Snowpocalypse 2011

[karen]

@DieMarchen- Ouch- I can't even imagine 10 days without power. Glad you survived it- I get fussy when the internet goes out, can't imagine 10 days without heat in a Russian winter.

@Heidi- enjoy your 70's tomorrow. You guys pay for it so dearly when it does snow that you deserve a nice day.

@Tizzylou- OUCH! That kind of cold is just painful- I feel for you. We get that here sometimes and it's just brutal.
@ Colleen- sounds like it's about the same here, and it's not fun. They said DFW is closed for the first time because of snow...hope the Superbowl goes ok.

Looks like they're forecasting 3-5 inches of snow and it's supposed to be warmish. Compared to what everyone else is seeing, it's really nothing. I'm sorry to all of the mid-westerners who got all of the snow. Yuck!

Stay warm!

[Die Marchen]

@Karen - internet was the most sensible loss! Along with WC. But as I've said electricity was appearing for some periods and we used it to start the heating engine. We also used some generators, stayed all in one room with the fireplace. This has caught us in our weekend house under Moscow - these were the holidays. Moscow is a huge megapolis and moscovits try to leave it on weekends and have houses in the Moscow area. So I am a very city girl, so it was real fun (now) - to wash hands you had to step on the porch, take some snow and wash hands or face... or an apple or a chicken breast))) Snow kept falling so we had lots of clean washing substance But it was also the cause why the emergency services couldn't deal with it - they were fixing one place and the other were cut.
All the neighbours (actually they are best friends of parents - they built houses in one place to be together) were helping each other, we did it altogether and it was the nicest thing.

And when these things happen - it reminds you about things that matter! And now I know 2 main functions of iphone - 1) it is a phone - to call to the emergency services 2) Flashlight! When it is dark 16pm - 8 am it is useful)) and there are no lamps outdoors it is really dark! We are not used to real darkness.

I wish you all to escape it, but if it happens - I wish you to take it as an adventure without any losses.

[Colleen]

Wow that sounds like an adventure. I'm glad you are alright.

The closest I have been to something like that was when I was living in California during an earthquake. We had no power for about a week. It wasn't cold though. My husband happened to be working as an electrician at the time so he would be on a power pole while we were having after shocks. It was a very scary time. I think I was maybe 20.

Right now it is still very cold here and the schools are all closed today. The high will be about 21 which I'm sure is warm for some of you. We are having rolling black outs, though not in my area yet. They should only last for 15 minutes.

They have canceled several of the super bowl events this week. There was some kids thing today they canceled and then moved the practices so that they will be inside. Sunday should be a high of 56 though. That should help the people who bought the $200 tickets that lets you watch the game on a big screen outside the stadium. You had to buy those in 4 ticket packs. So for $800 and however much parking is you can watch the game on tv outside. I think my house is much more comfortable. I think they sold them all though. They are trying to break some super bowl attendance record.

[karen]

Wow- it's warmer here than in Texas! It's supposed to be about 30 today, and I'm watching the icicles melt. The storm picked up speed as it came through so there's really nothing on the roads, and it's not snowing now.

[ladycattat]

Colleen, was that the Northridge quake of '94? I remember that like it was yesterday. I was working for an insurance company that insured a ton of homes in the valley(San Fernando) and that Earthquake trashed our home office in Woodland Hills. My co-workers both lived in the valley, and couldn't get to work. The company I worked for lost BILLIONS that day.

[Colleen]

It is funny that it is colder here. It is actually going to be in the 50's in Pittsburgh and here the Steelers are where it is in the 20's. They talked about that a lot on the news this morning and interviewed some of the players about it yesterday during the media day.

There are obviously too many earthquakes in CA. It was the Loma Prieta quake in '89 where the bay bridge collapsed. The world series saved a lot of people that day. My sister in law would have been on that bridge if she hadn't gone home early to watch it. The epi center was actually closer to Santa Cruz which was just about where we were living at the time. Just another good reason to no longer live in CA.

[4wheel]

LOL, can I go to Fla. and be safe?? About an inch of sleet and freezing rain and now about 3 inches of snow and 40 MPH winds with it. We had about 9 inches of snow that was on the ground that has been here to long. And tonight going down to 9* with that wind...Wooooooo! & Brrrrrrr! I'm soooo thankful that the lights and all stayed on.

[royalgoddessbeth]

OMG, it took me four hours to drive to work yesterday morning. I'm a native Texan, and I'm just not used to this sort of thing. Our cities do not purchase equipment to deal with the roads because it would only be used perhaps twice in a season, and our cars are not even fitted with any sort of snow tires or anything. I spun out on a highway access road once, and went completely in the opposite direction on a HILL- started to involuntary slide DOWN the hill, and I was in an absolute panic. I almost turned around and went back home then and there. I finally managed to get out of that one just to get caught in the jam to end all jams....they shut down a major highway completely and I literally did not move for two hours. I got in, opened my shop, then the other girl showed up. I promptly went home, which was an easier trip. I was SO sore from the tension by the time I got home, and was exhausted, so I took a nap.

[Colleen]

Your right, texans are just not prepared for this weather. I am glad you are alright. I was glad we all got to stay home yesterday. Today my dh had to go to work while the kids and I stayed home. I told him he needs to head home before it gets dark and the roads start to ice over. We'll see if he manages to leave or not. He saw several accidents this morning. I am definitely done with this cold weather. I did grow up in Washington state, but I haven't lived there for a long time now.

[heidiv23323]

Well, it ended up being a high of 73* today in southern VA. Tomorrow, we have a high of 40. It rained like crazy this am and then it got very windy. No thunder or power outages thou which I'm very grateful for. I couldn't wash the cars since by the time it stopped raining, the wind picked up so much so that I would have either gotten a very cold shower or the suds would have dried before I could get it rinsed off I did manage to clean the dog boogie marks off the inside of my car windows and get it all cleaned inside.

We did get hit hard this winter with snow. At one time, from one freak storm, we got 17" and our annual average is 6". We don't have the equipment down here either and it was a mess. Only the very main roads and highways will get plowed at all and no, people don't have snow tires etc. We are more scared of other drivers since we both learned to drive in the snow. A couple of our neighbors had to borrow our snow shovel since they don't own one ! I grew up in Erie, PA where the average snow fall is about
150 " . I feel blessed to live down here for now but that will change sometime this year as my husbands job will require us to move to DC. (at least they have plows and salt trucks LMAO)

Heidi