I grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, OH which was known as "the snowbelt" - which means, lake effect snow from Lake Erie would come inland and dump snow on us. LOTS of snow on us!
Then, I moved to Central IL. We get snow - but, not a lot (although, these last few years we've gotten more than we normally get).
I grew up in the Northern U.S. - and am used to snow and cold temperatures.
How are our Southern U.S. members handling the cold/ice/snow that you received yesterday and today? Y'all (said in my best southern accent that I can muster up) are not use to the stuff. I see on news reports that most things have shut down. In the south you just don't have the equipment to handle such things (and normally, don't have a need to) and I'm sure most people who have lived in the south their whole lives have never driven on ice and snow. That's a treat, isn't it?! ::) No matter how many years you have driven in it, you still don't like it. It really scares me to drive when it's icy.
I see on the news that some school children in Alabama and Georgia had to stay at school as it was too bad out for the buses to take them home yesterday. This will give the kids something to tell their kids some day about the time the weather was so bad they had to spend the night at school. ;)
I hope you all are warm, stay home and stay safe.
GOOD NEWS . . . Spring is 49 days away!!! ;D
Bucky
HAha We all are fine here. Good old southern girl here with maybe 3 inches of snow and ice. Yes it all does come to a screeching halt here because we do lack equipment to clear the stuff.
We tend to get very excited too though because it is a rare sight. It is pretty to see from inside the warm house. Take care ya'll. Ck
doing well in my neck of the woods in NC. We got maybe a couple of inches, but I am more inland than on the coast and I hear the coast got hit harder.
Folks around these parts don't do well in the snow, lack of experience driving in it. And so true Bucky, in that many in the south don't have the proper tools - mostly as we don't get snow often enough I suppose.
I stay off the roads, even tho I actually LIKE driving in snow (not ice but snow I like, and I know how to drive in snow), but some folks around here can't drive for a-hem on a good weather day let alone on a snowflake.
The cold, not doing well for me. We're not accustomed to single digit wind chills as persistent as they have been recent weeks. I hear we're supposed to have a small "heat wave" in the low 50's this weekend then back to the brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr cold.
Today driving wasn't bad at all as far as the roads and the sun is shining. Tomorrow will be worse for driving as the melted snow=wet+freezing temps tonight again=the dreaded black ice.
But they did heavily salt the main roads very early this morning or during the night.
It was bad here. We had 144 wrecks with no injuries and 7 with injuries, most of them within a three hour window. It was a long day.
As far as kids, our problem was they were only forecasting a dusting in our area, it was supposed to stay south of us, so we got caught off-guard. From the time it started laying on the roads and moved more north, within 15 minutes it was white. So by they time they got the buses to the schools, it wasn't safe for many of them to be on the roads and they had to turn around. That in turn caused parents to get out to get their children. I am proud that by 5:00, we had all children home safely but I know we have some upset parents.
P.S. Half of my family is from Hinckley! Home of the Buzzards! Lol.
We're about two hours from the coast of NC.
I would say we got a bit over 3 inches. Of course everything is closed, and people are not on the roads.
WE of course were out early to drive to the University of North Carolina Medical Center (about 35 minutes away) in Chapel Hill, to meet my husband's sister who has Multiple Myeloma.
He met with this doctor when she was first diagnosed 5 years ago, and now she has had all the treatments and is ready for a clinical trial, which he is conducting. My husband is a research immunologist so he can talk the talk with the doctor.
Traffic was slow, but the further west we drove, the less snow there was. And the main roads were pretty clear.
Any snow is a great crisis in the Southland. Even the threat of snow closes down everything.
After growing up in the midwest, and living in the Northeast, it seems funny. But since they don't have snowplows and lots of sand and salt here, you are at the mercy of the weather for sure.
My husband is happily shoveling off the walk and porch now.
By the weekend it should be in the 40's and 50's again.
Hugs, Elaine
We are from central Ohio, but my mother, sister and her family
moved to southern Louisiana 12 years ago. I spoke with my
mother last night and she said it was 18 degrees there with snow and
ice on the ground. People getting over excited about it, crashing b/c they aren't
use to driving on it, school kids were sent home early...before it even
arrived and again stayed home the next day. People ravaged store shelves...
stocking up on batteries, milk, bread, etc......
