DU-ers in snow country, pls help me understand something about traffic up there....

[dixiegrrrrl]

I spent the first 40 years on teh West Coast where we had a good snowfall every 3-4 years, enough to stop most traffic.
People went home early, and stayed off the roads, and if they had to go out, avoided hills, drove very slowly We even had an old jeep for bad driving.
Never saw long backups.
Drove over deep snow mountain passes, carefully. Little traffic. Few problems.
Couple of days AFTER the snow, the young and restless would hop in the car and make fools of themselves, true.

I moved to Fla. .....In the summer, everyday, horrific lightening storms. The boss sent everyone home at 3:00, the storms were that predictable.

So why are there 35 mile long backups on a freeway in Pa. and people stranded for over 18 hours, when the blizzard was known to be coming,
even down to the last couple hours of time?

[redwitch]

1. It makes no sense at all.

Wish I could help.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. There are people out there who really believe they can drive in snow...

most of the time they get away with it, so they think they can always get away with it.

And, there are always a few who genuinely thought they could make it to where they're going before it hit.

[MillennialDem]

42. People are absolutely clueless for how to drive in snow - I drive sports cars (even my winter

beater is one) and it's 100% critical to understand when your car starts to lose traction. If you pay attention to the suspension and steering you will start to feel moments where it breaks loose or feels noodly.

As soon as that happens. SLOW DOWN by about 10 mph.

[dixiegrrrrl]

49. Problem being....most people drive automatics with power steering and etc.

and do not have the "feel" of the car like a stick shift driver does. SO easy to over steer in an automatic.

[MillennialDem]

65. My winter sports car is an AUTOMATIC with power steering. I've never driven a stick in

winter, though my mid March through mid/late November car is a stick.

You can still feel when the suspension starts to get noodly in any car that I've ever driven in.

I'm talking about when you're cruising at 20-70 mph. As soon as you feel the car sway or shake a bit, SLOW down.

[GummyBearz]

78. No snow driving experience for me

But I can tell when my automatic starts losing traction when the roads are wet... ie. hydroplaning. Its obvious when the car starts moving in a way it doesn't normally (swaying as you put it). Almost like a gust of wind hit you, except there is no wind. And you are right, gotta take the foot off the gas and let the car slow down 10mph. I don't think actual breaking is good... but maybe with anti lock breaks its ok to do that these days?

[MillennialDem]

79. ABS can be worse in some snow situations actually. But yeah, take your foot off the gas. If you

brake, lightly brake only.

[kentauros]

89. My Civic is automatic and power steering.

Yet, I have a perfect feel for my car, as in, where the corners are, where the wheels are, and what the car's capabilities are.

The impression I get from other drivers is the only "feel" they have is for where things are on the inside of their vehicles, and nothing more. I routinely "take" corners, driving just inches away from the curb, and doing the same to avoid holes in the asphalt while getting my wheels up on the concrete pavement-level ledge of the curb. And yet, I never hit the curb, because I've got a good feel for my car.

Driver's Education in this country is pitiful! At the very least, it should include training on a skid track, so people have an idea of just how little control they have during hydroplaning, or sliding on ice, and then how to properly bring their car under control.

I'm surprised the insurance companies don't insist on it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

92. The most nerve wracking traffic I have been in is in SF bay area.

Lived there from 1999 to 2005, after years down here in rural town, where there are 3 stoplights.
So, back to the coast, and serious shock at how crowded it was.
Had to apply for Cal. license, of course.
The guy at the license place told me that most non-english speaking applicants took the test many times over until they had managed to memorize the answers.

It all became clear to me when I started driving around the area.......

[kentauros]

96. I know Texas has dumbed down the test since I took it in the late 70s

DPS wants more people driving, whether they're any good at it or not, because it's a money-maker to them. Their 'S', for Safety, doesn't seem to factor into it at all.

I do hope we're able to get those high-speed rail projects going soon...

[dixiegrrrrl]

97. Speaking of dumbed down, the "terrorist" law re: driving tests is dumb.

When we retired, I moved back to Ala, with Mr. Dixie, who had only lived in Cal.
So we have to get new driver's licenses for here, of course.

