FoolKiller's Snow Day

FoolKiller · Jan 28, 2009

So, yesterday we got about 3 inches of snow, which turned to freezing rain around mid-afternoon and continued on overnight. The only sign I had of problems before this morning was when my power flickered at 1:30 AM, waking us up. At that point I heard at least one tree fall due to the weight of the ice. Thinking that most trees are far enough from my house to not matter I didn't think anything of it.

This morning I woke up an hour early so that I could have plenty of time to get to work. I went out to make sure my car would start and let it heat up so that I could clean off the ice layer. Only when I walked outside I realized that would be a futile effort.

Just outside my door I see the spot where I normally park my car:

Those branches are normally higher than the roof of my house. Fortunately, the driveway was too slick to fight with getting my car in properly and I had just brought it in far enough to get it out of the way.

So, I turn to go down to my car when I am greeted by this:

Back inside to call my boss. I won't be in today.

That is half of a tree.

I am estimating 18-24 inches thick.

Looking down the length of my front yard you can see another branch down there. Since taking this picture two more equally sized branches fell, one in the road on the left, but the state came by and took care of that one.

And looking up the hill toward the other house on the property I find my neighbor's tree uprooted and landed in my driveway as well.

This is looking toward the house from my car.

Then I decide to check out back and see what it looked like there. No trees down, but plenty of ice. That is a patio chair, patio table, and outdoor fireplace.

This is where my chainsaw is being kept.

I had to kick the lock to get the ice off of it.

These are a tree branch coated in a half inch of ice, one with my finger for perspective.

And that is the power lines coming into the house.

So, I have finally removed the first tree from my drive. It took a while to even be able to as it was still freezing rain until almost 10:00 AM. I had to cut it along the right-hand side of the drive, in the pictures, and then cut it down the middle to make it so that four guys could roll it. In the process I broke and then fixed my chainsaw, because the bolt that held the casing with the chain tensioner came loose and I suddenly had a chain not on the chain bar. Somewhere in all of that I cut my hand, but it tis but a flesh wound. The fact that I never realized I did anything until I took off my glove and saw blood tells you how minor it was.

Currently the neighbors are working on removing their tree and then I will be free to roam about again. Not that I plan on leaving, unless the power goes out for good.

During all of the power flickering the receiver for my surround sound system went into standby mode and refuses to come on now. I have unplugged it in the hope that it is just in some weird safety mode and will reset. Any suggestions on what it may be doing and how to fix it, if possible, would be helpful.

All in all no one or thing has been hurt and my office may be losing power at any minute anyway, as the pole for the power lines next to the building snapped and has been hanging all day. So, I may not be going to work tomorrow either.

I know Kentucky isn't the only one to get hit by this, so anyone else with stories/pictures would be great.

Philly · Jan 28, 2009

Glad nobody was hurt and you guys didn't get any property damage...

That all looks pretty cool though, with all the ice and icicles. This storm missed Michigan for the most part so we only got about a half inch of anything last night.

TB · Jan 28, 2009

Wow. For once I have nothing to one-up with... :lol:

It's actually... nice out here. I guess I know where it went. Good thing about your car and house. I saw on the news last night that others weren't so fortunate.

FoolKiller · Jan 28, 2009

Well, we are fortunate to still have power, where there are roughly 375,000 homes without power right now. In September we had 600,000 without power, but it was moderate weather. With highs not getting above freezing through the weekend this is dangerous. Some towns are even reporting full 100% blackouts, meaning you can't just crash with a nearby friend for a day or two.

I would have preferred to go in to work and had a normal day, but I consider myself lucky to have just had to clear a driveway, using an electric chainsaw.

UnoMOTO · Jan 28, 2009

Yeah...we don't get that ice thing out here much either. Life sure is an adventure sometimes. I'm glad all is well and nothing major got damaged.

Thanks for the pictures!

ceiling_fan · Jan 28, 2009

Yowza, pretty intense! We definitely don't get anything like that out here... good thing your car (not to mention house!) were unscathed.

FoolKiller · Jan 28, 2009

UnoMOTO
Thanks for the pictures!

When I heard the weather report last night I actually plugged in my battery charger so that even if I lost power I would have enough charge to grab pictures. All in the name of, "Something cool MIGHT happen."

Or it is a sign that I have been working in a job that revolves around the media for way too long.

Sting · Jan 28, 2009

Whats with the selective positioned ice on the VDub? lol

Would love to get snow and iceicles (sp?) like that here, of course without the issue of tree becoming a falling hazard.

FoolKiller · Jan 28, 2009

Sting
Whats with the selective positioned ice on the VDub? lol

The thicker stuff is what didn't melt off when I drove home last night and so accumulated even more overnight. The thinner, or lacking sections were clean when I got home.

