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Third Day Of Snow - Noooooooooooooooo


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My weather alarm did this:

Amtliche UNWETTERWARNUNG vor STARKEM SCHNEEFALL und SCHNEEVERWEHUNGEN

für Lahn-Dill-Kreis , Lagen über 400 Meter

gültig von: Donnerstag, 16.12.2010 12:00 Uhr

bis: Freitag, 17.12.2010 00:00 Uhr

ausgegeben vom Deutschen Wetterdienst

am: Mittwoch, 15.12.2010 18:35 Uhr

Im Laufe des Mittags kommt von Nordwesten starker Schneefall auf mit Neuschneemengen von 10 bis 20 cm in 12 Stunden, örtlich auch darüber. In Kombination mit starken bis stürmischen Böen der Stärke 7 bis 8 (um 65 km/h) muss in freien Lagen zusätzlich mit starken Schneeverwehungen gerechnet werden. Verbreitet wird es glatt.

ACHTUNG! Hinweis auf mögliche Gefahren: Straßen und Schienenwege können unpassierbar sein. Bäume können unter der großen Schneelast zusammenbrechen. Vermeiden Sie Autofahrten!

DWD / Vorhersagezentrale Offenbach

translates:

Condition red, strong snow falling, places above 400 metres. thursday 12:00 to friday 00:00. Starting after lunch 8 inches snow are predicted till midnight, Storm with speed of 65 kilometres per hour, icy roads and trees may fall from snow weight. Avoid car driving. Schneeverwehung, hmm snow banks, snow drifts ?

 

I will work from 5am to 11am today. School will end earlier today for kids so I will pick them up on my way back home. Then I will drive our Unimogs close to our house in case we need them to clean the forest road to our house. Emergency power supply is filled with Diesel, short wave radio new batteries, reserve oven can be fired with wood, no electricity needed. Cross country ski's controlled. Probably I am a bit paranoid, but with 5 kids I do no riscs.

Edited by chattius
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Huh... you know, as dreary as Toronto may be, there is a perk to this: we don't get it as bad as other cities. :P We got snow here, but I'd hardly call it bad... at least not yet. o.o Come next month, we shall see. >>;

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Think the difference between my place and yours is: North america lacks a mountain range in west/east direction. So any polar storm can move unhindered all the way south. Mid germany has a west/east range so clouds arriving from atlantic have to climb at these mountains, releasing water (snow, hail, ice) when doing so. The problem is: we live in this cloud barrier...

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We've had around 6 inches of snow over night, and it's still coming down.

 

The local radio said that the A4 between Chippenham and Corsham has over 40 cars stuck, on the A4 further into Chippenham is completely blocked by a jacknifed lorry, and juntion 17 on the M4 is blocked by an accident...............all in all, not great !

 

Steve.

 

EDIT :- I walked about 3 miles to a small shop to get some bread, but they have completely sold out !! Talk about panic buying. The lady in the shop said that there will be no deliveries for a few days because of the snow too.

 

Met a guy outside the shop who's mate had just witnessed a van sliding sideways down a hill, and abandoned cars on the main A road.

 

I think I'll stay nice and snug indoors for the rest of the weekend then. ;)

 

Goodness knows whats gonna happen on monday. I hope they clear the main roads so I can go to work, though even getting off my estate will be problamatic.

Edited by cider_steve
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I am sooooo bummed now...that big snowstorm we were supposed to get isn't coming now :(

 

Something about some high pressure over Greenland hiccuped and now the storm is going out to sea. Of all the things to mess up my white xmas...Greenland? I mean really - Greenland ?

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Out of food, bread? That's serious, and I hope the weather clears up soon Steve.

 

Till then...

 

pizza-man.jpg

 

Extra Anchovies... pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze!

 

:bounce:

 

gogo

 

Hey, thanks Gogo.

 

They have said that it is going to be a big freeze now, so I've just been clearing my car. Didn't want all that to freeze, or else I'd never get back into my car..............oh, I wonder if my boss would buy that...........maybe not, hehe.

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Some of my friends are complaining over the couple of cms of snow and wished for the green Xmas of last year. :P Ah, the perks of living near a great lake. Can't wait till this supposed record snow fall comes. :/

 

I can more or less live with snow. Where I complain are salt trucks, mountains blocking my drive way, and black ice. Freezing rain will also dampen the mood, too.

