I hate Ice Storms…

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Blackhorse

Blackhorse

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Recent ice storm hit Western Oregon. Snow, then Freezing Rain. Ugly. The liquid rain falls onto a surface that’s well below freezing and everything gets coated, like 1/2” or more. The Lake Oswego segments are a mile from my house.

Thank goodness my neighborhood has 100% underground utilities.

 
Blackhorse said:
Recent ice storm hit Western Oregon. Snow, then Freezing Rain. Ugly. The liquid rain falls onto a surface that’s well below freezing and everything gets coated, like 1/2” or more. The Lake Oswego segments are a mile from my house.

Thank goodness my neighborhood has 100% underground utilities.

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I keep an emergency kit for power outages, we get one or two per winter from blizzards or ice storms, I suspect you probably have things in place for the same situation. The biggest hazard is overburdened trees, there's no telling when branches may collapse or the whole tree fail. Winds make the problem worse. Stay warm, stay safe, have a nice smoke.
 
My gal and I are heading up to Washington next week. We're considering relocating to the area. Wild seeing that. Being in southern California, that weather is unheard of. Luckily the truck has 4 wheel drive and we'll be planning to dress warm. I think the weather is supposed to be warming up.
 
Some years back while in the music business a co-worker and I were headed to a show in Houston pulling a trailer full of instruments. My wife decided to go along. It was a dreary mid-winter day and we were about 30 miles north of Dallas when we topped a rise and everything on the other side was solid ice. The car and trailer suddenly went sideways; I got off the foot feed and thankfully remembered not to hit the brakes and did that "turn in the direction of the skid" thing that they always tell you to do. Thankfully we were on a four-lane. I really don't know how long we went sideways but it seemed like forever; finally it straightened out. Nobody said a word for a long time, and finally Willis in the back seat said, "Nice job." It took us over two hours to make the 30 miles into Dallas and by the time we got there the snow had started. All the exits were closed; we couldn't get off the interstate. Semis were abandoned everywhere. We finally found an open exit in south Dallas and made it to a crummy hotel; there was a restaurant next door and I really needed a drink. "Sorry;" the waitress said, "This is a dry county. If you were on the other side of the interstate you could get one." I wasn't about to try getting over there. We spent two days there before they opened the roads enough to get out of town. About 15 miles south of town it was bone dry. My wife had been reading a travel guide of things to do in Houston and it said "it seldom snows". So yeah; I hate ice storms too.
 
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When I lived in Chapel Hill, the ice was one of the rude awakenings. I grew up in the Midwest, and I'd lived in Minnesota for several years, but wall-to-wall ice rinks were more of a rarity. Chapel Hill didn't get much snow, but clear coatings of ice on everything was the norm in the winter. When I was a kid, we very rarely got out the tire chains. They're a pain in the rump, but I found myself wanting them more than a couple times in CH. To state the obvious, I'll take snow and a DoT that knows how to deal with it eight days a week over ice and a DoT that doesn't use much salt. Driving in those conditions on the norm was not fun.
 
Ranger107 said:
Reminds me of the year I spent in Little Rock, AR. Worst winter on record. Ice storms, 3' of snow, trees down, roads blocked, no power for 3/4 days. Didn't have 4WD at the time, so had to walk up the hill to my apartment. A real bitch.
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Reminds me of a bet years ago to stick my head in a freezer and see how long I would go! aggghhh but seriously take care out there BOBs that is sooo scary stuff I have no concept of that living in Australia.
 
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Ranger107 said:
Reminds me of the year I spent in Little Rock, AR. Worst winter on record. Ice storms, 3' of snow, trees down, roads blocked, no power for 3/4 days. Didn't have 4WD at the time, so had to walk up the hill to my apartment. A real bitch.
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I remember one year we had freezing rain over a half inch thick on top of six inches of snow. Whack it with a hammer…nuthin’. Had to cut it with an old ax and pry it off with a 7’ iron bar in chunks to find the pavement. Then it warms a bit and starts raining on top of the ice. From the street to my front door it’s up hill…impossible to maneuver without special gear at that point. Set anything on it and it just slid down til it hit the street. That included my daughter. She thought it was really funny that we had to throw her a rope and pull her up the driveway. I was less than amused.
 
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