And It All Blew Away As If In A Dream
Friday, 11 December 2009 23:07![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dr_phil_physicsEr, Well, Not Exactly
After yesterday's post about the Blizzard closings, the blizzard warnings expired at 6am today, Friday, and by the time we got up and looked out it was pretty calm. Probably because of the high winds, we didn't actually build up much snow in the open areas, which included the driveway.
I scheduled special office hours for today, and when I headed out the roads were icy, the temp was still 16°F, but cleared. They put down ice melting chemicals, which don't work well below 19°F, but road friction and rising temps helped them engage.
Still, it was a somewhat slow drive -- speeds varying from 40 to 67 mph on the freeways, depending on conditions. Most people behaved themselves. Most people. There was this genius in a bright yellow Jeep who figured he could pass cars NASCAR style on a stretch of US-131 which I've found gets icy from drifting snows blowing across the fields. I watched him spin out and slide into the new wire barriers I wrote about in June. Fortunately this was far enough ahead of me that I could put on my four-way flashers and slow down the traffic behind me -- and we call all see this guy facing the wrong way looking rather silly in his bright yellow Jeep. I'm sure he felt invulnerable with his 4WD, but for my money a small Jeep just isn't heavy enough to deal with slippery icy roads.
It's Physics.
Blue Skies, Nothin' But Blue Skies...
On the drive home, it was 25°F and the sky had cleared in K-zoo. All blue and bright sunshine. Forecast this weekend includes temps jumping to 35°F and rain. After a night of mid-teens.
See, if this was deep winter or up in the U.P., we'd get a storm and cold weather and it'd stay cold. The real problems around here involve icing.
Dr. Phil
After yesterday's post about the Blizzard closings, the blizzard warnings expired at 6am today, Friday, and by the time we got up and looked out it was pretty calm. Probably because of the high winds, we didn't actually build up much snow in the open areas, which included the driveway.
I scheduled special office hours for today, and when I headed out the roads were icy, the temp was still 16°F, but cleared. They put down ice melting chemicals, which don't work well below 19°F, but road friction and rising temps helped them engage.
Still, it was a somewhat slow drive -- speeds varying from 40 to 67 mph on the freeways, depending on conditions. Most people behaved themselves. Most people. There was this genius in a bright yellow Jeep who figured he could pass cars NASCAR style on a stretch of US-131 which I've found gets icy from drifting snows blowing across the fields. I watched him spin out and slide into the new wire barriers I wrote about in June. Fortunately this was far enough ahead of me that I could put on my four-way flashers and slow down the traffic behind me -- and we call all see this guy facing the wrong way looking rather silly in his bright yellow Jeep. I'm sure he felt invulnerable with his 4WD, but for my money a small Jeep just isn't heavy enough to deal with slippery icy roads.
It's Physics.
Blue Skies, Nothin' But Blue Skies...
On the drive home, it was 25°F and the sky had cleared in K-zoo. All blue and bright sunshine. Forecast this weekend includes temps jumping to 35°F and rain. After a night of mid-teens.
See, if this was deep winter or up in the U.P., we'd get a storm and cold weather and it'd stay cold. The real problems around here involve icing.
Dr. Phil
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no subject
Date: Tuesday, 15 December 2009 16:14 (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, 15 December 2009 17:41 (UTC)Dr. Phil