Northeast Faces Winter's First Major Snowstorm

[Matt Molnar]

Accuweather (http://wwwa.accuweather.com/news-top-headline.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=0&date=2007-02-11_09:38&month=2&year=2007):

Major Snowstorm For The East Looms
(State College, PA) - While any snowfall recently has been light, a storm set to strengthen in the southern Plains will spread a swath of plowable snow from the northern High Plains to the Ohio Valley Monday into Tuesday. The Northeast will then be under the gun for a significant amount of snow for Valentine's Day.

After the weekend ends on a mainly calm note across the eastern half of the nation, stormy and wintry weather will impact areas from the Plains to the East Coast during the first half of the workweek. The culprit behind the snow, rain and thunderstorms, which has already prompted Winter Storm Watches across the Ohio Valley, is the storm that will make for an unsettled day across the Western states today.

As the clash of frigid air to the north with warm and moist air pouring in from the south allows the storm to strengthen over the southern Plains, the Midwest Regional News story discusses how a swath of accumulating snow will spread from the northern High Plains to the Ohio Valley on Monday. The Ohio Valley will then continue to see snowfall at night into Tuesday as the storm slowly heads to the central East Coast. According to our Winter Weather Center, up to a foot of snow will impact places from northern Missouri to southwestern Pennsylvania by the end of Tuesday.

[nwafan20]

So, any of you get over 100 inches?

[Iberia A340-600]

Hm... Could this mean our first snow day of the season?

[hiss srq]

This is one I want to slow down and hold off till the latter part of the week please. Right now I am leaving at 0600 jours with the GF to hang with Mickey Mouse and Goofy for the day and come home Tuesday late night. I will be watching this one extremely closely. Maybe I do not need to bring golf clubs afterall.

[cancidas]

good luck coming home ryan. would suck to get stuck with such beautiful company...

[hiss srq]

Ha ha ha sheesh I wonder how I could pass the time!? ;)

[Iberia A340-600]

Yup, snow day has already been called.

:D

[Mellyrose]

I wish work had snow days. Hmph.

[T-Bird76]

Its raining here...so much for a major winter storm on Long Island.

[Mateo]

Work does have snow days... sorta :> My employer follows the Federal Government, which today in DC had an early dismissal due to the ice. It stopped snowing around 1pm Tuesday here in Washington, and has been all freezing rain and freezing drizzle since then, with a pretty significant buildup of ice. Just in the last few minutes, some sleet has started pelting the window, and it's expected to change over to rain during the overnight hours, but hopefully late enough for OPM to call a delayed opening for tomorrow!

[RDU-JFK]

Just sleet in the city--as usual the reporters make a mountain out of a molehill. North and West of the city there's more snow, but that's all you hear about on the news, thus giving the impression that it is worse than it really is.

[Mellyrose]

Getting pelted by hail on my way to work is the best way to wake up in the morning. :(

[nwafan20]

Another snow day out here in Michigan! We got about 7 inches, but we have blowing snow, so in one place you can have as little as 1 inch, but 20 yards away you would have 2 feet, no joke. There is an example of it in my backyard.

[PhilDernerJr]

Hiss, word on the street is that you got 8 inches last night. True?

[cancidas]

hiss wouldn't know 8 inches if it hit him in the face.



this wx is such a tease! last night, didn't snow 'till about 2000 ($10 in my pcoket) but i wake up this morning and it's starting to pile up. :( my truck is in the garage, i have nowhere to go and i wanna play in the SN!

[Mellyrose]

hiss wouldn't know 8 inches if it hit him in the face.

Oh, my.

[Art at ISP]

I ain't gonna go there......


In any case I just got done spreading 100 pounds of ice melt on my driveway----300 feet up a hill--the spreader gets very heavy when full.

It's much easier going down hill ;)

Hope you're all safe warm and dry.


Art

[Matt Molnar]

How is the plowing situation where everyone is? When I left Queens this morning, nothing had been plowed or sanded, which isn't unusual. Often the Dept of Sanitation concentrates their efforts on Manhattan early in a storm, so I figured Manhattan would be spotless. I was mistaken.

• When I got to Penn around 9:40am, nothing in that area had been plowed
• When I got to my office near Columbus Circle around 10:30am, nothing had been plowed
• It's 3pm, and looking out the window at the fairly busy intersection of 57th and Broadway, still nothing has been plowed except the westbound side of 57th, which was passed over once.

I know this isn't a huge amount of snow, but this is all going to freeze solid later if it isn't moved now. WTF is going on?