One of the new requirements was...birth certificate. Gotta have a birth certificate to prove you are not a terrorist.
does not matter that Cal. gave us licenses.

But....I had my 6 year old Ala. license, had kept it for sentimental reasons.
Presented it, along with current Cal license, they used it as "good enough" picture ID, and gave me new Ala. license.
Because, the reasoning went, if Ala. gave me a driver's license 20 years ago in the first place, I could not possibly be a terrorist.

Mr. Dixie, one of the palest white men I know, he had to send away for his birth certificate.
Because if Cal. gave him a license 20 years ago, he could be a terrorist??????????
He also had to take written test.

[kentauros]

98. They must have considered the Top Gear crew as European Terra-ists

[Egnever]

91. Was watching a news feed last night

And the reporter said, I shit you not..."I have the pedal to the medal and nothing is happening"

For that reporter I don't think clueless even begins to describe it.

[lindysalsagal]

3. murrrikkins ur stooped and irresponsible

Every.damn.time.

[choie]

4. I can offer a theory...

it's "the boy who cried wolf" scenario. Devastating blizzards are often forecast up here (especially in the NYC region) and nothing comes of it. So people naturally assumed that this storm would also amount to nothing and went about their business without taking precautions.

[Odin2005]

33. This is the danger of the Weather Channel overhyping storms and giving them names.

They copied the naming of winter storms from the Europeans, but for the Europeans it made sense because winter systems coming off the Atlantic tend to be strong with very high winds, so it makes sense to give them names like is done with tropical systems, The same is not true here in the US. A system can be pretty strong and still be not a big deal if there is not a lot of moisture to make snow from and the terrain slows down the winds. Here in the Fargo area we get a lot of systems that come through, the famous "Alberta Clippers", that usually don't give us much, if any, snow because of the lack of moisture.

[MillennialDem]

39. Yeah this happened in WI a few years ago. It was called "snowpocalypse" - I think

a few areas got like 3 feet of snow.

People were saying "oh it will be no big deal, these weather people are idiots"

[hedgehog]

81. Crying wolf is making predictions useless - here we're being warned that every

storm is Lake Effect - They come in over Lake Ontario for Heaven's sake! Of course they're Lake Effect! And our local governments (town, county and state) are well equipped to handle 6"-10" over eight hours. What I need to know is when the storm is going to be LAKE EFFECT with a 36"+ snow over 8 hours.

[Warpy]

5. People in the northeast take snowstorms in stride most of the time

During the blizzard of 78, my ex and I dug out and went to work. We didn't find out about the total travel ban until we got there. If the plows can keep ahead of the snow, it's usually not a problem.

The plows were stuck in traffic in Route 128 because of a couple of jackknifed trucks and that's why 3500 vehicles got stuck and people were stranded. 14 people died of carbon monoxide poisoning from running their car heaters without unblocking their tail pipes. In heavy snow, all it takes is slow traffic and the plows can't keep up. They simply let people go home from work too late. That might be the reason here, too.

I was in a small town and all the streets got plowed, so we got the cars out from under 30+ inches of snow and took off.

[hedgehog]

84. That happened in the I-90 loop through Buffalo a few years back -

tractor trailers jack knifed in both directions and local traffic kept entering the Thruway and getting stuck behind the accidents. Then a routine amount of snow fell, but there was no way to use the plows until each car was dug out individually the next day. All the Thruway entrances have gates now to keep people from entering if there is an accident ahead.

[footinmouth]

90. I remember that one

Loved how our Governor had a press conference to blame the drivers. So stupid. They closed the 90 after the people were already on it, then scolded them for being there. I cannot find the face palm smiley on my iPad.

[hifiguy]

6. Speaking as a Minnesotan

with some experience of blizzards, I can't explain the Keystoners' bizarre behavior.

Up here in Da Nort'land we deal iwth things thusly: Pay attention to the weather reports - there's always a day or two of warning when a snownami is headed to town. 24 hours before the snow starts hit the grocery store and the liquor store. This step is ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL. When it starts to snow seriously, pop open a bottle of wine, start cooking something that takes forever and makes the house smell really good like a pot of "empty-the-fridge curry", grab a blanket, the bottle of wine and the cat and settle in for a Doctor Who or STNG marathon or some good movies.

