# History making snow storm



## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

Headed for mid west (?) and east coast later this week. Supposed to be the worst on record......ever.

For those of you in harm's way, be safe and don't drive unless you have to.

http://news.yahoo.com/winter-storm-jonas-northeast-dc-nyc-boston-152847468.html#


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Remember that the news media has to draw viewers, to keep its ad revenues up.
Thus, they inflate the importance and impact of fairly normal, natural conditions: "Keep watching, folks. This may turn out to be The Storm of the Millennium!"

In 1947 (see Post #4), New York City experienced more than two feet of snow in one day. Everybody was snowed-in until the various building superintendents had cleared their respective sidewalks.
On our street, we kids got from one side to the other by tunnelling through the street-choking snowdrifts that were about six feet deep.

But the subway kept running, and the busses and taxis were back in operation on the third day. Stores opened too. It was during the Christmas holiday, so the schools were closed anyway.

Let me know, if it gets worse than that.


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## Mark9117 (Jan 18, 2016)

We had a Snowmageddon, or "Storm of the Century" on December 26 and 27th 2015. I spent almost 12 hours stuck in a 4wd pickup stuck in a ditch. You didn't see it on the news? Ah, right. I live in the sticks, the back of beyond, the tail end of the world. Less than 75,000 people were affected and only 2 people and 2,000 dairy cows died. That's not national news.

But anyway, I'm okay now.

Mark


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## Cait43 (Apr 4, 2013)

Take a look back at the Blizzard of 1947, which held New York City's snowfall record for almost 60 years - AOL

1947 Milwaukee WI
The Blizzard of '47


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Cait43 said:


> Take a look back at the Blizzard of 1947, which held New York City's snowfall record for almost 60 years - AOL


That's the one! (See Post #2, in this thread.)


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Mark9117 said:


> We had a Snowmageddon, or "Storm of the Century" on December 26 and 27th 2015. I spent almost 12 hours stuck in a 4wd pickup stuck in a ditch.


Good Lord!
I hope that you could run the engine occasionally, so the heater would keep you warm.
You wouldn't die of thirst, but I bet you were hungry!



Mark9117 said:


> ...2,000 dairy cows died...


"Oh, the humanity..."


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## Cait43 (Apr 4, 2013)

Now this is a lot of snow........


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

Don't like snow, don't like cold... it's explained in my handle.

Our worse snow storms in this area in my lifetime were the blizzard of '66, a monster in '79, bad one in '96, and snowmageddon in 2010. The ones in '66, '79, and 2010 were all over 2 feet deep (I think '79 hit 27 inches). That's a lot of snow for this area.


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## CW (Mar 20, 2015)

'95 was our 3 foot dumping. I also remember '84-85? we got some impressive snow drifting. 
My white Escort SW disappeared under quite a pile of snow. But Uniroyals and fwd allowed that car to go through all kinds of crud.

But we had nastier ice storms in the last few years. Snow you can plow, even blown snow drifts, but ice wrecks trees and has to melt just so the utility crews can fix all the power outages. 


I finally swapped the mower deck for the plow blade. My Kubota is ready.


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## RK3369 (Aug 12, 2013)

I'm ready too. We're having our annual community oyster roast this weekend. WTF is snow???? Forecast here is mid 50's and cloudy. You like snow, stay in the Great White North. I left in 2007, never going back. And particularly never going back since Dictator/Governor Benito Mussolini Cuomo effectively threw the 2A out the door with the 'rammed down your throat Safe Act". I lived near Syracuse during the blizzard of 66. We were out of school for a week. Road didn't get plowed for 5 days. Being a kid, it was fun. I don't recall that we ever lost power so it was a great treat to get out of school for that long. Of course, only 16 and didn't have to worry about going to work or driving anywhere much, so it was great back then. Now, I don't even want to see snow on the news.


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

And I'll be out in the Sonoran Desert this weekend.


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## RK3369 (Aug 12, 2013)

desertman said:


> And I'll be out in the Sonoran Desert this weekend.


will you have to take a snow shovel along?????


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

RK3369 said:


> will you have to take a snow shovel along?????


Not very likely, just my wife and coupla' .45's maybe. 


> High and dry in the long hot day
> Lost and lonely every way
> Got the flats all around me sky up above
> Yes I need a little water of love
> ...


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## high pockets (Apr 25, 2011)

SouthernBoy said:


> Don't like snow, don't like cold... it's explained in my handle.
> 
> Our worse snow storms in this area in my lifetime were the blizzard of '66, a monster in '79, bad one in '96, and snowmageddon in 2010. The ones in '66, '79, and 2010 were all over 2 feet deep (I think '79 hit 27 inches). That's a lot of snow for this area.


Complete agreement here. 1993 13" of snow in Birmingham, AL. Airport, and entire city, was closed for 4 days.

I know it doesn't sound like too much, but at the time the only snow equipment B'ham had was two guys with shovels and a pick-up truck full of sand. By the 4th day after the snowstorm, it was 60 degrees and all was better.

