driving: WHITEOUT..snow!

jesse

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Jesse
For those of you that have never experianced a snowstorm, they aren't really all that bad driving..Until you get into a whiteout situation.

Today there were sections to where visiblity would be ZERO. And, I mean zero. When this happens all you can do is hold the wheel straight, and slowly ease on the brake. I usually turn my hazards on too, you just cross your fingers and hope that no one rear ends you.

After driving through this for awhile, my passenger decided to bust out the video cam and record it....Notice his smartass comments...

You can also see the one section to where there is a car in the right lane about 10 feet in front of me, when I'd hit the whiteout areas you'd completely lose visibility of it.

jesseangell.com/video/whiteout.wmv
 
jangell said:
For those of you that have never experianced a snowstorm, they aren't really all that bad driving..Until you get into a whiteout situation.

Today there were sections to where visiblity would be ZERO. And, I mean zero. When this happens all you can do is hold the wheel straight, and slowly ease on the brake. I usually turn my hazards on too, you just cross your fingers and hope that no one rear ends you.

After driving through this for awhile, my passenger decided to bust out the video cam and record it....Notice his smartass comments...

You can also see the one section to where there is a car in the right lane about 10 feet in front of me, when I'd hit the whiteout areas you'd completely lose visibility of it.

jesseangell.com/video/whiteout.wmv


Yeah, hold on and hope that the idiot driving 60 mph does not rear end you. They are out there.
 
Been there, done that. There's a reason I have moved to North Carolina...
 
I had a job where I would HAVE to drive no matter what the wx was, all times of day and night in a 'great lakes lee" during winter. I can sympathize. Sometimes it took hours to do a 15 minute trip and I would not see a single snowplow, emerg vehicle or even a car. Truck breakdown could mean death if you were unprepared. People would get lost walking from the garage to the house and wander around in a blizzard looking for something... and worse would happen. We carried more extensive emergency kits than we do in a/c. "Horizontal snowstorms" where everything was a blinding, wind-whipped frenzy. This is starting to sound like an uphill both ways to school story but I kid you not......and I miss it NOT. I found Texas hardly a minute too soon.
 
jangell said:
After driving through this for awhile, my passenger decided to bust out the video cam and record it....Notice his smartass comments...

Friend of mine took a picture one day of a cloud. Claimed it was a picture of a stealth bomber.....
 
:yes: I've done that way too many times - usually in the mountains. Not fun. :no:

One of the particularly fun ones was coming back from Albuquerque in 1992 where a very light rain had just started that morning. The mountains between Santa Fe and Las Vegas NM on I25 was a different story entirely. A bit of a blizzard was in progress. About halfway through the snow on both sides of the only open lane was about eye level while standing up. Visibility was about, maybe, hood length in places and there was literally no way to get off the road or even to pull over. About every 4 miles I had to stop in the only open lane on a major interstate to clear the snow off the windshield enough to see. Keeping up with the snowplows was essential and they weren't keeping up very well. By the time I got to Las Vegas, the wheel wells were packed to about 3/8" off the tires and made the most frightening noise when I touched the brakes and loaded up the suspension. I literally couldn't turn the steeringwheel on the off ramp. When I got to Raton for a fuel stop, a highway patrol officer said the highway was shut down not long after I came out the east side.
It was just DUMB.

As usual I was carrying my typical winter roadtrip survival gear but it was still really dumb. I really should have gone back to ABQ for a few more days when I got to that last useable off ramp.
Es esmu ārprātīgs dažreiz!
 
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Yeah, mountain driving...

A family friend was working year round at Yosemite. Four or 5 days before Christmas a blizzard moved in and parked. No one up or down the mtn, phone lines down etc. I used to hike Yosemite every winter for photography so I knew the area pretty well. Knowing that, her parents kept calling to ask if I would go get their daughter in time for Christmas. I kept saying the roads were closed, I'm sure she's safe, yada yada.

I finally caved on Christmas Eve. It was a four hour drive to the foothills and then up into no man's land. It was an adventure. I packed my 4 season bag, clothes for a week (tons of socks) and a large suitcase of food. No pax. Problem was the main road was already closed so I had to go several hours out of my way to take a secondary road up the mtn.

It was awesome! It never really became daylight because of the heavy storm but I didn't get to the mtn until after dark. I knew I was the only vehicle on the road but saw signs of a snow plow way ahead of me. Twisting and turning up the road, bouncing off snow banks, I finally caught the snow plow. He was having trouble getting through himself. We got to a turnout and I jumped out with a thermos of hot coffee as we discussed my plans. He radioed to another plow on the other side and he came back saying it looked like the storm was breaking for a bit.

The plow I was following had to turn back so I was on my own. I was in 4 wheel drive with chains on all four and even still was just on the edge of getting stuck in some places. One snow bank I hit partially collapse on top of me. Speed was my friend as I powered out. Try speed shifting wearing Sorrels.

