The official Mid-Atlantic Blizzard thread!

[vip0802]

Date: 2/5/2010 5:34:35 PM
Author: Regular Guy

I''m about to make the 15 mile drive south on 270...thorugh a bit of snow...to head home.


Best,

i hope you made it home safely! i drove home northbound on 270 around 5pm, and although it wasn''t as bad as i thought it was going to be, it was definitely very slick and slushy.

here''s a pic of some trees on my way home. it was like driving in one big snow globe!

 

[vip0802]

Date: 2/5/2010 9:45:42 PM
Author: vc10um
It''s certainly picked up around here and we just had a transformer blow in our neighborhood. It was arcing and draining our power, but then there was a HUGE FLASH of blue light and our power came back on.


I spoke too soon...we just drained again.


Please cross your fingers they get the power back on line soon anywhere that goes out, as it''s going to be a long cold night otherwise.

oh no vc!

i''m keeping my fingers crossed for ya!

 

[~*Alexis*~]

we lost our DirecTV but thats it so far. We have a karosene heater if the power goes out....but thats it........

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Date: 2/5/2010 9:06:35 PM
Author: treefrog

Date: 2/5/2010 7:57:01 PM
Author: Irishgrrrl
LOL! Mine was a joke too, and not a statistic! But this piqued my curiosity, so I checked Google. The smallest PO in the US is actually in Ochopee, FL. Whoda thunk it?

Can you tell I'm snowed in and EXTREMELY bored! LOL!

Wow... you know it's a slow... snowy night when we're discussing the smallest post office in the US!!!

10 minutes from Hagerstown... I used to live about 10 minutes East of Hagerstown!

Treefrog

Ahhh, so you must be familiar with my hometown: the booming metropolis of Maugansville, MD! It doesn't even have a stoplight! LOL! I so wish I still lived there!

ETA: VC and everyone else who is at risk of losing power, good luck! I hope it stays on!

 

[vc10um]

Date: 2/5/2010 9:54:16 PM
Author: vip0802

Date: 2/5/2010 9:45:42 PM

Author: vc10um

It''s certainly picked up around here and we just had a transformer blow in our neighborhood. It was arcing and draining our power, but then there was a HUGE FLASH of blue light and our power came back on.



I spoke too soon...we just drained again.



Please cross your fingers they get the power back on line soon anywhere that goes out, as it''s going to be a long cold night otherwise.

oh no vc!

i''m keeping my fingers crossed for ya!

Thanks, vip! We haven''t lost power yet, and it hasn''t surged in about the last half hour. Here''s hoping they fixed the transformer!

I''ll post a progression of pics tomorrow after my camera recharges. Battery died so I can''t even upload them right now...

 

[AGBF]

Date: 2/5/2010 9:36:20 PM
Author: étoile


I just checked the forcast and now I keep hearing 30 inches for the DC area!

I keep hearing that, too! And it isn't fair! I live across the street from vespergirl when I am in Virginia, which means that I would be in the the area that got 30 inches or whatever they get in Virginia just west of the District. So instead my husband, who has no appreciation of snow, is there and I'm in Connecticut. (New York City is supposed to get a measly 3-6 inches and north of the city-where I am-we're supposed to get less!) Où sont les neiges d’antan?

AGBF

 

[cellentani]

Fortunately, we still have power (we live near vc10um), but my daughter''s gettng texts from friends who have lost theirs. This was taken outside my window about 15 minutes ago:

 

[cellentani]

vip0802, you''re in the 270 corridor, right? I just now saw that you''ve got one of the heaviest bands of snow right over you! Stay warm, girl!

 

[librarychickie]

You know it''s bad when the snowplow gets stuck! Yikes! DH and some of the neighbors helped to dig him out. We''re in Alexandria.

~LC

 

[vip0802]

Date: 2/5/2010 11:05:23 PM
Author: cellentani
vip0802, you''re in the 270 corridor, right? I just now saw that you''ve got one of the heaviest bands of snow right over you! Stay warm, girl!

thanks cellentani! yes, i live in Gaithersburg.

really?! i guess i haven''t been paying attention to the weather updates...BF and i have been watching Rome on DVD.

although in between episodes, we''re going out on our balcony to see how much has accumulated and it''s definitely piling on! we''re keeping extra warm with hot cocoa spiked with mint Baileys.

i hope you, your hubby and kids stay warm as well!

