Snow?

[altivo]

Normally I rejoice in the news that a snowstorm is predicted. Right now, NOAA is saying 1 to 3 inches here this afternoon and evening. At least one Chicago station has already upped it to 4 to 7 inches. Typically I'd just make sure the woodbox and pantry are full and sit back and enjoy it.

However, my little brother is in St. Charles for some kind of training conference. I haven't seen him in over four years, and we are planning to drive down this afternoon to have dinner with him. He is supposed to fly back to DC in the morning, early (well, probably not if we get 7 inches.)

I have a Jeep. I grew up driving in Michigan, where snow and ice is normal winter stuff. I know how to do this. The problem is, more than half the drivers around here seem to have not the least idea how to handle it, and especially so at the first heavy snow of the season. I'm faced with the decision whether to take state and county backroads that will not be as regularly cleared, but will have much less idiot traffic, or federal and interstate roads that will be heavily salted and plowed but will also be full of total idiots who think they can still drive 80 mph as they usually do. In these conditions, I fear the other drivers far more than I fear the weather, so probably it's the country roads for us.

Comments

[niko-winterset.livejournal.com]

*nuzzles* Be careful no matter what choice you make Tivo. It sounds like a potentially dangerous or at least tough trip to make.

Since you are from snow country this may be a perfect question for you and quite appropriate since you mention travel in bad conditions.

Some 12 or 13 years ago I was in Milwaukee for Thanksgiving. We left there in the wee hours of the morning and suddenly found ourselves in near white-out conditions, snowing so hard you literally could not see much beyond the hood of the car. It was around 3am or so and I was creeping along on the interstate at maybe 30 miles an hour. I was shocked when tractor-trailers started passing us at or above the speed limit, with..now get this...no headlights on and only their flashers and parking lights in use.

Have you ever seen anything like that before or was my experience just a random event involving idiotic drivers?

Storm

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

That, alas, is not that unusual, aside from the no-headlights thing. I've been passed by fast-moving semis in significant snowstorms and it's very unnerving. I'm not sure how they manage, unless there is a ground blizzard thing going on and if they have a view above it.

I experienced a (fairly minor, I suppose) ground blizzard once on a trip through the Dakotas. The sky was clear and I could see stars. But the snow was being driven by the wind so much that I could not see the road. I knew where the road was as it was between the reflective markers and such. It was a very surreal experience.

[niko-winterset.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, that is not all that comforting to know this happens on at least a somewhat regular basis. I probably would not have been so skittish about this if I had not been in a Mustang GT and everytime I shifted gears the back end wanted to swap with the front. :P

I believe they ended up getting about 8 to 10 inches in just a few hours.

We managed to get about 10 miles out of Milwaukee before we decided to stop and check into a hotel for a few hours. We got back on the road a few hours later and there was almost no snow, the temperature had risen enough to melt it and all in all we felt a bit silly for stopping.

Storm

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Given where you're from, I imagine your winter driving experience is not as extensive as ours. You made a wise decision.

What the trucks are doing does work, though it's probably illegal in most states (I don't know about WI.) Visibility is the issue. You want to BE SEEN. Hence the flashers running and the parking lights. But using headlights in falling snow blinds you. They reflect back in your face off the falling snow, worse as the intensity of the snow increases. Fog does the same thing. Fog lights help with both (yellow color, mounted low to the road to reduce the glare-back effect.

The best thing to do in white out conditions is get off the road. Outside the mountains, southwestern Michigan and probably western New York around Buffalo have probably the most whiteout conditions every winter because of lake effect snow, which can be incredibly heavy and fast falling. I've driven in both areas under those conditions, and believe me, getting off the road until it stops is by far the best thing. But don't pull over onto the shoulder. Take the first exit. Stopping on the shoulder almost guarantees that someone will pile into you, and it could be one of those huge semi rigs.

[niko-winterset.livejournal.com]

This was a rare case of lake effect snow that Milwaukee got. We actually got laughed at by the hotel staff upon arrival when we stopped for a few hours. You see, the hotel we stopped at was a mile or two off the interstate and there was little to no snow there yet it was a good 6 inches deep as we exited the interstate.

Kevin of course took it all in stride and to a point laughed at me over it. He is from Corning, NY and has seen snow deep enough that he had to exit the house from an upper floor window. He is the driving force in pushing us to NY one day. Granted, I'm willing to live there but it is simply a matter of a job opening there and of course all of our family is in Tennessee.

Be safe out there stallion. And watch out for storms. :P

Storm

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

There have been trace amounts of snow almost every single day since I got back from MFF. Not enough to plow, but enough for the snowflakes to get crushed under everyone's tires and making the city streets all icy. And lately it's been too cold to salt, though there have been some efforts to scatter sand at some intersections.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

But a lot more people where you are probably know how to behave and drive wisely under those conditions. (I hope)

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

That they do. On the whole. But there were a couple of idiots who were actually racing, this morning.

[bariki.livejournal.com]

Snow==doom.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Nah. Snow is beayooootiful stuff.

[bariki.livejournal.com]

We're just gonna have to agree to disagree on this one.

[ducktapeddonkey.livejournal.com]

Whatever you decide; Safe journey.

[pioneer11.livejournal.com]

Yeah, wary is the way to go with that. I'm in western New York
and even with the snow we get theres still idiots that forget
such a thing ever happened.

Take yer time and enjoy.

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you were going to get that much snow in northern Illinois. I thought the storm track was too far east, but I guess it was a bigger (wider) storm than the weather reports led me to believe.

We're up to at least three inches so far, since about 8:00. Probably twice that much by my morning drive-time.

I don't really want to defend truckers who speed along on snow-covered freeways. I think they can handle it better than other drivers, due to practice and the traction their vehicles get (when properly maintained). But to be going faster than other traffic is almost always bad, especially when the other drivers are having trouble with the conditions. And when trucks smash up, it's usually a big smash-up.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

We have about 4 inches at the farm and it's still snowing, but looks to be easing up. There was more like 6 or 7 inches down in St. Charles. Made the trip both ways OK, not even scary, conditions were so bad that everyone slowed down to reasonable speeds. I only saw one or two idiots. Travel time about double the norm, but it was worth it.

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

When you first mentioned "St. Charles," I assumed you meant Missouri. I didn't know there was a St. Charles between you and Chicago. :-) I'm glad to hear everything turned out OK about the trip.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Ack. No, I wouldn't have set out for Missouri in that. St. Charles, IL is about 40 miles from us. It took 90 minutes each way in that snow, as opposed to the normal 45-50.