Snow will NOT stop...

[caddycruiser]

It's snowing. It has been all day. A LOT. A LOT more than expected. It won't stop. It just keeps coming and coming and coming.

I had a "plan" today to get up, eat and leave for Philly/Jersey/etc. before it really started and because the forecast up there was better, drier, etc. After some issues, got rolling around 9:45, it was snowing & white here but dry about 5 miles from home, hit Wawa for coffee & kept going. Got to just past Milton on Rt. 1 north (for those of you who know DE beach area), the road all of a sudden turned wet & covered in brown salt then I saw I was a few cars back from a salt truck. I thought I could escape DE without getting the G8 crudded up, but it was too late. And the pending doom look was too much. Turned around, met a friend for an hour in Lewes as it kept snowing then tried to get home. G8 & me almost completely bit it more than once.

Slow slow slow. One road, coasting, cars stopped in front of me to turn. Let off, braked, felt like all locked & I was just sliding. Barely could get it turned enough to go off to the right & hit a field...thankfully not too badly. Struggled to get back going again, then got to the main road where I'd have to turn at a light. Doing about 5mph, tried to go right, ended up losing all control, braked & seemed locked up again, slid sideways completely across Rt. 24 from a side road, got 12" from hitting a car sitting at the red light but after about sh$%$%'ing myself, hit the grass on the complete other side of the highway and got corrected enough to keep going that way & spend another 15 minutes slowly back tracking to get back towards home...insane. You could still see grass, I'm from western PA where 3ft of snow just means "oh, it's Tuesday...", and I about killed G8 (even on it's new A/S tires that otherwise have had it tanking through some thick snow), and myself.

Insane. This was yesterday:

This was poor G8 after I barely made it back home today:

Twin kidney's filling up & over filling:

The start of the trip...but just hitting salt truck remnants:

And the trip...post G8 about eating it & being ripped apart...nearing home:

When I had left to come home, you could still see grass blades, the roads had snow but not much...but were just solid...rock hard solid...no go, almost. Crazy. At the beach. Poo.

[caddycruiser]

Grr! Grr! Grr! Just had to say it again...

Snow. I hate you. G8...well...he could just go back to Oz and say forget this...Borger's new driveway would be better...

[Drew Dowdell]

You must be from north of I-80 if you think that about western PA

[Intrepidation]

Hmm, that doesn't look bad at all, I once drove the Grand Marquis through a big snow storm to get my brother on the other side of teh state...that was fun...had snow tires on the back so it had no problems.

I have no problems with snow, it ice that sucks.

[caddycruiser]

Hmm, that doesn't look bad at all, I once drove the Grand Marquis through a big snow storm to get my brother on the other side of teh state...that was fun...had snow tires on the back so it had no problems.

I have no problems with snow, it ice that sucks.

Exactly. And like I said, from western PA, I'm used to multiple feet of snow...you just shovel & go.

Today, for whatever reason, and because it's DE, even the snow that did fall earlier combined with the temps combined with the type of snow, absolutely horrible. I've never driven with such a lack of any traction, just 2 weeks or so ago plowing through a few inches on back roads without even a slip and higher throttle. Today...like ice...and still having visions of sliding across a main highway sideways through a light, almost taking out a Buick...that old lady had to have freaked out seeing me sliding right at her. Felt like one of those cheesy winter/bad driving accident shows.

Now at almost a foot, again it's worse elsewhere, but with such a lack of road treatment and the high teen temps, dangerous to the extreme and everything is closed. I'm stuck in the driveway for all intensive purposes. And fast forwarded the shopping for that 2nd car, because between this and when I move elsewhere, G8 can't be subjected to this continually.

You must be from north of I-80 if you think that about western PA

Few miles south, but not much difference.

_____________________________________________

All I can say is I came so close today to wiping the G8 out, no matter how expertly I drove, just scary. I was impressed by the DE drivers for once, though, and their careful driving around me. That doesn't always happen in winter. Guess it was just that bad.