No, I wasn't home; I was stuck in a hotel in Baltimore until the airport re-opened. Spoke often to my wife who kept threatening to burn the picnic table. Fortunately I was able to talk her out of it. BTW, the picnic table was made of treated lumber and would have killed her if she had put it in the fireplace.

The best part came after the storm. The illustrious mayor of B'ham at the time (Arrington) came on the news and told people the city would never be paralyzed again. He saw to it that the city bought *A* snowplow. Imagine that, one snowplow for a city of 1 million people! Real smart guy.

Oh well, stay in and stay safe if the big snow gets to any of you, wherever you are.


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## CW (Mar 20, 2015)

A snowplow...... 3x 55 gallon drum halves welded to the front of a 1980 F350. Right?

Surprised he didn't outsource to Maine or Alaska. They are experienced in this kind of stuff.


Reminds me of a local Walmart manager who spent a few K removing snow from the store roof. 
And the home office raised quite a stink.
Corporate just could not comprehend Northeast values of snow load, deflection, and imminent collapse.



I was looking at the previous old picture and saw a couple things,

bare ground in the background,
those are telegraph wires along a train track, not powerlines

this is a railroad cut completely filled in with snow - likely packed - dense stuff.
I'll bet that was a bear clearing out..... Where's the Rotary !??! ... might be the steam column in the background.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

CW said:


> ...I was looking at the previous old picture and saw a couple things,
> 
> bare ground in the background,
> those are telegraph wires along a train track, not powerlines
> ...


I think that you're right on all counts.


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## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

Tractors full of fuel scrap blade on the back see if the weather gets bad and make money cleaning parking lots and drives. I can not control the weather only how I react to it.


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## rustygun (Apr 8, 2013)

That picture definitely looks like railroad pole line.

I was traveling today. There were several convoys of power and tree trucks heading east across the Ohio turnpike. I would have to say I seen at least 250 trucks headed that way.


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## Slowalkintexan (Feb 6, 2007)

Live in Western Michigan right along the shoreline. Get some little thing called 'lake effect' snow.. Of course the media makes it out as cataclysmic . To us it's just normal day to day, the coffee shop is still open for morning coffee and the scenery Is beautiful . Wouldn't leave here for all the cockroaches in Florida, oh, sorry, my bad, you call then Palmetto bugs. And talk about peaceful. We've got it in spades.


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## CW (Mar 20, 2015)

With the local power company mergers, Line crews appear to be shaved to bare essentials, requiring shifting of crews form other states.

Sometimes I wonder just how much they really save in labor vs, lodgings, overtime, safety compromises..... 
[I've seen single repairmen up in buckets with no spotter or even a co-worker around to call for help]


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## rustygun (Apr 8, 2013)

CW said:


> With the local power company mergers, Line crews appear to be shaved to bare essentials, requiring shifting of crews form other states.
> 
> Sometimes I wonder just how much they really save in labor vs, lodgings, overtime, safety compromises.....
> [I've seen single repairmen up in buckets with no spotter or even a co-worker around to call for help]


Yea from what I understand these crews are paid around the clock whether their resting or not, from the time they start their travel. Those guys love storms "pennies from heaven".


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## CW (Mar 20, 2015)

rustygun said:


> Yea from what I understand these crews are paid around the clock whether their resting or not, from the time they start their travel. Those guys love storms "pennies from heaven".


Being that its likely union contract, and minus Bonified Rest Periods, they are making top dollar.


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## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

The strom has been good to my bank account so far and even better after I have lunch and warm up


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

CW said:


> Being that its likely union contract, and minus Bonified Rest Periods, they are making top dollar.


Yeah, OK. But just how upset will you be, when the power goes out...and stays out for a few days?

Up here, on this little island, we have a serious power-out at least once a year.
The last time, strong winds blew a huge tree into the lines, and it took seven power poles out, starting where our power cable from the mainland comes onto the nearest island in the archipelago.
It took the better part of a working week to fix, which means that the lights and electric heat were off, refrigerators and freezers were dead, and the water pumps didn't work.
We're members of a 20-family water system, and our reserve tank held enough for us to get by, but some folks' food spoiled, and only those of us with wood stoves had heat. Our oil lamps got a really good workout.
Lemme tell ya: We were thankful for the power crews standing by during the storm. It took them a couple of hours to load their stuff onto a ferry and get to the downed lines, but they were up and ready when they were needed.


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## rustygun (Apr 8, 2013)

Working for the railroad I have been apart of a couple storm clean ups. If the local maintenance force can't keep up to keep trains rolling they will call us to help. I don't know if I will get called out for this one or not. Society takes a pretty steep nose dive when the power goes out for an extended time. People all the sudden turn into thieves. Stores run out of supplies in a heart beat. Some people turn into animals in 3 to 4 days. After the first time I went out on a clean up when I got home I invested in a generator. It isn't any thing to fancy but it will keep the bare necessities running. People are definitely happy to see guys from the power company. We are often confused with the power company, people ask us when the power will be back on some nice some not so nice. We have to explain we work for the railroad. 

