500 feet elevation SUCKS!

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 2:30 pm

Snow! It always seems to stick at that particular elevation here in Oregon. Bloody effing wet heavy snow has fallen every night for the last 3 nights. We had around 5 or 6 inches total, although it partially melts during the day. I still have to shovel the stuff off my steep driveway every morning just to get the car in or out. It's just wet enough to pack down and become a skating rink on the hills or in the intersections. Bad thing is, all I have to do is go down that 200 feet and everything is clear. But trying to get DOWN to that lower level can be a death wish! I'm moving to flatland. The hills are for the birds and people with studded tires.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 2:47 pm

Not much better here, I just got back from clearing the driveway and sidewalks.

Canuck · Post by **Canuck** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 3:09 pm

Try 4,600 feet... -40C here snowing and blowing. Studded winter tires are a must and mandatory on roads up to the ski hills.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 3:27 pm

It's really a pain in the keister. It always seems to snow at my house, but down below me, it's clear or just a light dusting. I live right at that obnoxious elevation the weather people always warn about. The back corner of my lot is exactly 500 feet.

I just spent 2 hours shoveling really wet heavy snow off all my sidewalks and driveway, remind me to never own a corner lot again, and it was raining on top of that, adding to the weight. Just like shoveling sloppy concrete that likes to stick to the shovel. There was about 3 inches of the stuff from last night too. Ugh!

When I lived in Colorado for a few years, at 6000 feet, the snow was COLD. It was dry, light and fluffy and a breeze to shovel and drive in. Not the heart attack-inducing slop we get in the Northwest. We also have a boatload of noob driver University students here in town that have never driven in snow and are trying their hand at it while going to class. After the intersections glaze over from the traffic, the sideways stops and escalating fender bender rate makes me want to curl up and stay home.

Canuck, I'll take your -40C snow right now. At least it weighs a whole lot less, a snow blower will work in it and driving isn't like going ice skating. Try a snow blower in our stuff and it will clog up in 2 seconds. It's this hit and miss snow that's a pain too. If it was snowing all winter, at least I could put on a set of studded tires full time and buy a snow blower. With what little snow we get for the winter, it doesn't make sense for me to put out the expenditure.

Sergeant Thorne · Post by **Sergeant Thorne** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 5:49 pm

I hate it when snow gets like that. It's a fairly rare occurrence around here, but we got a boatload of it one time. Absolutely the worst thing to have to deal with. You have my sympathy.

Maybe you should think about installing a heated driveway.

TechPro · Post by **TechPro** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:25 am

Meh. Snow ensures there will be green grass in the Summer.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 3:42 pm

Now it's pouring rain, inches of it! We can't win for losing. The flooding is now starting. At least I'm not longer living near Seattle. They're getting dumped on with tons of snow.

Yeah, we do need the snow TechPro, but it really needs to dump snow in the mountains, not down here in the valley. Mountain snow is our summer water reservoir. We are a little short right now because we had an almost rainless December. The weather God is giving us some payback.

SilverFJ · Post by **SilverFJ** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:42 pm

Not to rub it in your noses, but this is the warmest winter I've ever experienced up here. Harldy any snow. hahaha

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:56 pm

If this monster shifts east, you're gonna get it! We are getting deluged with rain! We started out January with almost no rain. Now we've had 4.5 inches.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:23 pm

Today it "Feels like -17" here... Aargh!

sdfgeoff · Post by **sdfgeoff** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:39 pm

Let me gloat....
Over here it's summer, and we are having nice hot days.
Down here at 50m above sea level we rarely have snow stick for more than a few hours, but my experience in walking in the deep stuff while tramping let's me sympathize.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:35 pm

Now we're up to over 5 inches of rain in the past 3 days, but at least it's warmer. I shouldn't have complained though. God is cursing me for my insolence.

At least I'm not in Seattle. First they got tons of snow, then a good coating of ice fell on top of all that. Reminds me of 2006 here. We had 18 inches of snow, followed by a good dose of freezing rain. The ice was so think, I almost could walk on it without breaking through the snow. My gutters got ripped off by the snow that year too. Winter is sooooo fun.

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:33 pm

I'm sure god has bigger things on his plate than to change the weather for one person...

SilverFJ · Post by **SilverFJ** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:58 pm

Ferno wrote:I'm sure god has bigger things on his plate than to change the weather for one person...

