Ha Mike!

I think it's the whole northeast corridor that features this unique driving style.

AS far as the weather... Ever seen a freezing rain thunderstorm before? The combination of thunder, lightning and ice pelting the house makes for a unique experience alright.

We're getting the snow you've been getting slowly. Looks like we have 8-12 inches on deck...

I have a X-Type for winter duty.

Take care,

George

 

VA is NO JOKE! I been popped quite a few times by them the 10yrs I lived in NC....Many road trips, many tickets.....and they can find you.....We once got a ticket for 93mph in a 55 by PLANE! also use of illegal radar dectector, improper lane useage, reckless driving.....No arrest threaten, but a stack of tickets that I gave to a laywer that I had get dismissed, cause he stated I was on my way back to base due to a emergency deployment when I was in the military

 

I'm lucky in that I have a lot of friends and family in law enforcement.
The ONLY ticket I've ever gotten in my life was in upstate New York outside of Binghamton. I was on Rt 81 south heading towards PA, when I crested this hill and there was a state trooper running radar at the top of the hill and 5 state police cars at the bottom.

We got to the bottom of the hill, there were two troopers in the road, and they either waved you through or told you to pull off to the side.

Some butch state trooper lady walks up, claims she got me at 81mph. Didn't want to hear who I knew or anything. Presented my PBA cards, she was like I didn't ask you for that, I asked for you license.

Came back with a ticket for 81 in a 65. It was like $80 so I paid it.
Every car they had stopped had out of state plates... Go figure.

At the time I had confirmed with NY that they would NOT send a copy of the violation to NJ. (NY doesn't assess points to NY licenses for out of state violations nor send copies of convictions to other state's DMV's, if the ticket is paid).

So I paid it went on with my life.

2.5 years later I get some letter in the mail from my insurance company that they had used a "consumer information service" and found the ticket in NY. They were therefore going to raise my rates for the next 3 years because of it. (NJ ins law says that you can be charged for 3 years following a violation).
I actually argued with them claiming it wasn't on my driving record in NJ (after checking my abstract), and they said it didn't matter and that I had basically committed insurance fraud by not disclosing it when I renewed my policy. Since it was less than 3 years they had the right (and intention) of charging me for 3 years.

So I stayed with them for 6 months, and then left to a different insurance co, who I told about the ticket, but they had no legal right to charge me because It was past 3 years old.

Take care,

George.

 

damn rip off insurance companys

 

Are we done with "Who has the biggest idiot drivers in their area"?
Call it a tie ...

The big storm on Christmas night here had thunder, lightning and almost 30" of snow. Very weird.

I think we're on to the freezing rain here now.

 

Oh lucky you Bob. After the freezing rain comes the wet snow which is a total PITA to shovel. We got some lightning strikes around here so you may get some as well.

Mike

 

The band of freezing rain should only last an hour or so... Then it will all convert to snow again. Expecting 8-12 inches tonight!

Fun stuff!!!

Take care,

George

 

It looks like Boston will get hammered pretty hard during the morning rush hour. So far, we got about 9". I had to dig out out twice as I didn't feel like waiting until it ended. The wind made it real fun as it my car started getting covered as soon as I brushed it off. There are about 400K people without power.

Update: the road in front of my apartment complex was a boulevard of broken dreams. About 15 abandoned cars in the space of about a mile. Oddly enough the preponderance of them were FWD SUVs. So much for bravery.

 

You guys in the NE along the coast are getting pummeled pretty bad. Usually we get the same stuff you guys do or an equal or greater amount off of Lake Erie, but not this year. It's been cold but haven't had the foot after foot of snow like last year.

I almost feel bad for my Jeep. This stuff is no challenge!

Anyway - you guys out East be careful in this stuff. It only takes one person in an unprepared vehicle to put everyone else in danger.

 

The snowpocalipse continues... We got another 19 inches of snow overnight.



So that means in a month, we've gotten 30" in one storm, 8" and 10" in two others, 4" Tuesday, and 19" Weds.

71" of snow in a month is NOT normal for this climate... Guess global warming is really kicking in...

Take Care,

George

 

This is horrible. Gonna head into my office, and the highway I take I90 Masspike now had the speed limit officially reduced to 45MPH...sweet, cant wait.

