The AM Forum

As looking out to the back "40"  As a reference the picnic table is about 30" off the ground

Al

I think we got about 8" here in Central Verminmont.

Not much at all overnight, but the wind is keeping the dunes moving.  :D

Here's a reference shot.  This snow had melted to the ground.  The previous uploads were all new snow

I did include a shot out the entrance door.  How high are trash barrels?

Al

Sounds like a bad one - lots of snow and winds. The drifts should be incredible.

Find the Crown Vic!!  Hint: It's not the Toyota in the background. There's a little piece of the rear right fender peaking through the snow

30 inches in No. Weare  :o

It looked like a Sahara Desert windstorm last night with tornado-like swirling snow. I'm seeing maybe 28 - 30" with drifts of 4 1/2' in some spots.

The problem is there are 4' drifts on the ham shack roof - and there is some rain coming in a day. Not a good scenario when the snow sucks it up like a sponge.  So Tom Vu will be up on the roof like a dope shoveling this afternoon.

Shoveling a path to the street was a chore. I do it all Armstrong method. No snowblowers here, caw mawn.


* How bad was it?  Last night Yaz refused to budge out into the snow.  He took care of business on the porch.


T

Send some of the snow down this way.  We may have gotten about an inch  :(

Joe, GMS

You can have all of mine Joe. We got 23 inches with drifting up to about 30 inches in some parts of the yard. The picture shows the view from the top of the driveway down to the bottom. My wife did a nice job shoveling all that out! By the way, does anyone know if there is such a thing as a "silent" snow shovel? She was making a scraping noise as she shoveled and it kept waking me up while I was trying to sleep in late.

Rob W1AEX

Find the Crown Vic 2

A view out the laundry room

For sure. Supposed to be 68 degrees here on Monday.   ???

We got about 8 or 9 inches here. Stuff already melting.

Got one here, Rob. It hangs in the garage. Doesn't make a sound.  ;D

Get her a plastic shovel. It will reduce the noise. I know its tough on you, but you'll just have to put up with the noise.

You could also let her buy a push broom; it doesn't work as well as a shovel, but you do deserve the rest. She'll be a better person if she starts to be more considerate of your personel comfort.

klc

Joe,

Did you pay your snow bill last year??  Probably not,  that's why you only got an inch.

Stop complaining.

Fred

She should serve you breakfast in bed to make up for all that noise :D

We had a big snow like this in Dec. 2009, so I know what you're going through.

And, by coincidence, it was ten years ago this weekend we had another big snowfall.

Clearing out the driveway is another convincing memory as to why I don't like winter.

Folks:

As I wanted to get some good exercise, I elected to use my shovel instead of relying on neighbor's kindness of snowblowers. Friday Boston closed down and everyone was told to go home. The snow started at about 9AM. I worked at the TV station from 11AM until 3PM, then headed home-slowly. On the way home, reported weather and road conditions to the ham radio weather SKYWARN. Got home Friday at 3:55PM, 5 minutes short of the driving curfew. Shoveled about 2 inches at that time, and another 8 inches at about 10PM. Overnight heard lotsa wind (gusts reported up to 60mph), and looking out the door saw the snow deepen. Listened to reports on the radio overnight. At 9PM, the south shore lost power. The Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth shut down. Total home power outage in the area was about 400,000 at the peak. I did not lose power, but my lights flickered many times.

So we got about 23 inches more overnight. Natick got about 27 inches total officially. I think I got closer to 3 feet-snow above my knees, but with the high winds, there are many drifts as seen on my side deck photo. Saturday, to get out through the front door that was not as covered, I had to lay on the floor and carefully push the storm door open with my feet as the snow had blocked it closed.

Started shoveling at 11AM Saturday in gusty winds with changing direction. Started on the walkway to the driveway. Shoveled my driveway, about 50 feet long, and it took about an hour and a half. Took a few breaks, including lunch. An elderly neighbor across the street fell in the snow and could not get up due to bad knees, so I assisted another neighbor of his to get him up and back inside. I cleared a path to his side door and he said he would use his snow blower to do his long driveway. Visited him later and saw he did only about 20% and was inside. I did the rest which took over an hour. In the meantime some plows came by so I had to clean the end of the driveway a couple of times with the shovel.