 

[treefrog]

Date: 2/5/2010 10:35:31 PM
Author: Irishgrrrl

Date: 2/5/2010 9:06:35 PM
Author: treefrog

Wow... you know it''s a slow... snowy night when we''re discussing the smallest post office in the US!!!

10 minutes from Hagerstown... I used to live about 10 minutes East of Hagerstown!

Treefrog

Ahhh, so you must be familiar with my hometown: the booming metropolis of Maugansville, MD! It doesn''t even have a stoplight! LOL! I so wish I still lived there!

ETA: VC and everyone else who is at risk of losing power, good luck! I hope it stays on!

I''ve heard of it but couldn''t place it. I just checked the map. Wow, that is a small town when it''s by an airport I''ve been to several times and I still didn''t know the town was there! Off 81... I think there''s a big shopping center near there now too. I used to live in Myersville. We had one blinking light. You''re not too far from Whitetail then.

 

[treefrog]

Stuck snowplow... that isn''t good! I just had a snowplow bail us out. I had a fire call for some power lines that caught a tree on fire. Our fire engine couldn''t get up a hill to turn around and we started sliding sideways coming down in reverse. Got my seatbelt on REAL QUICK. We weren''t stuck but we couldn''t go forward and we couldn''t go back without taking out a mailbox. We shoveled as much as we could and threw some kitty litter down for traction. We got straightened out but could neither move forward nor back all the way out the back road. We called in a plow and they plowed the road and dumped a ton of salt. The side roads are horrible. Visibility is horrible. We have chains on everything now. I took some pictures but don''t have my card reader with me at the fire house to load them. It is really coming down hard now. Hope everybody''s power stays on!

Treefrog

 

[vip0802]

Date: 2/6/2010 12:17:40 AM
Author: treefrog
Stuck snowplow... that isn''t good! I just had a snowplow bail us out. I had a fire call for some power lines that caught a tree on fire. Our fire engine couldn''t get up a hill to turn around and we started sliding sideways coming down in reverse. Got my seatbelt on REAL QUICK. We weren''t stuck but we couldn''t go forward and we couldn''t go back without taking out a mailbox. We shoveled as much as we could and threw some kitty litter down for traction. We got straightened out but could neither move forward nor back all the way out the back road. We called in a plow and they plowed the road and dumped a ton of salt. The side roads are horrible. Visibility is horrible. We have chains on everything now. I took some pictures but don''t have my card reader with me at the fire house to load them. It is really coming down hard now. Hope everybody''s power stays on!


Treefrog

wow treefrog, how scary! i''m glad everything got straightened out though.

i have to add that between the volunteering you did with Extreme Makeover, and now hearing that you work at the fire department, i think you''re a such a wonderful person!

keep up the great work, and please stay safe and warm!

 

[vip0802]

here''s the view from our condo''s balcony. in the distance (around the middle of the pic) is our parking lot, and i''m surprised to see it completely empty. it''s usually filled by this time so i''m hoping all my neighbors aren''t stuck somewhere!

 

[treefrog]

I need to vent a little.

So, we get a call for a house fire. It was unclear where the house was... somebody called it in from Interstate 70. We had equipment going 3 different directions to try to find it. Finally, somebody sees it from I-70... but nobody can get to it. None of the roads are plowed because the snow is REALLY coming down now. We had a car in front of us on I-70 and it would not let us by. Aaargh! We had to call in some plows and another crew had to walk in by foot to check it out. They found the meter box was removed so it was an abandoned house. Not much we''ll do in this case since there aren''t any dwellings at risk near it. How a house with no electricity and no occupants catches fire is beyond me. That''s a job for the fire investigator. I sure hope there wasn''t some homeless person in there trying to stay warm. They kept a few pieces of equipment near the house and sent us home. We saw the house from the road and it was fully involved. Good thing because the exit ramp from I-70 was unplowed and we couldn''t have made it there from that direction anyway. We went up to the next major road and couldn''t use that ramp either. Finally, we flagged down a plow and they plowed a turnaround in the median for us. We weren''t sure how far we would have had to drive to find a place to turn around.

We''re heading back to the station and we get a call for a 3 vehicle accident with one on it''s side. We actually had to stop a few times and climb up and clean the windshield off by hand. We finally get there and it''s a large state snowplow off the road in the ditch. As we go to leave, I hear a car spinning its wheels. The road was blocked so that car had to turn around. I''m wondering who in the world is traveling at 2:30 in the morning during a blizzard?