First time I've seen every single local church, etc. completely closed for the entire day tomorrow, in a very, very long time.

Edited January 31, 2010 by caddycruiser

[Robert Hall]

Hmm, that doesn't look bad at all, I once drove the Grand Marquis through a big snow storm to get my brother on the other side of teh state...that was fun...had snow tires on the back so it had no problems.

I have no problems with snow, it ice that sucks.

+1. No matter whether I was in E. Ohio, SE Michigan, or Colorado, it was never the snow that bothered me but the ice..those ice storms in Michigan were fierce in the mid '90s.

Even worse--ice+fog makes me want to stay inside w/ the blinds closed.

[Intrepidation]

Usually when it snows I just stay home and put off errands for another day,a nd enjoy the snowfall. Ice I won't go out for anything.

[Robert Hall]

Usually when it snows I just stay home and put off errands for another day,a nd enjoy the snowfall. Ice I won't go out for anything.

From '00-08 in Colorado I always had a laptop for work so snow days were usually always work from home days for me.

[caddycruiser]

Usually when it snows I just stay home and put off errands for another day,a nd enjoy the snowfall. Ice I won't go out for anything.

Up until Friday my "perfect" idea of heading north (storm coming from southwest & going east) to Philly was a good idea, spend the night, etc. but seeing how long it went on and how bad it got, yeah, not a good idea. And I certainly mucked the car up worse my even trying. At least I didn't smash anything, damn ice. Scary, scary drive with zero control, period. Couldn't go, couldn't stop, just like being on skates.

Yeah, again, shouldn't have left but at the same time...gotta get out sometimes. Though I think next time it's winter and a trip is in store, I'll borrow a Subaru

[Intrepidation]

Subaru won't be any better if the tires can't find anything to grip. Best thing to do would be, unless you need to go out during a storm, don't.

[daves87rs]

Subaru won't be any better if the tires can't find anything to grip. Best thing to do would be, unless you need to go out during a storm, don't.

Agreed!

[caddycruiser]

Subaru won't be any better if the tires can't find anything to grip. Best thing to do would be, unless you need to go out during a storm, don't.

Exactly. It was a side joke I didn't finish. My "Whooptidoo" (he calls it that) driving father was out today and reported back "it didn't do as well as I expected, well, for the most part". As always, ice is ice, snow is snow, doesn't matter how many wheels you have spinning, sometimes you just don't go

Last year I stayed home from work on our March blizzard day, working from home, for exactly the reason above. But today dry when I left, crashworthy 2 hours later, nuts.

[ocnblu]

Growing up on the farm, a snowstorm was always an excuse to go out driving. We'd all pile in the old F-250, call on the neighbors, then cruise out to breakfast. After breakfast, we'd just drive around the area, taking in the sights, until it was time to come home and feed the cows.

All we got up here was a dusting yesterday afternoon, after an increasingly heavy atmosphere throughout the morning.

[Brougham-Holiday]

NOAA is investigating this as a possible case of unintended accumulation.

[caddycruiser]

NOAA is investigating this as a possible case of unintended accumulation.

Heehee

I love how yesterday it was "1-3 inches", they put the first white dust salt crap down on Wednesday to prepare, and waking up today there's now 12"+. Being Delaware, everything is shut down. Probably good, I can't go out & bumper cars around in the poor G8. At least it humbled me & my "PA snow skills"...sorta.

[daves87rs]

Ouch!