Deal with the snow after the storm stops.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. Why, yes, that has always been my S.O.P. also.

[newfie11]

21. Same here in South Dakota Black Hills

But I gotta add that wood is stacked on the porch for the wood stove.

Our interstate I-90 has barriers that block entrances during a blizzard ( no travel advised).
All our vehicles are 4X but in 3-4 feet that don't help much😀

[Odin2005]

24. As an NWern Minnesotan I can confirm all of this!

[RKP5637]

29. K&R!!! n/t

[Snobblevitch]

34. We talked on another thread about below zero temperatures.

I grew up in a small, prairie town. We had several blizzards almost every winter. The biggest one that I remember as a kid was January 1975 (Superbowl blizzard, Vikings vs. Steelers).

Since moving to the Twin Cities in January 1991, I haven't experienced a blizzard in the cities. Even Halloween 1991 with 30+ inches wasn't a blizzard because we didn't have high winds and low visibility, and I don't remember the temp being all that cold either. I miss a good blizzard except that people can and do die. Fortunately, with Doppler radar, they aren't surprises anymore.

[hifiguy]

36. The "nice" thing about that Superb Owl blizzard is that

we got about three inches of sleet/rain before the foot of snow fell and the temps dropped through the floor, freezing everything as solid as the hubs of hell. I remember driving in the same sets of ruts until April. There was no other choice. I got stuck on a completely plowed street because the roads were hard, glare ice two inches deep.

[Snobblevitch]

45. I was a young teen at the time

My family was scattered. My oldest brother was stuck across town at a friends house after giving him a ride home. My other brother decided to walk a mile down the street to visit a friend. This was Friday afternoon when it was only snowing. Why our mother let my brother out the door I'll never know. My dad was stuck in his car in a snowdrift on I-90 by Albert Lea (We did not know this at the time. He was supposed to stay in the Twin Cities instead of attempting to get home.) I was home with my mother. She put a turkey roll in the oven. About the time it was done, the power went out. Looking back, she must have been a wreck, but she didn't show it. We played Monopoly by candlelight. Thank goodness the power was out for only about ten hours.

[jwirr]

94. My sister moved from the midwest to Delaware and that is

what she does and has had not problems. She says people not only do not know how to drive in snow and ice but they do not stay home like they are told when it starts snowing.

[LiberalElite]

7. People sometimes misjudge the situation. And, as we know from politics, some are just stupid. BUT

This storm, although it was in the news for days ahead of time, developed more quickly and intensely than anticipated.

Last night I left work in NYC last night expecting from the forecasts that we'd get no more than 10 inches tops. We now have 19+ and it isn't over.

Last night the mayor said the transit system would remain in operation. This morning he announced the buses would stop running at noon. They later shut down outdoor parts of the subway system and railroads. Currently no outdoor public transit is running and there is a travel ban in effect for the roads.

This morning on the news they said Broadway shows would still be on for tonight. In the afternoon all performances were cancelled.

As of last night the major amounts of snow were expected to be confined to parts of Virginia, D.C. and Maryland. SURPRISE!

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. ahhhhh.......that is informative. Thanks...n/t

[LiberalElite]

15. Yr wlcm - and about those predictable Florida storms -

I visited an old friend (NYC native) in Florida for many vacations. She was in the Daytona Beach area. Most of the time I visited in the summer. I joked once that the TV stations if they wanted to save money, could just tape one summer weather forecast and run it for the whole 3-4 months: 90s in the daytime, 70s at night, chance of thunderstorms.... (She didn't laugh. )

[Freddie]

16. This explains the issue on the PA Turnpike

Forecasts Thursday were calling for the snow to start around 10:00 Fri. night. They were wrong, it started around 7:00. I think people thought if they started their trip early Fri. evening they'd be ok.

[LiberalElite]

18. - and then found themselves in the

thick of it through no real fault of their own. - Like that Yiddish saying: "Man plans and God laughs."

