WWTBAM Bored

I still can't believe how Dallas can't handle clearing the roads after rain/ice/snow. Can they call Chicago, Milwaukee, Buffalo, etc to get the inside scoop on how to plow, salt and clear the roads? Every year it is the same thing, 400 car accidents because they don't' clear the roads.

Dallas has this mentality that they don't want outsiders telling them what to do. My Dad has to stay in the hospital for 2 more days because the we can't get on the roads.

The news casts are all preempted to show reporters standing near a bridge saying it is icy and stay home.

Blame Tony Romo...

I bet every small town in Colorado has more money in snow clearing equipment and anti-slick salts (State of Colorado and my town both use magnesium chloride) than Dallas. I think it's a budget issue, not a stubbornness thing. Why tie up millions of dollars in inventory that will be used only once every three or four years, if that. Also, not only is there some skill and knowledge involved in driving in snow, there's also some training involved in using the specialized equipment to clear it, meaning more dollars.

When I was in Atlanta for my cousin's wedding in April about a million years ago (actually, it was Snowjam '82), about one in 10 cars on the freeway had dented up fenders. I said at the time, "Wow, these people must be really bad drivers." Nah, they just couldn't drive in six inches of snow, and the body shops were backed up six months.

I know it's inconvenient and in your father's case miserable. I still agree with the following:

The news casts are all preempted to show reporters standing near a bridge saying it is icy and stay home.

I'll bet Dallas streets get plowed better than in Auburn. Poor Kiki can't get out of the house even if there's only a dusting...

lb13

Did you know that they start playing Christmas songs in Kalamazoo before Thanksgiving?

silvercamaro wrote:Did you know that they start playing Christmas songs in Kalamazoo before Thanksgiving?

MEANIE!!!!!!!!!!!!

lb13

silvercamaro wrote:Did you know that they start playing Christmas songs in Kalamazoo before Thanksgiving?

Yes, but Kalamazoo is so far north, they go by Canadian Thanksgiving.

BTW - littlebeast is right about getting roads plowed, etc., down in Alabama (as is true in most places in the Deep South). As mentioned before, it makes little sense for the towns to spend money on stuff that might get used once a decade (if that).

I'm watching the Alabama HS football championships from Tuscaloosa - the rain's starting to come in there now. Might get interesting.

SpacemanSpiff wrote:BTW - littlebeast is right about getting roads plowed, etc., down in Alabama (as is true in most places in the Deep South). As mentioned before, it makes little sense for the towns to spend money on stuff that might get used once a decade (if that).

I'm watching the Alabama HS football championships from Tuscaloosa - the rain's starting to come in there now. Might get interesting.

I used to give Kiki grief about that all the time. Ah, memories....

http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=23733

lb13

Sunday's Dallas Marathon has been canceled.

Way back in 1976, my family went to spend Thanksgiving in Las Cruces, New Mexico. This is in the southeast corner of the state, about an hour from El Paso, Texas.

The Saturday after Turkey Day, we went to a movie. It was cloudy when we went into the theater, and when the movie was finished, it was SNOWING. Eight inches of the stuff wound up falling that night. They STILL talk about it nearly 40 years later!

The next day, our friends (who lived in Michigan before moving out West) drove us the the airport so we could catch our flight back home. The roads were full of people who had zero idea how to drive on ice and snow. Fortunately, we made it to the airport without incident-but the plane had to be de-iced.

Someone needs to move back to that perfect city by the lake.

Here in Knoxville, everything shuts down at the forecast of snow. We have multiple wrecks from all the people heading out to the grocery store to stock up on the essentials - bread, milk, eggs & beer.

Yeah - you laugh 'cause you think I'm kidding.

I'm just waiting to melt my way out.

Maybe Sunday.

Maybe Monday.

Maybe not.

elwoodblues wrote:Sunday's Dallas Marathon has been canceled.

Sorry, no refunds.
https://www.dallasmarathon.com/2013-met ... tion-faqs/

This may sound absurd, but when I hear of normally warm weather places talking about how the city has to shut down over even the tiniest bit of snowfall, or how nobody knows how to drive on icy and snowy roads, or how their local governments don't have salting or plowing equipment to make the roads safe for travel... I don't hear craziness, I hear arrogance. It's like the California people who like to frequently mention the fact that it's in the 70's during the winter all the time, as if that is somehow superior to getting to experience four seasons and makes them so (radio edit) special.

