driving in a white out

[don_vanecek]

I tell you guys and gals it was a fun seven mile ride to work this morning! We are having a bit of a blizzard here in eastern NE this morning. Can't believe the white out conditions on the highway this morning! Heavy wet snow falling, strong northerly winds, thank goodness the temps are in the upper 20's (I suppose with those temps it's not an official blizzard). Scariest driving I have done in quite a while. At least it was on a familiar route, geez I'd hate to have been on a road I didn't know!  I almost never drive my old 85 Nissan King cab with 4wd anymore (rust, front end, tires, etc, etc) but the old girl was worth it this morning and I imagine will be worth it on the way home tonight. Drove about 25-30 mph and not so sure that wasn't too fast!

Love it, risk life and limb to get here and as I come in the office the secretary asks me what in the world are you doing here!  Wish she had called me at home, I was afraid I might be the only one here (and better risk life and limb to get here!)

[Tiffanator]

Move south.  Its a nice 74 degrees outside... of course we are going to get blown away by tornadoes later... oh well.  If it snows 1/2 inch here they shut the state down, even sleet will get some roads and bridges closed.  Blizzard? no way, I admire you for making it to work, I wouldn't stick my nose out from under my electric blanket in those conditions.
Tiff.... southern warm weather wimp.

[Night Vision]

I think a blizzard has more to do with wind speed than temps...

the major highways / interstates here have rumble strips next to the white line to wake you up when you doze off...

they also come in handy in whiteouts... set your tire on it and at least you know you're on pavement  ;D

[don_vanecek]

Since I wrote my first post my county is now in an official blizzard warning with 8-12 inches expected, oh boy, can't wait for the drive home tonight!!

Say, Tiff, it has sure been interesting reading the posts on your renovation, I now understand electricity alittle better myself now! Wish you the best of luck solving them!

Hate to tell you night vision but any rumble strips are long buried at this time!

[Tiffanator]

don... that's crazy.  I know nothing about snow obviously, will you be able to get home in 8-12 inches?  How much ice forms on the streets and bridges?
Glad you are learning stuff from reading my progress. I, too, am learning a lot, this site is a great resource.

[h2olawyer]

Interesting commute, Don.  Good luck getting home!  True blizzards do have a temperature component but I don't recall what that is at the moment.  Sounds like the winter we've had along the front range of the Rockies has moved east.

West of you, we got an inch of snow yesterday.  The wind is now howling, though.

The rumble strips are great.  However, in snow country, they ice over & end up creating major pot holes, generally destroying the pavement.  The freeze - thaw cycles gradually create cracks that get progressively worse over time.  Also, as Don mentioned, the rumble strips fill with snow quickly, negating their utility in heavy winter conditions.  Other places have the bumps on the center reflective stripes.  Those would damage snowplows & probably send the plow drivers in for extensive dental work.

H₂O

[kwells]

just aim for the middle and gun it.  or look for a subaru and follow it.

[h2olawyer]

Best street legal snow vehicle of all time (that I'm aware of) is the 3/4 ton 4x4 Chevy Suburban.  Heavy, even weight distribution & with a 350, somewhat underpowered.  In the late '80s, I went out as helper / assistant, drift busting on a county road, going through 2 - 3 ft drifts with low visibility and that SUV never slipped, slid or got stuck.  No chains or studs - just a good set of Michelin all season tires.  This accolade from a dyed in the wool Ford owner!  35 miles on a mission to help some friends who were snowed in without electricity or heat & with two small children.  Their Subaru got stuck in their driveway & their AMC Eagle wagon made it about 1/4 mile down the road.  Both were just too light to keep from getting high centered on drifts.  Got the family loaded up, towed their AMC behind the Suburban back to civilization & made sure they were safe & warm.  There are times that sheer tonnage is all that works.

H₂O

[Brian_Matthewson]

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's definition of a blizzard:
Blizzard
(abbrev. BLZD)- A blizzard means that the following conditions are expected to 
                       prevail for a period of 3 hours or longer:
        * Sustained wind or frequent gusts to 35 miles an hour or greater; and
        * Considerable falling and/or blowing snow (i.e., reducing visibility frequently
           to less than ¼ mile)

[h2olawyer]

Thanks for the definition, Brian.

While there is no temperature criteria, the combination of wind & subfreezing temperatures creates wind chills in the single digits (F) (or lower).  Also gleaned from the NOAA website.  Guess that's where I remembered the temperature part of the definition.  The local meterologists often mention temperature when they talk about blizzards.

H₂O

[Tiger]

>:( How does 4 hour's and 27 minute's, to do what would normally be an 1-1/2 hour journey, grab you  :o All because a blizzard hit around noon and lasted for several hour's...bare in mind that I had been on the road since 7.30 a.m...got home 7.27 p.m...knackered !!!

                      8).......TIGER....... 8)

[kiawrench]

next tiem you get snow like that, look for a chev 1500 short bed on side of road with 3/4 t heavy duty suspension and 4 wd, ,,,, thats me, sleeping the weather off, i wont drive in it once it crosses 3 ft deep
but i do keep a serious survival kit in the truck when i get into that kind of weather, food, extra fuel, long chains, a few army issue blankts, water, radio that doesnt use batteries,, all in the tool box in the bed, never leave home without it

[h2olawyer]

Kia -

Didn't know you got weather like that in South Carolina!   ;D  Figured your "white outs" were caused by hurricanes.

