The Texas Cold-Weather Freak-Outs have begun

[GMJAP]

Around here anyway.Got down to 27F today, with a bit of freezing drizzle. Places closed down, people got off work early, and traffic was a nightmare.

[ColonelPanic]

We're in for a similar freaking out of the masses here right now. They are calling for the first "significant" snowfall, i.e. "4-7 inches," starting tomorrow. I have given it much thought to taking in some FREE entertainment down at the Wal*Mart or the grocery store, watching people beat the crap out of each other over loaves of bread and gallons of milk. Yep, better stock up, because we all know you'll NEED ten gallons of milk and a dozen loaves of bread to carry you through this storm which is ending tomorrow night. Even if it were to snow for a week or more, that milk and bread would be pretty nasty by the time the storm was over. eh, I'll just stay at home tonight... I feel for ya man, things get absotively nutso around here and we get snow... I couldn't imagine how bad it gets down there, bring in the national guard eh?

[Atomb]

when my wife and i moved to maryland back in the day, we were amazed by the 'milk and bread' frenzy you talk about, CP.we couldn't believe our eyes!!that first snowfall, we went out to the field next to the condo complex we lived in and had a snowball fight, played with the dog, and built a snowman. We still remember seeing people peer out at us from their windows! we were the ONLY people outside!!then my wife was a manager at a senior home and many of her employees would call out because they didn't want the risk of possibly abandoning their cars! (this is maryland snow we're talking about here).when we moved back to canada, she ended up with a similar job and during the first snowfall, she called work a hundred times to see if any of her employees were calling out...only to be told that everybody was here by her confused employees...they were wondering why she was even asking!

[millster]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »I have given it much thought to taking in some FREE entertainment down at the Wal*Mart or the grocery store, watching people beat the crap out of each other over loaves of bread and gallons of milk. Ha! Yeah, I remember that from Cincinnati when it would snow more than an inch or two. The whole city shut down. We've had snow on the ground (about 6 inches or so) for the whole week now here in my area of MT and the schools never even skipped a beat. I guess we lucked out though. Today was the first (and last for a while) day of below-zero temps. We hit a low of -18F (-30F with windchills) so we're off to a bang-up start. We'll hit the real nasties in January. This has been a rough storm for a lot of places though. Many states getting WELL below the normal temps.

[rasermon]

I do enjoy the winter time, but it's nice to see the middle of March. In Mid-Michigan this week the high temps been around 15 - 20F and the lows 0 - 6F. I know it's been really cold where Millster lives.

[Pigs]

I got so mad last night, I blame the idiots on the local tv stations acting like it's the end of the world.We barely got a light dusting last night and half the schools are closed.Any excuse for a day off.

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by Pigs »I got so mad last night, I blame the idiots on the local tv stations acting like it's the end of the world.We barely got a light dusting last night and half the schools are closed.Any excuse for a day off.Gotta love the media blowing things way out of proportion.uh oh, are there flurries in the forecast?*cue the BLIZZARD OF 2005 theme music and flashy graphics!*"If you haven't been watching our continuous live coverage since last Tuesday, we will now give you an update on the storm of the century... we take you to our superturbomonsterdoppler 8000 with viper 4-D storm tracker....!!!!!"

[Kari]

Quote, originally posted by millster »Ha! Yeah, I remember that from Cincinnati when it would snow more than an inch or two. The whole city shut down. From flashback to present-day-just-north-of-Cincinnati: My class is cancelled tonight because of the weather. Although it has only been snowing for 30 minutes and there's already a couple of inches out there, so I guess it's probably not too farfetched since there's still a lot of ice from the past week since it's not been above freezing in a really long time, and people who aren't used to this thing, myself included, can't be trusted to drive in it. I've been buying all kinds of cold-weather stuff because all of this walking around on campus in single-degree windchills is turning me into an icicle...brr.

[millster]

Quote, originally posted by Kari »From flashback to present-day-just-north-of-Cincinnati: My class is cancelled tonight because of the weather.Don't mistake me, I'm not saying it's wrong. It was just unusual for me to see so little snow compared to what I'm used to and the stir it caused. Now that ice out there... that's a whole different matter. I've never seen an ice storm before until I moved to Cincy. Yikes! Honestly, when it's -20F here with snow on the ground, I'm surprised they don't close schools or businesses. I can't remember the last time the schools closed because of weather here and there were some days they definitely should have.

