Storm of the Century?

[kidsmoke*]

well, I'm surprised to hear myself say this, but so far, this storm is totally living up to the hype. Trees bent over, entire house shuddering, everything a ghost town, white out conditions. 44 years between Michigan, the NH coast and Chicago, I've never seen anything like it, and I've been through several legit blizzards. Only question now is whether or not the snow totals will will be there. 9 pm is when the the heavy snow was to start. Already have 3 foot drifts next to frozen turf in the yard, and there was 3 inches over everything at lunch today.

It is utterly surreal.....

[Beerman***]

I heard earlier today that Lake Michigan could possibly see waves of 18 feet! Wow! And almost 2000 miles of bad weather here and also in Canada. Plus the floods and Cyclone in Australia and those on a mission of conspiracy can say the world is starting to end.
I wonder how much the sun spots are involved but I really believe it's all cyclical and if you live long enough, these things happen. It's sure messing up travel across the country.

[sunvalleylaw]

Hang in there folks!

[kidsmoke*]

....and I failed to mention....thunder and lightning!!

My gf and I just took the dogs for a 45 minute trek. bizarre world out there. Struggled to to help the only car I saw with lights on get unstuck, no dice.

Note to self, a hemi does no good when your front spoiler is so low it acts as a plow, and your turnin' 20's with 10" wide goodyear all seasons....

Saw a tree limb that had snapped off and crushed a malibu, making one of the neighboring alley's unpassable.

With the thunder and lightning, howling winds so loud you have to yell at a person 5 feet away, the constant sounds of sirens, and yet NO moving cars and no other people out, at 9:30!!! Keep in mind, I can see the Sears Tower from my house, i'm IN one of the worlds largest cities.

I predict a lot of October babies this year.

Cheers!

[Tig***]

Check out the photos of the storm from space. This thing is HUGE!

[kidsmoke*]

very cool satellite progression of the storm. thanks Tig

http://nnvl.noaa.gov/MediaDetail.php...&MediaTypeID=2

[Spudman***]

October babies That really got me.

I got a little anxious today when I heard about the storm and then the cyclone in Australia...I was watching 2012 at the time. Seems like the world is ending as we know it. Hang in there Tio. It eventually melts.

[piebaldpython***]

Yeah Tio.....I feel your pain. Over here in Philly, we are getting our dose of the same storm too. Being that the low will be to our West...we will be getting a lot of ICE here. About 1/4" in Philly and over 1/2" of ICE in our suburbs. Which means that power lines will be coming down. UGH...I am so SICK of snow/ice/cold/winter.

Yes, in comparison to DEAA living in Finland, this is nothing. But, being in Finland and Scandanavia....what do you expect? lol
This is 2 yrs in a row that we've taken a beating. I know there's grass under all of our snow, just that it would be nice to see it again.

[deeaa*]

Oh I dunno, from the looks of it it's never that severe over here. Sure we can get a lot of snow but it never comes all at once, and hard storms are very very rare, especially in winter. And we never ever get like proper ice storms, just snow or sleet. Plus, people are used to it so it doesn't create such hazards.

What I'm seeing in news would be quite extreme just the same here in Finland as well, would definitely be called very severe.

BTW Tio what the hell is a 'malibu'? Unless you mean the Chevy..?

[Eric***]

Interesting stuff. I must say, I think the ice storm here was overrated. The hardest part about coming into work today was getting to my car, which was parked on the street. After that, it wasn't half-bad; the roads just seemed wet.

TK, if you say it's worse than anything you've ever seen, I'm impressed. I was in the Chicago 'burbs 3 or 4 years ago at about this time of year for work, and I barely got in and almost got trapped there because of the snow. It was a ton of snow, and I'm from Minnesota, so I'm no stranger to the white stuff.

I personally like big snowstorms, but I think I like them best when the heat works and I don't have anywhere to be. Keep us updated with the latest goings-on, if you don't mind.

[oldguy]

Hope everyone's OK out there this morning.

The worst of it went east of us. St Louis looked terrible on the news last night. Interstates closed down everywhere, people stranded, airports shut down.

We pretty much stayed in, watched movies, and ate. Better way to pass the time than trying to get the pickup out of the ditch.

[poodlesrule]

October babies That really got me.

I got a little anxious today when I heard about the storm and then the cyclone in Australia...I was watching 2012 at the time. Seems like the world is ending as we know it. Hang in there Tio. It eventually melts.

Spud, you need to read "Mother of Storms" by John Barnes.
Science-fiction, for now..!

(Every time I hear about methane coming out of permafrost, or arctic ice, or, like last Saturday, lakes, I freak out a little bit...)

[kidsmoke*]

@ deaa, yes a Chevy! limb fell, partially crushing the roof and smashing out the rear windows.

It's the wind that made this so dramatic, along with the lightning flashing and tremendous thunder. Never experienced that. Snow totals at this hour are officially just over 17", with another band passing through now, supposedly a few more inches. The winds have subsided, and it is now more of a normal looking story. In 99, we got 22 inches overnight once, but it was simply fast falling light snow. This was a storm! This 110 year old 50' foot tall frame house was shaking all night.

In chicago, we don't have driveways, we have streets in the front, with the homes near the street, then alleys in the back, running parallel to the street. The garages, of course are on the alley, and street parking is illegal in my area. The alleys are completely impassable but for a hearty 4x4. Therefore, even if the streets get plowed, people can't get out of their garages and down the alley to use them.

My girlfriend works for the public schools, and I was laid off a couple of weeks ago, so we've got nowhere to be. I'm heading out to fire up the snowblower and clear the walks. It's absolutely beautiful.

It felt like "Day after Tomorrow" last night. It really did, what with the winds and sirens and lightning, and desolate streets. Simply the most dramatic storm I've been through, although not the greatest snow totals.

[sumitomo]

Thunder,Lighting and Snow Oh My!Man Tio it's time to head to OZ.Sumi Hang in there brother.

[piebaldpython***]

During our snowstorm from last week......we had thundersnow too. Pretty cool sound effects from that. Added to the eerie-ness of the whole storm.

We had ice here. The streets are SO salted, that they were the safest place to walk. I take public transportation as I work near Center City. My pavement at home (7 AM) was a skating rink. Nearly took a nasty header. Slid over to the snow to start walking and then to the streets for a nearly 1/2 mile walk to catch the bus.

[Tig***]

Thunder,Lighting and Snow Oh My!Man Tio it's time to head to OZ.Sumi Hang in there brother.

Hold off on the Oz trip... They are getting hit with a Category 5 cyclone in Queensland today!

Now we have a reason to not use the "global warming" label... I have preferred "climate extremity" instead, since it describes the whole effect better. I learned many years ago that a global warming trend would also produce colder winters. My meteorologist friends were right!

[pedalbuilder***]

As is usually the case, Pittsburgh was spared all of this . . . strange location for such mild weather . . . I'm not complaining.

[Rockermann]

Lots of snow, blowing and drifting here in SE Wisconsin. Probably about 12 inches or so... Could have been worse from what I was hearing, but it's enough to cause most businesses in the area (including mine) to close for the day.

[pes_laul]

Yeah its pretty Brootal here. The snows up to my waist out in the country where I live. I dont even know where my car is now its so snowy.

I walked out to the road and its just a weird world out there