PS Forget DSC, IMHO it is useless in the snow. Now that I dont use it all the time I dont get stuck on slight inclines.

 

Stay safe out there bud... You'd need an H1 to get through our roads right now. I'm sure the plows will show up eventually LOL!

Take care

George

 

George,

I would assume your area has set a local record for snowfall thus far this winter, one that you obviously don't cherish....

I'll never forget a ski trip that we took in February 1986 to Heavenly Valley (Lake Tahoe). During the five days we were there, it snowed more than 9 feet! We had a full-sized 4WD Chevy K-Blazer as a rental vehicle and had no trouble getting around to the restaurants and clubs at night. The entire Lake Tahoe area did a fantastic job of snow removal on the streets, even in those mega-blizzard conditions. Spent all day every day on the slopes for the best skiing conditions I've ever seen in my life. We really lucked out with the timing of that trip. Never expect to experience a ski trip that phenomenal again....

 

We broke the record a while ago Jon...

"This month will long be remembered for the record-breaking amount of snow that fell on the Garden State. Unfortunately, snow records are not lengthy or complete at most locations around the state, but I am confident in stating that most locations established new monthly snowfall records for any winter month in at least the past 130 years. Monthly reports at four stations are being scrutinized to determine if one of them will be certified as a state monthly snowfall record, exceeding the 50.1" reported in Freehold (Monmouth County) in February 1880 (source: Ludlum's NJ Weather Book). "

Technically the first 30" storm was in December, so I don't know if it counts as a monthly record, but this is the most snow since 1880 overall. And it's still January. We still have at least 2 months of viable snow season.

They are expecting more tomorrow and Sat, and again Tuesday....

I think it would be really cool in a ski setting, but trying to get to work / live everyday life with this much snow is just getting annoying..

Take care,

George

 

George,

Is that a new picture or a re-use from Christmas? I feel sorry for you up in the Northeast because you got about triple of what you normally get.

There were some friends of mine that had a 13 hour drive home last night. This morning, there were abandoned cars everywhere. They either ran off the road or ran out of gas.

Jon,

The Sierras get some pretty gnarly snows. Nine feet in a day is not all that unusual. Some of the snow reports are pretty impressive, like 2 feet of powder over a 30 foot base. There are places in the high elevations where the snow stays year round.

Mike

 

Mike,

Yep, I learned quickly about the snowfall capacity of the Sierras when we were there. The 9 feet of snow didn't even phase the town of Lake Tahoe. All the locals just went about their business just as we do with flurries here in NC. But it certainly impressed me....

 

Man up George! Just get the shovel out and get to it!
I dug my Suburban out this morning and the wife is already at work in NYC.
But most everything is shutdown here. No place to put the snow ...

On the global warming front ... That ethnic Japanese physicist you always see on the science channel describing how the universe works etc. was on The Today Show this morning talking about this. WTF are they doing getting a technical opinion on climate change from an Astrophysicist???

He claims the global warming is putting more moisture into the atmosphere in the tropics. Then it gets sucked north and meets the cold air so we get more snow. Aw jeeze, maybe but I think we need a rebuttal from Moe Larry and Curly while we're at it. I was in California for 2 weeks fortunately I missed the big storms that had pounded them the previous month. It was just great. But I remember many a time when we had extreme weather there as well. I just don't see anything all that crazy about this. If we get 5 straight years of winters like this one then I'd agree that we have some kind of climate change going on. But the winter isn't over yet and what if gets mild with very little snow starting in February?

 

I wish that was a recycled picture!

This was today:


And this was christmas LOL:



And Bob... Actually my office is closed but I'm stuck working from home. My street is impassable with a car at this point (we haven't been plowed yet). I'm going to go out on my lunch break and fight with my snowthrower...

Take care,

George

 

George,

If anything, your today picture is worse. The snow is a lot heavier. It also had a chance to freeze over during the night which made it all the harder to shovel or brush off.

Mike

 

Yeah this is definitely a heavier, wetter snow...

Once I get done with cleaning out the driveway / sidewalks etc, eventually once it melts, I'll have to deal with all the broken tree limbs it caused. A couple of my pine trees suffered some major damage. I actually had one fall over last year (it literally ripped the roots right out of the ground), but this should be a fun mess to clean up:



Take care,

George