Edited by Aegis
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Man I hate black ice...I travel 2-6 hours a day during work, and early mornings when it's the most prevalent can be scary rides. Though the worst weather for me, if working outside, is 33 degrees F, windy and rainy. It's just warm enough to rain but it feels like icicles hitting your exposed skin due to the wind. Your hands cramp up within minutes and you spend more time trying to thaw them out than actually working.

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Man I hate black ice...I travel 2-6 hours a day during work, and early mornings when it's the most prevalent can be scary rides. Though the worst weather for me, if working outside, is 33 degrees F, windy and rainy. It's just warm enough to rain but it feels like icicles hitting your exposed skin due to the wind. Your hands cramp up within minutes and you spend more time trying to thaw them out than actually working.

 

I can sympathise with working outdoors mate. I've done a fair number over the years, from gardener to postman and builder to welder/fabricator.

 

If you don't mind me asking Knuckles, what is it that you do ?

 

Steve.

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Don't mind at all...I work for a small company so I wear many hats depending on the current projects, but basically design, install and maintain communications systems (Think Police/Fire radio systems). As far as outside work I do a lot of antenna and waveguide/heliax installs. Typically on the highest hill or mountain.Have to mount the antennas, run the coax, install ground rods and wire and feed all the heliax (Think fat cable, up to 3-4 inches in diameter) into the building. And then install all the comm equipment. I don't climb anymore but 12-16 hours out in the cold can really get to you after a while.

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I can hardly tolerate working indoors doing heavy labor as it is, I can only imagine working outdoors in extreme weather. :P

 

The biggest thing is dressing for the weather. layers upon layers is the best as long as it's not tight fitting. You want to stay warm but no so much that you start sweating. It's easy to pull off layers depending on how active you are. Hand/foot warmers are a god-send. One mistake I see a lot of new workers make is running inside to warm up, then head back outside. You have to re-acclimate to the cold all over again. As long as you're busy you really won't notice the cold ( if you dressed appropriately)

 

Edit: I worked 6 months in the Artic Circle while in the military, so basically nothing is cold to me anymore :D

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I kind of learned that the hard way myself while peeling stickers off a roof sign. I felt it that much more when I also knew for a fact I was being paid jack to do the job, and that wasn't the worst weather ever. :P

 

Heh, six months would certainly do it. :) I tend to tolerate cold better than I do hot myself. :D

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Don't mind at all...I work for a small company so I wear many hats depending on the current projects, but basically design, install and maintain communications systems (Think Police/Fire radio systems). As far as outside work I do a lot of antenna and waveguide/heliax installs. Typically on the highest hill or mountain.Have to mount the antennas, run the coax, install ground rods and wire and feed all the heliax (Think fat cable, up to 3-4 inches in diameter) into the building. And then install all the comm equipment. I don't climb anymore but 12-16 hours out in the cold can really get to you after a while.

 

Sounds like a tough job to me...........I'm tired just thinking about it !

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I have 2 jobs:

One to do the maths for explosive welding and the other which I do when walking with the dog or at weekends is to care for the forests which are around our village. This second job is demanding frozen ground in winter.

 

Treecutting, trunk transport is only done at frozen ground in our forests: less damage to the soil. Some of the trunks are transported by horses for same reason. The forest is owned by an earl, who doesn't really need the money. So no clearcutting is done. Clearcutting would be to cut all trees in an area. The forests are mainly leaf trees who need centuries to grow and no quick growing needle trees. So all interests for big trees are collected and it is my job to work out a plan how to reach these trees for cutting and transport without damaging too much of the other trees in the forest. Needs some maths: Steiner ways are shortest connections between a set of points. Steiner ways have 120 degree crossings (lile honeycombs). This has the second advantage that there are no long straight roads which divide the forest in squares. A storm blowing along such a straight street can gain additional power and make trees falling. Also the 'streets' are way shorter, less money needed.

 

Outer parts of forest are areas with quick growing trees for wood heating systems. 17 areas and each year one of them is clear cutted and newly created. 17 is again maths: its a prime number. Several insect which damage wood have cycles. So by doing a prime number it is less probable that the cycles of different insects would ruin all wood.

 

About the snow: lot of it. Kids had great fun using our Leo's (120 pound Leonberger dogs) to pull kicksleds(?) through the snow. Don't know if you call them kicksleds. Selfmade from old crosscountry skis where our daughters grew out. I added an aluminium frame and a seat. Also a quick release system for dog ropes. The system will release the dogs if the direction of the rope moves to the side (fallen kicksled, and stuff like that). Our third still can't do normal skiing after her car accident so we thought that such a kicksled would be a good idea.

