White Death From Above

**huntermj** · 02-24-2010, 07:37 PM

What a mess. The 2 inches of snow we were supposed to get has turned into nearly a foot of heavy wet mess.
Trees have knocked out power for some, I'm listing to the scanner and a transformer just blew out.
Cars off the road all over the place.
Tomorrow there forecasting, Get this, a Snowacane. up to 2 feet of white death with winds up to 70 mph.
Oh i just heard the transformer blew off the pole and is a tree, all power out in that area.
All emergency personal are working non-stop by the sounds of it.

My heating is an LP system so it workers without power.
Changed all flashlight batteries.
Pulled out the candles.
Pulled out the propane cook stove.
Cranked up the emergency radio.
If lose power i can charge the laptop off the solar panel batteries but i have it charging now to top it off.
Car fuel is toped off.
Where i live is kind of at the end of the power grid so i like to be ready.
The drive to work tomorrow should be interesting!

Anyone else affected by this storm?

**trax** · 02-24-2010, 07:39 PM

You might want to just call in tomorrow, partner, if you've got a phone that's working....just a thought. Take care and good luck.

**crashdive123** · 02-24-2010, 07:42 PM

Stay safe.

**Justin Case** · 02-24-2010, 07:43 PM

Good Luck..

**huntermj** · 02-24-2010, 07:47 PM

I just looked at the local paper and i may have understated things!

http://http://www.burlingtonfreepres.../big-snow.html

UPDATE 1:45 p.m.: A band of heavy snow is moving through the Champlain Valley and roads have iced up again. Police scanner traffic indicates Route 7 in Colchester at Sunny Hollow will briefly close because it's icy and impassable. Salt trucks are en route.

This band of snow will pass us by later this afternoon, and the precipitation will taper off to snow flurries, drizzle and fog as originally planned.

UPDATE 11 a.m. Snow continues to pile up fast in a lot of places, with some totals now approaching 20 inches.
The snow will tend to taper off as the afternoon wears on as some somewhat drier air moves in. By mid afternoon, it will be mostly areas of light snow and drizzle. Valley locations will start to thaw a little bit.

That would be good, eventually, as the snow will fall off the trees. At first, branches swinging back into place as they shed snow will cause more power failures, but after the snow is melted off, the outages will wane.

Up to 20,000 Central Vermont Public Service customers lost power last night and today.
In the town of Richmond, plowing was delayed because a power line fell across the road leading to the town garage. The trucks couldnt' get out until the power company fixed the line.
The power companies, are of course working to restore power, and the threat of a bad windstorm Friday has their backs up, because that will cause more trouble.

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION:
Well, it's certainly a winter wonderland out there this morning isn't it?
As in, I wonder if the power is going to stay on, and I wonder if I'll slide off the road on the way to work.

As of 8 a.m. or so, up to 14 inches of wet, heavy snow has fallen in Vermont
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It'll keep snowing for at least a few hours, but it will probably change to rain, or at least mix with it for awhile this afternoon in the Champlain Valley. In any event, expect at least 2-5 inches of
more wet snow by this afternoon. Maybe a little more than that in the mountains, as it will keep snowing there into tonight.

The official forecast calls for 8-12 inches total accumulation, but given the totals already and the prospect for more, I think it will be more like 10-20 inches. With a few isolated spots over two feet.

As you can see by the pictures of my yard I took this morning as I was getting a huge workout shoveling snow, the precipitation has stuck to the trees and power lines. I'm getting a lot of reports of power failures from all over, including Sheldon, Milton, Richmond and Shelburne.
This problem is going to continue much of the rest of the day, and maybe get worse.

Wet snow really makes roads bad. The wet
Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.snow compacts into ice, and the plows can't take it up. So all the roads are icy, rutted, just bad. Go slow, please

Things are going to be messy for awhile. In the valleys, it will rain tomorrow and probably tomorrow night, so look for areas of street flooding, since storm drains are going to be clogged big time.

By the way, be careful shoveling that snow. This slushy stuff is called "heart attack snow" for a reason. The kids are out of school, so get some healthy young buck to do the driveway so your ticker, or your back, doesn't explode.