Cleaned my car off, which took some care as I did not have lots of width to work with.

A neighbor used his blower to clear the driveway and walkway of an elderly neighbor across the street. I later cleaned up her walkway and carved a path to her side door-20 minutes for a 10 foot path. Afterwards I did my front walk, about 120 feet long-20 minutes.

So in all cases, an issue was the height of the snow on the ground. In shoveling I had to lift and throw the snow higher than usual. My arms are tired and I slept well. Driving curfew ended at 4PM yesterday. This allowed the snow plows to clear the roads without interference. Broadcast media has gone crazy about this event. The Weather channel named this storm, and I am very much against this as this is not a National Weather Service sanctioned activity, and not needed. This will cause confusion for consumers.

As of 5:30PM Saturday, it is 17 degrees and slightly gusty. Pretty outside. Made up for going to the gym only once this week! :-)

Dan

More photos from Natick, MA

Lotsa snow drifts.

Dan

Ok, here's my snow story...

oldest son is EMT in town about 20 minutes north of here. Worked the night shift Friday, He was SUPPOSED to stay at the fire station until things calmed down sat.    Instead I get a call around 5 am, "I am stuck in a snow bank, can't get out, oh yea battery is dead too."    So I climb out of my nice warm bed, dress up like Quin The Eskimo, and head outside.  
Snows deep 14 inches or so and blowing, also plows had left VLPs (Very Large Piles) at end of driveway.  SO out comes the shovel and snow blower. High winds and blowing snow result in most of the displaced snow being stuck to me.  I resemble a fellow named Frosty, without the Hat and cheerful disposition.   90 minutes and a few expletives later I'm melting out in the warm truck, trying to program the GPS with his location.  

No street found, crap. Despite the fact that I asked him twice and he spelled it out...

  Try to call junior, notice I had a missed call from same. as I fumble with gloves and phone Junior calls, Hellow? -- phone dies (batteries).  Search for charger (grumble-grumble) plug in phone to cigar lighter.  Finally get a hold of junior, "Don't Worry, DPW truck and local cop came by and got me out, heading back to station to sit out storm"  

My Reply, "That's the Best Idea You've had YET."  Ring-off.  

Back to bed, snuggle next to wife under electric blanket - So at least the story has a happy ending.

One thing I learned that I really sometimes Miss the way we could SLAM the phone down on the hook...

More pics:

First pic: Yup! my Crown Vic is still in the driveway.

Second pic: My good luck charm - no power outage 'cause I was prepared.

Third pic:  Winter wonderland at W1VTP.

This storm was unusual in that with the high wind I had little or no snow on the roofs - the generator was spared much snow.  I haven't looked inside to see if the snow blew in. We gotta get things cleared up before the rain storm this week.

Al

Been on the Geneac 17.5KW since about 2100 Friday night.  Over 60% of the town was out initially.  Lots of transformers flashed and trees (mostly evergreens, like hemlocks) that were dragged down by the heavy wet snow and icing Friday night dropped a  lot of lines, seems like everything went down between 1800 and 1900.  My COMCAST  fiber computer, cable TV and land line phone went out about an hour after the power.   A few minutes ago, I saw  a little genset plugged into a box up a power pole in the neighborhood.  My neighbor told me it was Comcast powering up their network nodes. so that's all back now.  CL&P says power back likely by 1900.   In addition to the house, been carrying three neighbors on the jenny, jury rigged power from the jenny to two people's oil burner furnaces so they had heat in last night's near zero temps.  Surprised that they only draw about 3 amps or so.  Will post some pix after I finish digging out the cars. Had fun playing radio in the wee hours this morning while standing  generator watch. Local AM 1230 WBLQ Westerly again did an outstanding job  with storm info programming all Friday night, yesterday, today.

This is the 2nd  consecutive major storm without loss of power here.  My  mother on the other hand who is 30minutes away on the shoreline lost power and was out for 2 nights. On night 2, with the roads closed and with my road impassable I was unable to get to her and bring her here.  My nephew who has 4WD managed to get her here after the plow had made a pass through something I would not have tried.  He shut off the water and drained the pipes to avoid a possible freeze.  I got her home this afternoon because a her neighbor called to tell her power was restored.  

