2016 WINTER DEATHSTORMPOCALYPSE!!!

[Flagg]

WINTER ON THE NORTH AMERICAN EASTERN SEABOARD!!!
SNOW EVERYWHERE!!!
MASSIVE INCONVENIENCE!!!
AL ROKER WORKING ON A SATURDAY!!!

PANIC!!!

[Gaidin]

I literally told my boss on Thursday I was not working in the DC office until Tuesday. We had enough stuff to do in other places that all he could do is laugh and nod.

[General Zod]

The east coast is filled with weak babies.

[Simon_Jester]

I love how Flagg and Zod are both poking fun at East Coasters' reaction to the storm without either of them actually citing any actual human's reaction to the storm.

I haven't heard a lot of specific people reacting strongly to the storm. There HAS been a lot of clearing out of supermarket canned good aisles and so on, but there's an entirely separate reason for that, at least in the DC metropolitan area:

This is the first major snowstorm we've had all year. Aside from a few flurries, there was essentially NO snow in all of December or early to mid-January. Temperatures were in the 60s and 70s as recently as Christmas. So even those of us who are competently prepared for snowstorms and plan ahead, in many cases, weren't prepared specifically because we knew no snow would be coming... until now.

[General Zod]

I love how Flagg and Zod are both poking fun at East Coasters' reaction to the storm without either of them actually citing any actual human's reaction to the storm.

I haven't heard a lot of specific people reacting strongly to the storm. There HAS been a lot of clearing out of supermarket canned good aisles and so on, but there's an entirely separate reason for that, at least in the DC metropolitan area:

This is the first major snowstorm we've had all year. Aside from a few flurries, there was essentially NO snow in all of December or early to mid-January. Temperatures were in the 60s and 70s as recently as Christmas. So even those of us who are competently prepared for snowstorms and plan ahead, in many cases, weren't prepared specifically because we knew no snow would be coming... until now.

I'm actually in the storm right now, so how about you go fuck yourself?

[General Zod]

In fact, here's a picture from in front of the apartment I'm staying at.

[Flagg]

I love how Flagg and Zod are both poking fun at East Coasters' reaction to the storm without either of them actually citing any actual human's reaction to the storm.

I haven't heard a lot of specific people reacting strongly to the storm. There HAS been a lot of clearing out of supermarket canned good aisles and so on, but there's an entirely separate reason for that, at least in the DC metropolitan area:

This is the first major snowstorm we've had all year. Aside from a few flurries, there was essentially NO snow in all of December or early to mid-January. Temperatures were in the 60s and 70s as recently as Christmas. So even those of us who are competently prepared for snowstorms and plan ahead, in many cases, weren't prepared specifically because we knew no snow would be coming... until now.

I'm making fun of the media's reaction to the storm. Go look at the front page of the NBC News Webpage and tell me they are not acting like it's the end of the fucking world.

[Channel72]

This storm is simply a big opportunity for Bill DiBlasio, Chris Christie, and everyone else with political ambitions to get on TV and look like they've got this storm by the balls.

[Simon_Jester]

I'm actually in the storm right now, so how about you go fuck yourself?

What does that have to do with anything?

I'm in the storm but and am not mocking people who are; I haven't experienced this "the east coast is filled with weak babies" thing. The part of the coast I live in isn't very well adapted to snow, but given the amount it gets there are understandable (if kind of dumb) administrative reasons why that's true, which aren't "everyone is a weak baby."

You're in the storm, but are mocking people who are, so either you've got some unresolved regional self-loathing to work out, or you're just doing random evidence-less shitting on people.

At least Flagg tried to provide some evidence for his stance, and was less randomly insulting in his original post, thus meriting some respect.

So Flagg, I apologize for lumping you in with Zod. Zod engaged in evidence-less insulting, which is at best graceless and obnoxious. You engaged in evidence-less parody, and frankly given now that I look specifically at what you're parodying, I have no further complaint with you.

Because yeah, headlines like "Beast of the East" are just stupid.

[General Zod]

I have a feeling you're just going to over analyze every single thing I post anyway so I'm just going to go back to "Go fuck yourself."

[Borgholio]

Is raising your windshield wipers done for a reason when you've parked a car in a snowstorm? Keeping them from icing to the windshield?

[J]

Is raising your windshield wipers done for a reason when you've parked a car in a snowstorm? Keeping them from icing to the windshield?

Yes, and yes. It also makes cleaning snow off the windshield easier since the wiper blades aren't in the way.
Not that it makes a difference when one's car is buried under a metre of snow.

[Executor32]

Meh, I've seen worse.

[Flagg]

I'm actually in the storm right now, so how about you go fuck yourself?

What does that have to do with anything?

I'm in the storm but and am not mocking people who are; I haven't experienced this "the east coast is filled with weak babies" thing. The part of the coast I live in isn't very well adapted to snow, but given the amount it gets there are understandable (if kind of dumb) administrative reasons why that's true, which aren't "everyone is a weak baby."

You're in the storm, but are mocking people who are, so either you've got some unresolved regional self-loathing to work out, or you're just doing random evidence-less shitting on people.

At least Flagg tried to provide some evidence for his stance, and was less randomly insulting in his original post, thus meriting some respect.

So Flagg, I apologize for lumping you in with Zod. Zod engaged in evidence-less insulting, which is at best graceless and obnoxious. You engaged in evidence-less parody, and frankly given now that I look specifically at what you're parodying, I have no further complaint with you.

