BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!

Subject: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 01:31 PM

I woke up on Thursday morning, opened my eyes, took a look....

16 INCHES!!!!!!

I was stunned. I could hardly believe it, so I went to the workshop and got the yardstick, took an exact measurement....

16 INCHES!!!!!!

It hadda be a record.....

16 INCHES!!!!!!

So what could I do, faced with such a situation? I did what any red-blooded Canadian man would do, and engaged in Canada's national pastime for the next 3 or 4 hours...
















Snow removal.

Man, I hate the stuff!

Yup. The Orillia newspaper says that we got 40 centimeters of snowfall on Wednesday night, and that it has set a new record since the records first started being kept in the 1800s. Yippee.

Aren't we lucky, eh? Pray for Spring!

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Ebbie
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 01:33 PM

In Juneau the forecast for snow between Saturday night and Sunday night is 24 inches on top of what we already have. And then, wind.

I've never been a snowbirder but I may change my habits.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 01:34 PM

Canada got the snow.

America got GW Bush.

I think the Canadians must have had first choice.


The winter in the UK has been very mild (so far, it seems to get later every year), but I hear that in the middle of Canada it has been down to -52F without any windchill. That is not weather for humans.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 01:35 PM

Yikes! I guess we Orillians can consider ourselves lucky after all.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Peace
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 01:37 PM

Anything after -40 is too cold to do much of anything except freeze. And -52, ya can't even freeze it's so cold.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Peace
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 01:37 PM

And winter is on the way I heard . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 01:37 PM

It tends to get bitterly cold on the Canadian prairies, Richard...as it does in central Russia...and for the same reason. Dry air and no large bodies of water nearby to provide some stored-up warmth.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Peace
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 01:50 PM

Coldest I have been in was -55 (no wind chill in that). Truthfully, at those temps it's difficult to tell how cold it really is; hard to distinguish between -42, -47, -55. Ya just know not to go out side, and if you must, do not sweat or expose too much skin that covers anything you may want in later life. Keep the old toes moving when ya walk, and wear mitts, not gloves.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 02:01 PM

I understand you use a "minute" rating to tell you how many minutes you MIGHT be safe out of doors. I have a friend who has a house near Tumbler Ridge, but he only goes there in the summer.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 02:01 PM

And touch nothing metal with bare flesh.

It wouldn't be so bad down here in Idaho if them Albertans would close the gate in the damned barb-wire fence up there!

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 02:03 PM

16 inches? A Viagra overdose?

Back to the weather, the paper and TV give the snowfall in centimeters, but I still have to convert to inches before I can grasp how much that is.
A little snow here, cold, with the windchill -43.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 02:09 PM

Hey, LH... sunny and 63 degrees F here at the beach. Not a flake of snow in sight. I heard crickets the other night, and I'm thinking I may have to cut the grass soon. Come on down for a visit.   ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Amos
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 02:21 PM

We were having so much trouble with cold weather we installed a new thermostat. It immediately reported it was a near-death 68 degrees F in our hall. Needless to say we cranked it up...



A

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: gnu
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 02:28 PM

40cm is a record? Anywhere in Canada? Well, excluding Lotus Land (on the Left Coast fer ye ferriners), of course. Heck, I could actually move to a tropical climate and still be in Canada?... excluding... you know.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 02:29 PM

Wimps. It was -273.2° C. here last night. Lemme tell ya, folks weren't moving real fast!

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 02:37 PM

You are well Blessed LH...in the UK we are fortunate if we manage to get 6".......and the particular part of the UK I am in..the Trent Valley..which has numerous power stations...we can only manage a 3" maximum.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: gnu
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 02:37 PM

Absolutely?

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 02:43 PM

And, in the Trent Valley, the 3 inches is black! It's the cooling towers and other chimneys that do it you know.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: kendall
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 02:48 PM

I spent 21 days in the Davis straights in January back in 1955. I can't say how cold it was, the thermometer only went down to -40 F. It must have been made in California.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Ebbie
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 02:58 PM

A couple of nights ago in Tok, Alaska, the official temperature went down to -73F. No wind, though.

