Author Topic: My first real ice storm experience...not fun (Read 7417 times)

digitalandanalog · « **on:** January 27, 2009, 03:39:17 PM »

I live in Arkansas. The winters here are usually not too bad (as opposed to my memories of Colorado winters), but this one going in the history books for me.

My poor trees are snapping like they are tooth picks and the sounds of trees breaking for miles around me is kinda creepy if I am outside to hear them. Almost every thing is coated in at least a 1/2 inch of ice.

And it appears that we won't see any kind of temperatures to thaw us out until Friday.

Blech.

I'll take that regular (deep) Colorado snow over this crap any day of the week.

Lennyjoe · « **Reply #1 on:** January 27, 2009, 03:46:01 PM »

Might be a good time to locate batteries, spare blankets ect. in case the electricity goes out.

MrRezister · « **Reply #2 on:** January 27, 2009, 03:48:06 PM »

I'm in Cabot and I was expecting much worse, actually. You must be further north, because we got just a bare sprinkling. I've gotten used to getting 1 or 2 of these a year. I'd much prefer snow, but we make do!

roo_ster · « **Reply #3 on:** January 27, 2009, 04:00:57 PM »

Quote from: digitalandanalog on January 27, 2009, 03:39:17 PM

I live in Arkansas. The winters here are usually not too bad (as opposed to my memories of Colorado winters), but this one going in the history books for me.

My poor trees are snapping like they are tooth picks and the sounds of trees braking for miles around me is kinda creepy if I am outside to hear them. Almost every thing is coated in at least a 1/2 inch of ice.

And it appears that we won't see any kind of temperatures to thaw us out until Friday.

Blech.

I'll take that regular (deep) Colorado snow over this crap any day of the week.

Folks up north don;t appreciate the magnitude of the destruction and mayhem these lower midwest ice storms can cause.

(Lived in Ark for a while, now in DFW)

Manedwolf · « **Reply #4 on:** January 27, 2009, 04:01:55 PM »

Quote from: digitalandanalog on January 27, 2009, 03:39:17 PM

I live in Arkansas. The winters here are usually not too bad (as opposed to my memories of Colorado winters), but this one going in the history books for me.

My poor trees are snapping like they are tooth picks and the sounds of trees braking for miles around me is kinda creepy if I am outside to hear them. Almost every thing is coated in at least a 1/2 inch of ice.

And it appears that we won't see any kind of temperatures to thaw us out until Friday.

Blech.

I'll take that regular (deep) Colorado snow over this crap any day of the week.

Yup. It makes the woods sound like a shotgun fight.

jackdanson · « **Reply #5 on:** January 27, 2009, 04:28:59 PM »

Quote

My poor trees are snapping like they are tooth picks and the sounds of trees braking for miles around me is kinda creepy if I am outside to hear them.

Yeah I was backpacking during an icestorm in missouri a few years ago and had a ~60 lbs. limb fall about 6 feet from my tent while I was sleeping. Probably wouldn't have killed me, but I'm sure it would have made the 12 mile hike out a little interesting.

Nick1911 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 27, 2009, 04:31:17 PM »

Quote from: jackdanson on January 27, 2009, 04:28:59 PM

Yeah I was backpacking during an icestorm in missouri a few years ago and had a ~60 lbs. limb fall about 6 feet from my tent while I was sleeping. Probably wouldn't have killed me, but I'm sure it would have made the 12 mile hike out a little interesting.

We get ice storms in Missouri? I moved here fairly recently (Jan 08), haven't experienced that yet.

Manedwolf · « **Reply #7 on:** January 27, 2009, 04:36:48 PM »

Quote from: jackdanson on January 27, 2009, 04:28:59 PM

Yeah I was backpacking during an icestorm in missouri a few years ago and had a ~60 lbs. limb fall about 6 feet from my tent while I was sleeping. Probably wouldn't have killed me, but I'm sure it would have made the 12 mile hike out a little interesting.

It might have. One fell on a cruiser a cop had just gotten out of during the last ice storm, here. Went right through the windshield, dash, and driveshaft.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #8 on:** January 27, 2009, 04:37:52 PM »

Nick,

We had a pretty bad ice storm in the St. Louis area, just two years ago. Hundreds of thousands without power for days. Traffic lights out everywhere. Stores were selling out of ice-melt, and batteries, and generators, and space heaters, and such. Rather a trying time.

Usually, though, it just means the roads are bad and the trees are pretty. :)

BlueStarLizzard · « **Reply #9 on:** January 27, 2009, 04:41:10 PM »

we usually get a dozy every couple of years. the one spitting ice at the moment isn't to bad round here.

Nick1911 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 27, 2009, 04:50:09 PM »

Huh, that's good to know.

Perhaps I'll pick up a generator this year if the opportunity presents it's self.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #11 on:** January 27, 2009, 04:54:02 PM »

Yeah. We had a bad storm (and week-long power outage) the summer before that, and lots o' folks bought generators. If I'd known then, that my house would be without power, in freezing temps, for a week, I would have bought one back then, too. But "No," I said, "I'm not gonna buy a generator just for these few days. It's not like I'll ever need it again." Yup, I'm a genius.

