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Snow storm update

post #1 of 39
2/2/11 at 10:15am
Thread Starter 
The other threads regarding this storm were getting so long, I thought I'd start another one. Just got an automated call that my school district is shut down tomorrow, too. Unbelievable! But it's that bad. Chicago Public Schools were shut down today for the first time in 12 years. And they are contemplating shutting down tomorrow. Some 30 of their schools have no power at this point.

There was just a big press conference. All network TV stations have had nothing but storm news on all day - no regular programing. Everyone in government is having to answer for their decisions. Lots want to play the "blame game." Lake Shore Drive (important route by Lake Michigan in Chicago) was shut down by 8 p.m. last night. Something like 1000 cars were stuck and had to be abandoned. Some people had to be forced to leave their cars, eventually. Some 300 cars are still out there. Someone was washed into Lake Michigan and drowned. They were predicting 20 foot waves.

I took pictures of my house/yard. I'll post them later. I keep going out and shoveling, then coming back to rest, thaw, dry out, and go out again. I've had no help yet, but I hope some will be coming later. It's amazing what one woman and a shovel can do, slowly, but there is still so much. However, now I don't have to get out until Friday at 7:00 a.m.

The official total is 20" for Chicago. That's the 3rd highest in history (over 100 years). It's at least that from my front steps to the street on my driveway and front sidewalk (66 feet across). But because of drifting, some areas to shovel are 3-4' deep. The snow is light, fortunately. However, since the temperatures are going down, it has to be removed, asap, or it turns rock solid.

I better get out there and pick away at it.

How's everyone else who has been hit with this doing?

Robin
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post #2 of 39
2/2/11 at 10:28am
Wow, you certainly got the brunt of this storm! Another thing to keep in mind are roofs. I have a roof on the rear of my house that is not quite at the right pitch. I always roof rake it just to be safe.

All the schools were closed here last night, but they probably could have been open. We got about 6 inches with some drifting, but the drifts are packed hard and really difficult to shovel.

How horrible to be in Lake Michigan! What a terrible thing! After a while you get sick of hearing about the weather on the tv and radio. That's all they are talking about here too.

Really cold though. But I see the feral cat has been up to eat. Their bowls are up against the house so I leaned a couple boards against the house to protect the feeding station.

I am going out to look for a crocus under the snow.....I need to see one! I have to see some hope of spring SOMEWHERE!!
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post #3 of 39
2/2/11 at 11:12am
Thread Starter 
Crocus in the snow! We're at least 2 months from that here.

The good news is the sun has been out since 10 a.m. My neighbor was over with his snow blower to whittle away at my driveway from the street. Very little result. He'll be back later.

I just really feel fortunate that the power didn't go out for me. The lights flickered a few times last night, and I was scared. Lots in the area are without power. If I lose electricity, my gas furnace won't work. And I wouldn't be able to go anywhere - still snowed in. And I don't have a fireplace or wood stove. It wouldn't be good.

And they are saying that Indiana and Kentucky are really getting hit with ice storms, and lots of power loss.

I'm in on a break. I put out lots of seeds of every kind, and peanuts, and corn for the birds and squirrels. I put out a big bowl of TOTW dry for raccoons or anyone else who wants it. They are probably all sleeping it out, though. Since it will be clear (and bitter cold) tonight, they may venture out. Also, my heated bird bath, which is on the ground, is dug out and working.


Robin
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post #4 of 39
2/2/11 at 12:26pm
Thread Starter 
A neighbor's "guy" - who came over to do his snow on a bicycle (!) - Daryll - is now finishing mine with that neighbor's big snowblower. What a relief!

The neighbor said that there are still people stuck in cars, from last night, on the highways west of here. That's just awful.

CNN says 1 in 3 Americans are being affected by this storm.

BUT, Australia is having a cyclone that is about the size of the whole continental U.S. !!!!

With Egypt erupting, seems like a volatile time.

Robin
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post #5 of 39
2/2/11 at 12:47pm
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! And Gary brought the cyclone to my attention last night.

