Last fall when you northerners said you couldn't live down here because of the hurricanes I thought you were Bob Costas. Well tonight we're going to get freezing rain and half of Jacksonville is shutting down. Lil Stampie started back to school today as a hurricane make up day but they're closing tomorrow for cold. Floridians can handle 100mph winds but don't let it freeze.
In reply to Stampie :
It was -13F this morning backing the car out of the garage here in central Indiana, wind chill was -21. Not even close to the lowest I've seen/been in. Yesterday it was -7 and we went shopping. It warmed up to 8* at lunch and it honestly felt warm.
Yeah, my FB friends are giving us a bit of grief over the school closings in Gainesville. I will say when it last froze here in '89 there were cars in ditches everywhere and trees down on lines all over town.
The infrastructure in the south is not equipped to handle real winter. Systems and building codes are not designed for single digit temperature and snow loads/ice buildup here. Clothing for extreme cold ain't even sold in our Wal-Mart. Brine doesn't do a damn thing but waste money, and municipalities can't justify the expense of the equipment to deal with snow/ice/arctic cold for a once a year usage.
Its not that we'r Bob Costas about the winter down here. Simply put, it's not the way of life here that it is where i grew up (near Erie Pennsylvania). Its a freak occurance every couple of years for a couple of days.
I'd like to comment, but i gotta put some wood on da fire......
This weather is why i buy good battery's. Ill take the -30 windchills in exchange for the lack of hurricanes and 110 degree heat!
I lived down south in hurricane country.. now I'm back up north...
One thing I've learned in my travels is that people will always complain about the traffic and the weather, no matter where you live...
I see Biloxi had some cold temps. Nothing new. They had an ice storm when I was there. It all melted shortly after.
weather conversation here. "cold today". Answer, "yep".
iceracer said:I see Biloxi had some cold temps. Nothing new. They had an ice storm when I was there. It all melted shortly after.
weather conversation here. "cold today". Answer, "yep".
Yep, it dropped into the 20's the last couple nights and is supposed to be below freezing every night through Friday. I'll still take a week or two of this per year vs. below-zero temps and blizzards.
I got a neat pic at lunch of a spigot on the corner frozen completely solid, while the gulf shimmered just across the street. Edit: here's the FB link.
I was more surprised a few weeks ago when we had snow/sleet, and a bit of accumulation(especially on ramps & bridges) that it didn't really seem to deter traffic, nor result in accidents. I even saw someone in their C6 Vette heading down the highway like it was nothing.
Fueled by Caffeine said:I lived down south in hurricane country.. now I'm back up north...
One thing I've learned in my travels is that people will always complain about the traffic and the weather, no matter where you live...
If I hear one more damn state in that "we only have 2 seasons, (blank) and road construction" joke, I'm going to punch a unicorn directly in the face.
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
I didn't know you grew up in the Erie Area. I was in Harborcreek till 7th grade.
To give you an example, Just a little freezing drizzle and there are 27 major wrecks in the Austin area with 2 major highways pretty well closed as of an hour ago. I don't think the city owns more than 4 vehicles equipped to spread anything to help traction.
Live near DC, guess we are so used to shoveling bull-E36M3* that snow cant shut us down for more than a few days. Also, south of DC I swear we get a draft off of all the hot air*...
*(ok, a little flounder, but equal opportunity offending!)
Nah, when we lived north of DC we had a few decent storms
(FIND THE MIATA!)
Moved south of DC and only have one winter down here, worst we had all last winter was a dusting.
Whats worse? A northern heating bill or a southern air conditioning bill? (or So-Cal cost of living in general?)
Currently have a messed up back. This may be the winter I introduce my (pregnant) wife to the joys of the tank treaded snowblower left over from living in Ohio and in the mountains of western MD. Wish I had it with me in the miata picture above, had to dig that out with a folding shovel because apartment life.
Having done both hurricanes and freezing rain, give me Irma any day. Freezing rain sucks.
In reply to bmw88rider :
Actually grew up in kane. But nobody has ever heard of it. Lot easier around here to say Erie.
hurricanes cat 1-2>snow>sub 10 temps>freezing rain> hurricanes 3-5 in the scale of choice of preference.
Mndsm said:Having done both hurricanes and freezing rain, give me Irma any day. Freezing rain sucks.
Did more limbs and damage really happen from the freezing rain vs the hurricane?
Seriously, not meant to be snarky, never done the hurricane thing, but the worst freezing rain (or snowstorm) I have experienced shut things down for only a few days and the largest delay was the power company to remote areas. (out in the sticks, a week without power. But most have fireplaces, a generator perhaps... Never had an evacuation level event, just hunker down for a day or two and its all good. Very very rare for homes to be lost/etc to snow/ice storms. Yeah, you might end up eating that slightly expired can of creamed corn you have no idea why you had gracing the back of the cupboard in the first place... Also, good luck looting, everyone is too busy trying to get out of their driveway and the ones with heavy equipment to get themselves out first almost have a license to steal charging the others to dig them out. Bright side, you wont have any trouble keeping your beer cold.
