Just checking in to let everyone know that my family and I are not among the thousands of people in Alabama who were stranded by yesterday's weather and unable to get home yesterday during the ice storm. Although it did take my husband, son, and I about four hours to get home from downtown Birmingham yesterday (including having to leave the car in a parking lot about 3/4 mile away and hike the rest of the way in, since our neighborhood has too many hills and curves to navigate safely), and my daughter managed to get a ride home from school before the worst of the road icing occurred. So we are all snug and warm and have food on hand, unlike the many people who are still stranded on the highways and back roads and office buildings with no emergency supplies handy.
For those of you living in colder climes who are wondering how a mere "dusting" of snow could have laid an entire state low, let me assure you that the problem isn't the snow, it's the ice. Even the Blizzard of '93 didn't hit Alabama this hard, though that was a matter of timing. During that storm, businesses closed early, the snow didn't begin to fall until around 5:00 or 6:00 pm, and the roads took longer to ice over. It was not until the middle of the night or the next morning that they became impassible. This time, it hit during the workday. Again, since we are used to the occasional snowfall this time of year, which generally doesn't result in over an inch of snow (if that much), there was no immediate panic. We figured that schools would close early, businesses would also close due to the numbers of parents needing to get home to be with young children, and we'd all enjoy a nice half-day off work, and in the meantime the snow would melt off in the rising afternoon temps as it always does. During Southern snows, usually the time of greatest danger is after sunset, when the temperatures fall and the roads ice over. We don't have the infrastructure down here that the Northern states and Canada have. No salt trucks, snow plows, etc. Just a few sand trucks, and not enough of those to meet the needs of an entire city, much less the state. We generally don't need them, after all. When was our last bad winter storm, 21 years ago? My children (including my college age son) hadn't been born yet during the Blizzard of '93.
But this time, the noonday temperatures fell rather than rising, and by the time schools and businesses realized that this storm was going to be different from anything we've experienced before, it was already quite hazardous for anyone to venture out on the roads, but especially for those who are inexperienced in driving in snow and ice. And that, of course, means practically everyone born and raised this far south of the Mason-Dixon line.
We knew even before starting out that our chances of driving straight into our driveway were nil, but fortunately the roadways between downtown to an area of town within a mile of our home were fairly level. And we knew we had food at home and (unless the power went out) also heat, not to mention our teenage daughter and two cats, whereas my office building had no food, a very inadequate heating/cooling system that can't be trusted even at the best of times, no blankets, and most restaurants in walking distance were closing or had already closed. So we decided to chance the roads, since my husband is very familiar with all the surface streets between downtown and home, so if one was too traffic jammed or icy, he could figure out another route to take.
Even so, our usual 40 minute commute took around four hours, with us rarely able to creep faster than 5 miles an hour except for when we managed to get on a fairly clear strip of motorway that had been partly thawed by passing traffic and hadn't had a chance to refreeze yet. There were accidents and skidding cars all around us. We slid and spun our wheels a time or two ourselves, but not too badly. Emergency vehicles were out in droves, but far too few to meet the city's needs, even though I'm certain all of Birmingham's finest were out and doing their best (and still are).
At last we made it to a small shopping area within hiking distance of home. The parking lot was almost full, since everyone else in our residential area who had managed to make it that far had also needed to leave their car there and walk the rest of the way home. But there were people out in off-road 4-wheelers trying to aid stranded motorists and give them rides the rest of the way home. One nice old fellow saw me and my DH walking up the road (DS had decided to go on ahead of us while I had stopped into the Subway sandwich shop, which was still open, for a restroom break), and he offered to give us a lift to our house. DH was enjoying the walk, but I took him up on the offer, figuring the last thing I needed would be to make my shoulder injury worse by slipping on ice during the final leg of our journey. My driver managed to get me about halfway up my street, but our hill proved to be too steep for his vehicle to make it more than halfway up, so we went back to the bottom of the hill and he let me off there to walk the final block or so to my house. By this time, DH had caught up with us, so we arrived home together.
