Arctic dipping south

[skhill]

My pipes thawed out sound, so I have running water again! Woohoo! But the check engine light came on when I finally dared to try to start the car this morning, so I drove straight to my usual garage. So thankful for a bike backup while the car's in the shop-- and thankful for warmer weather too. It's amazing how warm 30F can feel!

[Catrin]

Emily, it sounds wonderful, I am quite jealous!!! One thing is sure, there is no danger that I will after look for/accept a job any further north than where I currently live!

Yesterday I returned to the office, it took more than double my usual commute time to arrive, but I DID arrive I was so concerned about my car not starting after sitting in those temps for several days, but it actually started faster than normal, or at least it seemed that way. It was about 6 above when I started it, no flat tires, nothing As far as driving in these conditions are concerned, the Kia Soul appears to do far better than many of the larger vehicles I've observed. The only real problem I've had are there where are large amounts of patchy packed snow/ice. It isn't a very wide vehicle, so somethings I've one wheel on pavement and the other side is on this really rough ice/snow pack stuff and in that situation controlling the vehicle is quite difficult. Indeed, I would say, impossible, I've been fortunate that I've not been bounced into another vehicle. Going slow helps, but really, any illusion of control is just that, an illusion.

Today we finally reach 32, or so they say. More snow later today (about an inch), wintery mix tomorrow morning, an inch+ of RAIN starting tomorrow afternoon into Saturday on of the 17+ inches of snow on the ground that will be melting. The high Sunday is said to be 46, we will see. Flooding conditions, for sure!

I saw a cyclist this morning on her bike, in a normal coat, no helmet, no gloves. Her tires weren't very wide, and she was on a snow/ice covered path. I hope she was able to stay upright...

[smilingcat]

few days late but for what its worth.

I've lived in places that gets lots of snow, sleet... My parents owned a two stage snow blower just for their driveway because snow could get pretty deep.

When the temperature is in the single digit, ice is pretty solid and hard without any film of water. Your car tire will not slip much. It's like driving on wet pavement. But if the temperature is anywhere near freezing like 28F to 34F or so, there will be a film of liquid water on the ice and that makes the ice very slippery. And your car not to stop at stop sign or start. And your car to slide sideways to the curve because of the crown in the road.

So be more alert when its near the freezing point 32F. You still need to be careful if the temp is in the single digit but at least you don't need to be petrified.
Oh another thing. If the temp is in the single digit when you get in your car, your tire will be frozen with flat spot where it was in contact with the ground. So drive slowly till the tire thaws out and makes it round again. till then the car will not handle as nice or safely. Going down the road thunk-think-thunk really doesn't harm the tire but it can be irritating if you feel it.

be safe, be warm and keep blankets in the car so you can stay warm if something goes wrong. And if you do get stuck, don't leave your engine on to keep warm. You could get a build up of carbon monoxide in your car. This is especially true if your you and your car literally gets buried in snow.

[Catrin]

Smilingcat - thanks for all of the good advice, I will keep it in mind for the next time. Hopefully THAT won't be for another 20 years!

As it turns out, my decision when I moved in October to spend an additional $30/month for a carport was worth far more than the tighter budget this created. It has sides as well as a top, so hardly a flake of snow hit my car during that terrible storm that didn't get blown - and quite little of that. I noted that my 2011 Kia Soul did VERY WELL once it was legal to drive again and I had to go back to the office. It didn't slip/slide near as much as most of the cars around me and was quite stable.

The worst drive of the week was on Thursday's home commute. I was shocked at how BAD conditions were, and it had been warmer that day with some melting, etc. Thinking back on that in light of your post explains what was going on. The main problem for me, however, was the massive thick patches of packed snow/ice that were too wide for my car to straddle, but just enough patches of clear pavement that my little car was being thrown here and there. I really didn't feel like I was in true control of my vehicle and just proceeded cautiously and eventually reached a part of town where the roads were much better and finally made it home.

I don't have even one extra blanket...guess what I am going to be shopping for this spring when stores have sales to get rid of winter merchandise! I don't know when those things got so bloody expensive...

BTW, after my Kia sat in sub-zero temps (our lowest was -17), when I finally started my car to go to work she fired right up. Not even a 2 second lag! I am even more sold by my lovely little alien green car!

[Crankin]

Bumping this up.
We have a long stretch of Arctic temperatures ahead. The big snowstorm that dumped a lot of snow on the mid Atlantic and quite a bit just 20 miles south of here, just gave us about an inch.
We never get more than 2-3 days of daytime temperatures in the teens/single digits and except for Saturday, I see these temperatures for at least a week. And no snow for x country skiing, unless I go to Cape Cod!
I'm embarrassed I asked my driveway neighbor to snow blow for me, since DH is away, because there's so little snow.

[ny biker]

I hate this. There's a reason I don't live in Chicago anymore. I have to go outside in the sub-zero windchills to clear off my car. We don't have reserved parking at this condo association so if I shovel out the space where I'm parked, someone will take it and I'll have to shovel out another one when I get home (in the sub-zero wind chills). And then do the same thing tomorrow and the next day. It won't be warm enough to melt anything until maybe sometime next week. Anything that does melt will just freeze again. I can't go anywhere because of ice on the roads. My heat pump can't keep up with these temperatures so I have to turn the thermostat way down in order to keep the auxiliary heater from running non-stop.

We got somewhere between 5-6 inches of snow here.

I hate this.

Thank you for letting me rant.

p.s. I'm wearing cycling clothes to go out and shovel snow. Two long sleeved wool base layer shirts, my AmFib tights, Ibex wool knickers and DeFeet wool Kneekers over the tights. Smartwool balaclava and glove liners. Defeet wooleator socks. Plus a thick pair of wool socks that I bought for my one and only experiment with skiing, a thick wool roll-neck sweater that I got from J Crew back in the '90s, shearling lined boots, a wool hat, ski mittens and a long down coat. Normally I don't wear many layers when I shovel snow because I know I will warm up while I work. But with a wind chill below zero, I have no idea how many layers I'll need so I'm starting heavy.

[skhill]

BRRRRRR it's back. -5F this morning, but thankfully no wind. Makes a huge difference. However, my car won't run in these temps and there's too much ice on the streets for the bike, so it's a foot commute today. At least my pipes haven't frozen (yet).

Only about 3 inches of snow but that's enough! And there's a good chance we won't get over 32F in the next week. I hate this.