Walk in the park for us Ohioans!
eye2dry
Yes, eye2dry
I thought the same way when we first moved South.
I thought "Well, I can just salt and sand the walk and the driveway" when everything shut down for an ice storm.
And THEN I realized: I cannot salt and sand all the way to work! Nothing on the roads and streets to help with the ice.
So I was stuck, with my Northern attitude.
Hugs, Elaine
Yep, I've been getting tickled, and sometimes I'll admit, irked because everyone keeps saying, "Stoopid Southerners. 2 inches of snow and they freak. Come up here where 2 inches for us is a daily occurrence. We drive in it all the time."
Yes, it is true, most of us can't drive in it. It's because it happens so rarely and we don't deal with it much (practice). And like Elaine said, we don't get just snow. It is always ice below and ice on top. Our cities don't have the equipment to deal with it because they will not invest in something that happens so rarely. We have salt trucks, but only a few and not enough for all the roads. And they don't prepare our roads before an event because 9 times out of 10 when they tell us we might get some snow, we don't. Our roads and terrain is not flat, at all. Even a "ground level" neighborhood has slopes, but we have huge hills and mountains out in the rural areas, so people do panic over supplies because something as small as this will keep them trapped in their house for a good week. Most of us don't have 4WD, because unless you like to go out mudding on the weekends, we have no need for it but once every 5-10 years.
I had a friend on Facebook yesterday, from up North really tearing into all of us over our stupidity down here. I told her that it would be like them getting hit with a hurricane. Doesn't happen and they wouldn't be prepared or know how to deal with it. :) We'd breeze right thru that.
Hello Velcro.
I am not sure what kind of "friend on Facebook" you have but I have never called any southern person stupid.
My in-laws are from Kentucky, my husband lived in St Augustine Florida, I have family in West Virginia,
I lived once in Alexandria, Virginia. I would also like to retire in central Florida some day.
My mother was not making fun or Louisiana folks b/c she is now considers herself one of them.
I was just relying an actual observation of what was happening by one who lives there.
No offense was ever intended.
Take care,
eye2dry
Oh no...I'm sorry. I wasn't meaning you. Your post didn't offend me at all. I'll be the first to admit we freak out because we are not used to it. :)
A friend of mine in Florida was thoroughly delighted by the unusual snow, she, her husband and their kids spent most of the day playing in it! Granted, it took them a few tries to round up enough layers of clothes to be comfortable, and she said her youngest looked inebriated trying to walk on ground that hadn't been that slippery before, but they made the very best of the situation! She took a ton of pictures, and they have memories to last a lifetime!
Kind of gave me a new appreciation of the beauty and enjoyment of our changing seasons, and the pleasure of knowing that we, personally and the infrastructure, are well prepared for snow, ice, whatever gets thrown at us. incidentally, we do experience hurricanes as well. Most of them are down to category 2 or 3 by the time they reach us, but we have had a couple of category 4.
Located near the Atlantic coast, we are in the perfect position for the "perfect storm" as seen in the movie of the same name. We are along the convergence point of the polar jet stream and the gulf stream, so we are no strangers to high winds, the only thing that keeps it from being a hurricane is the fact that the winds are gusting, not sustained.
I am from the south but live somewhat in the mountainous region so we are use to the snow. I will have to say that our school board does an excellent job at watching the weather and taking care of our children. They use every precaution. Some of the commissioners will get out very early in the morning to see if the roads are iced over and whether or not it is safe for the buses to travel.
Our community looks out for one another and if we hear anything, we pass it along.
I am in my fifties and we have had snow just about every winter. We don't have many accidents because we are use to driving on the snow. I think most of us stay in when the weather is severe and unsafe to be out.
I think each location has their on way of dealing with the weather and the roads and sometimes an area can be unprepared. And sometimes a weather warning will go unheeded as some people will get out no matter what is forcasted or predicted.