Would love to get snow and iceicles (sp?) like that here, of course without the issue of tree becoming a falling hazard.

As awesome as it looks, it creates all around hazards. That kind of thing only happens with severe freezing rain (not to be confused with sleet) and typically means there will be power outages and a thick layer of ice on the roads.

Fortunately, we had snow first this time around so when they scraped the roads they could get under the ice to the snow and pull it up, taking the ice with it. If you get the ice first then scraping the snow off means you are just uncovering pure ice.

opelgt1969 · Jan 28, 2009

Look on the bright side once you cut up that tree limb you can build a fire in your outdoor firepit and melt the ice off of it; but if your luck is like mine the melting ice will put the fire out. I'm also glad it stayed north of me but we might be getting it tonight when I went to work this morning it was in the 50's right now its close to 40 with very cold windy rain! :nervous:

Watevaman · Jan 28, 2009

We got a few inches here in N. VA as well, but the ice is nowhere near as bad as that and no trees have fallen (thank god for that, because a few in my backyard lean towards the house).

exigeracer · Jan 28, 2009

I lived through a pretty devastating ice storm in 1998. It was incredible to see the force of mother nature and how easily it can knock you on your ass. Nothing like a week or two without power! As a kid, it was a pretty fun thing to live through. I remember my friend going up to a telephone pole to pull the casing of ice off of it, and as he did, a chunk of ice fell from the top of the pole, falling through his hands and landing by his feet. I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't there. The chunk was the size of a dinner plate and a good inch and a half thick and would've done some serious damage to his coco.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_ice_storm_of_1998

Brett · Jan 28, 2009

Here in Oklahoma, we had something very similar last year. If you were to look at my house and the surrounding areas on Street View on Google Maps, you would find some of the aftermath of the ice storm, namely all of the tree limbs that and been cut up and placed at the street for collection. Actually, the storm here produced very similar results.

I missed work today because the S2000 would not get any traction on the ice that has been here since Monday. I backed the S2000 out of the garage and down the driveway and immediately became stuck in the road. I managed to get the S2000 in the driveway and decided that is where the car would stay, as I was not going to be able to make it to work. Just a bit ago, enough of the ice had melted and the road was enough slush that I was able to get the car back in the garage.

Omnis · Jan 28, 2009

Over here, today is sunny, blue, and breezy. Hace fresco.

FoolKiller · Jan 28, 2009

And I now have aftermath pics. If you all thought it looked cool with just the ice check it out after a good inch or two of snow has been added.

First, Jack, that'd be my car's name, now has a fairly even covering.

Next my drive is now open for business.

It may just be me, but this guy missed a chance at a quick $20-$40. My wife knows a guy that does it for $40, but he can't say when he will make it out.

I think I found the problem.

Here you can see the glacial layers forming on my car. The clear stuff is ice from last night and then you can see the division with snow on top.

And look how much more awesome my back deck looks with the added snow.

And for those who are familiar with the royal gate and fence, it has even stacked up on their narrow edges.

Also, I believe I may know why my power keeps flickering. This has been like this since Christmas. We have called the electric company twice before now. They'll definitely be getting another call.

And finally, to guarantee that this day isn't a total loss my wife has been introduced to the awesomeness that is Snow Cream.

You guys chat amongst yourselves, I have snow cream to eat.

Mrs. Famine · Jan 28, 2009

Your driveway scares me. I'd be pooing my pants that everytime I drove down it in adverse weather, that I'd be going straight across the road and down the drop at the other side :nervous:

UnoMOTO · Jan 28, 2009

FoolKiller
And for those who are familiar with the royal gate and fence, it has even stacked up on their narrow edges.

You have know idea how close I was to asking for that picture this morning!

FoolKiller · Jan 28, 2009

Nah, going down is the easy part.

This is the drive I grew up with. The house way at the bottom is by the road.

Many times I have gotten a car stuck, spun it around, slid down sideways, etc. In comparison my current drive is just a wee baby.

I wish I had one from the bottom up, but I can't find any.

When we got 24 inches in 1994 my mom and I were stuck without power for 5 days, staying warm by closing off everything but the room with the wood-burning fireplace, and cooking soup over the fire.

The big difference between now and then? I was 14 and it was fun (Man was a sled on that hill a blast). Now I am 29 and my back and shoulders ache.

Thiele · Jan 28, 2009

Wow, all i'll say is it was 48C here yesterday.

YSSMAN · Jan 29, 2009

Philly
This storm missed Michigan for the most part so we only got about a half inch of anything last night.

True that. Although, our road people were lazy this morning and didn't take care of the two inches that were on the road. Thankfully it was sunny today, so that took care of most of it, but as its snowing and kinda windy, I'm a bit worried about ice for tomorrow morning.