Whoa.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 03:03 PM

I lived for 12 or 13 years in Garrett County in western Maryland (USA), where in 2003, 49" / 124.5 cm of snow were dumped in one storm. That was on top of 120" / 304.8 cm that was already on the ground (total - 169" / 429.3 cm). Fortunately I wasn't living there then, but we had some similar snowfalls while I did live there. It wasn't unusual to go outside after a big snowfall and not be able to find your car, and there were places where you couldn't park your car from November or December until April or you might get snowed in for the whole winter. The county's average yearly snowfall was about 100" / 254cm. Coldest temps I experienced there were 30-40 degrees below zero without the wind chill.

This is one of the reasons I live in the Sunny South today.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 03:45 PM

When I lived in Geauga County, Ohio the average annual snowfall was 120 inches -- and every year I lived there (13 of them) was above average.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 03:49 PM

I wish the gods of weather would shift some of that snow here. The mountains are doing OK, but here on the prairie it is badly needed.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: frogprince
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 04:04 PM

"A couple of nights ago in Tok, Alaska, the official temperature went down to -73F"

...One Tok over the line, sweet Jesus, one Tok over the line..

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: gnu
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 04:16 PM

Back in 92, we got just over 1.6m in two days. Of course, that ain't much compared to some. But, when I was shovellin, I didn't really care.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 04:29 PM

And back in Indiana, when I convinced my wife that we needed a snowblower, I didn't buy one of those punky little paddle jobs, but a genuine two-stage auger-driven one with a 22 inch high mouth on it (and electric start). She thought I was nuts, but then we got 24" of snow one night...and when I was in Kentucky and she was living in Indiana and had to deal with 44 inches of snow...suddenly I became the most brilliant man who ever lived.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 04:30 PM

Oh, by the way...I've used it four out of the past five days. Had to.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: kendall
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 04:32 PM

My snowblower has 11 horse power. How big is yours?

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 04:38 PM

Yes, I've been getting much use out of ours too, Rapaire. They are a necessity around here.

Sorry to hear about the 3" maximum problem in parts of the UK! I guess maybe that is what all those "tractor" enhancement ads I keep getting are on about when they promise to "add 3 inches"...

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 04:43 PM

12 horsepower, Kendall. Mine's bigger than yours and it's got two speeds in reverse and about eight forward speeds, too.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Ebbie
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 04:48 PM

"One Tok over the line..." Indeed, frogprince.

(Tok is on the Alaska highway system (many places in Alaska are not), not too far from the Canada border.)

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Metchosin
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 04:54 PM

gnu, I hate to dissuade you of all your preconceived ideas of Lotus Land, here on the left coast, but in 1996 we got 51 inches of the white stuff, over a two day period.......and then it rained on top of it. The roofs of more than a few buildings collapsed under the weight. So while we escape some of the fury of the Canadian winter, we are not always entirely immune.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 05:00 PM

Yup. Rain on top of heavy snow can be a real problem. It gets very, very heavy.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Metchosin
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 05:17 PM

Yeah, its one of the reasons the snow load rating for our roof is 85lbs. per sq. ft. Some of the flat roof commercial concrete block buildings, with top chord bearing trusses, didn't stand up to well, that go around.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 05:41 PM

I would send the dachshund up on the roof to check out the situation, but I can't because...

1. He can't climb ladders.
2. He flatly refuses to go up there anyway, even with assistance...
3. He's so fat now that I'm afraid he might tip the balance past the "red line" and bring the whole damn edifice crashing down!

Matter of fact, he's not too pleased about the recent snowfall. He seems to want me to hire some servants to carry him outdoors on a cushioned palanquin, like an Oriental potentate, and allow him to peruse his realm from a position of safety and comfort whilst deciding on where to leave his calling card this time.

"Go out for a walk?" Not a chance! He looks at me as if to say, "In THIS weather? Surely you jest!"

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Metchosin
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 05:48 PM

You'll just have to get yourself a poodle instead Little Hawk, they love climbing ladders.....mind you, they seem to have some problems getting back down again. We were looking after my Mother's poodle one weekend when he disappeared. We found him on the top rung of a 20' ladder that was leaning against the house.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Bert
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 06:07 PM

I know I've said this before but Napoleon only introduced the metric system because 10 centimeters sounds better than four inches.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Sorcha
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 06:39 PM

Chama New Mexico has at least 33". The roof fell in on the only supermarket in town. State has declared it a disaster area.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Deckman
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 06:43 PM

I just returned from a week in Payson, Arizona. Saturday I helicoptered around the cliffs of Sedona in 60 degree weather. Sunday I woke up to 6 inches of snow. It was so damned cold that I had to get up at midnight and move into the house! Bob(deckman)Nelson

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: gnu
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 07:05 PM

Metch... where was the 51"?

