First snow storm of 2016

2" of the fluffiest powder at my house this morning. Just enough that I could pull a sweet e-brake slide out of my driveway onto the road. I preped the snowblower Sunday but haven't needed it yet.

KyAllroad wrote: Expecting 6-12 inches tomorrow. People around here are losing their damned minds! Seriously, "institute disaster plan blah blah blah"? It's just some snow FFS, I probably won't even bother shoveling the driveway.

Yup- In my morning telecons today the guys at the office here were warning the engineers at the home plant (in CT) that there was a big snowstorm on the way and a lot of people would likely either not be in or be quite late tomorrow. I'm kind of impressed by the restraint of the CT staff in not asking just how much snow was expected- and then laughing themselves silly (it's been something like 30 years since our home plant closed due to weather...). My boss here informed me that he would be working from home tomorrow because his wife didn't want him driving in- which is kind of ridiculous because I know they moved here from MA 6 years or so ago.

This year I'm not the least bit concerned about the snow. We actually have a snow shovel now (bought right after the big snows last year), and it takes about 5 seconds to put the Blazer into 4WD and it seems to do quite fine in the snow. The only real issue is that they keep cancelling school (seriously, why cancel school today???) and the more snow days there are the bigger a problem it is for SWMBO's nonprofit's June show since the makeup snow days encroach on their rehearsal schedule the month before.

KyAllroad wrote:

Furious_E wrote: 12" is looking pretty likely here in Carlisle. Hearing forecast models have been trending north over the past day or so which could put us into the real thick of the storm if all pans out - kinda right on the edge at the moment. Fingers crossed! Really want to see how the XJ would do busting through 2' drifts!

Word of warning about drift busting. If the drift is longer than you thought it might have been you can find yourself in the unpleasant situation of riding up onto the snow. This results in becoming a pedestrian until rescue occurs. (my mother did just this on a country road back in the '80s driving a chevy 4x4 pickup, ended up spending a couple of days at a nearby farmhouse)

I just went out and got some "snatch" straps just for this.. not for me, but for the idiots who think they can drive through snow like it is nothing.. me, I will be the guy in the right lane going slow and making it home in one piece

In reply to mad_machine:

I've got a strap as well should I require rescue, problem is I have no recovery points to hook it to with the hitch currently removed.

Here in PA, it looks like Saturday is going to be ground zero for snow. Going to get a pile of movies to watch tonight at Redbox.

New wiper blades on this afternoon. Always carry snatch strap. Shovel and maybe sand in the bed tomorrow. Top off fuel. Winter advisory states worst travel hours are 10 p.m. through 7 a.m. 6"-10" expected, road crews are unpredictable, why piss around. Yippee, those are my travel hours.

Furious_E wrote: In reply to mad_machine: I've got a strap as well should I require rescue, problem is I have no recovery points to hook it to with the hitch currently removed.

I just picked up a hook that slots into the hitch receiver from HF. it looks well built and for what I paid for it... you could also just put the loop of the strap into the receiver and use the pin to hold it in place.

I personally would -never- loop the strap around the ball of a hitch. Too many pictures on the internet of those things snapping

What is this "snow" you speak of? The most we have gotten here west of DFW is some frost. We might get some snow by the end of January or early February.

Appleseed wrote: Hahahhaahaha. We had our first a week before Thanksgiving.

We had our first in mid September.

Now predicting 24" to 28" here with high winds. Looks like I will spend Saturday in the house and Sunday out blowing snow. Won't help at all that my neighbor is out of town so I will end up doing his 200' of sidewalk (corner lot) in addition to my own.

It's not supposed to hit here until Saturday when we will get between 3 and 26 inches. I will be taking the Fiat to work since I haven't gotten tires yet for the Buick. As you would expect from a government agency my Suburban was sent in for an inspection so I will probably have a Prius and a shovel for the next week or so.

I've cleaned the garage out so I can stuff the van inside. I hate scraping snow off my car when I have a garage. Makes the driveways easier to clear as well.