...Although nothing by comparison to whats going on south of here...

===

Glad to see that it missed the car though! And the other car! And the house!

Stuff like this happens semi-frequently up here, although these days its been more snow than ice, seems like we haven't had an ice storm since the fall.

FoolKiller · Jan 29, 2009

Well, I am happily back at work this morning. I wish I had brought my camera. Entire trees down in the parking and a power pole snapped about two-thirds up (but still connected).

Plus all the tables outside have even more icecicles than my stuff at home.

Driving in, some of the side roads have trees blocking entire lanes. This clean up is still days off. The electric company in Louisville is saying it will be a week before everyone has power again.

Delirious · Jan 29, 2009

Cincinnati reporting...2-4 inches of snow, 1/2-1 inches of ice, then 4-6 inches of snow on top of that. Third day of a bunch of schools closed. Some of the counties are cutting back on funding and one place is the snow plows...they said that some streets just need to be "passable" even if there is still snow on it.

Sniffs · Jan 29, 2009

thanks for the report from cincy. I have an uncle that lives down there (formerly on friggin Vine Street).

man, we didn't get diddly squat outa this storm except the snow...we had a thin coat of ice instead of the monster everybody else got....ours all turned straight to snow, instead. more roads drifted shut than you'd believe. and all this mess was NORTH of I80. I live right on the transition zone with the weather. 15 miles south of me, it's all freezing rain instead of snow, or no rain whatsoever.

while the rest of you guys are chipping away, I'm looking out the window at a Christmas spectacular

btw, I allready offered an aussie bud to ship em a few cubic meteres of this snow. i KNOW you guys need a breather.

Keef · Jan 30, 2009

Oh, I've had a wonderful time up here in Dayton. Our ice and sleet wasn't nearly as bad as yours down south, FK, and we got a bunch more snow. But still, when the snow plows get the top layers of snow off they uncover the untreated ice underneath. I say just leave the snow there, lol.

This is what it looked like after our initial three or so inches Tuesday afternoon, which started Tuesday morning:

As you can see it's not that bad, and not even enough to cover the grass completely. But then the sleet and big snow forecast was delayed again and again, finally coming that night and the snow on Wednesday morning, a day late. Late Tuesday we got a nice half-inch layer of ice on everything, and on many roads it was sitting on top of an untouched three inches of snow and slush. Wednesday morning at 7 AM the big snow started, and by 9:00 I was on the road heading for my buddy's house:

Yes, this is a Geo Tracker with a snow plow:

The roads were perfectly passable thanks to the magic tires. We'd seen a few cars spun off the highway throughout the day, but not many screw ups in general. Hardly anyone was out, so accidents and the like were minimal.

In the early afternoon the snow stopped, and the sun came out to ruin everything:

Overall I'm excited that we finally got a big snow. Hopefully it's not the only one for the year.

FoolKiller · Jan 30, 2009

Well, I brought my camera to work today. Once I get some decent daylight I will take some pictures around here. I tried this morning but my camera couldn't get a good focus with the low light and my unsteady hands.

Thiele · Jan 30, 2009

Sniffs
btw, I allready offered an aussie bud to ship em a few cubic meteres of this snow. i KNOW you guys need a breather.

Haha i'll take it :lol:

, we got 48C the other day.

I'll give you a Monaro or a Commodore SS.

nick09 · Jan 30, 2009

You should see what we got in Saratoga Springs, NY. The image below was taken wednesday morning of the local neighborhood. I'd say we nearly got a foot of snow that day and power nearly went out two times.

FoolKiller · Jan 30, 2009

And now, for pictures from my office:

This tree used to stand next to my window.

This is the utility pole that runs electricity to our building. We will lose power, even if it is just when they fix it.

And a look at all the snow and ice:

And this tree is across the street. I wanted to get some of the nearby neighborhood, but a lot of cleanup has taken place there.

Sniffs · Jan 30, 2009

i haven't seen much in the way of broken limbs and suck, here. we had that one year, of course (the cam we had at the time was a piece of crap), and it collapsed the porch. unfortunately, that set of pics was on our first computer's hard drive.

it's been mostly poofy snow. it's the 15 farenheight/minus 15 celcius during the day that's the bigger pain.

foolkiller: a couple of those outside shots are photography competition worthy.

Thiele: I'll take a Ute and an AB falcon instead

and I bloody hope that ute has 4wd/awd

Solid Lifters · Jan 30, 2009

Looks like you guys really got pounded by a snow storm. There's a loveliness to the carnage...

I'm in short pants on account it's nearly 80 degrees outside...

FoolKiller's Snow Day

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