Here are some pictures of what my community looks like right now:
http://imgur.com/a/woBtl (http://imgur.com/a/woBtl)
There were sights like those everywhere we looked on our drive home yesterday, and I'm sure they only got worse after sunset. Fortunately we made it home by 6:00 pm, so we may have missed the worst of the roads refreezing. (Not that they ever really thawed, but at least there were some areas that were more slushy rather than hard ice.)
Needless to say, schools remain closed, as are most businesses (unless their staff got stranded there and they opted to remain open to help out other stranded people). The road leading to our nearest hospital is completely impassable. We know, because we attempted to take that short cut before discovering there was no way to get up that hill, despite it being sanded earlier. My daughter just read some news report about there being something like 4000 students still stranded at schools, since buses couldn't run and their parents were unable to get to them and bring them home. At least they are warm, dry, and have food and adult supervision there, so that situation could be much worse.
I am safe at home enjoying a lovely day off work, and I have a lot to be thankful for (even though this winter storm also means that my MRI appointments that were scheduled for this afternoon now have to be rescheduled...Grrr!) But please keep the less fortunate members of my community in your thoughts and prayers!
Thank God you are all warm and safe. Kudos for braving it out and making your way home. Such a trying time for all! (Been there, done that, and got the t-shirt...err...sweatshirt.)
Prayers, of course, are going your way for you and everyone affected by the horrendous weather.
Very thankful that you and your family got home safely, Evie. Although we are better prepared for weather like that up here, there are still days when it is "white knuckle driving" the whole way home and that is never fun. Hopefully this is the last you will have to cope with it for a long while.
My thoughts to those who were not as fortunate to make it safely home - hopefully all are well.
Just wow Evie.
I was not aware of the horrendous cold front the south has had from yesterday and today until you said something. Since then I have watched some news and seen some amazing footage of ice and people stuck on the roads. Atlanta had a baby born on the highway and some people spent 12 hours in their cars. Yikes! My prayers and safe wishes to everyone back east.
I am so glad your whole family is home. Stay safe and find some fun projects to do. The day is probably getting on for you at this time. but sounds like a good time to break out that sewing machine and see what you can do with it. Men's tunics might be an easy project, or test a fancy stitch on a hem of something.
Have a safe warm day at home.
And the same to all other Rhemuth castle residents in the southeast today.
P.S. I can see where a transfer portal would have come in handy yesterday. ;D
Here in Jacksonville, Florida, it's just cold and rainy. It may sleet tonight.
I will add my thoughts to those in worse weather than I'm having to put up with. I can see that this really sucks. :)
Orlando is just cold and rainy and will be so until this mess moves back up north. Glad you and yours are home safe.
Those pictures were pretty much what happens in the UK every time we have snow! I did love the "coffee on the porch" sign though. One of the few good things to come out of events like this is odd people showing what the world really ought to be like.
We have just had rain, rain, and yet more rain. Normally by this time of the year, we'd have had our first snow, but we've only had 4 or 5 days when the windscreen has been frozen. Admittedly, February is usually our worst month for snow, but getting to the end of January without any is very strange. But we have loads of flood warnings instead.
And just after I posted that I saw this
http://www.businessinsider.com/snowedoutatlanta-facebook-page-2014-1
on Twitter.
This. Right here. Good folks.
Here we are dealing with this AND the aftereffects of what some are calling the "Aquapolypse." Now it has been revealed that there is formaldehyde in the water as well.
i had to leave a car and walk in iowa once because of ice, and now after 8 years in the eternal summer of southern cal, I am back in new hampshire enduring the coldest winter since "over the river" was composed, but here people do know how to drive in snow (after practising for the first couple storms) plus they do a much better job here of sanding/salting/plowing. And you learn quickly that good tires are important even on SUVs.