Wall-e wrote: It's not supposed to hit here until Saturday when we will get between 3 and 26 inches. I will be taking the Fiat to work since I haven't gotten tires yet for the Buick. As you would expect from a government agency my Suburban was sent in for an inspection so I will probably have a Prius and a shovel for the next week or so.

Hey our Prius does awesome in snow.

In reply to crankwalk:

The Suburban has a plow and held more salt. They were able to come up with a Highlander for me so I won't be doing any plowin but was able to load it with plenty of salt and I have an iPod jack.

crankwalk wrote:

Wall-e wrote: It's not supposed to hit here until Saturday when we will get between 3 and 26 inches. I will be taking the Fiat to work since I haven't gotten tires yet for the Buick. As you would expect from a government agency my Suburban was sent in for an inspection so I will probably have a Prius and a shovel for the next week or so.

Hey our Prius does awesome in snow.

Yup- I was very pleasantly surprised when Snowmageddan 2015 hit last year at how well the 2G Prius we had at the time handled it. I'm hoping I don't regret having the 4WD Blazer this year instead of it...

mad_machine wrote:

Furious_E wrote: In reply to mad_machine: I've got a strap as well should I require rescue, problem is I have no recovery points to hook it to with the hitch currently removed.

I just picked up a hook that slots into the hitch receiver from HF. it looks well built and for what I paid for it... you could also just put the loop of the strap into the receiver and use the pin to hold it in place. I personally would -never- loop the strap around the ball of a hitch. Too many pictures on the internet of those things snapping

By hitch removed I mean the entire hitch assembly that mounts to the frame, not just the ball/receiver.

Well, it has begun here. Was just starting to come down when I came in to work about an hour ago, and is now really coming down. Didn't even need to put the Blazer into 4WD on the way in- am wondering if I'm going to be needing 4Lo to get home. Will stick it out until at least lunchtime and decide (or get told by SWMBO that I have to come home :P).

Ahhh, the sound of ice bouncing off my roof must mean the town is shut down. Road out front looks passable and the small amount of traffic going by is at a fairly normal speed. Ground is covered in white, but seems to be melting a bit, which will freeze tonight. That should be fun.

It's stopped raining here. Think I'll go out for tacos.

Been watching the radar all day here in Dayton OH. It's kept a perfect notch out around the 275 loop of Cincinnati. Nothing.

Do I put the wife's car in the (1-car) garage for this storm to be nice, or does that cause her to realize she could have a warm clean car all the time and I never get to work on anything ever again?

You can say all sorts of bad things about H2's but winter time vehicle is not one of them. I hat driving my wife's except when there is snow. It does not know the meaning of getting stuck in the snow. Plowed roads???? It does not matter. I drove it through 3 feet up of snow up an un plowed driveway to get some friends that were stuck last year with zero issues. I went thought a 5' snow bank just for fun and it just pushed it out of the way. I thought I was going to need the 4wd low but no problem with it in high. I keep tow straps in the back of it as well that I used several times last year. At just over 10,000 lbs there is not much weather wise that will bother it.

Looks like the storm is going south we are just going to get a couple inches at best.

In reply to Kia_Racer: Be glad. I was in Wichita falls when we got 2" of snow. You would have thought it as the end of the world. Every thing closed down because no one knew how to drive in it and nothing to move it. some of us from the NE had a ball.

dean1484 wrote: You can say all sorts of bad things about H2's but winter time vehicle is not one of them. I hat driving my wife's except when there is snow. It does not know the meaning of getting stuck in the snow. Plowed roads???? It does not matter. I drove it through 3 feet up of snow up an un plowed driveway to get some friends that were stuck last year with zero issues. I went thought a 5' snow bank just for fun and it just pushed it out of the way. I thought I was going to need the 4wd low but no problem with it in high. I keep tow straps in the back of it as well that I used several times last year. At just over 10,000 lbs there is not much weather wise that will bother it.

My disco is the same way.. went nice and slow, and just kept on rolling until I got home. Did see a few cars off in the marshes abandoned.. people really need to slow down around here