[GMTruckGuy74]

I guess the winds shifted enough late Saturday that in my part of southern NJ we got about an inch of the puffy white stuff. We were at the Sun Trust Arena in Trenton (formerly Sovereign Bank Arena) for the "Disny on Ice" show with the little guy - went in at 3:00 PM and nothing (just gray clouds as called for) and coming out at 5:00 PM was a different story (light snow flakes sticking to the ground, cars, road, etc - well it was 19 degrees!). After a couple of errands and visiting the mother-in-law, the trip home was slow but uneventful. After the 16" snowstorm in December, I'm done with snow for this winter!! The crappy 17" Hankooks on the wife's G6 (25k) are starting to show their true side - non-grippy in the snow, like to slide whenever possible. The wife said "to take it easy", as if she's been aware of their crappy wet-weather handling. I told her she should have helped me find the money in October for the Cooper CS4 tires!!

[caddycruiser]

Exactly Roger

The car is back to being a bear clawing tank today, because now it's snow and not thin solid packed ice. 12" in the driveway, pushed most of it off the car, hopped in and vroom forward through the unshoveled 12" without as much as a slip, so the parking spaces could be cleared out. Something that darn Camaro on 20" summer Pirelli's certainly couldn't say for itself

Edited January 31, 2010 by caddycruiser

[vonVeezelsnider]

The crappy 17" Hankooks on the wife's G6 (25k) are starting to show their true side - non-grippy in the snow, like to slide whenever possible. The wife said "to take it easy", as if she's been aware of their crappy wet-weather handling. I told her she should have helped me find the money in October for the Cooper CS4 tires!!

I had the same issue with the Malibu when the Bridgestone Insignias wore down. If you'll recall last winter I had two scares in that car and I didn't drive it until she replaced her tires. First time I was coming around a corner in my neighbourhood at about 5mph and all of a sudden all four tires break loose at once and the car does a 360 right there. Then a couple of weeks later I'm once again coming around a corner at a very low rate of speed on top of fresh snow (no ice) and the son of a gun won't turn, no traction. Wouldn't stop either sending me careening into a curb bending one of the rims that I stuck out to absorb the impact.

[caddycruiser]

After storm #2, SO much worse than the first...

...we have electricity again after over 2 days without! Party time! Amazing!

The only mobile car we have is the '96 Subaru Legacy. Seriously. Even no shoveling, chirp, chirp, chirp vroom that thing goes without barely a slip through & over it all. BEST $1,000 ever spent, EVER, period. Otherwise, took a drive out in the Subie yesterday to "see" what it was like, almost tore Subie apart & was warned "no way" to even thinking of trying a G8 ("the snow plow" as I call it with the front end) or even the old '93 Fleetwood we also depend on when not using other cars.

Grr. Pictures to come. I have internet! And a computer! Amazing!

[daves87rs]

Wow...we should be getting some of that tonight...

[Drew Dowdell]

Wow...we should be getting some of that tonight...

that's what she said!

[Intrepidation]

We've been jipped since January.

But on the bright side the cars are clean still because of it.

[caddycruiser]

Home today, with lights & heat (pretty amazing after days without it), doing my work for work via email. Basically like any other day but in sweatpants, dogs bothering me & a real kitchen. Nothing melted whatsoever, the driveway is still pretty thick, but street scraped to 1 lane pavement & apparently (only have reports from my father) the roads out to the main road are similar...1 windy lane of sorts.

Got an email today "I want to see everyone IN HERE tomorrow at normal time" from the Expedition driving boss who on Friday said "can't you just click it in 4wd?" to everyone, literally not understanding why that isn't possible in the variety of a Grand Prix, my G8, a Mazda 6 and so on. But that's life.

Yesterday I was warned "no way" and that I'd never make it to the main road without inflicting serious damage. Today the report back from the Subie driver was "you probably can"...and it's going to be snowing, then raining, then sleeting, and snowing more probably up to another 6" Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday. Cha ching!

Yay. I Tweeted this to Borger after we finally got the driveway dug out, mostly:

"No like, Zeta really no like."

I'll upload more later. Crazy stuff. This was my favorite from today, sent by a co-worker in Rehoboth along the road at one of the Tanger outlets on Rt. 1.

[caddycruiser]

Throughout a snow storm, we clear the cars off regularly just so we don't have to dig 3ft off...hence why they don't look THAT covered. Just enough.