Well, the thing about the Deep South is that there AREN'T snowplows and stockpiles of salt and sand for snow because it so seldom snows here. I saw a comment somewhere from someone in Nebraska saying that it seems funny at first glance that two inches of snow could screw things up so badly, but then, Nebraska would freak out at the prospect of a hurricane, whereas in Florida or Georgia or Louisiana, we have the apparatus in place for dealing with hurricanes. Just not snow and ice. :P
It's like in California, we think of an earthquake under 6 as a nice foot massage. And I do have chains for my truck because my mom lives in the mountains 45 minutes away, But no chains on the car. I have even put on the chains twice.( Don't relish doing that too often). However, you can keep your Ice storms and tornadoes.(Those sound frightening). I have seen tropical storms, but sorry Florida, I'm good with the hurricanes on the pacific side staying far south of California. I'm afraid I am spoiled and not afraid to admit it. Now a little rain might be nice to have; what is left of my lawn is fading fast.
Nobody in their right mind thinks hurricanes are fun. :P
I just meant that we know how to deal with them down this-a-way. :)
I agree with you on that Desert Rose. Extreme anything is a major trial to deal with but at least you know your own area. But when the extreme from somewhere else visits your neighborhood disaster strikes.
Evie, I really hope your world is warming up and you can get your car back up to your driveway.
Yep, different regions, different weather.
Growing up in the Midwest, my dad made sure I learned how to drive in the snow before I was 16 (I swear, the man had nerves of steel! ;D). I've had my white-knuckle moments too, driving through lake-effect blizzards between Illinois and Michigan with just enough visibility to follow the semi in front of me, all the while praying that I wasn't following him over the side of an overpass.
Kansas...now Kansas had weather! Tornadoes, ice storms, wind storms that rip the roofs off buildings...
And where am I now? In an area with a very boring, very grey, very soggy and slug-infested climate. Oh, we do get snow, though normally not that much. When snow does come, most people don't know how to drive in it. Two years ago we did have an ice storm and a couple feet of snow, leaving us without power for 5 days. That idiot (former) mayor of Seattle wouldn't salt the streets because he didn't want it to get into Puget Sound, that is filled with..hmm... what? Salt water! :P
No, I'm not really complaining, though an occasional change would be nice. Interminable drizzle and fog do get old after a while. We don't tan out here, we rust! Still, it's better than driving in snow and ice.
Just be careful where you leave your car. While attending university in Kalamazoo, a sudden blizzard dumped waist-high snow in just a few short hours. I had to stay at a friend's place and leave my car in a school parking lot. The next day, I discovered some smart aleck plowed ALL the snow around my car!
Scary pictures - glad you made it home Evie. And loved the picture of the coffee notice. The Weather is certainly doing weird things - my elder DD who is a climate change ecologist would have things to say. She makes the four last things of Advent (heaven, hell, death and judgement to refresh your memories) sound positively cheerful.
Like Annie said our problem is floods - not too bad where I am in Birkenhead (near Liverpool) but the south is bad; one village has been cut off for over a month and they can only get in and out by boat.
Anyone up to speed on weather working...
DH has gone to retrieve the car, so all you weather workers can start working your road thawing mojo. :)
Acts of kindness during times like these, such as the free coffee, folks with four wheelers offering people rides, and that Facebook emergency page, are the normal response that folks in these parts tend to have at times like this, which is one reason I love living here. There is a strong sense of community and caring for one's neighbor in times of need, even if that neighbor is a stranger. Granted, there are some exceptions, and also a shining few whose efforts on other's behalf are exceptionally noteworthy. But for the most part, people here tend to pull together as much as they are able at times like this. After a major tornado or wind storm (which is what the average person is better equipped to handle here), you really see this. We're like worker bees rebuilding a damaged hive. It's to the point that we can counton the different area churches to provide different and complementary aspects of disaster relief. For example, the Baptists provide training in chain saw safety and soup kitchens, Methodists provide first responder training, the Catholic and Presbyterian churches tend to provide shelters and food/clothing, etc. , with the various efforts coordinating to ensure as much as possible that needs are being met.