H₂O

[don_vanecek]

Well gang 30 hours later and here's the story. Court house I work in closed at eleven. Went to my daughter's house in town till about two, then went home. Terrible road conditions although white outs on the highway not as bad as the morning. Then after five miles of state highway turn off to county roads. OH Boy, put the old Nissan into 4wd Low, white outs real bad again. Many drifts, keep going until I have to turn onto a north-south road, now two blocks from home, run into about a three foot drift, the old Nissan is stuck. Neighbor nicely pulls me out, hooks his tow rope to my rusty bumper, (instead of the tow hook), bumper now pulled out but get the truck off the road. He then drives me home the rest of the way in his four door 4wd Dodge truck, rams though the drifts, boy you are correct H2O that you need a nice big full size 4wd to really go through this stuff, little Nissan is not the ticket for serious snow drifts!  Sit on my glasses while taking boots off, by some miracle find the tiny little screw. Spend about two hours today along with my neighbor getting the drift blown out of my driveway, rescue the Nissan (amazed it ran OK, all full of snow in the engine compartment), get glasses straightened out, get to the office at three-won't have come in at all but I have to deliver Pizza tonight!  Ah the fun never stops!

[h2olawyer]

Sounds like quite the adventure.  Glad you made it everywhere safely.  Too bad about the bumper, though.  My F250 does pretty well in heavy snow, but I have to make sure there's plenty of weight in the bed.  Otherwise, the tail end can get a little out of sorts.  That's why I like the Suburban for those conditions.  Plus, you can haul a ton of people out of the elements if required.

The 460 & 4.10 gearing in my truck can give a bit too much torque at times but in general, I'd rather be driving it than most any smaller vehicle in bad weather.  At least with the E4OD automatic, I can put it in second gear and keep it out of low.  Keeping the tires from spinning is a major benefit on snowy roads.  It helps when the curb weight exceeds 3 tons.   ;D  As for helping others not so fortunate, I have a 9000lb. Warn winch on the front.  When I was driving between here & Steamboat every weekend, it got a real workout.  Pulled several people out of snowbanks.  Also used it to pull a swather out of a swamp once.  Not to mention a few self-rescues out 4 wheeling . . ..   ::)  With the snatchblock, I can double the pulling power as well.

Unfortunately, my tires are about shot.  Lots of bare pavement miles left in them but they've worn past the sipes I had cut in them when new.  They were slipping around on slick roads this winter for the first time since they were new.  Can't complain - on a known tire eating truck like mine, I still got 50,000+ miles out of them.  Religious rotations & watching the pressures helped a ton.  Next set will likely be Yokohama Geolanders.  I'm still trying to keep from buying products from France.  Too bad, those Michelin XC-ATs are great tires.  However, the Geolanders are about $40 less per tire.  Still going to run over $500 for the set of 4, though.  Load range E (10 ply) tires get expensive.  Hoping I can put off the purchase until fall.  I had Yokohama Super Digger Vs on my '84 Toyota PU.  They were great tires.  Geolanders are the modern incarnation of that tire.  So I'm pretty sure they will work well for many miles.

H₂O

[kiawrench]

h20--

    it doesnt here,, long time ago i spent two and a half years in ft.richardson ,alaska. spent many a night way out of tow truck range, lol.

  i find that as i get older, i move closer to the beaches. since i am at one now, dont think i can get much closer. guess as time goes by i will have to start going south now, lol

   or maybe all the way west, swin in water on that side for a while .

[ps2/bikevision]

here is my snow spliter. soon to be added is new front and rear bumpers (homemade to my specs.) with D rings in front and back, winch in fornt and i already have a warn winch monted to a hitch to go in the back. she doesent have a problem getting through 3-4 ft. drifts. but bare pavement is really noisy. she's got a 355 w/ header, dual flowmaster exhaust, 4.56 gears.  i love this truck.

[kiawrench]

PS2,, THAT is a truck!   

    you can get a welding shop to knock out bumpers for it,, my old dodge had 3/8 boilerplate bumpers, doubled in front ,warn winch and 3 different size clevis points, for those days when fun meant calling in a big ford farm tractor to get out of jam,lol.   i lost that truck when was sent to germany, could not take it overseas, but yours looks like a sweet ride.

[ps2/bikevision]

thanks kia its a blast. This summer i got to repkace the floor front to back. But that no big deal i bought another with a good floor that i can cut out. The bumper i gonna put on is a one off. I dont like the straight ones you see for the older square trucks. Its gona stick out about a foot in the middle then about 1 foot or so from the ends it tappers in toward the fenders so small trees that jump out in front of me will glance off he he he.

and i would like to switch the spring lift to air. A buddy has one and it rides like a caddy. Mine dont ride to bad but could be better. And bigger tires would be nice too. It had 40's on it when i got it but they were bald.

[JasonJames]

Flash purple krylon you got there...