But now you're thinking, "Does Missouri have massive power failures every time there's a storm?" Thankfully, no. It seems to have been a combination of poor infrastructure maintenance, failure to trim trees, and unusually harsh weather. My house (and I suspect this entire area) is much less prone to power outages, since those two bad spells. Just about every weakness has been exploited and repaired, and Mother Nature has trimmed our trees for us.

charby · « **Reply #12 on:** January 27, 2009, 05:40:10 PM »

Quote from: jfruser on January 27, 2009, 04:00:57 PM

Folks up north don;t appreciate the magnitude of the destruction and mayhem these lower midwest ice storms can cause.

(Lived in Ark for a while, now in DFW)

Winter of 06-07 Iowa got two back to back ice storms, about 1/4 of the state was without electricity for 3-4 days while a couple 100K people for over 2 weeks.

K Frame · « **Reply #13 on:** January 27, 2009, 05:48:30 PM »

"the sounds of trees braking"

Is it a typical screeching sound as they lock the brakes up and the tires slide, or do your trees have jake brakes? :D

charby · « **Reply #14 on:** January 27, 2009, 05:51:23 PM »

Quote from: Mike Irwin on January 27, 2009, 05:48:30 PM

"the sounds of trees braking"

Is it a typical screeching sound as they lock the brakes up and the tires slide, or do your trees have jake brakes? :D

Anti Lock brakes so that go pop, quiet, pop, quiet, pop, quiet, pop and so forth until the tree branches come the ground.

K Frame · « **Reply #15 on:** January 27, 2009, 05:52:15 PM »

"Folks up north don;t appreciate the magnitude of the destruction and mayhem these lower midwest ice storms can cause."

Uh, dream on.

About 8 years ago we had a huge ice storm in Northern Virginia. My friends were without power for a week, and they live 5 miles outside of Washington, DC. Thank God they had a fireplace.

They had a 60 foot, 110 year old pecan tree in the back yard split in two from crown to ground. Most of the rest of their Maples and Poplars also took pretty severe damage.

In 1993 there was an ice storm over much of Virginia that took down hundreds of thousands of trees.

cassandra and sara's daddy · « **Reply #16 on:** January 27, 2009, 06:06:45 PM »

in montgomery county md folks go ape when the tree trimmers try to maintain power right of way. so after isabel those were the same folks who sued because they were without power.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #17 on:** January 27, 2009, 07:15:48 PM »

Since when were the good people of Virginia referred to as "folks up north?" :|

BridgeRunner · « **Reply #18 on:** January 27, 2009, 08:32:23 PM »

It's not that we don't appreciate how much bad ice storms suck, we just tend to regard them as garden variety mayhem and destruction more than apocalyptic events.

RoadKingLarry · « **Reply #19 on:** January 27, 2009, 08:59:45 PM »

Dec. '07 we had a nasty one in NE Oklahoma, I was without power 6 days. It took me 45 minutes with a chainsaw to clear a path out of my driveway to the road the 1st morning. almost every tree on my 3 acres had at least some damage except the 2 POS Bradford pears my wife insisted on a few years ago.

Josh Aston · « **Reply #20 on:** January 27, 2009, 09:08:26 PM »

Quote from: BridgeWalker on January 27, 2009, 08:32:23 PM

It's not that we don't appreciate how much bad ice storms suck, we just tend to regard them as garden variety mayhem and destruction more than apocalyptic events.

Exactly. When it happens all the time you get used to the destruction and such. So, no we don't appreciate the destruction they bring when they visit the South.

digitalandanalog · « **Reply #21 on:** January 27, 2009, 09:36:40 PM »

Update...

The word "braking" now has its letter "e" installed. Bad typing, not bad spelling.

I lost power for about 6 hours. I suspect that it was taken care of rapidly due to the fact that the hospital a block down is on the same grid as well. My father, 2 miles away, has had no power after 9 a.m. and is unlikely to have it anytime in the exceptionally near future.

The ice that was 1/2 thick is now close to an inch thick and the rain won't let up.

My poor pine tree is now a tall pine stick

and my maple is starting to break. I love these large trees for the wonderful shade they produce in the summer. They easily help my house at least 5 degrees cooler. Or, they did until today.

K Frame · « **Reply #22 on:** January 27, 2009, 10:10:11 PM »

Arkansas is south of Virginia, or at least my portion of Virginia, so I'm "up north."

I also grew up in Central Pennsylvania, which is a lot more "up north."

Lennyjoe · « **Reply #23 on:** January 27, 2009, 10:29:08 PM »

We went to freezing rain up here. I'm not looking forward to the drive in the morn.

BridgeRunner · « **Reply #24 on:** January 27, 2009, 11:03:26 PM »

Quote from: Josh Aston on January 27, 2009, 09:08:26 PM

Exactly. When it happens all the time you get used to the destruction and such. So, no we don't appreciate the destruction they bring when they visit the South.

If it would make you feel better, I'm sure we could arrange for some guys to beat the hell out of your property every two years or so.

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Author Topic: My first real ice storm experience...not fun (Read 7417 times)