The Big Nor'easter

[davet]

Any updates? How's everyone making out?

 

[papipeguy]

32" as of 9:00 PM at the airport in Allentown, which is 2 miles from our house.

 

[derfatdutchman]

18 inches in the Pocono's. I'll start digging us out in the morning.

 

[davet]

32" wow! Makes for a lot of work afterwards but even though I lived my entire life with storms like this it's still kind of exciting. If it's a big snowfall sometimes the wife and I'll take the truck for a drive into town, the streets almost empty and just cruise around.

 

[ssjones]

Right at 32" here in Maryland. My driveway is clear, but our road hasn't been touched. I think that even our 4X4 Silverado might struggle out there. The good news is no power failures.
The Governor of Maryland closed I-70 and I-270 last night. The news shows 270 (Main artery to the DC Beltway) just reopened. I'm guessing not much is open here.
I have to go out and remove the last couple of inches of snow from the driveway and walk. Other than that, Championship football for me.
It was in the single digits last night, but we're expecting a sunny day, so that should help unfreeze the area.

 

[ssjones]

The view from our bedroom. Just across the Potomac (about 2 miles away), Shepherdstown WV is reporting 40.5" of snow, a record.

And our covered patio, where I enjoy a nice pipe in the summer.

Grabbed this off our local newspaper web site, haven't seen a paper for a couple of days...(we're in that Clearspring area).

 

[davet]

That's amazing, not often you see that amount down there. They never close highways up here.

 

[skraps]

I think our final snowfall totals here in Philly were around 20 in. Biggest issues were wind and drifting and the city not being able to clear streets effectively.
All over now. Clear skies and brilliantly sunny today. Should be in the 40's and melting by Tuesday.

 

[conlejm]

Thanks for taking a bullet for us up here in the northeast. We got nary a flake of snow from the storm up here in NH. Normally we see several of those big storms here each winter. I do not like them at all.

 

[mso489]

Damn, that's some awe inspiring snow depth, if you aren't a native of Buffalo, Minnesota, the Dakotas, or Canada. Now I just have to watch the ice sheet slowly melt. It's deceptively innocuous looking. A few friends who've broken bones in winter weather over the years, it is always after the first good melt or two, just some peevish little ice patch they didn't see. Humility before the ice gods is important. Also, watch your dog wrapping the leash around you on poor footing. Dogs have four wheel drive and aren't too concerned about it, no harm intended.

 

[derfatdutchman]

Finally done digging out, measured 18 inches in the driveway. The old snowblower got a real workout, can't remember the last snow I had where it was higher than the intake. Then we drove over and dug my parents out.

 

[brian64]

 

[ssjones]

And we are out. No county snow plows yet, but a neighbor with a front-end-loaded John Deere did our street & cul-de-sac. We took the truck out to check on my parent and check the lot of one of our restaurants (closed). It is all just one-lane open on all the secondary roads, with fools in cars getting stuck, we we didn't stay out long. The sun is shining and we're getting a nice melt at 37 degrees.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Great photo. Reminds me of my days of yore!

 

[dustmite]

Well, 3 hours of shoveling, a sore back and a pulled muscle in my torso and I'm ready to go to work tomorrow... Still can't measure how much we actually got because of the drifting, but it was at least 2 feet.

 

[aldecaker]

Reminds me of my childhood in Upstate New York. We lived in sticksville, middle of nowhere. Closest actual city would have been Rome. I've lived in the southern Arizona desert for so long now, I don't what I'd do if I saw more than a dusting of the white stuff! You guys stay safe in the icy aftermath of this guy.

 

[fnord]

Guys:
2nd Lt. Ben Fnord, stationed at USMC Base: Quantico shoveled 27 inches, per directive, to clear way to parking lot and points thereafter late last night. Quantico has been declared a "Code Red - Base Closed" and I was surprised that after "A Few Good Men" anybody in the Corps would be allowed to use that phrase again.
"Food and beer situation after the snow-in?"
"All good, Pops. I've got a 40 left and pizza. The road to Stafford should be open tonight.
Rest well, America.
Fnord

 

[woodsroad]

I made two passes with the snowblower, one at the midpoint of the storm on Saturday morning, the next after it was all over, on Sunday morning. All told, about 2' of medium-density snow. Sun was out, no wind this morning. It was 14º, but felt a lot warmer as I walked the dogs. Beavers had poked a hole through the ice in a deep spot on the stream in the next valley, and the roads had already warmed up enough that the slush had started to melt.
I love snow storms, especially since I no longer have to go out and make pictures of them for the newspaper. This was certainly one to remember.

 

[okiescout]

"Dear Al Gore" :rofl:
Yeah but it made him rich, dude! The facts are why he had to change it from "global warming" to "climate change". Don't cha just love real science. :roll:

 

[mso489]

We were fortunate that the big storm, an ice storm in these parts, hit at a relatively opportune time. My wife had had orthopedic surgery and then went to assisted care to heal and get p.t. and o.t. and more continual care than I could give her at home. Luckily, she'd moved from the hospital to assisted care before the biggie hit. I'm moving her home tomorrow, and today I moved much of her clothing, gear, books and a wheelchair back home, just in time that the ice had melted enough so I could get the car up the driveway on some dry pavement, just barely. Going down, the car side-slid a little. If it stays above freezing, tomorrow should be passable, although rain is expected. When we scheduled the surgery for November -- later to be rescheduled in January -- I said, just don't get us into the ice season. Right. But I'm not complaining. Somehow it worked.