[RobinA]

31. Yes, and That Section

of the turnpike is in the boondocks, it's hilly, and it is its own microclimate. You can be driving along with some no problem weather and you hit Somerset and it's 10 degrees colder with four times the precipitation.

[Yo_Mama]

58. They were on their way home from their jobs, and the jobs didn't close up early, because

the forecast was wrong. And they still would have made it if it hadn't been for the truck accidents.

[Fearless]

8. Because people are still required to go to work

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. I am fortunate in that I have never had a job where I could not call in a snow day.

Hardly ever used any sick days, and was working at a time when sick days were common in jobs.
Nothing is worth wrecking my only car for, tho.

[ScreamingMeemie]

12. Because for a lot of companies, life does not stop because of snow.

Let me put it this way, I spent 4 years of my childhood in Syracuse, NY (1976-1980) in a time when they had some of the largest snowfalls in the area's history. School? Delayed an hour while they put the snow chains on the tires.

I think, with more people moving around the country, you get idiotic folks misjudging and plain not knowing how to drive with common sense when a storm hits.

[madinmaryland]

26. Interesting comment you made about snow chains. How many people do you know that own or even know

how to put chains on their tires. I've never owned any and have lived in Ohio, Connecticut, and Maryland. If I had not watched Ice Road Truckers, I would not have a clue as to how to put them on.

I know in PA it is legal to use studded snow tires during the winter, but who can afford two sets of tires.

[Travis_0004]

35. I can drive and find places where snow chains are required

Also, a lot of people in bad areas have winter tires (usually not studded). Its not like it really cost more. Since each tire is used about 6 months, then switched, there is not really a lot of extra cost involved in the long run. If one set of tires last 50,000 miles, then 2 sets should last about 100k.

[MillennialDem]

44. Chains and spikes are illegal in some states. Wisconsin for sure.

[laundry_queen]

68. Yep. I have 2 sets

In Canada here, single mom of 4 so not rich at all. Winter tires and 'all seasons' are my 2 sets. 6 months each roughly. I'm lucky though, when I'm due for a new set of tires, I put it on my birthday list and that's my present from my parents (my parents are super well off, so while they don't help me out for the most part, if I do ask for something that I need for my birthday I will generally get it). I've had my winter tires for 6 years now and my all seasons are newer, I've had them 2 years. Like you said, they wear longer, because you are using them less, so over the long term it's not more expensive.

[dixiegrrrrl]

54. I am old enough to remember when chains became a required thing to cross the passes in Wa. state

Now I cringe to remember that when i was in grade school, people could, and would, go over the passes with almost bald tires in old pickups.
What did we know?
But back then, it was a blue collar state and everyone was barely making enough money.
I never did have a fishing license, just knew all the hidden places to fish since i was a kid.
Sometime after the mid-1970's, the road rules started coming.

[tblue37]

76. My daughter, who moved from Florida to Texas 3 years ago, moved from Texas to

Syracuse, NY, last summer. The blizzard predictions had me scared silly for her, especially since I feared that her being an ER doctor might mean she would *have* to go to work.

I spoke to her last night. The storm largely *missed* them. They got barely 6". Even better, she is halfway through a 2-week research break, so she doesn't even have to go to work until after next weekend.

I feel much better knowing she isn't trying to drive in such conditions. She is *not* an experienced snow driver.

[hedgehog]

86. Most of the time, the city proper doesn't get unwieldly amounts of snow -

ice can be a real problem with all the hills, but that is a rare event. Most of the snowfall lands north of the city in Oswego and Jefferson counties. Don't forget - the city is prepped to handle snow that would shut other places down. We get a lot of snow over a winter, but generally in bursts of 2"-6", maybe 10" overnight, and the plows clean the roads as it falls.

[Donkees]

13. The storm is pinwheeling for hours and there are white-out conditions. Have about 3 feet of snow...

Snow-drifts are even higher and the wind is brutal.

[hifiguy]

23. That is rather impressive, in a scary sort of way,

even by Minnesota standards. The most snow from one storm I remember here is 24 inches.