Just.... to everyone in the path of these storms!

We got of REALLY light. Just a little snow and about an inch of sleet. We're at 34 degrees, so everything is mushing up, and it'll freeze nice and solid tonight as the temp is still supposed to drop with a high of 14F tomorrow and a low of around 0.
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post #6 of 39
2/2/11 at 2:44pm
We had a snow storm yesterday that shut everything down, we are still having 1 today that shut everything down. We're going to have another 1 on Saturday, and after that Tuesday.

At least now my kittens have seen snow
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post #7 of 39
2/2/11 at 3:01pm
Our schools are closed tomorrow as well - re LSD, I had heard on the news at 2:00 pm yesterday to avoid the Drive if humanly possible - I'm still not sure why people insisted on taking the Drive, but sounds like it was going ok til there were three accidents in a row. They're not sure that the guy who drowned actually came from the cars - there's always some person who wants to see how the lake is doing when there's a storm, though - the pictures can be spectacular, but Lake Michigan is nothing to fool with. I'm unclear why so many people were driving so late in the afternoon - unless their employers weren't watching the storm's track very carefully. My bosses shipped us out early, for safety's sake.

Even a couple of the outer counties were shut down to traffic - yet some folks still wanted to drive around there and needed to be rescued.

I was surprised by Metra (our commuter rail lines) running either holiday schedules or shutting down - the big trains can usually get through ok. I think I can get work tomorrow assuming the trains are running - otherwise, I'm going to work at home, I think.
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post #8 of 39
2/2/11 at 3:07pm
My arms and lower back are killing me after shoveling for a couple of hours today. I got the driveway and a path to the mail box cleared off first, took a break for a while then got a path out of the back and side doors. We couldn't even open those doors for a while. The snow in the yard is knee deep on me. The snow in the driveway apron (thank you snow plows) was at least that deep and packed down.

I lived thru 2 Chicago blizzards (1967 and Bilandic's blizzard). It was a lot more fun when you are young.

I will be hot tubbing it tonight and hope that my aches and pains go away. I also see a lot of ibupropen in my immediate future.
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post #9 of 39
2/2/11 at 4:47pm
DH did some snowblowing to clear out the drifted areas which really are not bad. Though driving home tonite I did notice the snow is up to the lower branches on my sargent crabs.
To dark to try to snowblow around those trees I'll have to try tomorrow morning.
The rabbits have been decimating all my shrubs and roses and they will chew on these highly ornamental trees.grrrrrrrr
The highway was good this morning.
We are supposed to have alot of wind until at least Friday. Tonite the wind chill is to be -15F to -25F.
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post #10 of 39
2/2/11 at 5:00pm
Our claim to pain has been freezing rain, sleet & ICE for the last two days. A snowplow ran into a power line at one point, because it was sagging due to ice. This morning 50,000 people in our greater area were without power, including my boss & the church where I work. Most had been without since last night. Some, about 10,000. regained power around noon, the other 40,000 are hoping for tomorrow but we are supposed to get temps tonite @ 11 degrees. Went to work today in pm & computer is really screwed up as well as alarm system. Got alarm system working; NEED COMPUTER. Maybe no church bulletins this week! Ha! Back to the basics. Shouldn't complain. Living in condo, no shoveling, and only lost power for about 10 min today. Lucky to have fireplace anyway.
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post #11 of 39
2/2/11 at 5:51pm
Our school district was closed today and tomorrow as well - yippee, no work!
Last night was a nightmare, it's the first time our dog did not want to go out to potty and I don't blame him. We had to encourage him but it wasn't easy. This morning DH shoveled a path on the patio, no easy task. Thankfully the kitties were all snuggled in. Here's a pic outside of our front window:

