trip to the grocery store. I should be able to make it until the weekend, although I might have to start rationing diet coke before then.
I hope everyone makes it through this next chapter without major incident.
The next time I'm melting during a long bike ride on a super hot day, I will say to myself: at least I don't have to shovel any snow today.
Thanks. I certainly hope our power stays on for Round 2. Although I thought 68 degrees in the house would feel like an oven (:rolleyes:), I actually got used to it again very quickly!Quote:
Originally Posted by owlice
We did venture to the store yesterday. Hugely crowded. Got milk, salad for Noah (keeping the priorities straight, see?), cheese, and fruit (okay..twist my arm...and cookies and chips!). Then, we splurged and joined 1,000 strangers in line at Chipotle for a monster-sized burrito that I managed to eat nearly all of and not feel guilty. I think I burned plenty of calories this weekend, between shoveling and just getting around! Snowmaggedon, indeed!
Oh, and happy belated b'day, Mickchick!
The stove is an insert into our old fireplace. It has a powered blower that means the unit can (when the blower works) heat a 2,000 square foot space. Our house shape is not ideal for full heating with it, but it can keep the living area pretty toasty otherwise and keep the furnace from kicking on regularly. However, with no power...we had to rely on radiant heating...which was pretty impressive nonetheless. Still, it had Tom thinking up ways to create an alternative power source for it in the event of future outages. I think a generator really moved up the "gotta have" list for our house!Quote:
Originally Posted by MDHillSlug
My name for these storms is a long string of profanities. Enough said!
Glad you're OK, 7.
On Channel 7's 6pm news yesterday, they featured my neighborhood as one that has not seen a plow. That changed around 10:30pm---subsequently, the County has made several plow passes on ours and adjacent roads, down to pavement in a skunk strip down the center of the road, put down chemicals. Thankfully, the first pass was an "uphill" one, pushing all of the snow on to the other side of the street, creating the dreaded Snow Wall over there (usually, our side gets it). All in time for round two, so we likely will be back to square one tomorrow evening. DH took advantage of the temporarily passable conditions to hit Whole Foods and Harris Teeter.
During the 96 blizzard, we lived just south of Quantico and worked up here (a bad commute in good weather, even before the mixing bowl re-do). Wasn't that the storm when people drove in to work because OPM didn't close the govt until mid-morning, then were stuck for hours on the beltway?
Everyone can be assured that plenty of Federal employees, who have the unfortunate designation as "essential personnel," are likely working double shifts, sleeping on cots at work because they cannot make it home safely, etc. OPM did the right thing---this is serious stuff---even this morning, the news is filled with reports of accidents. Sorry if I sound sanctimonious but OPM doesn't close the Govt down on a whim.
I, for one, would have preferred no snow at all :-) I hate snow. Can't wait for things to return to some semblance of "normal," so we can go back to work and resume our lives. Even the dogs are tired of it, which is good since it's no long a PITA trying to get them back inside! :-)
Just because I'm in the private sector and the only one within walkable distance to an underground metro, I have to go to work. Had to go in yesterday too. It's a complete waste of time. I can do everything I need to do this week from home. No one else is in the office. Some sidewalks (SOME) are shoveled. All of the sidewalks lead to a huge pile of snow and slush at the crosswalks. Then I get to wait forever for metro. At least the Circulator was free yesterday...took that most of the way home and stopped for dinner out.
Oh, I also have no kitchen at my office, nothing nearby is open, and I am running out of brown bag food.
I can't wait to take Friday off to go to NC for a race, even though I am completely unprepared since I haven't even ridden the trainer in 1.5 wks.
I remember that 2003 storm, but I was living in NC then, and it was a massive ice disaster down there.
2003 was a bad one, too. My aunt and uncle were out of the country and so I trudged 3 miles to their house to shovel the sidewalk in front of their house (no neighbors had done it--unbelievable!!) and shovel the snow off their addition, which has a flat roof. I borrowed my aunt's XC skis and skied back home. For work (private sector--we were open) I ended up skiing to the Metro and then skiing from the Metro station to work. My office was 10 miles away, which was too long for my skiing abilities (or lack thereof). I got some smiles from other folks on the Metro.
We're supposed to get less than an inch down here--there's still time to escape!! Head south, head south!
:: herds five warring felines into the car and heads south ::
I'm very allergic to cats...sorry!Quote:
Originally Posted by owlice
Would anyone know if you were at work or at home?Quote:
Originally Posted by aicabsolut
:: packs Benadryl ::
Why the H won't they let you work from home? That's nuts.
I feel really bad for anyone who had to go into work yesterday.
Ironically, it's not that bad today, so we have been able to run some errands. We shoveled the stripe of snow/ice between the cleared pavement and our cars, then shoveled out a neighbor's car (it was parked on the "throw" side of the plow blade and was really packed in. They are older--in their 60s).
I have to admit that I enjoy the physical labor. Probably a good thing since it's looking like there will be fresh snow to shovel by tomorrow am.
Our neighbor's kids just lucked out big time.
They finally got out to shovel out their van and driveway. Hadn't touched it since the storm (they were one of the families to evacuate).
So, the two boys are out there, shoveling and picking away at the big berm in front of the driveway. A bucket loader has been working up and down the street, clearing out the intersections (surprised as HECK to see that! :eek:). The driver must've taken pity on the two, as he dropped the bucket right at their driveway and cleared away the snow pack for them! He saved them about 2 hours of back-breaking labor. Lucky kids. Phew! :rolleyes::p
As someone who live 275 miles away from parents who are in their 70s, I would like to thank everyone who helps out neighbors who are older or otherwise limited in their physical ability to clear snow. My parents' neighbors helped them a lot with the blizzard in December, and I really appreciate knowing that they've got someone looking out for them.
Are you guys getting more snow? :confused:
My older neighbors have snowblowers, so I left them to their plowing - they were happily plowing anything & everything, just to be able to use their toy. But I don't think they're much older than 50-60?
there is a handicapped man who lives across the street with either a family member or a caregiver? I didn't see any signs of life at their house (no lights, etc.), so i didn't go over to shovel, even though I thought about it. 5 guys with 3 snowblowers showed up yesterday and dug out the house within about an hour. I'm still not certain if anyone was in the house or not (the next door neighbors to the house weren't sure, because we were discussing whether to go over and dig out the house... but we hadn't seen anyone so much as peep out the front door, and that house usually fairly quickly has a team of men that arrive to shovel or mow the grass or do any maintenance.
My 60 year old mother shoveled out the 75 year old couple that lives across the street from her - I'm not sure what all the younger neighbors were up to that they couldn't have helped.
It' been snowing here about 11:30 or so? It's not yet sticking to the roads, but it's sticking to any snow there is. I had to go out and shovel my driveway clear again because the plows came through. The first time they came through, they only plowed one lane and did that about 10 feet or more from my driveway - so everytime they come through, they plow it a bit wider and shove it in front of my driveway and I have to go dig an opening out again. This time they managed to move a huge hard packed snowboulder in front of my driveway. Only 7 more feet or so till they reach the curb and stop filling me in.
Yes--another 12-20 inches in DC to Boston. I'm not, as I'm 100 miles south of DC. We're getting a bit of rain and sleet, but not until this evening. Maybe one inch total of snow tomorrow.Quote:
Originally Posted by Biciclista
Ahem!Quote:
Originally Posted by Catriona
My thoughts exactly!!Quote:
Originally Posted by divingbiker