[Odin2005]

37. I remember the Halloween Blizzard of 1991 as a kid.

It ruined our trick-or-treating!

[hifiguy]

40. I was working in Dinkytown then, managing a sci-fi/comics shop.

The second night a colleague of mine and I drove to a nearby liquor store and through downtown Minneapois. It was like something out of a post-apocalypse novel. No people. No traffic, just snow, more snow and the eerie yellow glow of the streetlights. Creepy as hell.

Unbelievably I got home and into my garage without getting stuck.

[Odin2005]

41. It was similar here in Fargo during the '09 flood.

Eerie as hell!

[SheilaT]

14. This is also a fuck of a lot more snow

than almost any previous storm.

[lpbk2713]

17. Not being snarky here ...

but it's sort of like the people who stay in their Florida beach homes when they know there is a hurricane coming. They must think bad things always happen to other people. I've lived in Lakeland since 1957 and I'm just saying I know bad weather is nothing to take any chances with.

[LiberalElite]

19. Some people do think that way -

they've got it all figured out. And maybe they do for a while, until they don't.

[dixiegrrrrl]

57. I KNOW!!! You would think mandatory evac. had some meaning.

and then there are the idiots who will NOT evac. even under threat of arrest, who are the first to call 911 in middle of the damn storm and ask to be rescued.
As if Emerg. people and cars could go out into the storm.
I am not talking about Katrina victims who would have been safe if the levees were built to code as was promised.
I am talking about people in places I know who refuse to leave.

Now we have not had any storms here since 2005, 11 years, and it is always a worry that people move into the area and do not have a history of the storms.

My plan...Mr. Dixe can stay with the fur babies, I am leaving a full day early somewhere north of here, out of any imagined path, hunkering down in a motel with A/C.
Post storm weather is always sticky, hot, and full of mosquitoes.

[tblue37]

77. Shouldn't "Mr. Dixie" be called "dixieguy" instead--for consistency?

(Or maybe "dixieboyyyy"?)

[steve2470]

64. I rode out a hurricane on the Florida Atlantic coast with my parents in 1968 and it was SCARY....

Torrential rain coming down sideways practically, high winds, beach chairs and other big stuff blowing all over hell, trees bent over halfways, rain coming in under the sliding glass doors.

God bless my parents, but if you stay on the beach, or any where near the beach during a hurricane, you are taking your life into your hands. We got lucky.

[dixiegrrrrl]

66. I have been thru 2.

Missed the BIG one that hit this town, I moved back a year afterward.

Sat thru a Cat. 2, you basically had nothing to do but sit and watch, it was during the day, too dangerous to drive anywhere--there are LOTS of tall trees everywhere here in the rural areas.
Then got hit hard by a Cat. 4 and lost my house.

Thing is....after you have hunkered down, even in a safe place, just listening to the wind shrieking and howling for 12 hours, with all sorts of strange and not good noises outside, is traumatic.
For years afterwards every time we got a gust of wind I would feel very anxious, weird, and my poor cat ducked under the bed at any sound for years, too.

[steve2470]

67. glad you survived both of them!

[kentauros]

93. Hopefully, more people on the third coast have seen this photo by now

from Hurricane Ike (2008) and the Bolivar Peninsula:




http://www.texasobserver.org/five-years-hurricane-ike-recovery-effort-drags/

[Hoppy]

20. I just bought my new suburban assault vehicle. It can go in snow so ..... and the horse u rode in on

I don't care if 200 cars get stuck behind me when I hit the snow drift.

[hedgehog]

87. Driving to work in Syracuse in my Chevette, I used to be able to count all

the 4 wheel drive assault vehicles that landed in the median. 4 wheel drive can get you going, but it doesn't steer or stop any better than any other car. Plus, if there's a whiteout, 4 wheel drive will let you really plow a path a good distance from the road before you get stuck.