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post #12 of 39
2/2/11 at 6:20pm
And here's a nice icicle at the corner of our garage.
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post #13 of 39
2/2/11 at 6:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neely View Post
Our school district was closed today and tomorrow as well - yippee, no work!
Last night was a nightmare, it's the first time our dog did not want to go out to potty and I don't blame him. We had to encourage him but it wasn't easy. This morning DH shoveled a path on the patio, no easy task. Thankfully the kitties were all snuggled in. Here's a pic outside of our front window:
Wow! I can't imagine....
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post #14 of 39
2/3/11 at 12:37pm
Thread Starter 
My school district is shut down tomorrow, Friday, too. I can't imagine. Chicago is getting back to functioning. Had mail delivery today, though only junk, and the newspaper came, too. Sun is shining, but the temperature is only about 13 degrees F. Seems that birds ate the TOTW during the day today (?!!). Birds, and squirrels are busy with the seeds I've put out. Still very quiet on my street today. No pedestrians, and there are usually a lot.

Here are some before shoveling/snowblowing pictures from yesterday:


Above is out my back door looking at side of garage and backyard.


Looking at front porch and stairs.


Drift in front of garage. Notice bare patch in front, and drift behind. I moved that drift myself with only a shovel. It took about 2.5 hours altogether.


Another view of drift


View of area in front of garage today.


Looking down the street.


My house the morning after the morning after.

A snowplow just went by and blocked up the driveway. So it's back out there with the shovel.

Robin
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post #15 of 39
2/3/11 at 1:35pm
We're really getting the ice here in Indianapolis!! UGH!! Schools and churches and Government business has been canceled all week! The snow hasnt been bad BUT we've got 6 inches of ice everywhere. People are getting iced into their homes and not able to get out. Some people are ice skating or skiing to work. The power loss isn't as bad as it was but there are still a lot of people with no power who've had to move into red cross shelters. And of course there's the -13 degree wind chill. I'm worried about all the animals in the neighborhood--raccoons, opossums, rabbits and stray cats.
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post #16 of 39
2/3/11 at 5:54pm
The snow drifts are taller than me! Can barely seen the house across the street! The ice hanging from the roof, never seen ice that big before!
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post #17 of 39
2/3/11 at 7:10pm
Its still very cold and windy. Windy should decrease by tomorrow night and temps to rise Fri and Sat to 31F. Then back down to lower teens. Had to snowblow driveway as winds from west were filling it up again.
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post #18 of 39
2/3/11 at 8:43pm
We are on day 3 of the after effects of the ice storm on Tuesday morning. Many streets are still iced up. Everyone's frustrated about the ice and the fact that the sun hasn't shone in 3 days and the temps haven't gotten above freezing. Schools have been closed since Tuesday. Parents are upset that they've had kids at home for a 6-day weekend. We're expecting snow tonight and tomorrow morning. At least you can drive on snow.

BTW, we don't have snow plows here since there's really not a need for them, most of the time!
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post #19 of 39
2/3/11 at 9:13pm
Robin; those are great pics of the snow! Reminds me of the area I'm originally from in Upstate New York. They get lots of lake effect snow in that area. It used to be fun to climb the big snowpiles the plows would make and sled down them! LOL!
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post #20 of 39
2/4/11 at 3:39am
Well, Stephanie called it. We have about 4 inches on the ground, and still snowing.
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post #21 of 39
2/4/11 at 2:15pm
Been snowing again all day today here More snow expected Sunday and Wednesday. Really tired of all of this!
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post #22 of 39
2/4/11 at 3:49pm
We just had ice..and it was bad.

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post #23 of 39
2/4/11 at 5:06pm
We ended up with about 4" of the white stuff on top of our 3" of ice. The sun did come out today and started melting everything, but it will freeze again tonight.



Obviously, some of my neighbors didn't get the memo that trash pick up had been canceled for the week!
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post #24 of 39
2/4/11 at 5:31pm
Beautiful pic though Stephanie! Is this a record for Dallas/Ft. Worth?

I WISH I had been able to capture a picture of what's gone on here. It's really amazing. We had the blizzard at the beginning of January that piled up basically a couple of feet of snow, an ice storm the following week, then another 6 or so inches of snow (though it had melted/condensed down a bit from the first storm) - and then this ice storm (it came with only a couple of inches of snow). I think there might have been another snow accumulation in there somewhere... but we've got a "layer cake" that's stacking up.