Y'all know we don' bother wit that white stuff on tha rare uhcazhuns it falls down here. We jus' stock up on our grits an' shine an' shut'er'down, cuz we know tha weather's jus' fine mos' of the rest of tha winter! I guar-own-tee!!!

The evil part of me roots for about a foot and a half of snow to fall all across the South one day... with all due apologies to our southreners, I think you've more than earned it with your overall carefree attitude towards the Jack Frost end of Mother Nature...

Geoffil may not always make the most logical observations, but she's absolutely right about this one....

lb13

I know that here in Atlanta it's a matter of terrain and money. It's very hilly here, and there's lots of driveways and subdivisions with steep inclines. People often can't get out of their driveways safely. Naturally, any weather-clearing vehicles concentrate on the main roads, so some of these subdivisions don't get any help at all until the weather warms up. And of course, there's a question of how to spend money. Last winter, we didn't have any snow that caused a problem, and we rarely have it occur more than twice in one winter. They have enough equipment to do a fairly decent job on the expressways (which have lots of overpasses that ice over), but not surface streets.

Snowjam in 1982 was infamous because the weather had been extremely cold (subzero) for a few days before the snow and the ground was still frozen. Plus, unlike many bad snowstorms here, the snow hit during the afternoon while people were at work and a full complement of cars was at work. Although weather reports advised people to leave, a lot stayed, thinking that they could easily get home before it got too cold. The result was a horrible mess.

What usually happens here in Atlanta is that you get one really bad snowstorm that no one prepares for adequately, and the next time there's a threat, it gets overhyped, everyone panics, and then laughs when the whole thing amounts to two snowflakes. So the time after that, they ignore or play down the threats and the cycle goes on again.

Geoffil may not always make the most logical observations, but she's absolutely right about this one....

Good thing the Michigan Bar Association helps me out with that.

People have been stuck on I-35 for 17 hours.

I called the town I live in and asked what was up with the snow/ice removal. I was told they only take care of the city streets. The state and county roads that intersect aren't their responsibility. Too many cooks. They assured me all city roads have been de-iced and plowed. Ha ha ha. In his dreams.

I just dont get why they don't want to salt, plow the roads for everyone's safety. It is not rocket science. Every year the same problem.

SSS called it exactly right - A big part of southern cities 'snow problem' is that they just do not have the equipment and manpower needed for snowstorm road upkeep when the rare storm does hit. Budgets for all cities are tight, they are not going to load up on snow removal equipment when there are so many other things with a higher priority.

I think basically that here in the South, everyone panics just because a snowstorm is such an unusual event. it really is true that at the threat of snow, all the essentials will be cleared off the grocery store shelves. This despite the fact that with our weather around here, even if it does snow it's all going to melt within two days anyway. why everyone feels the need to stock up on a weeks worth of groceries is beyond me - but this is spoken with the arrogance of one who was raised in the North East part of the country. We do have bad traffic problems during a snowstorm (or a forecast of one) but it's only because everyone is panicky, not because there is any white stuff on the roads. We will shut down for the day by following the lead of schools and other businesses - not because we can't drive on the roads but because all the people running to Kroger create huge traffic jambs.

Here is the temperate corner of Canada, we don't normally fall below freezing, or get any white stuff. We send that across the straits and Rockies to Alberta and east LOL

However Thursday it snowed lightly all day, and the temperature is about -7 C. This is a problem because we don't have the equipment etc, and as others have noted, people panic.

It will pass in a few days, we'll get some rain and start beyotching about that too

elwoodblues wrote:Sunday's Dallas Marathon has been canceled.

They ran out of ice skates?

Heck, down here our authorities look at ANY snowfall as an apocolyptic event. Last year they cancelled a day of school because they said it might snow.

Heck, down here our authorities look at ANY snowfall as an apocolyptic event. Last year they cancelled a day of school because they said it might snow. Of course I didn't mind that until I had to work one of our Easter days.

Don't say y'all weren't warned....

lb13

Still in the house by the fireplace. Took me a while to realize this was an old thread. It's 14 degrees this morning and that just adds to the road problems.

It was especially bad this time since Atlanta and Birmingham didn't seem to think they were in the storm's path. My friend is still trying to get home after spending the night in a mall and getting a ride with a nice couple she met there since her car will not start.

kay