The weather

[Southside]

Calling for 7" - 15" of snow here today.  Started falling about sunrise, probably 4" on the ground right now, cows are not happy.  To the south west they are calling for 24"-30".  I sold my Ski-Doo a number of years ago for a reason.  Anybody got any global warming they can spare?

[tree-farmer]

18 inches of wet snow and still falling. I have a new snow plow for kubota tractor, cleared drive way around house earlier. Like a kid with a new toy. When/if it ever stops I will do the mile of shared dirt road between us and the paved road.
Look forward to retiring so I can just wait for it to melt.

Really beginning to dislike snow..  :-\

[btulloh]

It's finally slacking off here (10 miles west of Richmond).  Seems to be about 10-12 inches.  No sawing tomorrow.



 

Yesterday morning when I got up, they were calling for around an inch.  That is the nature of snow forecasting here.  The line can shift fifty miles one way or the other and it's the difference between getting clobbered and getting nothing.  Fifty miles SE of here I think it was all rain.

[thecfarm]

Sure is sunny now. But singles numbers in the morning and was 20 at 5pm.
Someone fishing on Norcross pond. No idea how much ice,but those singles numbers,must be making ice.
Started to feed the deer.

[WV Sawmiller]

   We had at least 16 inches here today I am sure. It stacked up on the 3.5" wide banister top about a foot then just peaked and slid off. Sampson, my 13 lb Rat Terrier, finally came out of his little heated doghouse but is restricting his travels to underneath the porch where there is so much less snow.

   I took my little JD 750 with my blade and scraped out a path to the road but the snow plow has not been by anyway so I will not me leaving except in an emergency anyway. I see I have a broken link on one side I forgot to replace and the blade wants to hang lower on one side than the other which is not great on my drive. I'll try to remember to run by TSC or Rural King Wednesday when I am in Beckley WV and get one.

   Muzzleloader season starts tomorrow but unless it thaws an awful lot I won't be going. I took a bale of hay out in the 4 wheeler and it was a real challenge just to get it up into the woodline for the horse and mule.

[Southside]

We ended up with a foot and then it turned to rain, so some ice has formed.  The pines and cedar are taking it hard, hopefully nothing more falls as I think we are right on the edge of a real mess.  

[btulloh]

Ice is the worst.  That could get bad down there SS.  So far it hasn't turned to rain here.  Cold on the heels of this thing.  Bad recipe.

[Pulphook]

What do you southern guys do when it snows ? Up here we're used to it: plows, snow tires on 4WD, long underwear, roof rakes, etc...
Must be a real PITA for you...and dangerous.

[Ianab]

Must be a real PITA for you...and dangerous.

Not Southern US, Southern Hemisphere. But we have a similar climate, and don't get regular snow. If we do get a couple of inches, basically everything shuts down. Just stay home for the day. No one has chains, road contractors don't have plows etc, because it only happens every few years. But here it will only last for a day.  So it's easier to just call a "snow day" and stay home. 

Ice on the roads is a problem on cold winter mornings. There were places on the road to my old place that never saw direct sunlight, so the frost just built up over consecutive days to make black ice. Locals know where to take care, but people still get caught out. The higher Mt roads, especially in the South, have plows and grit trucks as it's a regular thing for them.

Start of Summer here, yesterday we had 26C, so no risk of snow. ;D

[thecfarm]

Ianab,always has the opposite season that I do.
We are having a heatwave at 18°.

[btulloh]

Here in VA we get enough snow to have the equipment and crews to deal with it.  South of here it starts to get a bit dicey though.  The problem in eastern VA is the temperature.  Even though primary roads and interstate are kept clear, the secondary roads and subdivisions don't get cleared for a couple days.  Buy then the snow has packed down on the roads from traffic.  The temperature goes up during the day and melts the top and then that freezes hard at night, plus you get black ice from melt and runoff.  After a couple days of that, the subdivisions are like skating rinks.  Through in some bad driving skills and you've got yourself a situation.

South of here in NC I think it's worse.  They got all this snow, but mixed in with a lot of freezing rain.  That's a bad deal.  Right here we were fortunate to be close to the cold air and got all snow and it was pretty dry, so it's not as bad as it might be.  But it looks like about 13" of snow at my place, so it's not a picnic.  Got some plowing and shoveling to do this morning.

Wishing the best for my friends to the south who got the freezing rain along with their snow.

[Pulphook]

Be safe.

