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Post by radiostationx on Jan 25, 2016 21:39:23 GMT 1
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Post by northbynorthwest on Jan 26, 2016 3:39:39 GMT 1
I lived in Minneapolis for twenty odd years before having to move to Atlanta. During that time, I experienced 3-4 major snowstorms which almost rivaled this, and my street would resemble the picture. My worst experience was once when I was at home during the storm that started in the mid afternoon and continued for about 12 hours. I was supposed to work the next day from 3pm to 11pm. When I got up, I found that almost two feet of snow had fallen, plus drifting snow from the winds. Getting to work would not be too much of an issue because the city of Minneapolis had a small army of snowploughs working constantly, and my journey to the airport was basically via major roads, which they always plowed first.
However, I was faced with having to shovel my way from the house to my garage, then shovel my driveway and then try to shovel my way to the street. The snow I shoveled to open up a path to my garden ended up being about chest high either side of the path. I had a snowblower, but it was only a relatively lightweight model, which kept clogging and stalling, so I ended up shoveling far more than I used the snowblower. It then took me a couple of hours to dig out to the street. By this time, it was late morning, so I went back into the house to clean up / shower / get ready for work. I then got into my car and was reversing into the alley ready to drive off when this humongous snowplough drove along the street and filled the entrance to the alley with a new mountain of snow, which now also included chunks of heavy compacted snow and ice. So, I spent another hour or so digging that out and actually got to work on time. It took me best part of 4 hours of shoveling and snowblowing, and then I found that my whole body ached so much that I could hardly function at work!
Despite all of this, I really loved living in Minneapolis. I made a mental note to replace that worthless cheapo snowblower with a far more potent (and expensive) beast. It was amazing how much easier life became after this new snowblower came along.
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Post by ronturner on Jan 26, 2016 7:54:31 GMT 1
The tale related by Northbynorthwest is very similar to my experience, about 20 years ago.
I was working for AT&T visiting our factory at Winston Salem in North Carolina. I left the plant in the late afternoon to catch a flight to Newark, to go the the AT&T labs at Middletown. (NJ). The plan next day was to fly out of JFK to London. At Raleigh (NC) everybody was panicking about a forthcoming snow shower. Little did I know how this was going to turn out. Snow I have seen and dealt with many times. How bad can a bit of it be?
Anyway, I arrived at Newark with a bit of light snow falling, met the limo to the hotel and turned up for work next day. A light dusting of snow. During the day, everybody was panicking again until just after lunch when enormous quantities of the stuff started to fall. In short there was so much of it, we called BA to find that JFK was closing and our flight cancelled. By this time there were no hotel rooms to be had, so my host invited me to his house for the night. We had a pleasant evening and I retired to my very comfortable attic room. (i.e third story.)
I awoke next day to find snow up to my windowsill . The combination of the volume of snow and the wind drift had backed it all up on my side of the house. However at the front of the house it was still about 1 mtr high, and by the time three of us had hand shovelled a path to the road, it left a passage with sides taller than us.
Before lunch the major roads were clear and by early afternoon the road past my friends house too. I was able to get on a BA flight that evening.
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Post by kuga59 on Jan 26, 2016 10:44:09 GMT 1
Listened to the You Tube extract. I thought at one point the poor man was going to jump from the tower. When things go wrong at a busy airport, they go seriously wrong. He just about refrained from swearing at a couple of the air crew, yet they seemed to understand his frustration at the problems some of them had created and took his instruction in good manner.
My first visit to the US saw me fly into Detroit, Boxing Day 1980. As the BA 747 touched down it began to snow. The air temperature was -7f and it continued virtually every day for 2 weeks.
When it finally stopped the main roads were always clear but with snow piled up at the sides over 4/5ft tall. At night temperatures would go down to -15f. You had to cover up any exposed skin and warm the car up a good fifteen mins before you attempted to get in and drive anywhere.
Despite all of this my hosts decided one night to have an outside barbecue!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2016 15:04:13 GMT 1
One day at Moscow's Sheremetyevo in the middle of a Russian winter, we were taking the 125 to God-knows-where. We received start-up clearance and were told that a 'Follow Me' van would guide us to the taxiway. I was in the jump-seat and we were 'hot-miked'. It was impossible to see the taxiway lights because they cannot clear the snow because it is too frozen. The outside air temperature was -25C. The Follow Me duly appeared and we set off behind it. He kept going faster and faster and then suddenly turned right with his lights still on. The captain (who had only been there once before), started to follow. I shouted 'stop' over the intercom, because I knew he was heading for a road. A brief discussion ensued, during which the tower called, asking why we had stopped, because there were three other aircraft behind us. We explained what had happened, and another 'Follow Me' appeared after a few minutes and duly guided us to the main taxiway. There was a sharp exchange in Russian between the tower and the first 'Follow Me' which included a few swear words, but we never heard any more about it. North by Northwest: I worked for a Minneapolis-based company for a few years and one winter they decided to hold a sales meeting further north in the lakes area. The journey up was fine, except that the snow and the temperature were falling ever more rapidly as we progressed northwards. By the time we reached the hotel, it was -15C and after checking in, I set off to walk the 100 yards or so to my room, which was on the other side of the complex. The hotel staff were horrified and insisted that I was driven round there because it was so cold!  |
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Post by johnoakes on Jan 26, 2016 19:49:47 GMT 1
Although we live in France these days and love it the snow scenes just leave me cold.groan.So we have a caravan built like a battleship and have decided never to see the stuff again.LOL;
hence December to March in sunny spain---21° degrees today.
The only snow I like comes in little glass globes and swirls when you shake it.
never thought retirement could be such fun.
castellon ghost airport next week--possibly some photos.
keep on shivering.
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Post by digit on Jan 26, 2016 20:18:14 GMT 1
My first visit to the US saw me fly into Detroit, Boxing Day 1980. As the BA 747 touched down it began to snow. The air temperature was -7f and it continued virtually every day for 2 weeks. When it finally stopped the main roads were always clear but with snow piled up at the sides over 4/5ft tall. At night temperatures would go down to -15f. You had to cover up any exposed skin and warm the car up a good fifteen mins before you attempted to get in and drive anywhere. Despite all of this my hosts decided one night to have an outside barbecue! Snow in Michigan rings a bell! Probably 10 years ago now I was trying to get home after a few weeks working in Auburn Hills on the day before Thanksgiving and got caught in the first snow of the season. DTW was "sno clo" for a fair few hours so I headed for a bar, as you do! Got chatting to a couple who lived in Florida and were trying to make it to Kalamazoo for the holiday. We chatted away for a few hours, exchanged email addresses and have been good friends since!
GC
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24/366 - Jonas, The Aftermath by Jakub Wil, on Flickr