An elderly couple! Where in the world does anybody need to go in these conditions? As we go to leave, a BMW X5 stops me and says he needs to get to the next town over. He asked if he could go the wrong way down a ramp to bypass the now closed road. We told him absolutely not. It was unplowed and he''d only end up blocking the road. He asked about backroads. I told him he was on a state snow emergency road. If emergency vehicles with chains can''t get through on this road and PLOWS ARE RUNNING OFF THE ROAD, for the love of diamonds, you''re not going to make it on an unplowed back road!!!

Going back to the station, we see yet another state plow... in a ditch.

Ummm... folks... there is nowhere to go. Trust me. You are hampering emergency vehicles and the snowplows that are not in ditches! It is snowing and blowing/drifting so hard that the roads are covered 2 minutes after it is plowed. This is insane.

Phwew... I feel better. Vent over. Are we having fun yet?

Treefrog

 

[treefrog]

OK...update time...

vc10um - Do you still have electricity?

Alexis - I''ve never seen DirecTV go out. It can get pretty lousy when there is heavy precipation though. Is the snow cleared off your dish?

vip0802 - You do the 270 commute? Years ago, I applied for a job in Germantown but so far, I''ve been able to avoid having to do that. I give you a lot of credit for your patience! As for Extreme Makeover Home Edition... I forgot I had posted that. I truly enjoy helping people. That was hard work but so much fun at the same time. I believe that will finally air on 2/14 - a special 2-hour show. Not sure how many people will be watching on Valentine''s Day though!

Hope everybody is well. Still snowing. I just talked to a firefighter that just got in for his 7am shift. Lots of wrecked/abandoned cars on his way in. It took him over 2 hours to get in. He said the 95 was decent but anything smaller than an interstate highway was pretty bad... almost untouched.

Treefrog

 

[MsP]

21" on the ground, about 6" more predicted.

My complex parking area is completely plowed as the complex owns the plow. Right when you get to the main road... total chaos! Nothing is really even plowed... just packed. And there are cars off in ditches. I didn''t dare drive but walked around quite a bit. I''m not sure if I''ll be driving for a while. There is snow drift up to the door handle of my car--and I have noooo shovel. The complex is supposed to shovel everything--and I''m sure they will, just depends on how long we''ll have to wait.

Stay warm (and safe) everyone!!

 

[vc10um]

We lost power at 11 PM on the dot. So we went to bed. I have no clue how long it was off for, but it was on in the middle of the night when I woke up.

Last official National Weather service report of snow where I am was 12" at 1 AM. Edited: Checked a few moments ago and we're at 15".

Thanks for the well-wishes everyone. Fortunately, we were well-prepared in case the power *didn't* come back on...lots of warm clothing, blankets, and, thankfully, a gas stove.

LC-where are you at in Alexandria?

TF-that is literally INSANE. Why do people not understand this is DANGEROUS?!?! At least the house was abandoned. And snow plows in the ditches??? Crazy.

We need to clarify for the Mid-Westerners that in Virginia, "Snow plow" applies to any vehicle which has attached a plow to its front end. The state owns little or no ACTUAL plows.

 

[Lynnie]

Philly here, too!

Holy cow... I had work overnight last night (I''m a nurse and commute about 10 miles to Center City). So I took good ''ol SEPTA, figuring that I wouldn''t want to drive my crappy Saturn back home this morning. Figured I''d just take SEPTA home. Come to find out this morning that busses aren''t running, and major delays on regional rails and the M/F line

... not that I''d be able to get home from a terminal without busses anyway.
I feel I got reeeallly lucky, a coworker insisted she drive me home.
I''m so glad I''m not working tonight, because my only choice would''ve been to sleep on a mattress on the FLOOR of the Short Procedure Unit at my hospital. Or roll a stretcher somewhere inconspicuous and sleep on that

The roads are awful. 95 was okay, but forget the sidestreets.

It''s funny how the snow affects people. At the hospital, we had patients walking the halls, asking us where the best windows were for ''snow views''. haha

There''s about a foot outside my house now, and it''s still snowing.

v, love your pics!

Stay safe and warm, everyone!!

 

[sweetjettagirl04]

irish, i didn''t know we were so close! i''m right outside h-town too!

 

[soocool]

Bucks County, PA (New Hope, PA/ Lambertville, NJ) 12 inches plus and winds gusting. I am sipping my hazlenut coffee and spending some leisurely time here on PS.
We will fire up the snowblower later, when the snow lightens up (the news said this should be between 10 and 2).