I figure we got 30" or more here.  Haven't measured it. Neighboring town of E. Haddam reports 36" so I figure we're at 30" or so.  I ran the snow blower twice, once during the storm and at the end the following morning.  First run there was about 16" or so inches just enough to fit in the opening of the blower. At that time the storm went wide open throttle and was dumping about 3" per hour. It was white out conditions, I was soaked and so I quit.  Then the following morning removed about the same amount. The front of the house has 5 foot drifts right up to the bottom of the first floor windows all from snow blowing off the roof.   Glad I did 2 runs. I'd still be clearing if I didn't.

Apparently a lot of the outages here in Stonington were caused by "transformer fires", something like 18 of them.  I'm thinking that the transformers themselves did not catch on fire, but that what looked like a fire/explosion was actually flashover of the 4400 V high line around the standoff insulator on top of the can due to a heavy wet snow buildup, most likely laced with salt spray here along the coast, which then took out the highline fuse on the circuit feeder connection  Don't know if it flashed or not, but the top of the pole pig across the street was wearing a huge mushroom cap of heavy wet snow after the storm that completely enveloped the HV standoff insulator.  It seems like almost all the outages around here happened around 1900, just after the wind picked way up after all the wet snow had been piling up for a few hours, maybe brought in the salt spray that was all the wet snow needed to turn into a shorting bar?  Is my theory correct, or is there another mechanism that would cause so many transformers to go out at aroind the same time?

Another semi-storm related question..the big Generac ran flawlessly throughout the outage, that 3600 RPM rumble was the sweetest sound to hear all weekend, but the output voltage seemed a bit on the low side, about 106-107 VAC, never moved off that.  I didn't want to tempt a visit from Murphy if I tried to adjust it during the outage , so I just let it run that way, most everything seemed to run just fine. A couple of times the Kitchen Aid over the stove microwave oven fan that runs during oven operation seemed kind of sluggish starting up though.  I recall that years ago the "standard" 60 Hz AC voltage typically was quoted to be 105-115 or 125 VAC.  Whats currently in fashion (no pun intended)?  WRT to frequency, I kept my HP counter set up to monitor the generator AC frequency and it stayed rock solid at 60.0 to 60.1 the whole time.

Can anyone recommend a good snowblower?

I've been looking at the Troy Bilt 2690 XP for $1099   and 3090  for $1199.   But maybe there is something better out there.  

Looks like Lowes is sold out at all stores here in CT.  Probably none around right now, but decided to get something.    

Our plow guy broke his truck, so he gave up.   The driveway is too big for a shovel. 

This is like trying to buy a generator after a power outage.


T

This work horse cleared my driveway today.  It's 43 years old. You might want more horse power.  This one's a 6 horse

Al

I feel for you guys!  It has been 2 years since the last really big snow here in central IL and I don't feel left out.  We were on generator power for about half a day during that storm (driver took out major pole 3 miles away and power company had to wait on a road grader to clear a path because the wind created drifts too big for the regular plow).

My daughter loved the big drifts but I was very happy a week later when much of it melted.

Don't overdo it during cleanup, there is always a mini epidemic of heart attacks after a major snow around here.

Are those pictures from 2 years ago? I think the most snow I have seen here was a foot to 18 inches. When I lived in Alabama, a foot of snow shut things down. Here in Tennessee, they salt the state highways and use snow plows.Not south of the 35th parallel. That is where I work:-(.
                                                        Joe W4AAB

These work:

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vvAhyR-6PAM/Sz67si4aWeI/AAAAAAAADtg/m6L0J0BH9nM/s320/snow-blower-big.gif)

Or how about a Chevy big block snow blower:

(http://www.realtree.com/img/614/medium/bigblock_snowblower_2.jpg)

Joe,

Those photos were from 2 years ago, the last two winters have been very mild.  I live out in the country so the wind really creates incredible drifting.

I grew up on the Mississippi gulf coast and on the rare occasions when snow made it all the way to the edge of the gulf a couple of inches pretty much shut everything down.  I know they would have preferred snow in MIssissippij to what went through yesterday.  I did my undergrad and MBA at the University of Southern Mississippi and what was a beautiful entrance to campus from Hardy street isn't so beautiful after the tornado.

heheheh..... you guys and your tractors.