To give you a sense on how heavy this is, you can see my St. Albans driveway in the second picture. There was only eight inches of snow, but it was so wet and heavy it took about two hours to shovel. Granted, it's a long driveway, but I'm strong and in good shape and I work fast. A regular, powdery eight inches of snow usually takes me a little under an hour to shovel

On the plus side, some forecasters had called for another foot or two of heavy wet snow Thursday and Friday, but they've backed off on that. Good. I don't know what I'd do with three feet of snow with the consistency of wet cement
It will rain and snow Thursday night and Friday, but most of it won't come down too hard.

On the negative, forecasters worry the storm could produce an epic windstorm, especially on the western slopes of the Green Mountains on Friday. It could rival the devastating wind storm that hit Rutland in April, 2007.

Keep checking back with this blog post. I'll file updates today as warranted.
Let's be careful out there, folks

**crashdive123** · 02-24-2010, 07:50 PM

I would welcome a storm like that here. It would shut things down for a month, but it sure would be fun to watch the show.

**Pal334** · 02-24-2010, 08:15 PM

We are expecting a bit of that storm starting in the early AM, we are lucky 12- 18 inches and 55 to 60 mph winds. Supposed to be a two day event. It will be that heavy wet heart attack snow. So it may be here awhile, I only use a broom or the snow blower. So am stocked up with bread, milk, eggs (aah haa you guys thouhgt I did not learn eh?). Plenty of gass for the blower. Already told work I would see them when I see them

**COWBOYSURVIVAL** · 02-24-2010, 08:27 PM

You all bluenecks can have it...I have no use for it...I ain't your typical Southern boy! I have lived all over the world and I chose not to have that kinda barrier in my life! HA! Good luck Yankee's! Stay safe! I'll be wishing ya'll good things to come! LOL~!~

**hunter63** · 02-24-2010, 08:42 PM

Getting lake effect snow, here, maybe 6", so we will see.
Hang in there, bud............sound like your ready.

**Ken** · 02-24-2010, 08:54 PM

I'm probably a bit over 100 miles southeast of you, right on the coast, hunter. It's 45* and we've had rain all day. Our forecast is for rain mixed with light snow throughout the weekend. No serious accumulation is expected.

**huntermj** · 02-24-2010, 08:55 PM

We yanks biitch about the snow a bit but really we love it. its just fun to biitch about it. I am looking forward to again being able to cross country ski from my door to the lake. I'm secretly hoping its too bad to go to work...but i have to get out a couple of bids and attend a prebid meeting that Ive been looking forward to. Its going to be confrontational with the city rep for housing.
In general we don't see the snow storms as an inconvenience but a distraction from the usual blahs of winter.
Its likes a license to play in the snow like a kid. I have noticed that peoples attitudes are brighter after a storm.

What, i cant say *****? LOL

**Ken** · 02-24-2010, 08:57 PM

I have a deep personal hatred for every single cold white flake that touches the surface of the earth

.............and I'm a yankee.

**Rick** · 02-24-2010, 08:57 PM

Snowing like a banchee here. We might get 2 inches before morning.

**hunter63** · 02-24-2010, 08:58 PM

Ah yes, kind of weather to curl up with a good book,....or a good blond.

**huntermj** · 02-24-2010, 09:04 PM

I love the snow.
But i love Anarchy....So.....
Ill be down in the Lowell Ma. area on Wednesday for a manufactures seminar.
Mass. freaks me out more then a snow storm.
I cant help think of it as Germany 1938.

**gryffynklm** · 02-24-2010, 09:09 PM

Randolph county didn't get it to bad. There is about 14 to 16 total accumulation. The bad part is the warm melt, freeze cold cycles causing unusually extreme ice damming. The old abandoned mill the town has been fighting to have taken down had a roof collapse. This stork is supposed to drop another 8" to 18 in the higher elevations.

My backyard from the old coach house.
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**pete lynch** · 02-25-2010, 06:20 AM

Originally Posted by Ken

I'm probably a bit over 100 miles southeast of you, right on the coast, hunter. It's 45* and we've had rain all day. Our forecast is for rain mixed with light snow throughout the weekend. No serious accumulation is expected.

I'm about 200 miles south of RI and we're getting light snow/high winds today. I've seen enough snow this winter and I don't care to see any more. I bought a utility canoe the week before the Blizzards of '10 and I'm itchin to take it out but the waters are under ice for weeks now. grrr....