That ain't salt

[mjeff87]

Well the weather delivered here.  Currently in the middle of an ice storm, several trees down on the property.  Power went about an hour ago, generator started but failed to auto-transfer, so I had to manually switch it over at the panel/ATS.  Good 1/2" accretion of ice on everything, with another 1/2-3/4" yet to come.  Yay.  Ill be happy to see utility power back by Monday, at least.

[Pete M]

dang what a crappy winter  

[Jesse J]

that's horrible 

[ghetdjc320]

I’m originally from Austin and can’t believe how cold it’s getting there right now though it’s still a far cry from most of you. Going to change the landscape quite a bit. Lots of plants and trees don’t bounce back from that kind of weather. 

[gogmorgo]

Even for us, freezing after green-up is brutal. We had one early spring a few years back, everything started budding out in April. We had a winter storm at the end of the month, freezing rain halfway through May, and another big dump of snow in early June. One storm would’ve been fine, but all the fresh growth freezing up a third time destroyed everything. It was one of the few years we had problems with bears. There just wasn’t any wild food for them that year, no berries, no fruit, no nuts, nothing. We hardly even had wildflowers that year.

[BeatCJ]

A drift on my deck. We ended up with 14 1/2 measured inches.

[mjeff87]

I'll take snow ALL day long (even 14 inches), but ice completely sucks.  Power went out again today while we were out shopping, luckily the ATS on the generator worked correctly.  Got home and utility came back shortly thereafter. Then went out again around 4:00, but just came back again about 30 minutes ago..  Its supposed to be in the 40's here tomorrow then 50's on Tuesday with heavy rain.  Most everything's melting now thankfully.  But its gonna be even more of a total mess with all the ice melt and rain coming.  Gotta love Central VA weather, lol.

[BeatCJ]

Sounds like.you in exactly the same situation we are, amazingly enough, our power hasn't gone out, yet.

 

The forecasters aren't calling for heavy rain, but the long term forecasts show one dry day for the rest of the month. Obviously, that's subject to change. We had a similar set up in 1996,and we had record floods. Not this much snow, but had about 5 days of torrential downpours from the tropics, really warm,the snow just disappeared. And I worked 60 days straight, working on slide repair, FEMA damage estimates, repairing scoured bridge abutments.

[BeatCJ]

Well, power was out for 22 hours at my house. Sure am glad we have a woodstove. I got some Ice Photos, had about a 1/4 inch build up. I'll post those when I get internet back at the house those pics are on my tablet.

 

I had to chauffeur my wife and daughter to work yesterday and today, I'm not convinced they will make it out tomorrow,  either. They both have AWD, but it's more a ground clearance issue. My tires are 33 inches tall, theirs are less. We will see.

[mjeff87]

Good luck, stay safe!

 

New ice forecast map out for my area.......this is BAD.  There's still 100K+ without power yet around here from Thursday, and another round is on the way starting late tomorrow night thru the day on Thursday.  We ended up with about 3/4-7/8" of accretion here, this storm is already progged at double that.  Gonna be bad.

 

 

[Jesse J]

we finally have normal utah weather it's snowing everyday this week 

[BeatCJ]

1 hour ago, mjeff87 said:

Good luck, stay safe!

 

New ice forecast map out for my area.......this is BAD.  There's still 100K+ without power yet around here from Thursday, and another round is on the way starting late tomorrow night thru the day on Thursday.  We ended up with about 3/4-7/8" of accretion here, this storm is already progged at double that.  Gonna be bad.

Ouch. I made it in and out of my driveway without chains, on my second trip. Had to back down, pretty sure I couldn't have turned around.

 

Ice pics.

 

[mjeff87]

Yeah...you're in it  I've got an old pair of chains in the shed I used to run on my MJ (when it was still 2WD).  They're for 15" tires.  I can stretch them onto the KJ (16's) if I have to but don't really want to.  Spent the afternoon storm prepping, checked the generator over and angle-grinded the edge of the shovel i use for ice.  I have 200# of mag chloride, plus some rock salt to keep the driveway clean.  Yuned up/cleaned the chainsaw also, after using it yesterday to fell all the broken trees from the last storm.  Got 2 more gallons of gas and premixed it just for the saw.

 

Meanwhile, all my neighbors are out washing their cars and whatnot.  Not a care in the world.  Me and the wife go full on storm mode tomorrow night.

[BeatCJ]

I'm on the downhill slide. I have 3 sets of chains for my 4x4 GMC 3500 DRW, one pair for the rear duals, and two pair for singles. The single are a lot easier to put on, but the 3 rails have better traction. I made it out of the driveway without chains just after noon.

 

Last two days it was.drive up to the main road with chains, take them off to drive into Vancouver, turn around and put them back on to drive.down my driveway. 4 changes of clothes into days. Sure am glad to be able to run the washer and dryer today... 

 

No blue sky, but 39 degrees when I fired the truck up this morning. Shoveled around the daughters car, so the grandkids can walk out to it without slogging through snow.

 

Sure regret not just fixing whatever is causing the DW in the kids Cherokee parked in my driveway.

[FrankTheDog]

7 hours ago, BeatCJ said:

 

 

Sure regret not just fixing whatever is causing the DW in the kids Cherokee parked in my driveway.

Check all the bolts on the track bar and track bar bracket to make sure they are tight and jack the tires off the ground to look for slop in the track bar and steering tie rod ends.

 

Also check your tires for abnormal wear and see if your shocks are tired.

All of this contributes to death wobble.

[BeatCJ]

Well, since it is the youngest son's, first I have to get my wife to buy off on me spending more time and money on it. It's not a priority for him, he's working to finance his first home at 23. He is taking on fixing the items found on inspection. He is buying it from his biological father, and the dad can't afford to fix anything.

 

Pretty sure the track bar bracket is an issue, but I will be really surprised if there isn't more than one.

[89 MJ]

Today is supposed to get up to a balmy 18 degrees today for me!

[BeatCJ]

Ouch. My outdoor thermometer is already showing 35, hoping to make the mid 40s, get some more thaw going on.

[mjeff87]

Just as expected, we now have flood warnings across parts of the area.  It got up to a nice 55 degrees yesterday and everything is melting.  Ground is completely saturated, which is no bueno.  Today is the literal calm before the storm in the low 40's (but quite sunny) and the real action starts overnight tonight.  Should start as a little snow, then change to sleet and then finally over to all freezing rain early tomorrow morning and last into Friday.  Still progged for 1'+ of ice accumulation.  I'm stocked, locked and ready to rock (as soon as I pick up another case of beer on the way home from work tonight)

 

 

[buxmj]

Be safe Jeff and glad you are ready to enjoy the calm and then wait through the storm, hope you don't have any ice damage to your trees. 

 

Buck.

[mjeff87]

Thanks Buck  I'm not going to enjoy the calm though, I'm on call for work.  The state already closed for tomorrow but ill bet everything I own ill be getting the call to come in by 0800.  Last weeks ice storm, 2 other guys were in for the entire weekend keeping things running.  Ive got a go-bag already packed with clothes, toiletries and some food just waiting now.  Missi is staying home from work tomorrow so I don't have to worry about her or the cats.  Ive got 50 lbs of mag chloride already spread on the driveway and front walkway/porch steps.  Kj is gassed up, and I've got the chainsaw in the back in case I have to cut my way into the facility tomorrow.