Just got a text from DH; he and DD got to the car with no problem and they are on their way to check on his mom's house before coming back home. :)
Kalamazoo? Were you at Kalamazoo College or Western Michigan University? I was born in Kalamazoo.
Quote from: Elkhound on January 30, 2014, 05:25:41 PM
Kalamazoo? Were you at Kalamazoo College or Western Michigan University? I was born in Kalamazoo.
WMU in good ol' K-zoo :)
Evie, I'm glad you are so blessed with such a wonderful community, and that things will be thawing out soon. Stay warm and safe!
Should I be worried about why the Baptists have chain saws? :o
And it obviously all happens in Kalamazoo. A good friend of mine was born there, too, and gave the name to one of her cats, although it was usually known as Kally.
Quote from: AnnieUK on January 31, 2014, 02:44:28 AM
Should I be worried about why the Baptists have chain saws? :o
ROFL! Yeah, that does sound ominous, doesn't it? Don't worry, it's not like they're gearing up for the Baptist Chain Saw Massacre. ;D
No, the simple answer is that "disaster relief" in the South usually means cleaning up in the aftermath of a tornado or some other major windstorm, which means a lot of fallen trees and/or debris from shingles or even whole roofs getting blown off houses and the like. So the chain saws are necessary to help clear the roads of branches or whole trees that have toppled over onto them (or to get said fallen trees out of someone's living room), blocking emergency vehicles from getting through (or preventing roof repairs). And the "first responder" training that the Methodist church offers via UMCOR is actually more disaster relief training than the standard Red Cross first aid sort of training. It deals with things from basic chain saw safety, to how to handle and clear debris safely, how to clean up after a flood, what can be salvaged and what needs to be trashed, how to patch up a hole in a roof with a tarp until it can be fixed permanently, and even how to provide effective first responder services from a mental health standpoint until the professionals can get there, etc. I've been through UMCOR training, but trust me, no one wants to see me handling a chain saw. I'll gladly ladle soup, though. ;)
Quote from: Evie on January 31, 2014, 10:20:04 AM
I've been through UMCOR training, but trust me, no one wants to see me handling a chain saw.
Yes, you already have enough spare limbs and heads around your house as it is. ;D
Quote from: Aerlys on January 31, 2014, 12:03:34 PM
Quote from: Evie on January 31, 2014, 10:20:04 AM
I've been through UMCOR training, but trust me, no one wants to see me handling a chain saw.
Yes, you already have enough spare limbs and heads around your house as it is. ;D
;D
Quote
Quote from: Aerlys on Today at 12:03:34 pm
Quote from: Evie on Today at 10:20:04 am
I've been through UMCOR training, but trust me, no one wants to see me handling a chain saw.
Yes, you already have enough spare limbs and heads around your house as it is. ;D
;D
ROFL :P
And Please Evie! Take note; solving your own shoulder pain Can Not be remedied by finding a new compatible replacement part.
Please, Please, Please, leave the chain saw handling to someone else.
(Sending mental thoughts of warmer weather and healing powers your direction.)
We all know how to deal with the conditions we can predict in our area. (Alas, there's no warning alarm invented for earthquakes--that would be helpful!).But our architecture on newer buildings is designed to cause the minimal damage possible because we've studied Seismological motion. A similar earthquake to Loma Prieta in Chicago would be devastating. But this was a weird, far reaching storm bringing snow where we wouldn't think it normally fell. Atlanta? Alabama? NOLA? It's the Snowpocalypse, Charlie Brown!
We did finally get a little rain over in Cali this week. Not enough, but at least it washed away some dust and smog. Hoping there's more where it came from, though. We sure need it.