[Avalux]

22. My family lives close to the PA turnpike where the pile-up occurred.

My Dad's take: The storm was expected to be further to the south and east, so the area wasn't supposed to get a lot of snow. The turnpike is a busy artery from DC west through PA yet that particular stretch is desolate, not a lot of ramps to get on and off. They were traveling west towards Pittsburgh, expecting to drive away from the storm but it hit them instead. Many, including a bus of high school basketball students, were coming from DC and thought they planned appropriately; left early enough. When an 18 wheeler jack-knifed and blocked the highway, there was nowhere for anyone to go and the snow came down fast. There was no way to get in there and move the truck either.

It's not just the snow, it's the white out conditions and wind for hours upon hours.

[MH1]

48. ^^^ THIS. I just spoke to a relative in WV, near PA. They were not expecting

to get hit by the storm in any significant way. The models up to maybe a half day before had the edge just grazing them.

From my conversation with her, that mess on the turnpike had a lot to do with the storm hitting that area a lot worse and quicker than expected.

In my area we had like a week's notice. I'm sure there are a few people who had last minute issues come up that meant they had to go out, but most of us had plenty of time to plan to just wait it out and stay off the roads.

[countryjake]

25. It wasn't just the PA Turnpike, cars stranded overnight on I-75 Kentucky, too.

'Sleeping on the interstate': Hundreds stranded in Kentucky

http://news.yahoo.com/sleeping-interstate-hundreds-stranded-kentucky-152108179.html;_ylt=AwrTcctcFKRWZJQAkHgnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTByNWU4cGh1BGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--#

~snip~

Hundreds of drivers were stuck on I-75 overnight after a massive winter storm dumped more than a foot of snow in south central Kentucky, clogging cars and causing multiple crashes that created a 30-mile stretch of shivering passengers. By Saturday afternoon, I-75 was no longer closed, with lanes open both northbound and southbound. Traffic was moving — albeit slowly, and officials expected it to stay that way for a while. State police Trooper Lloyd Cochran said he couldn't give a figure for number of cars or people affected by the standstill but noted that no injuries were reported.

According to the news that I was listening to yesterday afternoon, the London, Kentucky freeway back-up began earlier in the day, when a bunch of semi-trucks found themselves unable to navigate the icy hills south of Lexington, in the Boone National Forest. One gal who called in a report said she'd been stuck on I-75 since 10 in the morning because of the traffic jam, so it's not like she didn't leave early enough, but she also said that everyone who tried to turn around or get off the road ended up stuck in a ditch full of snow, so she, herself, wasn't even going to attempt moving.

I'm still wondering if she spent the night out there on 75!

[Odin2005]

27. Because some bosses are out of touch with reality...

...and make their peons come to work regardless of weather.

And some people have family emergencies that have to be dealt with despite the weather.

[PoliticAverse]

28. Quite frankly many people don't believe the weather forecasts after having seen so many false alarms

[dixiegrrrrl]

95. Ok..I can understand that.

same thing in the Gulf states about storms.
Hurricanes can be real unpredictable, and long time residents do experience false alarms.
It's that one storm that hits where it was not supposed to that is the big problem.

[HereSince1628]

30. We get accidents on the freeway in WI that create big traffic jams during snow, but

in southern WI there are usually exit ramps ever 6 miles or so and there are regular cross-over points built in our freeways that can be opened to allow cops to turn people around.

We'd never get a 30 mile backup because police would move people off the freeway and onto alternate highways or turn them around to go back to a point where they could find an alternate route.

[dembotoz]

50. perhaps that is an issue with tollroads with limited access

sometimes you just need to come up with a plan b
there are many ways to get home just need to be flexible

[HereSince1628]

52. I heard that stretch that was blocked in PA was one of the longest

sections without an exit in the eastern US. I don't know PA. I don't know how many alternate there might be.

[dixiegrrrrl]

71. Same with hurricane evacuation...many routes but most people head for the freeway

as if they think they are the only ones who are going that way.

[s-cubed]

32. Not sure about PA,

But here in the DC area we have many people from all over the world who haven't a clue about driving in even a small amount of snow. Also, I'm convinced that the prevalence of 4 or all wheel drive vehicles has made people cocky. You might be able to move with them, but you still can't stop.