A guy down the street has a medium-size Ford tractor with a bucket attachment.  Beautiful to pick and place the snow perfectly instead of forcing it with a plow.  I cud use it to pull up antennas and move dirt, etc.   Every farm needs a tractor.

Someone suggested I get a 33" or bigger snowblower. That will break into the $1500+ category.  

Ariens seems like a good brand, Al. Frank says he has a new one and is FB.

Here it is Feb and by April it will be over.

T

An end loader is also perfect for moving heavy vintage gear from point A to point B :)

I bought my Deere compact utility tractor a couple of years after I bought this place and it cut my 5 acre mowing time down from 7 hours to 90 minutes which really added to my quality of life. 

With a few inches of snow I can put the tractor in 4 wheel drive and use the blade to clear the driveways to both garages and clear our road out to the main county road in about 20 minutes.  The loader is great for taking care of big drifts but about 10 years ago I bought a PTO driven snow blower after we had a heavy snow and the wind kept blowing for several days.  I had snow piled up 8 feet high in places and it got to the point where it was drifting in almost as fast as I could drive around and find a new place to dump the snow.

As much fun as it is to mow in a year or so my daughter is going to be getting tractor driving lessons.

Mr. Vu -

Just got in from finishing up the last of the driveway cleanout, most of the work involved the berm from the plows on the half of the driveway we are not using.  About ten feet by ten feet and up to 5 feet in height of wet cement like snow that was saturated with todays rain.  Had to knock down the top so we could throw over it.  Used one of my emergency AC power "customers" 1988 Toro 521.  Another neighbor came over with his new  "toy" to play in the snow with, a Simplicity medium duty 27".  We got through the mess in about an hour, breaking it up into chunks and nibbling away at it. The Toro is a nice little basic thrower, don't know what their current comparable model is now.  I was really impressed with the Simplicity, very strong traction and throwing even for the slurry we were working with.  A nice feature was a big amber halogen headlight.  Very decent price I think. Lists for $999.  They have a heavy duty line  that would run about $1500.  Briggs engines.  6 forward speeds, top speed very fast for moving over cleared areas. Gano's Power Equipment in Colchester is listed as the closest dealer to you. My neighbor got his at Groton Cycle.

Tom,

Here's another vote for Ariens. Mine is 10 years old and hasn't skipped a beat. Starts easy, runs strong, and pretty much acts like the little engine that could.

Rob W1AEX

I live in Scituate MA.  We had coastal flooding, over two feet of snow, and high winds.
The town shelter had 165 people in it at one point. The town PD has Humvees to drive through the deep water to get people out of their houses. The firefighters put on survival suits to get the people. My son is a firefighter/paramedic and worked 60 hours straight. The whole town lost power. I got mine back last night after 72 hours without it. Good thing I have a woodalene stove. I lost the tree that held up one end of my dipole. Most streets were and some still are impassable due to fallen trees, snow, or boulders driven up on the roads by the waves!
That's my snow story and I'm sticking to it. I'm ready for spring now.

Regards
Q, W1QWT

That  thing is an explosion hazard. All that cold could set it off. No user serviceable parts contained therein.

I've got an 6 hp ariens with a headlight.   Nice machine, and easy starting. It was new when I bought the house, and the owner left it here. My father has had the same Ariens for 45+ years. Its built better than the new ones. If you have a long driveway ( mine is about 365'; fun times) you may want to get the wider one.


klc

Thanks for all the helpful replies!

Well, I think when things settle down I will look around for a used Ariens, as wide as I can get for about $1000.   Right now snowblowers are scarce and top dollar. And I don't want to join the Chinese POS crowd. Gonna buy USA built.

The driveway is still unplowed here. The regular guy broke his plow and gave up.  I axed the FedX guy for a lead and he's sending his buddy over.  So FB until the next storm - they are predicting 12" in a week.

If I were smart (and I ain't) I wuda parked the truck at the end of the driveway near rthe street, as I usually do.  Instead it's in the garage

T

And the next time around, I'll be sure my backup 4KW pull start geneset isnt stored in an unheated detached garage with temps in the 20s or less.  Tried to start it Saturday night, could barely get it turn at all, let alone spin fast enough to start with cold 30 weight oil in it.  Had to warm it up overnight in a neighbor's family room that was heated by a wood stove.

Snow is melting here; I can see the grass.