Guess thats why I look at that statement with curiosity.
Perhaps it just really is a different mentality.
Now, the only thing that pushes me over is the need for a dedicated winter beater to sacrifice to the tin worm. THAT I can see. Also, seasonal depression from lack of daylight (but then again, I am a ginger, so too much light is a bad thing.. probably biologically best adapted to the PNW with nothing but balmy weather and rain rain rain.)
In reply to Apexcarver :
So, in freezing rain, people still go out and about and do E36 M3. And then they smash into each other. It's mass chaos on a global scale. Power lines and trees can come down, and if it's a northern state, it can literally be frozen for weeks. Not to mention little warning in advance of said disaster.
Irma, I had at least a week to prepare, plenty of water, food, etc. If I lost power, my cars all had gas, would start, and were accessible. If my cars are frozen, not only am I out of power, I'm berkeleying cold and can't use my car as temporary respite.
Really, it's a matter of preference. I did 36 winters as a Minnesota. The repeated stupidity and all the stupid E36 M3 thst happens during a winter storm, even in a state that is prepared for it, give me a once in a decade event.
My uncle is a lineman. From his perspective, ice storms are worse because it's slippery and it's cold. Ice storm vs cat1-2 hurricane, about the same damage to the grid. Houses and [stationary] cars sustain almost zero damage in an ice storm, unless something falls on them or you get frozen pipes--from that pov, no contest hurricane is worse.
Stampie said:Last fall when you northerners said you couldn't live down here because of the hurricanes I thought you were Bob Costas. Well tonight we're going to get freezing rain and half of Jacksonville is shutting down. Lil Stampie started back to school today as a hurricane make up day but they're closing tomorrow for cold. Floridians can handle 100mph winds but don't let it freeze.
EH. We have insulation and basements and furnaces, and neighborhoods built in forests that haven't seen winds over 50mph in decades.
You build for what you expect and suffer through the outliers.
Some years ago I had the misfortune of getting assigned to our R-D, NC office for a week that happened to coincide with an ice storm. Besides the expected road craziness, the big issue was trees falling and taking out power lines. The office, my hotel and the surrounding area were all without power (the only restaurant open was a Waffle House) for days. I saw dozens of tress down or bent over as I drove around looking for coffee. And naturally, the locals all thought I was crazy driving around in a RWD conversion van, until I tell them I'm from PA and this is all somewhat normal weather to me... with my GA accent confusing them even more.
Trees up here in the snow belt are "hardened" to this sort of weather, so they tend to fall/break less when they happen to get a coating of snow or ice.
Mndsm said:In reply to Apexcarver :
So, in freezing rain, people still go out and about and do E36 M3. And then they smash into each other. It's mass chaos on a global scale. Power lines and trees can come down, and if it's a northern state, it can literally be frozen for weeks. Not to mention little warning in advance of said disaster.
Irma, I had at least a week to prepare, plenty of water, food, etc. If I lost power, my cars all had gas, would start, and were accessible. If my cars are frozen, not only am I out of power, I'm berkeleying cold and can't use my car as temporary respite.
Really, it's a matter of preference. I did 36 winters as a Minnesota. The repeated stupidity and all the stupid E36 M3 thst happens during a winter storm, even in a state that is prepared for it, give me a once in a decade event.
Here's the thing- Irma caused enough damage that people are still without power from it as well as Maria. I don't recall any winter storm doing nearly the damage as the hurricanes this year.
I hate winter, for sure. But I'd love to see any winter storm that has done damage at the scale of any of the single hurricane damage this year. let alone the sum of the three. It's never happened.
Unless you live in on a Caribbean island, in a boat, or on the beach, hurricanes aren't that big of a deal. Irma took some cleaning up, but we didn't lose power at all.
In all honesty, ice storms are pretty much a non event as well. If you are lucky, you get a day off work. It's supposed to snow today, all the big companies are shut down, all the government offices are shut down, the rest of us are at work doing the same thing we would do any other day.
Given a choice between the two, I'll take the hurricane. We get one good one every 20 years. That's much better constant ice/snow storms all winter long.
^Last big ice storm we had roll through Oklahoma back in 07-08 I think, there were parts of Tulsa without power for 2 weeks in sub-freezing temperatures, then those people couldn't get out because all the trees down were blocking them in their neighborhoods......not a good deal.
However, I'll take our brutal July/August heat, and severe storms and threats of tornado's over having to deal with a real winter every year. Couldn't do it.
I was in DC when a storm hit once, bucket loaders cleared the road by dumping snow on parked cars. You need more practice.
In reply to alfadriver :
You are 100% correct. Ice will never match a hurricane. It's totally a personal thing with me. I despise winter with a hatred usually reserved for a kid and vegetables. I've done tornadoes too, which is (to me) a short localized hurricane that has no warning. It's all a matter of what you're willing to gamble. I'm gambling on losing all my E36 M3 in trade for no ice or snow. Others will gamble on what has become this winter in trade for no hurricanes or disney tourists.
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