Melissa
I was pretty shocked at the thought of snow in New Orleans myself! What's next, equatorial glaciers? :D Snow here in Birmingham isn't quite so unusual--we do see the occasional snowfall here, though more often we just get brief flurries or the occasional languid snowflake drifting lazily through the air looking lost and alone--but what made this storm so devastating was that we not only got more snow and ice (especially ICE) than we normally do, but it also hit in the middle of the workday, after schools and businesses had opted to remain open because the weather prediction was for the snow and ice to pass south of our area. We were only supposed to get a light dusting with no accumulation. So when the snow started to fall shortly after the workday started, no one was particularly worried. It was only after an hour had passed and we started to realize that this stuff was coming down much more heavily than predicted, and that it was sticking, that we started to realize there was a potential problem. And by the time decisions were made to shut down schools and businesses, the roads were already fairly close to impassible. I have seen quite a few icy days here, but I have never seen ice form on roads that quickly during daylight hours. Normally it's at night and early morning hours that we have major ice problems, and especially when we know ahead of time to expect that, everyone is quite sensibly at home during those hours, not in the middle of their workday routine.
Small earthquakes don't particularly bother me, probably since I spent parts of my early childhood living near the San Andreas and New Madrid faults, but I'm glad I've never had to experience a large one! We have reportedly had a couple of earthquakes in nearby states in the past couple of decades that could be felt as far south as Birmingham, but they were middle of the night occurrences, and I slept through both. We get the occasional hurricane, but they nearly always get downgraded to tropical storm status by the time they get this far inland, and even when they don't, the damage isn't all that different from what we get with a severe thunderstorm or tornado weather. The main difference is that during a hurricane our hotels are full of evacuees from the coastal areas who couldn't find any vacancies closer to home. And again, if we know a hurricane is going to make a direct hit on our coastline, we go ahead and close schools and businesses for that day, even though we're six hours inland, just because Birmingham becomes the Land of Falling Trees anytime there's soggy ground and a high wind.
Quote from: Shiral on January 31, 2014, 01:42:10 PM
We did finally get a little rain over in Cali this week. Not enough, but at least it washed away some dust and smog. Hoping there's more where it came from, though. We sure need it.
Melissa
If someone can persuade the jet stream to go the other way we've got lots and lots of rain which the folk in the south west of the UK would only be too glad to share. Am not clever enough to send links but there are some fairly dramatic pictures of the main railway line to Cornwall being swept away by a storm surge at a place called Dawlish.
We're getting snow too, but fortunately not enough to accumulate much.
This is what parts of Somerset look like. If I was the driver of that train, I'd be pretty worried.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26083171
Some pretty impressive waves in Cornwall (the bit that sticks out at the far South-West)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26070143
Wow, scary looking pictures there, Annie! :o
Oh My! Annie. That's a lot of water. Poor Somerset. I hope your rain stops and lets the countryside dry out.
Now, if they could just transport some of that to us in Southern California. We did get a light drizzle yesterday and we could really use more.
Yup. On the waves video, the last shot is of Dawlish. There, the main railway line between Devon and Cornwall has been completely swept away. The sea wall broke, and the whole understructure of the railway was swept away first. It was kind of left dangling, like a theme park ride. And then the force of the waves collapsed it.
It's not been as bad where I am, thankfully, although it does feel like it has rained solidly for about 6 weeks now. It's a bit like living in Blade Runner. :o
California in general, from what I'm hearing, Laurna, could use the rain that the UK is getting in such ridiculous amounts.
It seems there is more rain where we don't need it, and not enough where we do.
Awesome pictures, Annie. For once, I won't complain about our snow.
Though the snow banks are high enough, DH comes out in the mornings to signal when it's safe to back my car out into the street. :)
45ft waves expected in the south-west overnight tonight. It's taking a real hammering down there. :(
I can't even imagine what a wave 45ft high might be like, and have no inclination to find out.
