I still can't get to the road except on foot, but the temperature has broken freezing. Up til now, the only melting has been from direct sunlight, plus some sublimation. Now we might actually see some progress. The roads will refreeze tonight when it gets back down below freezing, though.
NCDOT issued an order mid-day that no chemical/salt treatments of roads were to be done except in response to a direct need by emergency services. Naturally that meant that, when an emergency occurred, there was a good chance the treatment was too late to do much good. There was a two-alarm fire over to Cashiers/Sapphire; it sounds like they had a very interesting time getting fire engines to it.
The power was out for quite some time, but the blessed and honorable linemen got it on very early Monday. I take it that means that the state highway was cleared enough to let them access the power station and maybe clear some downed lines.
It's been quite an adventure.
7 comments:
I see the cat finally came to it's senses!
We don't get much snow here in the Puget Sound, except every once in a while a warm moisture laden front will come off the ocean and run into a cold front coming south -the collision can dump a lot of snow. Last time it happened was few years ago, I measured 30" in the front yard. The slip-fall that came off the roof was epic!
A good 4x4, some chains, a wood stove and especially a generator big enough to run a well pump make life reasonably easy. Not having water is a real PIA.
I don't have a well pump, or a well. We are spring fed here: there are seven springs on the property, which flow down the mountain and therefore are running water sources difficult to freeze. I've never seen it happen.
NCDOT issued an order mid-day that no chemical/salt treatments of roads were to be done except in response to a direct need by emergency services.
They're not far wrong on that. Most of the chemicals used for the purpose, and all of the salts, poison the vegetation during melt runoff.
More importantly, all they do is lower the freeze point a very few degrees, and then when the cold returns at night, the mix freezes anyway, now into a hard, slippery ice.
Better is sand, which won't melt anything, but it supplies a measure of traction, and during the inevitable daytime thaw-nighttime freeze, the sand is still there, providing a measure of traction. Especially useful when the next day's temperature stays those few degrees below freezing. Even better would be coal ash or ground up cinders, which will do the same thing as sand, but being black will add a considerable amount of melting from solar gain when the sun shines.
And this for cat attitudes toward snow (better with the sound off): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1Kg0FSGwzl4
Eric Hines
Well, the reason wasn't any of yours: they just hadn't bought enough for this, and wanted to conserve what they had for emergencies. Nor had Tennessee. Nor had Georgia. Nor had South Carolina, nor had Virginia....
Kentucky doesn't seem to have that aversion. Hell, up until now, not only I, but several "locals", didn't even know that they had snowplows! But, by gosh and begorrah, they do. And they've been running pretty much 24/7 since the day after the storm.
I wish I could say the same about the power company....
That "No/Minimal" salt thing popped up here in SE Wisconsin about 4 days ago. Must be a crusade.
Wisconsin has used road salt for umpty-dozen years. It is very effective, and prevents/remediates ice down to 10 degrees.
The use of sand has gone down because sand eventually washes into the street sewers and clogs them. Salt does not clog them and--while it will kill plants in heavy enough concentration--is not like Roundup. Why? Because it washes away in waves.
Nonetheless, the ecology-types are screeching.
Glad you are able to get out and a bout at least a little, Grim.
Here they brine the state/federal routes, and in-town emergency routes. Even so, the last time we got 24" in 24 hours, everything came to a stop unless people plowed for themselves or the neighbors. In some places it drifted deep enough that the ATSF (as it was then) brought in the big snow-blower trains, not just plow trains. That was in the early 2000s.
LittleRed1
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