[btulloh]

This will take care of most of my snow.  4-in-1 on the front and scraper blade on the back.  Not the perfect snow rig, but it'll do.  The shovel will get a workout too.  I wouldn't mind a heated cab on days like this.



 

[btulloh]

Looking at the storm totals from the radar, it looks like there was a band a little south of me that got twice as much precip as here.  It's right down where Southside logger lives.  I'm betting he's got a mess down there and no power.  I haven't seen anybody on here this morning from the 360/460 corridor.  I hope they're doing ok.

[Remle]

You Virginia and Carolinian people are killing my travel plans. That is , i am thinking of traveling south to escape this white plague called snow, been two months of snow here already and tired of it. Oh, i know that I'll never escape it completely, but, any body out their that isn't currently buried in it ? Now thinking of some where in the middle section of the country. Maybe Tennessee, Arkansas, northern Alabama, Georgia or Mississippi ? Florida just isn't my cup of tea. What say you all, A little snow today and gone tomorrow would be okay..

[btulloh]

I hear the roads in Guatemala are clear.

[WV Sawmiller]

You Virginia and Carolinian people are killing my travel plans. That is , i am thinking of traveling south to escape this white plague called snow, been two months of snow here already and tired of it. Oh, i know that I'll never escape it completely, but, any body out their that isn't currently buried in it ? Now thinking of some where in the middle section of the country. Maybe Tennessee, Arkansas, northern Alabama, Georgia or Mississippi ? Florida just isn't my cup of tea. What say you all, A little snow today and gone tomorrow would be okay..

Tennessee has no state income tax if you want to include that in your planning factors. (Just my way to try to keep any more misplaced northerners from moving to WV :D.)

[SwampDonkey]

Hmm? Whaaa? All this talk of bad weather lately. [squinting eyes in the bright sunshine]




I think I'll just go back to sleep here in the sun until they get done talking. :D :D



















This lynx has been laying there since I saw him walking there on my morning walk. I don't blame him one bit. :D

[Don P]

We ended up with 18-20", the sun is out now. I helped clear the high tunnel at daybreak yesterday and Michelle kept it clear during the day. They are not designed for much in the way of a snow load :. I keep talking about 2 rows of internal posts and purlins to beef it up. What growers forget every winter is if you can't keep up, kiss the crop goodby, slash the plastic and save the frame. There's a row of 5 smashed ones up the road. I plowed from the sawmill to the unplowed road yesterday. Time to go hit from there up to the house but there is more elevation change in the last 500 yards than the entire state of Delaware :D

Oh, that ended up being about 12.5 lbs/sf

[curdog]

We only got 8 inches at our house, the snow changed to sleet as usual.  But it's good enough for me.  Lots of folks are out of power and lots of trees are down. Luckily we got our power on last night after only about 15 hours, so it could have been a lot worse. A coworker and some family lost barns and sheds from the weight of the snow...this "Carolina concrete" snow sure has some weight to it.

[btulloh]

Gotta give credit to the crews here.  Things are pretty good for a 12-14" snow.  All the main roads are clear and they even plowed my neighborhood today.  Low 20's tonight, so re-freeze and black ice will be around every corner.  

Got my stuff under control and helped a couple neighbors today, so tomorrow should be kinda normal.  Whatever that means.

[lxskllr]

Clearish and cool; 35°. Haven't seen rain since two Sundays ago. Nice change of pace. Work's been a bit slow, and I was wishing I took my saws to work to clear some pasture. Ended up helping the boss install wire fence. Could have been worse, but I'd rather cut wood.

Happy Birthday curdog!

[thecfarm]

swampdonkey,nice pictures!!!!

[SwampDonkey]

Do any of you folks wire in generators? I put mine in as part of the house construction and have used it twice now in 6 weeks. Something to think about if your living in heavily treed areas. I know a lot of houses in Virginia are under tree canopy. Mighty nice to have a generator to be able to draw water, cook, run a fan off of for a heater stove/furnace or fireplace plus have a light on. If you do, get it done right. ;)

[SwampDonkey]

swampdonkey,nice pictures!!!!

:D :D He had no fear of anyone either. He walked through a neighbors yard earlier in the morning and they have a big dog. But he stays inside in this cold I think. ;D I first saw him 200 feet away as he was walking up a snow mobile trail toward me, and he was facing the sun. He turned and walked along a fence row toward a tall spruce and plunked himself down by that snow drift, where the sunshine was hitting and making it a comfortable spot. He cleaned himself like cats do and laid down for a sleep. He was there quite awhile.