snow

[cellio]

Whee. Snow. Lots of snow. Lots of drivers who aren't quite sure what to do about that, too. We went out this afternoon to visit a sick friend and encountered a bunch of vehicles we decided to stay well away from. The one that was pointed at a 45-degree angle off, but moving straight (more or less), was particularly curious.

I'm not sure how much snow we currently have, but I think it's more than a foot (based on inspection of the front yard). The afternoon shovelling did not solve the problem, because snow is still falling, but it will be better than nothing. I have seen no plowed or salted roads. I wonder how much of a challenge it will be to get to work in the morning.

Comments

[tangerinpenguin.livejournal.com]

The plows are out. Eldridge (which is not especially high priority) was most recently plowed hours ago. Although Pam (who didn't know about the storm and just got back, having left her Dad's in Youngstown around 6) couldn't tell.

Officially, we're not up to a foot yet, although there's a lot of drifting that's piling higher. The most recent forecasts are calling for 12-15 inches before this actually stops late tomorrow. The overwhelming consensus I've heard from the news is that Pittsburgh will be pretty well shut down for Monday. DC is even worse - they were calling for up to two feet earlier, and have generally been tweaking the numbers upward as the night goes on.

Now, if the weather forecast is to be believed, we drive hard into above-freezing temperatures Tuesday through Friday, so all of this promptly melts and hits the rivers. I haven't seen anyone doing that math out loud yet.

Snow math

[magid.livejournal.com]

Depending on the kind of snow, the estimates I've seen are 8-10 inches of snow = 1 inch of rain. Not that a couple of inches of water aren't rather a lot in a short amount of time, but likely not flooding or anything, though I suppose it depends on your location.

Re: Snow math

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

When I was living in Boston (actually, Salem...17 miles North of Boston) a 4 or five years ago, we had one snowfall that was probably about a foot, maybe less. When it melted, the river (stream? who knows) near my apartment flooded so badly that you couldn't drive on the road within about half a mile in either direction of the river. It was a problem throughout the town.

I think that when snow melts it hits the waterways faster because it happens all at once instead of over the course of as many hours as it would take that much rain to fall. It also might be more concentrated in areas because of plowing and such. So my understanding is that although that much snow is equal to far less rain, it still poses more of a problem if it melts quickly.