Article

2016-01-23 -Signs, Portents, and the Weather-

'Life and death' blizzard threatens to bury U.S. capital

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Posted by Fred 2016-01-23 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 "blizzard threatens to bury U.S. capital"

Promises, promises.

Posted by Barbara 2016-01-23 00:49|| 2016-01-23 00:49|| Front Page Top

#2 WaPo has let down its paywall for public safety reasons, so I'm doing a bit of reading online there.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2016-01-23 01:37|| 2016-01-23 01:37|| Front Page Top

#3 It's just called 'Winter' around these parts.

3-ft of snow is rare, but not 'Life & Death'. 50-mph winds along with that are not fun, however. Drifting does create temporary issues.

Of course we do know how to dress, what to pack in our vehicles if we get stranded and have pretty good removal equipment. The farther north ones goes, the size and quantity of the equipment increases. Some county and municipal removal operators from remote areas in the Lake Superior snow belt are allowed to keep their plows at home so that there is no delay for them 'getting to work'.

On the other hand, I was in DC once during what we'd call a 'dusting' and the whole place shut down.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2016-01-23 09:22|| 2016-01-23 09:22|| Front Page Top

#4 DC gets a bad rep. Remember that DC gets folks from all 50 states and from around the world. It just takes a few idiots to abandon cars to snarl a road. That being said, there is some humor in the snow gods painting a big "X" on Washington.

Posted by Sven the pelter 2016-01-23 09:36|| 2016-01-23 09:36|| Front Page Top

#5 Doing the job the Trunks refuse to do.

Posted by Procopius2k 2016-01-23 09:46|| 2016-01-23 09:46|| Front Page Top

#6 Prolonged power failures in urban areas during winter are a "life & death" issue.
Areas of US where winter usually hits hard do have an "adapt & gitter done" attitude. A friend's elderly father-in-law developed some heart problem out in the middle of nowhere & needed to go to a hospital with more advance tech than the local place could provide. That whole part of the state had temporarily become a no-fly zone, all the highways were "closed" although not formally blocked. The local authorities organized an expedition just for him, 2 snow plows side by side, going ahead of the ambulance, plowing a path through a nighttime snow storm 70 miles along county, state & ultimately interstate to get him to a tertiary care facility. He made it. That sort of thing would have been unthinkable in most parts of the USA.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2016-01-23 11:43|| 2016-01-23 11:43|| Front Page Top

Snowplows sitting in the DoT barn because OPX budget cuts leave no OT for drivers.

Posted by Skidmark 2016-01-23 11:50|| 2016-01-23 11:50|| Front Page Top

#8 I forgot to mention this other aspect of "life & death" from big snowstorms: Building may and have in the past collapsed and killed their occupants, due to extreme snow loads on roofs. 28 Jan 1922, 98 killed, 133 injured in the collapse of the Knickerbocker Theater in DC, due to extreme recent snowfall. Rescue efforts were severely impeded since nearby streets were almost impassable.

This just in at WaPo:

Roof collapse displaces 750 people in Gaithersburg

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) said 750 people are being evacuated from Potomac Oaks Condominium in Gaithersburg after the roof collapsed on a building that stored the housing units’ heating equipment.

Leggett said the residents were being moved to Bohrer Park, a recreation center in Gaithersburg.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2016-01-23 12:09|| 2016-01-23 12:09|| Front Page Top

#9 Drown in it, and take Baltimore with you.

Posted by regular joe 2016-01-23 15:51|| 2016-01-23 15:51|| Front Page Top

#10 Isn't it normal for us in the northlands to own snow shovels, generators and chain saws?

So if folks in the warmer lands won't take standard safety actions of a responsible home owner... what's the shouting about?

Posted by 3dc 2016-01-23 19:58|| 2016-01-23 19:58|| Front Page Top

23:13 Pappy
21:30 newc
21:02 Seeking a cure for ignorance
20:15 Airandee
20:09 Frank G
19:58 3dc
19:53 3dc
19:47 Glenmore
19:45 trailing wife
19:38 Frank G
19:27 badanov
19:24 trailing wife
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18:13 Steve White
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17:49 Glenmore
17:44 Skidmark
17:40 Skidmark
17:35 Fred
17:05 g(r)omgoru
16:32 Thing From Snowy Mountain
16:28 Procopius2k