Another factor that some posters have alluded to: the crews have to stay on top of the snow, and they can't if the roads are full of vehicles. The crews have been plowing my little dead in street since Friday. In other big snows, we didn't see them until much later. Someone said "hang the cost, get the crews working". NYC shut down all road and bridges, so the crews could work.

To be fair, i can remember one trip in my youth where we decided to run ahead of a bad storm. We did it, but in retrospect it was pretty stupid.

[DesertFlower]

38. i'm a former new yorker, but have

lived in phoenix for 26 years.

i remember one storm in the mid-80s. i was off. it was one of those holidays that wasn't celebrated by all companies -- might have been lincoln's birthday. anyway i lived 1 block from the L.I. expressway. i could see it from my living room window. cars were backed up the whole night -- not just on the expressway, but the off ramp. the snow started right around rush hour.

[MerryBlooms]

43. I'm from the PNW, you tell me the last time there was 2-3 feet of snow in 24hrs ish?

Never.

We also don't have the volume of traffic.

This snooty bullshit judging reflects more on you than the folks you're trying to shame.

[dixiegrrrrl]

60. The 23.3 inches recorded in 2008-09 made for Seattle’s snowiest winter in 37 years—

but I am also remembering the last snow storm up in Seattle a couple years ago when people were trapped in and around the city for over 18 hours.
My 2 sons and one brother live there and kept me up to date on that one.

I don know where in the entire PNW you are from, I was thinking more of the area like Seattle Metro area where the most people, and thus the most traffic are.

[MerryBlooms]

99. Please accept my apologies, my comment was out of line.

Poor board behavior on my part... sorry.

[dixiegrrrrl]

100. Thank you. I understand that can happen.

btw.....a factoid....The winter of 1968-69 stands as Sea-Tac’s snowiest, with a whopping 67.5 inches.

The sticks in my mind because I was living on NE 85th St, Seattle, by the freeway during that snowfall, and my husband and a friend of his took our jeep onto the freeway, helping get cars out of the snow banks in the late evening hours.
That was the day after my then 2 year old son had slipped out of the front door, to go stand on the median divider in the street,
looking "all the pretty colors" of the car lights as they zoomed past him to get onto the freeway!
We got a double lock for that door the next day.
And moved to a house with a big yard that summer.
My heart still skips a beat when I remember that incident.

[MerryBlooms]

101. Take care.

[MiniMe]

46. We are not used to driving in snow here,

and we have a lot of people who are from out of the country or from somewhere else here. It is a very transient town. The snow we got on Wednesday night was supposed to be a small storm. They admit they blew it on that storm. They were preparing for the "big" one.

[gollygee]

47. We are told over and over again that we're about to get the WorST SnOWStorM EVEr!!11

It's the old story of the boy who called wolf. At some point, you doubt that it's going to really be all that bad. It usually isn't anywhere as bad as they say it's going to be.

[TheBlackAdder]

51. They can't drive in snow. Why? There's Philly, Pittsburgh, and a whole lotta Alabama in between :-)

.


I believe that was Bill Clinton's advisor James Carville who originated that:


Down towards the bottom in the History section...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsyltucky


.

[dixiegrrrrl]

61. We got 1/2 inch snow here one year, and I was the designated driver for the entire office.

They could not or would not get their cars up a slight slope from the parking lot to the street, where the snow had gathered.
Fortunately it had mostly been melted on the street by passing cars.
People here in town just go catatonic when snow comes.
Except for the kids.

[TheBlackAdder]

63. I remember something in GA, where the state was paralyzed for a couple days a few years back. nt

[juxtaposed]

53. Thanks, Obama

just in case

[phylny]

55. Here in Virginia, as in Pennsylvania and lots of other states, it's not only hilly, but it's

mountainous. One inch of snow where I live will make it impossible for you to travel if you don't have AWD or 4WD. You simply can't avoid hills.When we lived in the Midwest, it was so flat that you could go just about anywhere if it wasn't too deep and the worst that could happen is you'd get stuck in a ditch.

And, as many have mentioned, there are lots of people who aren't given the choice to stay home, but must work. My husband and I were commenting on how great it is that at this point in our careers and with our current jobs, if the weather is bad, we can stay home.

