Wisconsin Winter Weather Thread 08-09 Version

[ttsather]

Somehow, it doesn't seem as bad as I was expecting, even though the forecasts were spot on. Maybe because it's just all snow here in Madison (which is nice).

 

Wore my snowpants to work today.

[hawing]

From the Channel3000 list of closings:

 

The Friday matinee performance of "A Fireside Christmas" at the Fireside Dinner Theatre in Fort Atkinson has been canceled. Ticketholders should call 800-477-9505 to reschedule for another performance.

I snickered when NMF posted the Kent Brockman quote a ways back, but no Fireside Christmas this afternoon? Damn you, snow!

 

(Apologies if any of you are connected to the Fireside. Their commercials always sound so cheesy.)

 

Oh, and for more Madison fun, here is a link to the Memorial Union Terrace webcam.

[princeginterhallhelms04]

It is still snowing very hvy and with white out conditions here in kenosha. They have said on the news that there is only seven inches on the ground but i do not think that's close. I have been out there twice and it's still filled back in. The wind is so strong that it's making it nearly impossible to get an accurate reading on snowfall. Racine is pretty bad too!

[paul253]

This is, by far, the worst job of snow plowing I have ever seen. I am not even saying that to exaggerate. I was working, third shift, out on the streets all night long, and I barely, barely saw any plows. They plowed maybe one lane in the main streets, and seemed to put down about half as much salt as they used to. Forget about the side streets. Then i actually make it back to my neighborhood in decent time after work b/c no one was on the streets, only to find they did not touch, not once, my street, or the street that i use to get to my street. I needed two very nice neighbors to even get my car back towards where i came, then i spent 20 minutes digging out the car in front of me so i get to a main street. I was able to convince a gas station attendant to let me keep my car in the gas station, which is the last thing i want to do. Then i call the DPW and talk to Darqueesha or however it is you spell what she uses as a name and get more attitude than i've ever gotten before. Look Darqueesha, I'm glad the city has 236 pieces of equipment working on the streets right now, but do you think you could spare ONE to plow my street one blasted time!!! This is pathetic. Good thing they keep raising the snow removal fee every year, its going to good use.

[gypcasino]

Here are a couple pics I took out my window in downtown Milwaukee

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/gypcasino/Snow008.jpg

 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/gypcasino/Snow010.jpg

 

 

[Brian the Automator]

I need to either:

 

a) find a job within walking distance

b) move to the equator

 

Wisconsin just ate my one-stage rubber-blade snowblower alive. Looks like I have a nice day of back-breaking shoveling ahead of me.

[ttsather]

UW-Madison decided not to change its exam schedule for today. They claim that campus crews are keeping up with plowing and clearing. I guess I'll see for myself in an hour or two, provided the "10-15 minute" delay for Madison Metro is accurate.

I was happy to hear that they didn't change it. Even though it's going to be a pain for students and profs alike, there was talk that they'd push Friday exams back to Monday/Tuesday if they had to, which would have been a riot-inducing disaster.

[hawing]

Wisconsin just ate my one-stage rubber-blade snowblower alive.

Oh, no, it IS a class 3 kill-storm!

[fondybrewfan]

My drive to and from UW-River Falls should be really fun tommorrow. I'll estimate about 9-10 inches in FDL and it looks to be wrapping up. The city streets were fine, I would imagine those that live in the country are having a little bit more difficulty getting around though.

[bork]

Got another 4 inches between 7 and 10 when it finally let up. So about 14 inches total. Still haven't finished the 4 foot mountain at the end of the driveway.

 

The snowpiles on the sides of my driveway are now up to my chest. What am I supposed to do with the snow from the next few snowstorms? Well, the son is off school. I can work from home Monday and Tuesday and then I'm off until Jan 5th. Mabye I'll just hibernate.

[owbc]

I really enjoyed this snowstorm. I stayed up late last night in the UW-Madison AOS building studying for my exam today, while fortunately wasn't canceled. We didn't get thundersnow from what I could tell, but the snowfall rates were very impressive--I think we got around 2" within an hour at one point and 4" in 2 1/2 hours. The school was clearly very serious about being open today because when I walked home at 2:30 AM, all the sidewalks had been plowed and I saw a number of university trucks clearing the lots. My high school brother wasn't so lucky in Milwaukee--Marquette High School canceled their final day of exams, so he has to take his final on January 6th now!

 

Still, the best part was how accurately this was forecasted several days in advance, so I commend the National Weather Service for actually getting it right this time. The only issue was the 3-6 hour delay, but that's relatively minor in the big picture.

 

Now we just have to deal with a weak 3-5" of snow/blowing snow on Saturday night and then the coldest air of the season for Sunday night. Early indications for Christmas are sunny skies with a low around 0 and a high of 15.

[Invader3K]

I hate snow...well, not totally hate it, but I'm already fairly tired of it, and it's only mid-December. I'm also surprised that all the predictions of how much snow we would get were actually accurate for a change. Usually they're screaming about getting a foot of snowfall, and then we maybe get half that.

 

At least my snowblower finished our driveway before it stalled out while I was trying to finish our sidewalk. The chute and blades were all clogged with snow, so that's almost certainly the culprit. Couldn't get it restarted, but it probably just needs to cool down. I'm currently debating if I want to head out to get some work done or not...only have to drive about 15 minutes, but I'm not sure how well plowed the rest of the roads around here are as of yet. At least being self employed gives me the luxury of a choice.

