Weather Where You Are

Zeedman

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Southern Oregon is in shut down mode. We got 3 - 4 inches on the Valley floor and then of course power goes out, since trees fall from the weight of the snow. There are no local snow plows, but the State did dispatch some to the I5 corridor in the middle of the night. Regardless, the traffic was backed up for miles thru Grants Pass on the freeway due to the sheer amount of snow. All schools are closed within 100 miles circumference of me.
(added emphasis mine)

That brings back memories. I learned to drive on Whidbey Island, WA, where it hardly ever snows... and when there is snow, it thaws almost immediately. In January of 1978, I relocated, and drove from Whidbey to San Diego, towing a second car behind me (that doubled as a "moving van"). We were actually moving a little earlier than originally planned, because a winter storm was hot on our heels. Because of the tow, my headlights didn't quite shine on the road surface, so night driving was a bit of a challenge. It was raining as we drove through Oregon; and since the tow limited my speed, other vehicles frequently passed me, throwing water on the windshield. Moving through Grants Pass at night, that water turned to "mud", thrown up by what I assumed to be construction vehicles, with flashing lights. It was hard to see through the "mud"; but after some time, it suddenly dawned on me that the "mud" was in fact slush, and that the "construction vehicles" were snow plows! :ep It was my first time driving in snow - in mountains, with another vehicle in tow. I was afraid to hit the brakes, and there was nowhere to turn off... it was a white-knuckle ride until we finally reached the lower (and warmer) elevations. Come to find out later that we should have been using chains in the Pass, so we really got lucky. DW slept the whole time.
 

digitS'

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Are we arguing with @bobm about the winter conditions and amount of snow, nearby?

Maybe the Weather Service is in agreement with him. Here's the Tri-City Herald's story on the weather today: Snow keeps piling up. But is it a Tri-Cities record?

The answer is no, it is not. There has been 19.6" of February snow in Kennewick, one of the Tri-cities. Okay but ... this city is about 200 miles and on the other side of the Cascade Mountains from Bob's location. It's about 50 miles from where all those dairy cows died. (It's also about 200 miles southeast of here and well over 1,000 feet lower in elevation.)

As well, the Tri-cities are in a very dry area of the U.S. Average annual precipitation is less than 8" and winter snowfall only averages about 8", also. Sooo, 20" of snow in February alone is quite a big deal!

Wind and a fair amount of cold is possible. The highway south of the Yakima River seems to be closed by drifting snow more days than it is open, lately. The main highway through Yakima and the Cascades has been closed now and then. We can be assured that the highway road crews understand snow removal up that pass (4,500 feet).

Steve
 

bobm

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Here in SW Washington, we had a powdered sugar dusting of snow between 5-6am yesterday morning ... all roads are clear and merely damp ( NO black ice) so all schools and many offices are on a 2 hour delay.
 

digitS'

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Single digitS' once again predicted for our weekend, @ducks4you . I'm thinking that might be okay.

At least 4 more inches of snow has fallen here. Watching California's Russian River flooding on teevee makes me wonder what would happen here with all this late-season snow.

Camera locations and angles aside, we have both mountain communities and low-lying areas that could be in trouble that I could see with a short drive.

I remember getting up one day off, when I was young and living in a city apartment. I had a nice view of the Spokane River except ... the dam upstream had failed. Something about power operating gates ... in a hydroelectric dam! Looked like the entire riverbank was washing away.

I'm trying to imagine Ice Age floods .. ;).

Steve
 

Collector

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Well drifted in this morning so no work today. Our dirt road is ok until you get out of the trees and the farmland opens up, then the first drift I came to was about 4’ tall. I just turned around and came back. The worst part is our pickup with the plow on has lost the reverse gear, so I am using a snow blower to clear our driveway and parking area. I guess I have all the time in the world for it today though.
 

Carol Dee

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The weather here has been terrible. Snow, then heavy rain, a quick drop in temps to freeze the slush/puddles - then more snow, and high winds. Really bad road conditions, the frozen slush (snowcrete?) won't plow off now & side streets are so bumpy they feel like driving off road.

We made the national news - and not in a good way. Snow driven over Highway 41 by high winds caused whiteout conditions, and led to the biggest chain-reaction accident in Wisconsin history... 131 vehicles involved. The freeway was closed for Mass Casualty operations, and took a day to clear. This occurred about 1/4 mile from my job, we can see that part of the freeway from outside. The depth of the devastation is numbing; even today, on my way home, I still saw a lot of debris in the snow banks for over 1/2 a mile. Most of the vehicles involved were totaled, and are currently impounded pending the crash investigation.There is traffic video that indicated a reckless driver (or drivers) trying to pass in unsafe conditions probably sparked the whole thing. Wisconsin drivers should know better; one dead & many injured because of their stupidity. :somad
You got it worse than we did with the last storm. I will be so glad to see SPRING
 

Zeedman

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You got it worse than we did with the last storm. I will be so glad to see SPRING
Me too... especially with another arctic blast arriving next week, with several nights of sub-zero temps. "In like a lion" indeed.

Spring may be a mixed blessing. We have a pretty healthy snow pack this year, much more than last year... and I haven't seen drifts this tall since my childhood. Depending upon how that melts, there could be quite a bit of flooding.
 

flowerbug

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today was a cold, clear and sunny day with not too much wind, so a good day to run errands. forecast for the rest of the week is cold overnight down into the single digits for many nights and some snow here or there but not much of what i would consider a storm or worth worrying about.

people just have to take it easy, slow down and give extra time to their schedule to travel.

be safe.
 
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