Our road department is very well equipped and right now we have so much salt on the road that it makes the vehicles look terrible but the local car wash is making a ton of money.
Here in east tn. we are use to some snow, but the school kids are out a lot with slick roads, because we live in the mountains. Most know how to drive in the snow, and most have the 4-wheel drive.
Now all this sub zero temperatures we had was unusual for us.
If we have the rare big snows as in close to or at a foot then we have problems, because trees come down, and where people live way out in wooded areas can't get out.
We don't have snow plows, but our road department also has been great in keeping the roads salted, and sometimes before the snow or ice get here, you can see where they have dropped a type of liquid stuff on the highways that keeps us going.
Back roads are on their own though, so that is why schools here have lots of snow days.
I am ready for spring.
Everyone stay safe, and stay home when you need to. I don't think we are through with winter yet. I dread when we start getting into the tornado season this year. Oh Brother!!
susanep
So here we are in NC. We got about 5 inches of snow on Wednesday. Yesterday was in the 40's.
There were gazillion people shopping yesterday, and part of it was that schools have been closed since Tuesday.
Schools closed for four days, and so everyone has kids with them as they do their shopping.
FOUR DAYS. I know, I know the side roads were still a bit icy on Thursday.
It is so odd to be somewhere in the South where the snow has actually hung around for more than a day.
The poor kids are losing their Easter vacation, and have to go longer in June, I think.
It wasn't even snow you could really play in.
I guess all this climate change is going to make for some interesting 'weather'.
Jon Stewart's take on the Atlanta snow crisis called South Parked was "snort your swee'tea up your nose funny".
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-january-30-2014/south-parked
Hugs, Elaine
My Grandma used to say that a snow that hung around for 3 days (in the South) was waiting on another! I hope not!
Hang in there! Now that you had practice with the last cold spell, you should be in good shape for this one! Please, please, stay the heck off the roads!
Hugs to all, Sharon
Here we go again. Schools dismissing early this morning. State of emergency declared for the state of NC. Icing coming in tonight through Thursday.
We have a generator but discovered on Sunday that the propane tank was empty. The gas company came out and filled it but said we have a leak. The technicians were out today and put in a temporary fix. They did not have the large pipe to replace our large pipe so they put in a small one. They said they were backed up with calls and the storm and would get out here as soon as the storm was over and they were caught up. This means that we can not run as much stuff as we normally would.
None of this would matter really, but mom is on oxygen and can not be without it. If we run out of propane she will have to be taken to the hospital to be taken care of. Probably by ambulance. We do have a portable oxygen unit that runs on a rechargeable battery but it only lasts a couple of hours plus how ever many tanks are in the garage.
Wish us luck!
Janis Deen, the weather machine, on Fox News said that North and South Carolina could be without power for weeks! Yikes!
yikes is right, although I have to wonder if that is more hype than anything. Oddly enough, BEFORE the weather reports were more snow and crud coming our way (NC too), Duke Energy has been out and about here local working on power lines few days ago. Kind of weird actually. Then a few days later we have this said to be huge storm coming and possibly huge power outages?
Anyway, justin case I rescheduled my cortisol lab test (gee thanks weather folks) as I have no idea what Thursday morning around here is going to be. Fox this morning was saying 5-7 inches, then up to 12 inches later on yet intellicast as of a few hours ago was saying maybe 2-4 inches. That and freezing rain.
Meanwhile, Prayers for your mom and that there are NO power outages.
Just checked intellicast again and thus far they are still saying snow showers don't start till 9am tomorrow (where I am in NC)
http://www.intellicast.com/Storm/Severe/Bulletins.aspx?location=USNC9362
Now they have updated the forecast to 6-10 inches with a trace to a tenth of an inch of ice accummulation - BUT further to the east, ice accumulations may be up to a 1/4 inch.
Sooo ready for SPRING!!
More headed our way, snow with ice on top is the prediction.
The entire region will be in a tail spin....already are by the looks of cars lined up at the gas stations, etc.
Having grown up in the midwest, and lived for 30 years in New England before heading south, all of this fuss over ice and snow seems weird.