This was Saturday.

Then it started to really come, after a rain interruption.

[caddycruiser]

What it would be like to be trapped in a G8 GT during a blizzard. I almost was. Just charging my phone...again.

I think...I see...a Cadillac...

[caddycruiser]

Sunday, getting all uni-bomber, ready to shovel.

Path to the shed.

The cars. First up, the HILARIOUS shape change of the Legacy. It seriously took on the symmetrical and boxier shape of a 90's Camry wagon out back...heh.

[caddycruiser]

Zeta's. They don't like this. At all.

The Camaro also took on a funky shape...it got frozen like that...

Dug them out.

Helicopter zooming low. I didn't know who it was, but 36'ish hours without juice...I was flailing..."pick me up!"

Down the street.

Last night, when I started to lose it a little...just seemed darker than the night before...

[caddycruiser]

At work, in Rehoboth, sent by the co-worker. Yeah, sure, G8 will just soar right through this...that never gets plowed...

Someone borrowed a truck for tomorrow & offered me a ride...given what I've heard of the intersections & this mess of a parking lot above...might not be a bad idea for Mr. Snow Plow, aka G8.

Link to the rest:

http://s26.photobucket.com/albums/c101/caddycruiser/Snow%2009-10/February%207%202010/?start=all

Edited February 9, 2010 by caddycruiser

[Intrepidation]

Looks like fun, at least you don't live on a hill! Looks like we're be getting a good dose of the white fluffy stuff Wednesday.

[caddycruiser]

Looks like fun, at least you don't live on a hill! Looks like we're be getting a good dose of the white fluffy stuff Wednesday.

Yep, and it shall hit here along the way...Delaware Emergency Services, etc. yesterday said "FYI...storm watch for Baltimore/DC...just be alert" then today put up a project snow totals map for Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday. Yay!

Hey, at least I could use this as fodder for even more off the price of a Solstice...especially a white one a dealer will never be able to find in a snow bank

[Satty]

Ridiculous, and I get to move out that way this fall. Yay.

[Blake Noble]

The shape reminds me of this for some reason, only bigger:

[caddycruiser]

Ridiculous, and I get to move out that way this fall. Yay.

Where's about? This is southern Delaware beach land...you think you'd escape it here...nopes...

The shape reminds me of this for some reason, only bigger:

YES...my father said "hey, look at it...it looks like it got lower with all the snow around it..."

[Satty]

Arlington-ish

[DetroitNut90]

Yep, and it shall hit here along the way...Delaware Emergency Services, etc. yesterday said "FYI...storm watch for Baltimore/DC...just be alert" then today put up a project snow totals map for Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday. Yay!

Yup, the weather dudes say we're due for 1-3" at some point tomorrow afternoon and then another 6-10" tomorrow night. This is on top of the 25" already sitting on the ground and it's been enough so that my classes have been canceled since Thursday and at least through tomorrow.

Some highlights of our dig-out efforts. Aside from the cars being cleared off, the scenery it basically still the same:

[Blake Noble]

YES...my father said "hey, look at it...it looks like it got lower with all the snow around it..."

What really throws your eye for a loop is how the snow froze in that bizarre wind-swept shape around the a-pillar and the driver's side sideview mirror. It makes the hood look longer somehow. Couple that with all of the snow that piled up on the decklid and back glass and it really has the cartoon-ish proportions of the old Cheetah I posted.

Edited February 9, 2010 by whiteknight

[Lamar]

I haven't even tried to venture out to the roads yet. It's been hard enough shoveling the cars out of the parking lot here. Speaking of which, how many people did you have shoveling out the drive? Looks like the work of several hands.

We have to make a quick run to the grocery store today before the next wave of snow starts falling this afternoon/evening.

Arlington-ish

If you move near a Metro line, you'll be fine. Especially those with underground stations.