 

Looks a bit like this which I found in wiki

Sled.jpg

 

Except Leo's are way bigger dogs.

 

220px-Leonberg-Male-Adulte-Ursus.jpg

Edited by chattius
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Very bad here now. It's minus 9 degrees and been snowing all morning.

 

I HAD to go for a drive, unfortunately. I needed to pick up my meds, and it is way to far to walk to a chemist. My car was all over the place, and I was very fortunate not to hit anything. I even got stuck twice. Luckily I reversed, stuck it into second and got going both times. I'm just so glad to get back home intact ! After all that, one of the pills that I needed the most they have run out of, and don't know when the next delivery is...........happy days, lol !

 

Some parts of the region are even worse than here. Some areas of Wiltshire have seen minus 15 degrees, and neighbouring counties have been hammered with snow.

 

My boss phoned earlier to say that the base that we work on is closed ! At least I don't have to worry about driving to work today.

 

Steve.

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Heya,

 

bad here too, minus 10-14 atm, with 10-15 cm of snow from yesterday.

 

Now, I like snow, but not when I have to drive to work :D

 

Greetz

Edited by Barristan
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Looks like this is international. All those flights getting cancelled and stuff. Helsinki's kinda in a pickle. They don't know what to do with all that snow. Couple of more cms and it'll break the record from 45 years past. And to think we're kinda used this kind of stuff. Didn't got any schools cancelled 'cause there was too much snow or too cold.

Must really be tough where people aren't used to this. My deepest condolences...

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My boss phoned and said the base has re-opened, but I said to put me down for a days leave for tonight. The main roads might be ok, but I'm a long way from the main roads, and the roads around here are a long way from ok !

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Well so much for that storm missing us. Got a 14 inches of snow so far :xmastree: When I left yesterday morning to travel 2 1/2 hours to get to the job site, all the weather stations said a dusting to 2 inches max. By the time I left the job site, the ride home took 4 hours, numerous accidents and had about 10 inches on ground at that time. Expected to get another 2-4 inches thru Thursday with potentially another big ocean storm hitting us over the weekend.

 

It's kind of hard to describe the weather issues I have where I live. I live out on a peninsula, where Nor'Easters (Big winter ocean storms) will backdoor into my area. What happens is we get blizzard like conditions in a small area. Travel 20 miles to the west and the sun is shining and no snow. Which is what happened yesterday. When I left for work we had a dusting with very light snow and it was forecast to accumulate maybe another inch or two. Around here we don't notice a couple of inches. The job site is away from the coast and west of Boston so the whole time I was there we only saw a flurry or two.

 

As we traveled back to Cape Cod it was like someone had drawn a line on the map. We went from no snow to almost blizzard like conditions, 40mph winds and heavy snow with several inches on ground within a space of maybe 2-4 miles.

 

So I got my white Christmas after all :D

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Well so much for that storm missing us. Got a 14 inches of snow so far :xmastree: When I left yesterday morning to travel 2 1/2 hours to get to the job site, all the weather stations said a dusting to 2 inches max. By the time I left the job site, the ride home took 4 hours, numerous accidents and had about 10 inches on ground at that time. Expected to get another 2-4 inches thru Thursday with potentially another big ocean storm hitting us over the weekend.

 

It's kind of hard to describe the weather issues I have where I live. I live out on a peninsula, where Nor'Easters (Big winter ocean storms) will backdoor into my area. What happens is we get blizzard like conditions in a small area. Travel 20 miles to the west and the sun is shining and no snow. Which is what happened yesterday. When I left for work we had a dusting with very light snow and it was forecast to accumulate maybe another inch or two. Around here we don't notice a couple of inches. The job site is away from the coast and west of Boston so the whole time I was there we only saw a flurry or two.

 

As we traveled back to Cape Cod it was like someone had drawn a line on the map. We went from no snow to almost blizzard like conditions, 40mph winds and heavy snow with several inches on ground within a space of maybe 2-4 miles.

 

So I got my white Christmas after all :D

 

Sounds a bit nasty to travel in mate.

 

What are you driving ? I'm guessing some kind of 4X4.

 

Be safe.

 

Steve.

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