 

Also, some kind soul plowed the front part of our driveway, in order to take care of the neighbor's sidewalks, so kudos to you, mystery plow person!

[davego]

We got 7 in La Crosse. More the light fluffy kind so not 'that bad.' However, I'm holding out hope that we will get another 5-6 by Monday and really suffer.

[logan82]

It took me an hour to get home last night(left work at 2). The snow on the ground wasn't much of a problem at that point. It was the snow coming down that limited visibility so bad that I had to drive 25 MPH and the ice I had to stop and wipe off my wipers twice on the way home. There were a couple times I I didn't know where the road was for a few miles.

[Godspeed]

I really enjoyed this snowstorm.

 

Spoken like a true non-shoveler. I'm beat after shoveling only a third of my driveway, but I will admit it was impressive, though.

[whizkid]

Thanks to everyone for staying off the roads in Washington county this morning. My 25 mile, 30 minute commute only took 65 minutes. 30-40 mph all the way on the freeway. City streets 15-20. Lots of people wimping out today.

[davego]

I like the 4th of July way better then the Christmas Holiday...it is a lot warmer in July and it is socially acceptable to blow things up.

[NeedMoreFans]

Now, we're under ANOTHER winter storm watch, and a wind chill watch...this time for Saturday night and into Sunday. Forecasts call for near blizzard conditions, with nasty wind chills.

[hawing]

Now, we're under ANOTHER winter storm watch, and a wind chill watch...this time for Saturday night and into Sunday. Forecasts call for near blizzard conditions, with nasty wind chills.

Oh, I just saw that. Jebus.

It felt so good to be in the beige and relatively benign "hazardous weather outlook" zone on the NWS map for at least a few hours (instead of the Wind Chill Advisory icy blue or the Winter Storm Watch darker blue or the Winter Storm Warning hot pink).

[sheetswannabe]

Measured 13 new inches in wonderful Racine. Ha. Now bring on the 4-7 more this weekend! Anyone have any info on Tuesdays snow?

[owbc]

The Saturday/Sunday event isn't too big of a deal with snowfall totals (I personally think 4-7" is a big exaggeration and 2-5" is more likely). The big story will be the wind, which might make travel nearly impossible on Sunday morning. Leave Saturday afternoon or wait until Monday.

 

Believe it or not, there's some indication of a clipper on Tuesday followed by a panhandle low for Christmas eve. There is still lots of model disagreement, but we could easily see another 6"+ from that storm if everything comes together. It's way too early to call for that one, though.

 

After Christmas, looks like near normal temperatures and possibly a rain event toward the 27th-29th time period. That's really far off though.

[ewizabeff]

The plow hasn't hit my side of the street, so I'm still stuck in my driveway. I figure trying to drive my car through 14" of snow isn't that good of an idea.

[TooLiveBrew]

Classic scene from "The Simpsons" (can't find the video)...

 

Kent Brockman: But first! Let's check the death count from the killer storm bearing down on us like a shotgun full of snow.

 

Weatherman: Well, Kent, as of now the death count is zero. But it _is_ready to shoot right up.

 

Kent: Oh my God. [shakes fist at heaven] Damn you snow!

 

 

I feel like that watching the news sometimes.

Ha! I know exactly what you mean. The reporters here in Portland have been going to places that aren't actually in Portland (suburbs, up towards Mt. Hood, etc.) just so they can show more snow. We got basically zero accumulation today, but they freaked out & closed all public schools this morning.

 

 

Wisconsin just ate my one-stage rubber-blade snowblower alive. Looks like I have a nice day of back-breaking shoveling ahead of me.

 

Where does that put the aggregate score... is it now Winter 2, BtA 1? I know you took an early 1-0 lead last winter, but I haven't checked the game logs.

 

 

EDIT: Thanks for those pics, gypcasino. Beautiful.

[JimH5]

We're back in the Milwaukee area after several months away, so the snow actually seems exciting and fun. Not sure how long that glee will last, but for now, we're happily digging out these 14 inches. My daughter is 4 1/2, and was running around, jumping in snowpiles, throwing snowballs at me while I was snowblowing the driveway. Fun stuff.

[hawing]

I really enjoyed this snowstorm. (said by obsessedwithbrewcrew)

 

Spoken like a true non-shoveler.

obsessedwithbrewcrew may not have to shovel, but I'd say it was spoken more like a true meteorology student. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

The stop where we left the bus tonight is a block away from our house. That street (a three-block side street that ends in a dead end) had only had one lane's worth plowed as of about 5:45. We walked down the middle of the plowed side. Looking at the unplowed side, it made me think of a snowy war zone, it was so messy looking.

But since it's a three-block side street that ends in a dead-end, I expect it to be low on the plowing list, and it was plowed a couple of hours ago.

 

The thing that bothers me now is that the 08-09 winter now has more snowfall than the 07-08 winter had on December 19, 2007. I thought I coped pretty well with the record snowfall last year, but I don't think I need to see record snowfall two years in a row. Yet, Madison is now 31% of the way to 100 inches of snow.