We were expecting 18" to 2' of snow, but I think we got about a foot. They were expecting for it to be much worse than it was here and it's much worse in other places.

[dixiegrrrrl]

72. Good point....I am used to flat land by now, down here. n/t

[CommonSenseDemocrat]

59. The predictions were wrong and last year there was a false alarm

Those two factors led to a lot of people being stranded.

[LiberalAndProud]

62. I can't speak for drivers in PA, but I have been spoiled.

Streets are salted and roads are kept open. I've followed a snow plow more than once. So ... we risk it, I suppose.

[Ruby the Liberal]

69. The area where this happened is very mountanous

and was supposed to be outside of the storm radius.

That, and the Turnpike is a toll road that only has exits every 10-20 miles or so, so no where to go.

All it takes is for a truck to jackknife (what happened) and it will back up for miles in no time, and that is without weather.

I was on that mountain once back in the 90s, going to Somerset on Mother's Day. Came in from Pittsburgh where it was ~65 degrees when the plane landed - which is about 1.5 hour drive away. By the time we got to the top of the mountain near the Somerset exit, there was 4" of snow on the ground and still coming down - and slippery as all get out.

Like someone said above, that stretch of land has its own weather patterns that are seemingly unrelated to what is happening elsewhere in the state. Most bizarre thing I've ever seen.

[dixiegrrrrl]

74. Hey, Sis....

Ya know, I live in a little pocket of the SW corner of Al. and we have different weather than the rest of the town.
Serisly.
Most really bad storms actually go around this part of the neighborhood, re-form just to the south or north. Has to do with the various gullys and gulches just to the south of us, where the storms come from.
Really weird.

It's now Sunday and I hope you are having a sunny and not too cold day....

[jen63]

82. My ex was a trucker and

an excellent one. The only place he dreaded in winter was "Somerset hill." He almost lost it there one winter and actually thought he was going to die. He made it home alive though. That thing is a beast.

[annabanana]

70. Maybe it's all those ads for 4 wheel drive tanks...

They are regularly shown bounding happily through fields of snow...

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

75. If only there were fields of snow ..

... instead of roads full of stuck vehicles.

[2naSalit]

80. Another good point

besides the fact that this section of the tollroad goes over/through the Appalachian Mts.. I see it when folks from California, say, decide that our 70mph speed limit on the US hwys, mostly 2 lane, is appropriate when there's ice on the surface or because they can see forty ft in front of them. They are also the first to find the ditch a couple miles up the road. The bigger and meaner their vehicle looks, the more invincible they think they are.

Up in here the Rockies we locals say, "You know, four wheel drive is nice, but really, it just gets you further into trouble before you need to call for help."

[B Calm]

73. Over 1/3 of the national population live in the Northeast.

[HassleCat]

83. A lifetime of driving in the snow doesn't make you a good snow driver.

But it does give you the absolute conviction you can plow through the drifts with the best of them.

[Gormy Cuss]

85. Limited access roads and jack-knifed trucks=miles of back ups in any weather

Add falling snow and no way to move cars out of the way for a plow, the mess is exponentially worse.

[alarimer]

88. Because idiots get on the road when they shouldn't.

This is down to people thinking they know better than the authorities, or to a "fuck you, I've got 4-wheel drive" idiotic attitude.

Just because they may have 4-wheel drive, that doesn't mean they are capable of driving in white-out conditions.

[valerief]

102. Maybe if they didn't at least try to get to their jobs, they'd lose their jobs. nt

[One_Life_To_Give]

103. Only takes a few to bring traffic to it's knees.

Most people who have difficulty driving in snow will make arrangements so they don't have too. Many anicipate a long slow drive and make some preperation. Myself I stay late to let the idiots do their thing before venturing out.

Like most traffic jams it takes only a few individuals to back things up extensively. Probably each had some reason why they thought they had to be out on the road. Or perhaps they failed to recognize how poor their skills were compared to average, or just think they are the worlds best snow driver as they total yet another SUV.

90+ % of us northerners who venture onto snow & ice covered roads. Are able to drive and get where we are going in those conditions. It's a very small minority who cause the troubles.