Yeah, he's too busy figuring out plays for Tebow next year, don't you know??

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 1:25 am

Urgh, water closing in...

Sirius · Post by **Sirius** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:48 pm

I'm in, or near Seattle. Haven't been many people on the roads the last few days for that precise reason. I'm lucky enough to be able to walk to work, so it's not a big deal for me personally, but...

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 1:15 pm

SilverFJ wrote:
Ferno wrote:I'm sure god has bigger things on his plate than to change the weather for one person...
Yeah, he's too busy figuring out plays for Tebow next year, don't you know??

I'm kinda happy the Patriots kicked his high and mighty "Jesus loves me, that's why I'm the best quarterback ever" rear end and dropped his ego down a notch. God, or Jesus, does have a sense of schadenfreude.

Grendel wrote:Urgh, water closing in...

You aren't getting flooded out yet are you Grendel? It's raining pretty good right now too. I hope the rivers don't get any higher and you stay dry. It's been almost as bad as 1996 around here. Maybe 500 feet ain't so bad, but then I have to worry about sliding downhill in some rain soaked landslide.

Top Gun · Post by **Top Gun** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 1:37 pm

tunnelcat wrote:
SilverFJ wrote:
Ferno wrote:I'm sure god has bigger things on his plate than to change the weather for one person...
Yeah, he's too busy figuring out plays for Tebow next year, don't you know??
I'm kinda happy the Patriots kicked his high and mighty "Jesus loves me, that's why I'm the best quarterback ever" rear end and dropped his ego down a notch. God, or Jesus, does have a sense of schadenfreude.

The impression I have from hearing him talk is that Tebow himself is a pretty humble dude. He can't really help it if ESPN chooses to talk about him for half the day.

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 4:25 pm

tunnelcat wrote:
Grendel wrote:Urgh, water closing in...
You aren't getting flooded out yet are you Grendel? It's raining pretty good right now too. I hope the rivers don't get any higher and you stay dry. It's been almost as bad as 1996 around here. Maybe 500 feet ain't so bad, but then I have to worry about sliding downhill in some rain soaked landslide.

I should be ok if the forecasts hold (except the usual water in my backyard..), sitting betw. Murphy's and the Willamette. Got shut off Cv yesterday evening tho. I barely made it home via Crystal Lake Dr before they closed 4th...

dissent · Post by **dissent** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 11:48 pm

got 7+ inches of snow tonight. Temps are tolerable though.

Ah, 8 more weeks til spring ........

Avder · Post by **Avder** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 1:29 am

Anyone who complains about snow obviously has not lived in Fargo the last couple of years.

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:52 pm

Avder wrote:Anyone who complains about snow obviously has not lived in Fargo the last couple of years.

Yeah?

Calgary, Alberta. Close to 50 inches of snow, and almost -50. Fahrenheit. Now try walking in that.

CUDA · Post by **CUDA** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:21 am

I Love Snow

it's great for Business

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 3:24 pm

Top Gun wrote:
tunnelcat wrote:I'm kinda happy the Patriots kicked his high and mighty "Jesus loves me, that's why I'm the best quarterback ever" rear end and dropped his ego down a notch. God, or Jesus, does have a sense of schadenfreude.
The impression I have from hearing him talk is that Tebow himself is a pretty humble dude. He can't really help it if ESPN chooses to talk about him for half the day.

Well, I'm still happy the Patriots won. Maybe ESPN will let up on all the nonsense.

Grendel wrote:I should be ok if the forecasts hold (except the usual water in my backyard..), sitting betw. Murphy's and the Willamette. Got shut off Cv yesterday evening tho. I barely made it home via Crystal Lake Dr before they closed 4th...

Good to hear. River water was not meant to be inside a house. Both those rivers should be going down by now too, even with the big storm today. At least you don't live up by Conifer Blvd. One little creek really made a huge mess. Kind of reminds of 1996, where we couldn't even get out of Corvallis for days we were so surrounded by flood waters.

CUDA wrote: I Love Snow

it's great for Business

I'll bet, for you maybe.

Avder · Post by **Avder** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:23 am

Ferno wrote:
Avder wrote:Anyone who complains about snow obviously has not lived in Fargo the last couple of years.
Yeah?

Calgary, Alberta. Close to 50 inches of snow, and almost -50. Fahrenheit. Now try walking in that.

Been there a couple of times in the past few years. Well maybe not -50 (-40 isnt much better), but weve got that snowfall amount beaten by at least double.