Because yeah, headlines like "Beast of the East" are just stupid.

No apology necessary. I didn't realize that I hadn't linked to the webpage in question until your post and it was too late to edit the OP.

I'd be the last to make fun of the actual residents and municipalities of the East coast during blizzards (having gone through one in an area where they weren't used to it and no one was shitting themselves or overreacting) when if we get a slight dusting in the Seattle area people act like it's the end of the fucking world. One time, a few years back we actually got a couple feet of snow and I went into withdrawal on 3 meds for a week because my Doctor at the time lived on a hill and was afraid to drive down it and the covering Doctor didn't know how to call the prescriptions into the pharmacy so just refused to fill them. They weren't even controlled substances.

[Napoleon the Clown]

In fairness to Seattle, I highly doubt people use all-seaons, much less owning a set of snow tires. The difference between a set of summer tires and a set of all-seasons is huge.

[Simon_Jester]

Is raising your windshield wipers done for a reason when you've parked a car in a snowstorm? Keeping them from icing to the windshield?

Yes, and yes. It also makes cleaning snow off the windshield easier since the wiper blades aren't in the way.
Not that it makes a difference when one's car is buried under a metre of snow.

We tested this empirically in 2010 and it does make a difference. My father, who did it, won the car-clearing race.

What really makes a difference, though, at least in my experience, is turning off your car engine far enough before the snow hits that the car itself cools to ambient (freezing) temperatures before the first layer of snow starts settling on things.

Because then you just have a layer of powdery snow covering your car; there may be a lot of it but you can remove it pretty much normally (worst case, shovel off all but the last several inches, then brush it off manually).

Whereas if you don't turn off your engine until it's already started snowing, or is about to start snowing, the first layer of snowflakes melt, the second layer melts, until the snow wins by attrition and reaches the freezing point at the car surface. The winning layer of snowflakes gets to melt into a solid layer of ice all over your car. Then you have scraping to do. I hate scraping. Or chipping, ugh, the chipping.

[Gaidin]

I'm never sure what's worse. The chipping I used to have to do, or the walking to the bus stop on unmaintained sidewalks given I now walk in streets after snowstorms and all but dodge cars at 5am in the morning.

[Raw Shark]

I park in a 60F garage under my building, bitches! No scraping for this guy. It did, however, flood with 1.1 million gallons of water seven months ago today, which did not do anything good for the two vehicles I had down there, so there's a trade-off I guess...

[Broomstick]

I used to think cleaning off my car was a bitch in the winter, then I started flying small airplanes. You see, with small airplanes you can't just clean the windows, you have to clean off the whole goddamned airplane - the wings (usually 9-10 meters long and half that width, you do the math for the area AND remember you have to do both the top AND the bottom!), the tail, the body, clean ice and snow out of the wheels/brake area... in the freezing cold. With a glorified broom and maybe a soft scraper. Why? Because even a light frost can fuck up the aerodynamics of an airplane enough to kill you in some circumstances. Holy fuck, I no longer complain about cleaning off the car!

I also wised up and started spending the extra $25-50 a night to park the goddamned airplane in a heated hangar so I wouldn't have to do all that.

Well, enough about my sordid past - by any accounts, the Blizzard of 2016 is a Big Deal. It's not quite the apocalyptic event the news media portrays, and certainly a certain number of people have figured out how to have fun with it. Like a lot of other events, it's not too bad if you prep properly for it. It can be a disaster if you don't prep, or you live somewhere that seldom gets snow and doesn't have a lot of equipment to deal with it.

[LadyTevar]

Well, as another one who was smack-dab in the center of the snow (WV), we've actually had it pretty good. No major power outages, the snow wasn't as wet/heavy as it was thought. However, 18in came down over 24hrs, so we had to close down Interstates 64, 70, 77, and 79. The salt trucks couldn't keep up, and cars got trapped. The Governor declared a State Of Emergency Friday night and didn't lift it until Sunday morning. The Interstates and major roads are now cleared around Charleston WV.

However, the minor roads in the bedroom communities are still snow-bound, and many cars are buried under the snow. My own car is untouched where I parked beneath the interstate bridge across from me, but the snow on the sidestreet is higher than my car's bumpers. I would have to shovel the sidestreet just so my car wouldn't bottom-out. Then, you have to think of the ice (or compacted snow) under the top layer, and that it's going to re-freeze tonight, then you know I'm going nowhere until Monday evening when the 40F temps melt the snow a bit

[LadyTevar]

Oh... WV's Eastern Counties were the worst hit. Shepardstown WV is the 'winner' with 40in.

[muse]

That's one way to have fun in a blizzard

[Broomstick]

Like I said - blizzards aren't too bad if you're prepared for them!

[Enigma]

I'd love to be able to raise my windshields wipers except they are tucked under the hood, so no go. But I don't have to worry much about ice on the windshield as I've got a spray that does a reliable job of de-icing. Not instant, but faster than the car's defroster. Just spray and wait then wipe away with the snow brush.

Though we've gone through a couple of snow storms this month, winter so far has been pretty tame.

[Ace Pace]

It's so cold here that I'll drive 1 kilometer rather than walk.
It's 6C.

Take that all you cold weather freaks.



Why won't it snowwwwwwww