[caddycruiser]

Though it didn't "seem" bad given that you could see pavement down the center of the streets, etc. that never tells the full story.

First time out today, finally, and I was saved by a Ford twice. Caught a ride in a co-worker's borrowed '06 F-150 super crew 4WD and between the 12"+ mound at the entrances to my development and the deep, sharp ruts and thick ice all over the main roads & elsewhere, a 15-20 minute trip turned into an hour and 10 minutes to work, going 15-20mph and that truck was getting beat up. Took it in stride, but still. I'd have left G8 pieces strewn all over had I even attempted it, bent wheels and so forth. Coming home got a ride in a '10 Escape XLT AWD and things had cleared away massively by the end of the 35deg day but still big rough lumps and ruts in various places that had the poor thing chattering. Again, woof, TG for the 4WD & AWD Fords that saved my day.

Riding in that truck today made me appreciate--since I haven't been around one at all since our '04 Suburban--how great such a beast can be, even just commuting. Well, okay, not the greatest, but comfortable as could be and able to handle whatever...something I can't say for my beast of a 4-door sport saloon, but that's expected.

Was rainy at the end of the day & 35, started sleeting around 6pm and who knows now...I'm not even looking until morning. Surprise me.

[caddycruiser]

I looked. Someone said it and I had to. Big flakes. Deck all white. Cars covered. Coming down.

Again. Mix it with the other mixtures...oh yeah, it's gonna be nice again tomorrow morning.

[caddycruiser]

Tonight.

1) It sleeted.

2) It snowed, all white, big flakes.

3) It rained, cleared away some of the snow to see through slush...

Keep it coming sky, make it a crazy mixture...

[G. David Felt]

PLEASE SEND SNOW AND RAIN HERE TO SEATTLE. Yup we have been hit hard by the lousy wicked warming bug. Skiing is terrible, no new snow. Worse yet is right now with the current tiny snow packs we will be having a water shortage in Seattle this year. January was the warmest on record ever and it just sucks. I miss the wet cold rain and tons of snow in the mountains.

PLEASE SEND ALL SNOW HERE!!!

[ocnblu]

Gladly. At least until some sort of 4WD is in my driveway.

[caddycruiser]

After the rain turned the new snow into slush & just made it wet in the high 30's, the snow on radar just seems to have exploded.

Midnight, Delaware issued a new State of Emergency & banned driving unless you were "must" personnel of the state, etc. Boss didn't see that, sent an email at 6:52 saying "I just drove into work, it's just wet" and then sent a cropped JPEG of current Weather.com radar only showing the green rain part to everyone..."you all need to come in". Fine, got it. But sent back the State of Emergency PDF, in case someone else brought it up and that just put me on the poo list for the day.

Banned or not, took the Subaru keys & off to Rehoboth I went. Tons of water and still tons of hard, sharp ice & snow ruts that throw you all over, but TG for Subie I made it no issue. Stayed an hour, radar got worse, got files I need & ran about 65mph back home in Subie as it started blowing big snowflakes the closer I got. Great. Projected totals are increasing again. Wonderful.

G8 sits idle because even today I'd have ripped something out or off, no matter what. TG Subaru, I heart you today. Here we go again...

[Camino LS6]

Snowing pretty hard here after about 10" overnight, then rain/sleet/freezing rain, and back to snow.

Going to do some shoveling to get the wet, heavy, stuff out of the way while I still can.

I'll check in later.

[Robert Hall]

A chance of showers here. Heat wave coming next week w/ highs in the 70s. Same old, same old. Boring.

forecast

[ocnblu]

:/

[Camino LS6]

I think it is lead, rather than snow, that I just shoveled.

So freakin' heavy!

[Lamar]

I think it is lead, rather than snow, that I just shoveled.

So freakin' heavy!

Tell me about it.

I shoveled two days ago and STILL feel it in my lower back.

[Z-06]

I wish I was not in ubiquitously sunny Florida. I love snow!