The combination of the night, the trees and the white-on-white made it seem like I was driving in a dimensionless tunnel. I lost track of time as everything became surreal and a blur in my mind. My only focus was trying to remember the lay of the road. I knew the road and knew my location but danged if I almost didn't lose the road many times. I was also getting sleepy. Merle, Waylon, and Hank Jr blasting kept me going.

I was at the point of telling myself I should stop and wait for morning (yeah, like that's a good idea) when I started to pick up signs of another vehicle. It could only be the other plow. Sure 'nuf, I caught up to it not too much later and he took me down into the village.

I knock on my friend's door and she almost drops to the floor seeing me. She had no idea I was coming and she had already started into her depression of spending Christmas alone with little food. She was part of a skeleton crew, the rest had gone down the mtn the week before.

The kicker was the snow plow guy said they don't usually plow that road in winter. Oh yeah, when they close the road there is also a large metal gate (painted white!) they place across the road at my destination. If it had been shut I would have probably wrapped myself around that gate. Then he said if you wait a couple hours they should have the main road open. We did and they did. We slipped and slid down the mtn and on to her parent's home. We got there just before dawn.

Then there was the time I parked my white car while I went for a short day hike for some scenic shots. When I came back only a couple hours later I couldn't find my knee deep footprints or the car. But I did find bear tracks criss crossing my trail....:hairraise: (not all bears hibernate)
 
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Tim said:
That ain't a white out!:rolleyes: Your following a plow!:rolleyes:

With or without the plow, It was bad..high winds and blowing snow.
You can't get around him, and even if you did, I don't think it'd do you much good as you'd be busting through unplowed road with blowing snow.

Visiblity was pretty much nil no matter what you did.
 
jangell said:
With or without the plow, It was bad..high winds and blowing snow.
Visiblity was pretty much nil no matter what you did.

And amazingly fourty miles to the north in Mpls we had NO SNOW AT ALL!:D
 
lancefisher said:
And amazingly fourty miles to the north in Mpls we had NO SNOW AT ALL!:D

.....Lucky

I actually didn't mind this snow that much, it was real LIGHT..not sticky at all.

My car actually had no snow on it when I woke up in the morning, since the snow was just so light it was getting blown all over the place.
 
I got caught in a ground blizzard on southbound I-25 between Orin Jct and Chugwater, WY one year. We were behind a tractor/trailer when it blew across the freeway at a 90° angle at what felt like 50mph or worse. Visibility went to about 5' - I could see the hood ornament and nothing past it. About the time my knuckles turned white and the blood pressure shot thru the roof, my wife noticed that we could see the trailer clearance lights ahead of us above the snow. We followed that set of lights for two hours of the most tense driving I've ever done. There was nowhere to pull off, and we wouldn't have seen it even if there was. The hiway was closed just minutes behind us. When we pulled over in Cheyenne, there was at least 6 inches of ice built up on the upwind side of the car, while the downwind side was completely clear.
 
lancefisher said:
And amazingly fourty miles to the north in Mpls we had NO SNOW AT ALL!:D

And a bit northwest of that, we had a bit of snow, blowing snow, and -28 without the wind chill. :) This morning it was -31 and wind chill around -50 or something.

(I'll take this over ice storms any day.)

terry
 
You all make me really appreciate the RAIN we get here. Doesn't block roads (too often) and you don't have to shovel it.

I've lived in places with snow (eastern Washington, Colorado), so I know what it's like. Just nice to have further confirmation that I made the right move.
 
We got snow and hail and occasional +RA today. Remember, we're right next to the Great Temp Moderator, aka Pacific Ocean. All forecasts call for record lows and RA to continue through Mon.
 
jangell said:
For those of you that have never experianced a snowstorm, they aren't really all that bad driving..Until you get into a whiteout situation.

Today there were sections to where visiblity would be ZERO. And, I mean zero. When this happens all you can do is hold the wheel straight, and slowly ease on the brake. I usually turn my hazards on too, you just cross your fingers and hope that no one rear ends you.

After driving through this for awhile, my passenger decided to bust out the video cam and record it....Notice his smartass comments...