We experienced the blizzard of '78 in Boston, with 28 inches of snow in 24 hours and 100 mph winds.
The entire region was shut down for a week, with 3000 cars snow in in place on the expressway near our house.
Let it snow. My husband is bringing in fire wood.
Hugs, elaine
Our county has just been put under a state of emergency. They are telling residents to stay off the roads and to prepare for power outages for an extended period of time.
Duke Energy has brought in 150 workers from Kentucky and Ohio to help with power issues. They are staging in Greensboro, NC.
I hope you are right littliwlowa, I hope it is more hype than anything else.
Quote from: lighthouse33 on February 11, 2014, 02:48:59 PM
Our county has just been put under a state of emergency. They are telling residents to stay off the roads and to prepare for power outages for an extended period of time.
Duke Energy has brought in 150 workers from Kentucky and Ohio to help with power issues. They are staging in Greensboro, NC.
I hope you are right littliwlowa, I hope it is more hype than anything else.
Yes I heard that too about them bringing in additional workers. I hope I am right also, but looking at the sky earlier this evening - I dunno...
Just checked intellicast and the winter storm warning remains the same as does the forecast. I don't know where you are Lighthouse, but looks like Elaine is positioned to get the worse of the ice if the forecast bears out compared to where I am.
I probably should have left that appt as is, given I am still layering like crazy due to cold intolerance off the charts, but better part of wisdom in my view is plan to hunker down and stay off the roads "justin case".
Just went outside and the sky is now clear - can even see stars for a pleasant change!!
Good to know they are staging in Greensboro. As far as I know my county is only under a winter storm warning, but no declared state of emergency that I know of.
I sure hope spring is right around the corner...to STAY
Sorry the bad weather is headed your way...be safe.
But..................thank goodness Ohio is being spared this one!!
As the rest of you.....I AM READY FOR SPRING.................
eye2dry
Spring: our daffodils are up about 5 inches.....
Last Thursday I saw 10 robins in one day.
It's almost half way through February.......
Our heating bill was the highest it's ever been for January (that was one cold month).
All our schools are closed and it looks like I'll miss my IVIG scheduled for tomorrow in Durham.
Oh well, it's always something.
Hugs, Elaine (aka Carolina)
Quote from: Velcro on February 03, 2014, 01:37:32 PM
My Grandma used to say that a snow that hung around for 3 days (in the South) was waiting on another! I hope not!
I wish my Grandma wasn't so smart! :) 3-5" being forecast for our area today. It's coming down good now.
Not snowing here yet, but intellicast shows it's supposed to start around noon here. Forecasting 6-10 inches of snow plus 1/10th inch glaze of ice
@eye2dry, I hear some of the utility workers that came down here to Carolinas are from Ohio
Utility workers from all over the country mobilize to help each other in serious conditions. They always have, and are really our unsung heroes. As are their families, who miss many a holiday with their loved ones because of this.
Thank utility workers when you see them. It really makes their day!
And I hope you all stay warm down there, and OFF THE ROADS!
Hugs, Sharon
It's sure snowing heavy now, has been since shortly after noon.
I live in the Sandhills of NC about an hour south of Raleigh and 45 to an 1 hour west of Fayetteville.
We got a ton of snow this morning. It has been sleeting for about an hour. At 3 PM I checked the Duke Progress Energy Outage Report Page and we had one part of town with 4,000 customers out but since then it has disappeared so that must have been resolved. But to the south and east of us it looks like there are a lot of outages. On the news it said that 100s of thousands of people were already without power in SC and GA.
At noon it was reported that a chicken truck could not make it up on the hill on one of our roads and was stuck. Two UPS trucks were blocking another road. Numerous fender benders, cars in the ditches etc.
We are getting reports that our local Lowes has run out of generators, rock salt and portable heaters.
It is nice to be able to follow our local newspaper and Duke Energy Progress on Facebook.
The pictures of Raleigh I?ve seen are awful. One was of people pushing a trapping city bus and another was of commuters on the highway.
My cousin who lives near New Bern, NC said that he has gotten over a foot of snow at his house.