I plan on making a roast chicken for dinner, having some Double Dog Dare cabernet, with brownie sundaes for dessert watching The Bing Bang Theory on dvd. Nice day to spend at home!

 

[treefrog]

Date: 2/6/2010 8:29:22 AM
Author: vc10um
We lost power at 11 PM on the dot. So we went to bed. I have no clue how long it was off for, but it was on in the middle of the night when I woke up.

Last official National Weather service report of snow where I am was 12'' at 1 AM. Edited: Checked a few moments ago and we''re at 15''.

Thanks for the well-wishes everyone. Fortunately, we were well-prepared in case the power *didn''t* come back on...lots of warm clothing, blankets, and, thankfully, a gas stove.

LC-where are you at in Alexandria?

TF-that is literally INSANE. Why do people not understand this is DANGEROUS?!?! At least the house was abandoned. And snow plows in the ditches??? Crazy.

We need to clarify for the Mid-Westerners that in Virginia, ''Snow plow'' applies to any vehicle which has attached a plow to its front end. The state owns little or no ACTUAL plows.

Wow, glad to hear your power is back on. It is very cold and windy outside. The winds are drifting the snow like crazy. I just tried to shovel my car out... no way. I''''ll be stuck at the fire department for a while.

We have the US Army driving police around in Humvee''s. We have two guys here now. Our equipment bays have radient heat in the floor so I had them pull in to an open bay so some of the snow could melt off their windshield.

I wish I could post pictures right now.

I have taken quite a few.

In Maryland, our state does have plows. They''re full size dump trucks with thousands of pounds of salt in the back and a huge plow on the front and chains on the tires. When these huge things are going off the road, we''re talking big trouble!

The news is reporting we have about 20" on the ground in my area so far.

Treefrog

 

[treefrog]

Lynnie, wow! Glad you made it home ok!

 

[Lynnie]

Soocool... wanna come over and blow my snow? I''ll make you coffee... I wish I had a snowblower!!! DH & I''ll have to shovel out soon.

Treefrog, thanks... glad you made it through the night! I heard it''s really bad in Maryland and Delaware, with all the roads closing down and everything. Insane does not cover it. Hope the rest of your day goes well!

 

[radiantquest]

I am glad to hear that everyone is relatively safe and sound. Pardon my late checking in, I went to bed late and had no reason to wake up. I can''t believe there were people trying to drive in this last night. We have not lost power, which is surprising because we lose it 3 or so times every summer due to storms. I dreamt last night that we did not get the snow that they were calling for and when I woke up I was in big trouble at work. We have big pine trees that flank our parking area and the one has always had a lean to it. DH said that it was planted that way. Well, that thing is so heavy with snow that we are concerned that it might be too much for it and it will slam down on our cars. Oh dear! I am going to go outside and see if I can take a pic of it... It is really hard because it is so high up that in a pic it is hard to see how bad it is leaning when there isn''t anything to compare it to.

 

[risingsun]

Well, it''s still coming down in the Shenandoah Valley. We are fine and are not going anywhere. Fingers crossed that we don''t lose power. I hope everyone else is safe and warm. Kudos to you and your guys, Treefrog. You have a tough job!!

 

[icekid]

Still coming down in Baltimore. I think we have about two feet already??

At this rate, I am moving back to Buffalo!

 

[cellentani]

vc10um - glad to hear you got your power back on - I can''t imagine not having heat today!

soocool - that sounds like a perfect way to spend the day!

treefrog (and the rest of you guys stuck at work!) - hope you can safely make it home soon!


My kids just went out with a yardstick, so I''ll report back with some numbers when they return.

 

[treefrog]

Good morning radiant. Glad you''re not really in trouble at work! There are some pine trees near our station and I can see they are holding a lot of snow. The wind just isn''t blowing it off... or if it is, it''s getting covered again immediately.

Our ambulance just went out on a call. Sure hope they don''t have to go all the way to the hospital in this. I just saw on the news that the Ellicott City area officially has/had 26". That''s the closest place to me. The intensity has picked up quite a bit in the past hour.

One of my fire department buddies is working at Point of Rocks FD today. He said they can''t even respond to calls. Here is a quote from his text message:
"... there''s a plow truck stuck on one side of the station and a jack knifed tractor trailor on the other."

Guess he''s stuck there for a while too!

Treefrog

 

[treefrog]

Date: 2/6/2010 10:50:24 AM
Author: icekid
Still coming down in Baltimore. I think we have about two feet already??

At this rate, I am moving back to Buffalo!

I''ll drive!