Bert.... it's 250mm rather than ten inches... get it straight.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Bert
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 07:45 PM

Maybe for you gnu, but I was talking about Napoleon!

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Amos
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 07:49 PM

Hell, don't worry about Little Hawk. He can't measure anything right. He thinks this:

|=========+"=   

is six inches.



A

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 08:23 PM

Well...it IS if you take it and reproduce it on the photocopier at the right degree of magnification, right?

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 08:43 PM

So far it's snowed every day of the week here in Midcoast Maine and there is no end in sight. There's no place to shovel the stuff any more. Inch by inch it keeps piling up! I suspect in July we'll still be trying to dig ourselves out of this one. And the snow is falling onto about two inches of ice that's accumulated in the parking lot behind our house. It's always fun to get a head start in the morning as one slips out the doors...down the steps...and half way across the parking lot. Weeee!

I understand that some folks live year around in Guam, and never get to shovel snow. Some live in San Diego, I hear tell, and know not one end of a snow blower from the other. What a strange and curious world!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Sorcha
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 08:52 PM

Charley, I remember a June like that in Evanston, Wyoming. June, and the highways were clear, but I had to take a tomahawk and bust the ice out from around the tires of my No Snow car.

The path to the house was still 5' high with shoveled/tossed snow on June 1. I think it had all melted by July 1.

Hawaii, Guam, San Diego......looking better all the time.

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Metchosin
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 09:34 PM

I'm about 17 miles outside of Victoria, gnu. Victoria itself only got around 4 feet and they eventually called the Armed Services in to assist. One of the local radio stations was way better at coordinating emergency responses, than the damned government. Shoveling roofs became a priority too. It was a wake up call for some, to realize, if one really needs a quick response, don't rely on the government come a real emergency, look to yourself, your friends and your neighbours first.

To give you some idea of the amount of snow we receive in some areas of this soggy Island, the mid mountain base on our local ski hill is over 14 feet right now. And down below, we don't even notice 6". It's got to be at least a foot and a half before anyone pays attention.

I seem to be talking at cross purposes here. LOL

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 10:03 PM

Ya shovel sixteen inches, and wadda ya get?
Bloody cold, and goddam wet...

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 10:33 PM

State of Idaho has called out the National Guard up in the Northern Parts (Coeur d'Alene, Sandpoint, etc.) to shovel roofs and things like that. My city is $40,000 over budget for snow clearing and sanding, but Idaho Falls, 50 miles north, is $800,000 over and they're shoveling off roofs up there. I hate to think of places like Salmon, Stanley (last I knew they couldn't open the back door to the library there), and Island Park (-36 F. there one day last week).

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Amos
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 11:11 PM

Well, we've had hard times too, down here. Couple days I had to pour a glass of water on my windshield to clear the frost, and some of us have had to dig out our jackets and taken to wearing 'em about. What's worse is today, for example, it seemed a little warmer so I left my jacket to home, content with a light sweater, you see, and all at once in midmorning, the weather backed around and the damn skies cleared up so bad you could hardly look at them without wincing from the brightness all around.

It got worse. By two o'clock there was a veritable deluge of sunlight coming down from the sky, warming up every goddamn thing until you couldn't hardly see a shadow anywhere. It got so damn warm I tried to roll up my sleeves, but the sweater was bulky and wouldn't roll proper. By the time I got home we must have had 7 inches of sunlight on the driveway, and I was nearly sweating by the time I got inside. Why I had to go and change out of that sweater in the middle of the day!! If this sort of thing keeps up, I don't know where we'll end up, I swan. It's not convenient, I can tell you that. Not what I'd call convenient weather, no sir.


A

Subject: RE: BS: 16 INCHES!!!!!!!!!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 12:03 AM

We've had quite enough of that sort of persiflage, Amos! Have pity on those who are climatically disadvantaged.