Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Fri 05/30/2025 View Thu 05/29/2025 View Wed 05/28/2025 View Tue 05/27/2025 View Mon 05/26/2025 View Sun 05/25/2025 View Sat 05/24/2025
2016-01-23 -Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
'Life and death' blizzard threatens to bury U.S. capital
[REUTERS] The leading edge of a monster snowstorm arrived on Friday afternoon in Washington, D.C., threatening to dump as many as 30 inches (76 cm) of powder on parts of the Middle Atlantic region and bring record accumulations to the U.S. capital.

After days of planning by emergency officials and a scramble by residents to stock up on supplies, the blizzard got underway in the nation's capital at about 1 p.m. The storm, expected to end late on Saturday afternoon, could leave 2 to 2.5 feet (61 to 76 cm) on the ground and bring winds of 30 to 50 mph (48 to 80 kph), according to the National Weather Service.

The western suburbs of the capital were expecting up to 3 feet of snow. In Virginia, the National Guard planned to bring in up to 300 troops to deal with emergencies.

"I want to be very clear with everybody. This is a major storm," Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said as the nation's capital braced for what could turn out to be one of the worst storms in its history.

"This has life-and-death implications and all the residents of the District of Columbia should treat it that way."

The Weather Channel said more than 85 million people in at least 20 states were covered by either a blizzard warning, winter storm watch, winter storm warning, winter weather advisory, or freezing rain advisory.
Posted by Fred 2016-01-23 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11133 views ]  Top

#1 "blizzard threatens to bury U.S. capital"

Promises, promises.
Posted by Barbara 2016-01-23 00:49||   2016-01-23 00:49|| Front Page Top

#2 WaPo has let down its paywall for public safety reasons, so I'm doing a bit of reading online there.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2016-01-23 01:37||   2016-01-23 01:37|| Front Page Top

#3 It's just called 'Winter' around these parts.

3-ft of snow is rare, but not 'Life & Death'. 50-mph winds along with that are not fun, however. Drifting does create temporary issues.

Of course we do know how to dress, what to pack in our vehicles if we get stranded and have pretty good removal equipment. The farther north ones goes, the size and quantity of the equipment increases. Some county and municipal removal operators from remote areas in the Lake Superior snow belt are allowed to keep their plows at home so that there is no delay for them 'getting to work'.

On the other hand, I was in DC once during what we'd call a 'dusting' and the whole place shut down.
Posted by Mullah Richard 2016-01-23 09:22||   2016-01-23 09:22|| Front Page Top

#4 DC gets a bad rep. Remember that DC gets folks from all 50 states and from around the world. It just takes a few idiots to abandon cars to snarl a road. That being said, there is some humor in the snow gods painting a big "X" on Washington.
Posted by Sven the pelter 2016-01-23 09:36||   2016-01-23 09:36|| Front Page Top

#5 Doing the job the Trunks refuse to do.
Posted by Procopius2k 2016-01-23 09:46||   2016-01-23 09:46|| Front Page Top

#6  Prolonged power failures in urban areas during winter are a "life & death" issue.
Areas of US where winter usually hits hard do have an "adapt & gitter done" attitude. A friend's elderly father-in-law developed some heart problem out in the middle of nowhere & needed to go to a hospital with more advance tech than the local place could provide. That whole part of the state had temporarily become a no-fly zone, all the highways were "closed" although not formally blocked. The local authorities organized an expedition just for him, 2 snow plows side by side, going ahead of the ambulance, plowing a path through a nighttime snow storm 70 miles along county, state & ultimately interstate to get him to a tertiary care facility. He made it. That sort of thing would have been unthinkable in most parts of the USA.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2016-01-23 11:43||   2016-01-23 11:43|| Front Page Top

#7 

Snowplows sitting in the DoT barn because OPX budget cuts leave no OT for drivers.
Posted by Skidmark 2016-01-23 11:50||   2016-01-23 11:50|| Front Page Top

#8 I forgot to mention this other aspect of "life & death" from big snowstorms: Building may and have in the past collapsed and killed their occupants, due to extreme snow loads on roofs. 28 Jan 1922, 98 killed, 133 injured in the collapse of the Knickerbocker Theater in DC, due to extreme recent snowfall. Rescue efforts were severely impeded since nearby streets were almost impassable.

This just in at WaPo:

Roof collapse displaces 750 people in Gaithersburg

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) said 750 people are being evacuated from Potomac Oaks Condominium in Gaithersburg after the roof collapsed on a building that stored the housing units’ heating equipment.

Leggett said the residents were being moved to Bohrer Park, a recreation center in Gaithersburg.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2016-01-23 12:09||   2016-01-23 12:09|| Front Page Top

#9 Drown in it, and take Baltimore with you.
Posted by regular joe 2016-01-23 15:51||   2016-01-23 15:51|| Front Page Top

#10 Isn't it normal for us in the northlands to own snow shovels, generators and chain saws?

So if folks in the warmer lands won't take standard safety actions of a responsible home owner... what's the shouting about?
Posted by 3dc 2016-01-23 19:58||   2016-01-23 19:58|| Front Page Top

21:50 Silentbrick
21:16 Anomalous Sources
19:26 NN2N1
19:12 Elmerert Hupens2660
18:34 Chantry
18:23 Gritch Throlumble3163
18:15 Elmerert Hupens2660
18:11 MikeKozlowski
18:11 MikeKozlowski
17:50 Pancho Poodle8452
17:34 Elmerert Hupens2660
17:22 DooDahMan
17:15 DooDahMan
17:10 DooDahMan
17:08 DooDahMan
17:08 DooDahMan
16:52 DarthVader
15:31 NoMoreBS
15:24 DarthVader
15:20 NoMoreBS
15:15 Griter+Slash1619
15:04 NoMoreBS
14:51 Grom the Affective
14:50 Secret Master









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com