[Kari]

-20F...my god...I would die I think. I had to pour hot water on the side of my car yesterday just so I could put gas in it, because the gas door was under a 1/4" thick solid sheet of ice that also covered the entire side of the car. And still covers most of it. It took me 30 minutes to scrape the windows a few days ago...crazy stuff. I'm not used to this kind of thing! Heh

[sloth]

It hit -20 here last night. We've had about 5 inches of snow on the ground since the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Temps haven't been above 30 since then. Today is the first day it's gotten above 15 in 4 days.Monday we had a sustained gust of 50mph for 12 minutes to go with the 25mph wind we had all day. High was around 10 that day.....Life goes on as normal.I remember the bread and milk craze when I lived out side of St. Louis.

[Mavrik]

For all us Canadians... its +6C here in Alaska (anchorage area) For the Americans, thats what... 38-40F? warm and rainy which makes all that hard packed snow REALLY slick. poor texans lol.

[Charlievibe]

Quote, originally posted by millster »We've had snow on the ground (about 6 inches or so) for the whole week now here in my area of MT and the schools never even skipped a beat. I guess we lucked out though. Today was the first (and last for a while) day of below-zero temps. We hit a low of -18F (-30F with windchills) so we're off to a bang-up start. We'll hit the real nasties in January. This has been a rough storm for a lot of places though. Many states getting WELL below the normal temps.I grew up in Colorado and when I was in HS we had a solid week of temps below 0F. There was about 6 inches of snow on the ground and it wasn't melting, we thought nothing of it. I can remember only one time in my life that anything closed because of the snow and that was when we got something like four feet in one night. Otherwise, life moved on.Where I work now, you can tell those of us who don't freak out and who are from that kind of country when this kind of weather moves in, we are the only ones here. I have to admit that I do enjoy watching the bread and milk frenzy. It makes it on the news and everything, it is a great laugh.I am working to get back out West where life moves on in spite of the weather, I really miss the Western attitudes.

[IMakeVibes]

Gotta love California . . . sunny and 62º right now. Although, it has been cold at night. It got down into the 40s last night!!!

[redlava]

If you can't shoot it in Texas than it is understandable for them to be afraid of it. Couldn't have been too bad down there, I didn't even see any accident footage on the news. And that is usually the highlight of my winter.

[GMJAP]

Quote, originally posted by redlava »If you can't shoot it in Texas than it is understandable for them to be afraid of it. There's truth in them words!Quote, originally posted by redlava »Couldn't have been too bad down there, I didn't even see any accident footage on the news. And that is usually the highlight of my winter. The Dallas paper had a pic of cars spun out all over one of the highways, and noted that "From 2:30 to 8 p.m. 100 major accidents were reported in Dallas. "Truth to tell, it wasn't too bad, just people don't know how to drive, and/or expect they shouldn't have to know how to drive in their truck/SUV.

[binary]

Heh Milk and Bread rush... ahhh, memories.I lived in southern TN for a year and they actually got snow. Hooo boy. The world was at a stand still. Stores closed, schools closed, and we only got an inch. Only problem is they have no removal equipment or snow driving skills. I drive to 7-11 to grab some gas and a pizza... the funny old lady behind the counter was upset I was even out in this weather. She had walked to work so she didn't die in a car wreck. I only had to explain I was from Wisconsin... and she lightened up. "Ah, you yankies get this sh*t all the time..."It was worth a chuckle.

[ZubenElGenubi]

Quote, originally posted by GMJAP »The Dallas paper had a pic of cars spun out all over one of the highways, and noted that "From 2:30 to 8 p.m. 100 major accidents were reported in Dallas. "Truth to tell, it wasn't too bad, just people don't know how to drive, and/or expect they shouldn't have to know how to drive in their truck/SUV.Funny thing is, when I saw news coverage of Dallas drivers yesterday, one of the cars drifting was a silver Vibe. But I'm pretty sure it wasn't yours, GMJAP!

[jwalcik]

Quote, originally posted by GMJAP »The Dallas paper had a pic of cars spun out all over one of the highways, and noted that "From 2:30 to 8 p.m. 100 major accidents were reported in Dallas. "Truth to tell, it wasn't too bad, just people don't know how to drive, and/or expect they shouldn't have to know how to drive in their truck/SUV.when i was driving home from my soccer game wednesday night (it was in the upper 20's, and i-35 was completely iced over) in less than three miles i saw five separate multicar accidents. it seems like we get one or two days of this every three years or so, and if i can help it, i try not to leave my house. after spending three years in michigan, i'm confident enough in my own ability to drive on the ice (or to know when not to drive on the ice), but all of the other cars out there scare the heck out of me.