Blizzaga 2017 (409 views)

[Mario the black knight]

So here we are again, in our yearly tradition of having freakish, random "once a century" sized Blizzards.

It has fallen a little later this year, but we can hope this will be the last gasp of winter before spring comes.

I remember from 1996 until 2008, we got like no snow, we would all get super excited and prepared to go out in like 3 inches of snow, and 5 inches was like a party. Now we get at least 3 feet of snow every year. I wish we had got all this snow when I was a kid, and had all the crappy snowstorms the more recent years.

According to the National Weather Service, we are looking at snow totals of between 18 and 28 inches this time around, with snowfall rates as high as 2-4 inches per hour, with winds around 25 mph. That sounds like it would hurt.

It has already started snowing lightly, I went to check about an hour ago if we had anything that could become a wind blown projectile and to make sure I knew where our snow shovel was.

I tried folding up my wiper arm to switch out to a fresh wiper, and it got stuck. I'm hoping Nico can help me fix that.....eventually. Hopefully before I need to drive again, who knows when. Not that it would be possible to drive tomorrow anyway in that car, a rear wheel drive car. I have nowhere to go by car tomorrow, so it's fine.

Tonight they are claiming we'll be getting 8-12, which is what they were claiming the entire storm was gonna produce a week ago, which would have been signficant, but not crippling. Then tomorrow the big one hits, with the pounding snow and wind causing full white out conditions. They're predicting 10-16 inches tomorrow.

It's just annoying that my brother and/or his wife can't come help me with mom tomorrow, or probably wednesday. The nurses and Physio people scheduled for thursday, lets just hope the driveway is clear before then. I'll have to dig a tunnel for the dog in the morning

Thats the latest from the Groovy Forums weather center, stay tuned for continuing coverage of our slow decent into a runaway greenhouse effect, and the impending snowy, icy doom that awaits us in the more immediate term.

[pichubro]

At least you aren't on Neptune where it rains diamonds!

[Mario the black knight]

If I was on Neptune, the rain would be the least of my worries

Though, if all the more basic concerns like habitation and FTL travel back to Earth were covered, then that would be a great thing, because then I could just take those diamonds, bring them back to Earth, and sell them at an incredible markup and put De Beers out of business.

Though really, if I had a ship that had FTL travel capabilities, I'd probably already be a billionaire.

[Mario the black knight]

So here we are, 12 hours later

I don't think in any of these storms I've heard it snow so hard that the snow actually made a sound when it hit the ground. But it was doing that this morning.

I just had to let the dog out, and the door was buried as it usually is. I had to dig out a trench for him so he could move, and the snow is a weird consistancy because of how cold it was overnight. It feels more like sand than it does snow, it is incredibly hard and and like grains

The wind is really blowing the snow around, so snow totals so far are hard to quantify. Some places the snow is well over knee deep, while others the grass is popping out.

As far as I can tell, it looks like we have another 8 hours of this. The roads are basically silent except 4 wheelers and snowmobiles, it will be completely impossible to drive anywhere until at least tomorrow.

[Mario the black knight]

So it's like an entirely different picture now just 3 hours later

The road is now clear, so traffic is moving a little, though most places were closed today, so it doesn't really matter.

The snow is still falling though, word is we should only have about 2 more hours. I guess the really heavy stuff fell overnight rather than now, because while it is definitely coming down, it's not like they were saying with 2-4 inches per hour. It is a bit windy though, so you can see the snow still blowing around out there.

[tim]

this was nothing here, maybe 2 inches and slush.

[Mario the black knight]

From what I heard, it was supposed to be one of those classic north to south storms in terms of accumulation, where the farther south you went, the less snow you got

They were saying the Poconos were gonna get slammed. We'll see what the final totals are when all this is done, I suspect this is gonna be one of those situations where New England gets killed the worst of all

[tim]

this winter sucked

[Mario the black knight]

The only thing I liked about it was I didn't have to spend as much money on heating the house as I usually do up to this point.

Once this last gasp of winter is over, I'll be ready for spring time.

[tim]

i don't pay for heating at my apartment, it's supplied via boiler-radiator system for free. drawback of this is this winter the whole building was often too warm. my electric is like $20 a month.

[Mario the black knight]

Goddamn

Is this what it's like to live amongst the 1%?

[tim]

u gettin any snow? it's coming down pretty good here.

[Mario the black knight]

Oh wow, look at that.

I wondered why it was so particularly cold this morning. I just woke up, hadn't looked out the window yet, ha ha ha

[pichubro]

R U OK

[Mario the black knight]

Of course...the one place it's colder is here.

No wonder Trump doesn't get Climate Change, the places he lives aren't effected by it.

[pichubro]

He literally tweeted today that global warming is a hoax because it's cold outside.

-_-

[Mario the black knight]

Send him to the arctic.

I mean, he'll probably still think it's cold, but like, maybe a polar bear will eat him

[pichubro]

Today I learned how to self rescue myself from falling into an frozen pond or lake.

I will be sure to put this knowledge to good use in the Phoenix winter.

[Mario the black knight]

How did you learn that, and how is it done?

[pichubro]

youtu.be/7PA-GzpcgIA?t=6m38s

[Mario the black knight]

Interesting

Thats a little different from the method I know where you are supposed to lean forward and like use your arms to army crawl onto the ice with just your arms, I suppose that makes a lot of sense. Same basis, but faster.

Though I feel like kicking the water around like that might decrease the total stability of the ice around you, and you know, get you even wetter.

Getting your head wet drastically decreases your chance of survival in that situation. full submersion can make you go into shock, and being in shock while underwater is a very very easy way to die.

[pichubro]

I don't know much about icy water, but I think you have to actively hit it to break the ice, no? I don't think waves from kicking would break it unless you moved a ton of water on top.

That's why he says that the first thing he does is hold his arms out to avoid being fully submerged.

[Mario the black knight]

Water is suprisingly strong and heavy, because it's incompressible. And if you are talking about weak ice, it shouldn't take much.

Thats why I know he's smarter than Bear Grylls, when he did this demonstration he went fully underwater.