This year so far has felt like summer right up until a few days ago.

Thenior · Post by **Thenior** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:55 am

I can't imagine -50 in 50" of snow. -2 in 12" is bad enough, but doable if you wear the right clothes. -50, man my car wouldn't even start.

snoopy · Post by **snoopy** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:31 am

The weekend snow is all melted by now here in Philly.

I used to live further south... 5,000 ft elevation and it felt like spring year round... it was great, but I actually kinda missed the snow.

If I had my druthers, we'd move north to a small-town rural area at some point. My wife isn't having it, though. Something about it being too cold and there not being enough shopping. I keep telling that's what jackets and UPS is for.

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 10:41 pm

Avder wrote: Been there a couple of times in the past few years. Well maybe not -50 (-40 isnt much better), but weve got that snowfall amount beaten by at least double.

This year so far has felt like summer right up until a few days ago.

over eight feet of snow? that sounds kind of far fetched...

Gekko71 · Post by **Gekko71** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 9:42 pm

sdfgeoff wrote:Let me gloat....
Over here it's summer, and we are having nice hot days.
Down here at 50m above sea level we rarely have snow stick for more than a few hours, but my experience in walking in the deep stuff while tramping let's me sympathize.

Nice hot days?? Uggh!! Right now there's no such thing! Its 109 degrees F outside right now. Over the past week we have had temperatures of 95, 102, 106, 108, 99 and 109 today. Next week will be 99, 94, 99, 97 and 97 before we finally get a cool change with a top temp of 88.

15 inches of snow sounds like sheer heaven right now.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 4:27 pm

That sounds positively miserable. We've even warmed up here in the Pacific Northwest. My 6 inches of snow is only a memory. The snow pack in the mountains is waaaay below average too. Summer's going to be very short on water if we don't get more this winter. So far, it's not looking very favorable for much more mountain snow.

NASA did some animations using global temperatures from 1885 to 2009. The trend shows things warming up over time, not cooling. You Aussies can attest to that. You've had some hot summers. Ours seem to be trending warmer with less moisture over time too.

http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a0 ... index.html

Avder · Post by **Avder** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:10 am

Ferno wrote:
Avder wrote: Been there a couple of times in the past few years. Well maybe not -50 (-40 isnt much better), but weve got that snowfall amount beaten by at least double.

This year so far has felt like summer right up until a few days ago.
over eight feet of snow? that sounds kind of far fetched...

The previous two winters we've had between 80-100 inches of snow for the season, a big portion of it right up front. The drifts were so high that you could not possibly see over them when driving, making any turns at intersections not controlled by stoplights potentially very dangerous. Combined with a couple of months in the deep freeze and you have what I consider to be the worst winters of any winters since Ive been alive.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:47 pm

And how much snow cover do you have right now?

Avder · Post by **Avder** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:11 pm

tunnelcat wrote:And how much snow cover do you have right now?

Surprisingly not much at all. Couple of inches, all half melted and refroze cause this has been one weird winter.

snoopy · Post by **snoopy** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 9:10 am

I'm very disappointed with this winter.

We've gotten very little snow.... it's just sad.

Maybe I need to move further north.

flip · Post by **flip** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 4:27 pm

The Hadron Collidor is producing waste products no one can see yet and contaminating everything on an atomic scale. Screwing with the perfect balance of things.

Lol

EDIT: I'm only half kidding considering the widely accepted(whatever that means;) theory is that everything we see in the Universe was once confined to an area smaller than your fist. But I digest, err digress.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 11:54 am

Well so much for the snow, its March 20th and we had to mow the yard. Set record highs for upwards of 6 days in a row. I hope this isn't indicative of summer because if it is, we're in for a serious scorcher.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 3:25 pm

Hah! It's been cold and rainy here. Might even get low elevation snow AGAIN tomorrow night. Been happening at least once every week for about a month. Always seems to hit the night before garbage day too............ Spring has not sprung yet for the Pacific NW.

Top Gun · Post by **Top Gun** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 4:45 pm

My current theory is that we'll be in the dead heat of summer by May, and then when August rolls around, fall will come early.

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:51 pm

Avder · Post by **Avder** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:04 pm

It was like 77 degrees outside last week here in Moorhead.

The Red River, which is infamous for its spring floods, dirt not flood at all for the first time since 92.

Best winter ever.