Being a lineman is a very dangerous job. I believe at one time it was the deadliest job. It was probably about 2 years ago we were working in the same area as a power crew and one guy got killed. He just made a simple mistake and that was all it took. So if you see them give em a break they are there to help you and they are working to get your power on as quickly and safely as possible.


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## CW (Mar 20, 2015)

Steve M1911A1 said:


> Yeah, OK. But just how upset will you be, when the power goes out...and stays out for a few days? ......


Ben there, done that several times - 4.5 days has been the longest run. We have a generator.

I pray for the safety of linemen. it is a very dangerous job. I use to work for the local utility system albeit in an Information Services function. 
As for the managers and bean counters concerned about profit,

I consider linemen [includes women] lives far more valuable. Any griping is certainly not with the men with the polecats [trucks], but more the polecats being stingy with men.

Lost power with this big storm. And the brave crews had us back up later during the snow. Thank You Linemen!

Later on Sunday after hours of blowing and plowing snow, I heard some loud shooting.

They say black power does better when its cold and clear.


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## AZdave (Oct 23, 2015)

desertman said:


> And I'll be out in the Sonoran Desert this weekend.


I was there also.


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## dereckbc (Jan 2, 2016)

Hope you guys are having fun shoveling Global Warming.


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## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

I enjoyed this storm now I can afford a new Henry Big Boy


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

AZdave said:


> I was there also.
> View attachment 1941


Was that you I heard making all that noise?


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## Kennydale (Jun 10, 2013)

SNOW what's that ? had 70 degree weather today in Gulf Coast Texas.


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

Do like I know a guy did a few years back. He went out and plunked down almost $3K on a big, bad-azz, all the bells & whistles, snow blower. I think it was even nuclear-powered. 

It pretty much just sat in his garage for almost three years. :anim_lol:


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

My wife was flying from fla ,into JFK SATURDAY, bound eventually for Barcelona Spain to meet up with her girl friends(boarding a cruise ship), WELL, that's the story she's telling me, lol, kidding (hopefully).

She diverted to Detroit , boarded again then landed in Amsterdam, then finally flew to Barcelona. Then shuttled to the cruise ship, whew. THATS WAY TO MUCH WORK TO HAVE A GOOD TIME,LOL.
She just emailed me , won 3200$ on the slot machine, oh boy. But I know better,,,, that money will get put right back into the slots, lol. 

My wife books our cruise's through the casino dept. of the ship. I don't always go. They give her the cruise for free.. But trust me, they know they'll make their money back plus some,, at the slots,lol. Unless she wins big.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Well, first of all, tell her that the odds at blackjack and craps are somewhat more in the player's favor, than at the machines.
Second, remind her that cruise-ship food isn't particularly good.
Third, tell her that the casino at Monte Carlo is lots prettier, even though it stays in one place.


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## AZdave (Oct 23, 2015)

desertman said:


> Was that you I heard making all that noise?


Unfortunately I was hiking, not shooting. So it was someone else.


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

Steve M1911A1 said:


> Well, first of all, tell her that the odds at blackjack and craps are somewhat more in the player's favor, than at the machines.
> Second, remind her that cruise-ship food isn't particularly good.
> Third, tell her that the casino at Monte Carlo is lots prettier, even though it stays in one place.


You're 100% right about those odds. Myself, I will not gamble, but I do enjoy watching others gamble. I don't have the patience to be successful.


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

Let me back track a little about my gambling. I will not gamble on a cruise ship, lol. BUT,,

I do enjoy betting on thoroughbred horses, met Some famous riders, Pat Day, Jerry Bailey. 
Been handicapping horses on n off for 40 years. Use to run some betting sheets for a couple bookies before I was old enough to work, lol.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

OK. Know any "sure thing" tips worth sharing?

The last time I bet on the ponies, I was maybe 12 years old, on the trotters at Saratoga, in New York State.
My father and his friends wanted more to drink than to bet, and Saratoga was a nice place in which to hang out, so I was given a fist-full of one-dollar bills, maybe $10.00, and told to see what I could do with it.
When I went up to the "win" window to place my very first bet, the nice man in the cage told me that to bet on "win" was a mug's game. He told me to pick a likely horse with good odds, and bet on it to "place" or "show." A decent horse should stand a good chance of making second- or third-place, he said.

So I did exactly what the nice man had suggested that I do, and by the time we were ready to go home, I had turned the original $10.00 into $30.00.
Why ruin a good reputation? I quit while I was ahead, and I've never again bet on the horses.


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

Been to Saratoga one time, beautiful place. About a three hour drive when I lived near Rochester, NY.

The smart money usually plays "win" "place" or "show". 

:smt1099


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