You can also see the one section to where there is a car in the right lane about 10 feet in front of me, when I'd hit the whiteout areas you'd completely lose visibility of it.

jesseangell.com/video/whiteout.wmv

When people tell me how great winter is and how much of a wuss I am for living in warm climates only... I just look at em, smile and say "Yep". I done the snow before, drove in white outs, slid down the mountain into Albuquerque in freezing rain with a 32' sailboat in tow... yep, I'm a wuss and I earned the right.:D
 
Henning said:
When people tell me how great winter is and how much of a wuss I am for living in warm climates only... I just look at em, smile and say "Yep". I done the snow before, drove in white outs, slid down the mountain into Albuquerque in freezing rain with a 32' sailboat in tow... yep, I'm a wuss and I earned the right.:D
Oh, I don't know, Henning. When driving in snow, no matter how bad it gets, it's only a matter of time before someone is bound to find your body. When pitching over 30' swells in 60 kt winds, there is a strong probability no one will ever find your body. Sometimes, not even your boat.:yes:
 
Didn't look so bad to me. :rolleyes: I mean, you could see that Silver (aren't they all?) SUV in front of you.

I guess yer buddy thought you were going to drive on instruments.
 
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Richard said:
Oh, I don't know, Henning. When driving in snow, no matter how bad it gets, it's only a matter of time before someone is bound to find your body. When pitching over 30' swells in 60 kt winds, there is a strong probability no one will ever find your body. Sometimes, not even your boat.:yes:

I'll take a warm hurricaine at sea over a blizzard in the mountains any day.
 
Henning said:
When people tell me how great winter is and how much of a wuss I am for living in warm climates only... I just look at em, smile and say "Yep". I done the snow before, drove in white outs, slid down the mountain into Albuquerque in freezing rain with a 32' sailboat in tow... yep, I'm a wuss and I earned the right.:D

Yeah, but you haven't lived close enough to the edge until you've slid backwards down a hill with a boat behind you.
 
Henning said:
I'll take a warm hurricaine at sea over a blizzard in the mountains any day.
Now you got me thinking. I've been in hurricanes, floods, flashfloods, mudslides, snow camping in white out conditions, 5.11+ climbing in high wind conditions, offshore swampings, and fantastic sea conditions. I feel comfortable on a boat when not faced with a lee shore so I guess I would agree with you.

The scariest was probably a late December flashflood in Death Valley at night on a snowy ridge miles from no where with just my dog and my wits. My main concern was for my family because I figured it would be years before anyone found my body, if at all. Besides, who would take care of my dog?

That 30' in 60 kts was us and three other boats. One boat simply disappeared in the night. Here one minute, gone the next. No flotsam, nothing. Coast Guard tracked his EPIRB about 10 days before the batts died. I figure the boat gained neutral bouyancy at a depth greater than the length of the EPIRB tether but not too deep to attenuate the signal. Three hands lost. Other than that I felt it was quite a ride and not once was I overly concerned for our safety.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Wow is that big lake finished?

No big lake around here. Lots of small man made ones tho :D

The big lake I'm waiting for is when the big one hits California. Then we'll have a big lake!
 
I hate blizzards, because I'd rather not freeze to death.

I love tornatos and thunderstorms and actively participate in SkyWarn (storm spotting) for my county, and the surrounding counties.

When I was 10 or 11 years old, My grandpa died. My familiy forced my dad into selling the Stearman (they ran a cropdusting business). My grandpa always said that the airplane was to never leave the familiy, He cropdusted in it for 40 years. Well ...He didn't write much of a will, so it didn't quite play out that way. My dad ended up selling it DIRT CHEAP, I don't remember the cost, to some guy.

So I was out at the airport with my dad shortly after that. We were working on my dirtbike. It was June and the weather was a bit questionable that week with quite a few thunderstorms and what not popping up out of nowhere. The stearman was still in the hangar as the guy who purchased it had not came and picked it up yet.

After we were done working on my dirtbike I tried to open the hangar door and couldn't get it to even budge. You could hear all kinds of wind and then the tornato whistle started blaring. About 5 seconds after that both 60 foot hangar doors just were RIPPED off. We took cover behind an old car that was inside the hangar. Next the roof was ripped off the hangar and the stearman was essentially just sucked out like it was a little toy. Somehow we survived this.

The crazy old guys at the airport claimed that my grandpa made the storm, so no one else would ever have the airplane. I'm not so sure I beleive that, but it's a neat thought.

theend.jpg


This was what was left. The guy who purchased it did not have insurance on it yet, so he was out quite a large chunk of money.

It survived 40 years of crop dusting, MANY power line strikes, several strikes with birds, an incident with a tree, and I beleive it took out a fourwheeler once....But mother nature sure kicked it's ass.

I took the altimeter out of it, had it for quite awhile...right up until some crazy woman smashed it into little pieces of out anger..Oh well.
 
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Let'sgoflying! said:
Wow is that big lake finished?

Yep:D I was moving the boat from So. Carolina to San Diego. Lot's cheaper to tow a 32'er than to sail her, bunch faster too, 2 days vs. 2 months. I charged $8500 to tow it, would have cost him about $25,000 to get her there on her own bottom.
 
Henning said:
Yep:D I was moving the boat from So. Carolina to San Diego
Hey, you should've taken the south route down my way; I20/10... much less winter!
 
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