Why snow is often different in NC.....

[Julian]

Here are a few photos that show how snow in NC can really be a different experience...

This is a photo of the street in front of my house...


The snow about is what I just walked over. It is about 1" deep...and is so ice covered my weight made no impact in it.

Think that is no biggie....

This is my wood cart....loaded I estimate it weighs 300lbs or so.

It is sitting on a 4-5 inch drift of snow....and it hasn't made a dent in that "snow"

I couldnt get the yard stick into the base....I had to use a heavy duty ice cutter to cut that small channel...normal snow and you wouldn't see half of the bottom of those tires.

 

[Speedling]

Yeah, I don't see the difference for me here.... Oh WAIT, there's people still BOATING on here.... Jerks. Lucky lucky jerks.

 

[Julian]

At least the city has pretty much shut down here as there are no provisions for snow here in Raleigh! We get it so infrequently it becomes an event for us....school cancelled for 2nd day in a row tomorrow. And will probably be closed Thursday too as they have no equipment to clear the side streets for the buses.

 

[jawsf16]

That's one of the ways we get snow here, snow covered in ice. The other way sucks even more, ice covered by snow. Each combo offers their own special brand of chaos... Just hunker down at home and stay safe!

 

[Speedling]

LOL You guys crack me up
I just walked through enough snow in my yard walking the dog that it went up to my knee in some spots. That little bit of snow/ice would NOT shut down school over here. It takes a lot to shut it down by me becuase a lot of parents can't afford to get sitters and such on those days and HAVE to go to work. Northwest Indiana = the armpit of the country. Full of sweat, but is the fulcrum of all the work. We will just stoke up the steel mills a bit more and melt the ice right up for ya down there in Texas and NC ok? Don't worry about us! We got it!
Shoot, I live on a street over a mile long from the main road with a single power line coming to my house through a bunch of trees. Lets just say I have a generator. Ice on trees sure does look pretty though, doesn't it? Or does it kill your palm trees? How does it look on your sandy desert? Up here, well...

How's that for ya?

Lake Shore Drive last year for us. Shut down the road so fast cars just had to stop and get shoveled out by heavy equipment.

 

[jawsf16]

@Speedling You win! That is exactly why I don't live in the north anymore. Four years of upstate New York taught me that winter is a nice place to visit, every ten years or so, for a day or two!

 

[veedubtek]

^ this. Even now I'm not sure I moved south enough.

 

[Big Shasta]

@Speedling You win! That is exactly why I don't live in the north anymore. Four years of upstate New York taught me that winter is a nice place to visit, every ten years or so, for a day or two!

SPOT ON....I don't miss living in PA at all...Lake Affect snow...UGH...

 

[txav8r]

Well, no plan in place to handle the freak storm, but really, ice/snow in the south is much different than it is up north. You guys use salt up there and you get almost instant traction (sort of). Down here...it is like a skating rink. Even at less than 5mph, sometimes you slow to a stop at the light, and the car just keeps sliding into the intersection. And just the road crown is enough for a car to slide off, not to mention an 18 wheeler! Ice sucks no matter where it is...but certain areas of the country are better equipped to handle it!

 

[txav8r]

@Julian , your pics don't show at all...just getting the blue question mark box.

Disregard...I fixed em!

 

[Julian]

The snow removal plan in Raleigh is......"Just wait....it'll go away!".

4 inches of solid Snow Ice that holds up a 300lb log carrier is something I NEVER saw in Chicago. Feet of snow...yes. Lakes of slush...yes. Frozen former lakes of slush....yes. All streets covered in one inch of ice....never saw that....except ONCE in the 1973 Connecticut Ice Storm. Other than that...I've seen tons of snow (like the 1979 Chicago bizzard) where I ended up having to shovel the roof of our garage as we feared it would collapse.

But an inch of ice...in a town with basically no snow or ice equipment is pretty crippling. The side streets are still in bad shape....and having hills adds to the problem (this wasn't really an issue in the Chicago area)

And now I'm in Boston.....and there's a little snow here!

 

[Jim Robeson]

I will take a foot of snow over any amount of ice!! Even though I have a four wheel drive truck, it just doesn't matter on ice. We had a terrible ice storm here a few years ago and some of my friends and family were without power for up to 3 weeks!! We were lucky to never have lost power during the whole thing. I HATE ICE!!

 

[jawsf16]

Around here we say that 4x4 will get you going on ice, but nothing will get you stopped. The biggest issue we have is Northerners who are used to driving in the snow, with awesome clearing equipment, attempting to drive the same way on roads with zero clearing equipment. They like to brag about how the roads aren't bad and are usually the first in the ditches. Me, I just stay home and hibernate. No reason to put yourself in a position that requires amazing driving (flying) skills to get yourself out of...

 

[Ronnie]

The last time it snowed here at sea level in the sf Bay Area was 1976. I remember because my mom didn't make me go to school (1st grade I think) that day. The snow last less than an hour on the ground. Fast forward to November 2014 and many of the school districts in my and surrounding counties closed due to a forecasted heavy rain storm. Yeah, are school superintendents are soft out here. Anyway, we would be paralyzed by any amount of snow here in the sf Bay Area since we simply don't have any equipment to deal with it.

I just came back from snowboarding at Lake Tahoe, elevation 6,250 ish feet in town. The ski resort there seemed to have more man made than natural snow and plenty of ice as well. Two characteristics about boarding on ice are you go a lot faster and when you fall it hurts a lot more. I went to the edge of the lake in the morning and was surprised to see frost on the sand, it's just not something I'm used to seeing because I only visit places where it snows I don't live where it snows.

Here is pick of my son on the beach at Lake Tahoe around 9:30 in the morning. Notice the snow on the mountains in the background, it's natural snow but I estimate it's at 7,500 to 8,000 feet up. The eastern states have too much snow and the western states don't have enough. Mother Nature, if you are a member here and are reading this please shift the weather patterns a little to give the eastern and western states a little relief. I'd really like to boat in a few of the lakes around here this spring/summer but can't do so if there is not enough water in them.