BUT the topper was the last ice storm. EVERYTHING was absolutely ensconsed in ice - I don't know how much, but definitely several inches of it. And then the wind came. It was like a hail storm on steroids. When I put out the evening meal for the cats, I was PELTED with ice. I was hoping the cats stayed wherever they were, quite frankly, because for small animals it was really dangerous. Yesterday morning (and this morning as nothing changed LOL) it looked like someone had smashed glass EVERYWHERE. Chunks of ice on top of the ice-encrusted snow. Everything is absolutely frozen in place. There is NO WAY to move this stuff. We broke our two shovels trying to smash them through the "ice" topping on everything. The snow/ice from the latest storm piled up to the bottom of our step - so no great shakes - but it is unmoveable. The road (in the park) is an ice-skating rink - as is pretty much everything around us.

AND we're expecting another ice storm tomorrow!
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post #25 of 39
2/4/11 at 5:52pm
No snow record. We got about 5 inches, but that's nowhere near a record. We got 11 inches in one storm last year, and I think that WAS a record.

On average, we have about 6 inches of snow and 2-3 "ice events" every year, so we're not in line for much more.

We didn't even get down to the record temp they predicted the night before last, which was 9 degrees. Fourteen was the record, but we only got down to about 15.
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post #26 of 39
2/4/11 at 5:58pm
This a.m. I walked down our long condo sidewalk toward the street; decided to walk on the snow instead because of the frozen sidewalks. Bad idea. The snow has frozen so solid I began to slip & slide & ended up on my knees. No injury, just at my age wondering if I was going to get up or crawl over to a lamppost or tree. Not too close to either. Managed to get up, only pride hurt.

We are supposed to get more tomorrow I think. I've actually given up watching the weather reports. So many around here still don't have power. We are lucky!

Hey, that makes a good name for a cat!
LL
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post #27 of 39
2/4/11 at 6:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrblanche View Post
No snow record. We got about 5 inches, but that's nowhere near a record. We got 11 inches in one storm last year, and I think that WAS a record.

On average, we have about 6 inches of snow and 2-3 "ice events" every year, so we're not in line for much more.

We didn't even get down to the record temp they predicted the night before last, which was 9 degrees. Fourteen was the record, but we only got down to about 15.
I thought snow down that way was rare, actually.
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post #28 of 39
2/4/11 at 6:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrblanche View Post
No snow record. We got about 5 inches, but that's nowhere near a record. We got 11 inches in one storm last year, and I think that WAS a record.

On average, we have about 6 inches of snow and 2-3 "ice events" every year, so we're not in line for much more.

We didn't even get down to the record temp they predicted the night before last, which was 9 degrees. Fourteen was the record, but we only got down to about 15.
Last year, we got something like 11" or 14" or something like that in a 24 hour period. That WAS a record for amount of snow in a 24 hr period. That was so fascinating!

We really don't get too much snow each year, about 1 good snow day a year, but it usually is gone in a day or so. This year, we had the ice on Tuesday without any warming above freezing and then snow last night. We finally saw the sun today and have started to thaw out. However, it's going to be really cold again tonight and all that stuff that's melted will re-freeze.
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post #29 of 39
2/4/11 at 6:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LDG View Post
I thought snow down that way was rare, actually.
Actually in the panhandle, north Texas (the DFW and surrounding areas) and out in Big Bend, we do get snow. The thing is that it's usually here one day and gone the next. This isn't the case with this crud this week.
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post #30 of 39
2/4/11 at 6:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LDG View Post
I thought snow down that way was rare, actually.
There's nowhere in Texas that doesn't get snow, occasionally. A couple of years ago they had what they called "The Christmas Miracle," and had heavy snow all the way down in the Valley.

We have 4 real seasons here. It's just that the cold one is fairly short.
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