[T-Bird76]

I have to get to JFK tonight, I'm just hoping my flight doesn't get delayed to any extreme, I don't feel like getting into YVR at some horrible hour in the morning. I think I might have to take advantage of the free drinks in the One World lounge, hehe

[PhilDernerJr]

first I heard that there was a salt surplus and that they were goingot be "over-salting" to get rid of everything they had.

But I've heard from several people in several areas who say that there hasn't been any plowing.

I think I'll call 311 to complain. I urge all of you to do the same.

[PhilDernerJr]

There's a recoridng on 311 saying that plwos and salt trucks are being deployed throughout the city, and that they cannot receive complaints until it's done. haha

[moose135]

How is the plowing situation where everyone is?

Don't know how it looks in the city, but this piece from Newsday.com describes some of the challenges here on Long Island:


The NYSDOT had 200 trucks -- and 400 workers -- out on state roads across Long Island in the pre-dawn hours, putting down salt to melt whatever snow fell. The Nassau County Department of Works had between 110 and 120 trucks out, DPW commissioner Ray Ribeiro said, putting down salt and sand -- a lot of it to no avail, thanks to the continually changing conditions.

Part of the problem, experts said, is that plows generally need at least 2-3 inches of snow to be effective. And temperatures often need to be below 20 degrees for a brine solution -- sodium chloride -- to be effective melting ice on the roads.

Unfortunately for drivers, Long Island got neither of those conditions Wednesday morning.

The snow accumulation was little more than one inch in most areas. And the temperature hovered in the mid-20s.

[Matt Molnar]

57th and Broadway:

http://www.cheesebus.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/snow0214.jpg

[Iberia A340-600]

Up in here in Poughkeepsie they haven't done a very good job of plowing.

[hiss srq]

Long Beach is a giant sheet of ice. I am driving Alexa's car today and I was going oh **** all over the place sliding around when I got home from work. On another note we canceled 98% of our flights this morning and afternoon. That was fun. We had agents outside with memos turning people away before they even made it out of the cab. What a day with the ice and snow. Quite a few "green" USAirways birds at LGA today too.

[GrummanFan]

Here's a few pics from up here in Albany...Classes canceled, plows can't keep up, windy as heck, about two feet has piled up and it keeps on comin...

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c180/GrummanFan/sidewalkclosed.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c180/GrummanFan/stairway.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c180/GrummanFan/statue.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c180/GrummanFan/tractor.jpg

[moose135]

Here's a few pics from up here in Albany...Classes canceled, plows can't keep up, windy as heck, about two feet has piled up and it keeps on comin...

Who's that guy sitting out in the snow? Someone should get him a hat or something :D

[hiss srq]

looks like someone gave him a marlboro at lewast but that is probably a snow flake.

[cancidas]

due to the wx cxld all our departures and i'm stuck at work in a tower shaking in the 50kt wind waiting for the last of 4 flights that actually arrived to LGA today. :(

[Iberia A340-600]

Wow another snow day!

[Mateo]

If someone said that it needed to be below 20F for salt to work, he or she isn't that much of an expert! Salt lowers the freezing point of water, and thus is most effective as close to 32F as possible. Salt loses all of its efficacy once it gets below 18F, or so, which is why most cold weather cities (Montreal is the one that I have experience with) spread mostly gravel for traction, since there's nothing short of some very serious (and very expensive) chemicals that will melt snow at that point.

Here in DC, the main roads are all plowed, and bone dry. None of the side streets were plowed in time, and now resemble the texture and appearance of the surface of the moon, except it's made of ice! Any snow that was left untouched is now frozen completely solid, and you can walk on it like it was slippery cement.

[USAF Pilot 07]

It's not salt they were talking about... It's that liquid chemical solution they use.

Salt is terrible for cars because it eats away at them. Since most people don't wash their cars often, and especially don't wash their undercarriages, the salt will just eat away at stuff until something eventually washes it off.

Colorado doesn't use salt on roads for this reason. They use that chemical solution as well as sand. The only problem is that the chemical solution doesn't work nearly as well as salt does, and in larger snowstorms the chemical solution doesn't do much at all...

[cancidas]

i've got an idea. why doens't the city just declare a snow day every time snow is on the ground. that way, no more bitching that streets aren't plowed in time, no more salt getting dumped to corrode away at our streets and cars and all the school kids will be happy!

[Mateo]

The Newsday article referenced a liquid solution of Sodium Chloride, i.e., salt.

Out West, where it's often too cold for salt, I believe the chemical of choice is Calcium Magneisum Acetate, which is very effective at all temperatures, but also very expensive.

[USAF Pilot 07]

I believe the chemical of choice is Calcium Magneisum Acetate, which is very effective at all temperatures, but also very expensive.

And which also sucks in comparison to salt...