OK, I guess it's a lot like this. Holy natural elements, Batman!
https://plus.google.com/+WorldexploreEuOfficialPage/posts/ECEknZuJR2q
All train links to the south-west of England are now cut - the train line on Annie's picture in Somerset is completely under water, plus a landslip on the one otherwise unaffected line. We're fairly ok up north but it is getting a bit scary with endless gales and rain. It's apparently the wettest January for 250 years - that takes us back to King George!!
Just thinking if some of you kind folk over your side could trap the low pressure systems before they head out into the Atlantic ...(Shiral nets perhaps).
I'd give it a try, but finding shiral crystals in sufficient quantities for that sort of weather working might prove to be a problem. ;)
So now we have winds gusting over 100 miles per hour to add to the coastal storm surges and our major rivers competing to see which ones can turn into lakes first.
Perhaps winning medals in rowing at the Olympics was a bad omen...
Quote from: revanne on February 12, 2014, 03:10:54 PM
So now we have winds gusting over 100 miles per hour to add to the coastal storm surges and our major rivers competing to see which ones can turn into lakes first.
Perhaps winning medals in rowing at the Olympics was a bad omen...
LOL! ;D
100 mph winds, though? Wow! That's like hurricane strength winds here, or nearly so at least (I forget the dividing line between tropical storm and hurricane force winds). Usually if my part of Alabama sees winds that strong, there are roofs blowing off houses, winged monkeys flying about, and a green woman going on about some house falling on her sister. Sure hope you get some better weather soon!
Yes, 100 mph is hurricane force. A tropical storm becomes a hurricane at sustained winds of 74 mph; 100 mph winds are in the low end of category 2, actually. :)
So saith the delegation from Florida, wherein we deal with the silly things pretty near every summer/early fall. :P
The weather men are calling them hurricane force winds (apparently we can't actually get hurricanes here because it's not warm enough???) adding to the general chaos. The strongest gust on land was recorded at 108 mph in North Wales earlier today No red shoes seen sticking out from under houses that I know off, but maybe they're keeping that quiet.
Quote from: revanne on February 12, 2014, 03:40:11 PM
The weather men are calling them hurricane force winds (apparently we can't actually get hurricanes here because it's not warm enough???) adding to the general chaos. The strongest gust on land was recorded at 108 mph in North Wales earlier today No red shoes seen sticking out from under houses that I know off, but maybe they're keeping that quiet.
Be careful if you find any. You might end up in Kansas! ;)
Quote from: Evie on February 12, 2014, 04:00:04 PM
Be careful if you find any. You might end up in Kansas! ;)
*Shudder*
No, not that!!
Run and hide, Revanne! Kansas isn't called the "Land of Blahs" for nothing.
**Sends weather-stabilizing spell to Revanne**
:) Thanks Aerlys - blue skies today :)
It is snowing heavily today; hardly anyone is in the office.
I am hopeful that Evie is getting her MRI as I write. And that afterwards, she will find the roads clear to get home safe without being stuck in traffic or having to walk the last mile in the ice.
I'm working on transporting my warm weather to negate your cold one. May need more power from other spell casters though.
Thanks, Laurna! Your efforts seem to be working. There is still a very pretty covering of snow on our grassy areas, but the roads were almost completely clear this morning as we made our way in to work (after a delayed opening, so we didn't have to be at the office until 11:00 am, giving the roads time to thaw in the rising temperatures). My MRI appointments are at 3:00 and 4:15, and they're in a building that's within walking distance of my office, so I don't anticipate any difficulty in getting there. Nor do I expect that the roads will freeze back over before we can get home tonight, if at all. Weekend temperatures are supposed to have highs in the 60s (Fahrenheit) again. If you live in the US South and you don't like the winter weather, just wait five minutes and it will change. ;)
That is great news! I'll keep up the prayers and weather-weaving spells.
I hope and pray the MRI really gets to the bottom of things, Evie, so you can finally be on the mend.