I'm in Winston Salem, it started snowing late thinking around noon 1pm. Probably about 4 1/2-5 inches thus far. Still snowing but it's much wetter now than it was earlier.
My neighbor upstairs got back around 5pm, she had been on the road since 2pm just to go five miles to get home from work. Accidents all over the place on Reynolda so that road was closed a few hrs ago. She said a lot of cars also stuck off the road. I can't imagine what folks around here would do with a foot of snow.
Local news is reporting I-40 crawling along at 14 mph. Oh they just showed picture of firetruck in Raleigh that got stuck.
I knew Raleigh and that area was expected to get hit harder. Either that or where I am is a "late bloomer" and we'll get the worst of it tomorrow.
GA I am not surprised to hear is getting hammered. Didn't they just have a bad storm not all that long ago?
This was posted on the Duke Energy Progress website this morning:
Duke Energy Progress territory was some of the hardest hit by ice and snow, causing widespread outages. We encourage customers to be patient and prepare for a possible multiday outage. Over 3300 line crew, some driving from Indiana and Florida, are on the ground working to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.
Our local paper is starting to get reports of downed trees blocking roadways.
Our lights have been flickering on and off all morning. This does not bode well for us. We had 6 inches of snow yesterday. It has been snowing big flakes and sleetng all morning.
Where I live in E.TN we got 5 inches yesterday, and today it was in the 50's. Strange weather.
susanep :)
West Texas: Sunny and 75. 8)
We have gotten no measurable snow this year.
Well we ended up with about 10 inches total. The blue sky peeked out about 4pm, Warmed up just above freezing long enough to melt just enough to be all frozen up again tonight. Supposed to be wind chills in the teens throughout the night and hovering around freezing into the weekend with a brief hiccup above freezing on Saturday.
Of course the concern where I am is black ice in the AM. No power outages here that I am aware of and no flickering of lights, A couple of neighbors tried to get out. One had someone helping her as she'd go 2 inches and get stuck. He must have shoveled her out over and over again for over an hour.
@meow, can you share some of your "sunny and 75"?
Anyone hear from Elaine? I think her area got hit much harder.
Wow, I drove to the fitness center today, and in the parking lot there were MOUNDS of snow from the snow plows.
I haven't seen that since we left Boston 20 years ago this Spring.
I haven't missed it one bit. And since it got up to 60 today, I won't miss it when it's gone for good and all.
The robins and daffodils will still be around, but that snow is soon to be history.
Hugs, Elane
I live north of Houston. I don't know how many days were canx for school "this" year. I think 2. We only had sleet and ice...but...continuous 25 to 35 days.....week after week with one to two days every 4th, 5th day in the 40s to low 50s. Now? Went to Galveston this week end with friends...maybe 64, 65. BUT..sunshine. Glorious sun. 71 today..and predicting low 70s for a WEEK. Then colder + rain. That's all right. A week of 70 degree weather and sunshine will be wonderful!!!
We ended up with 9" here in Southern Tennessee, which for us, is a blizzard! Like Susan said though, the temperatures luckily started going up the next day so by day 3, most of it was gone.
We still have snow on the ground from last week, however - YIPPEE finally finally finally warmer temperatures!!
If I were still able to, I'd be out there doing cartwheels today.
Velcro, yep 9" in southern TN is like a blizzard.
EIGHTY...80....LXXX.................YES...it was 80 here yesterday. Will be 78 today....and the next day the cold and rain returns highs in low 50's and 60's for about a week. But..we got a reprieve! The sun is amazing! Even with Sjogren's!!
just when I thought it was safe to go back out...this afternoon we had thunder...lightning....THEN HAIL! No biggie...a bit bigger than pea size. Lasted about ten mintes...then the rains (and cool weather, winds) came! It was a brief , fleeting moment. Yesterday! :o
we have had a couple of beautiful sun shiny days and snow from last week is almost all melted. I heard thee is a storm front moving through TN with tornados possible that is heading our way, but I think most we will get is thunder storms.
Same here. Major thunderstorms pushed through last night with high winds. No major damage, just a lot of limbs and trees down.