About Last Night
Friday, 13 January 2012 11:35![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dr_phil_physicsThe Snow Arrived
It wasn't the largest snowfall we've ever gotten, not by a long shot. And pretty much it looked at 7am like it did at around 2:30am, so it didn't snow ALL night at our house. But it was fluffy and wet -- and a good 6-8" sitting on top of a freezing slushy/ice mix.
Backing out of the garage into the turnaround, I tried not to make too tight a turn, but then had to stop and pull forward and make the turn again. Except I wasn't really going anywhere. This was in 4WD, mind. It took a bit of maneuvering back and forth, but eventually I pulled back uphill onto what would be the concrete pad if it wasn't buried and tried again, this time without too much trouble.
The next hurdle was getting out of the driveway. It looked like the tire tracks from Mrs. Dr. Phil's Bravada stopped at the ridge of plow shit, so I guess she didn't have too much trouble. I had to back up and make a (slow) run at it in order to get out. Took 84th Avenue, rather than go on to 68th -- not quite a mistake, but very lumpy and it hadn't been plowed in a long time, so it was only 1½ lanes wide. Fortunately the big truck coming my way turned before I had to drive into the snowy shoulder and the oncoming school bus was in a section that was nearly 2 lanes wide. No problems.
M-45 into Allendale was very rough and uneven, perhaps 25mph in the country, but in town they'd used a lot more salt. The freeways were in good shape. Yeah, there was a questionable thin glaze of salted water, slush and ice, but between 4WD and a slightly more modest 60mph speed that everyone was comfortable, not too bad.
Eventually I made it to Kalamazoo, which was in fog and snow. Campus parking lot hadn't had extensive plowing, as per usual. But I got here. Yay. Running time was about 2½ hours to drive 67 miles, but that included filling the gas tank and a 20 minute bathroom break in Wayland. Still, the normal run, including such stops, is under 1½ hours.
So is this the new norm for this winter? Or the anomaly? We'll see...
Dr. Phil
It wasn't the largest snowfall we've ever gotten, not by a long shot. And pretty much it looked at 7am like it did at around 2:30am, so it didn't snow ALL night at our house. But it was fluffy and wet -- and a good 6-8" sitting on top of a freezing slushy/ice mix.
Backing out of the garage into the turnaround, I tried not to make too tight a turn, but then had to stop and pull forward and make the turn again. Except I wasn't really going anywhere. This was in 4WD, mind. It took a bit of maneuvering back and forth, but eventually I pulled back uphill onto what would be the concrete pad if it wasn't buried and tried again, this time without too much trouble.
The next hurdle was getting out of the driveway. It looked like the tire tracks from Mrs. Dr. Phil's Bravada stopped at the ridge of plow shit, so I guess she didn't have too much trouble. I had to back up and make a (slow) run at it in order to get out. Took 84th Avenue, rather than go on to 68th -- not quite a mistake, but very lumpy and it hadn't been plowed in a long time, so it was only 1½ lanes wide. Fortunately the big truck coming my way turned before I had to drive into the snowy shoulder and the oncoming school bus was in a section that was nearly 2 lanes wide. No problems.
M-45 into Allendale was very rough and uneven, perhaps 25mph in the country, but in town they'd used a lot more salt. The freeways were in good shape. Yeah, there was a questionable thin glaze of salted water, slush and ice, but between 4WD and a slightly more modest 60mph speed that everyone was comfortable, not too bad.
Eventually I made it to Kalamazoo, which was in fog and snow. Campus parking lot hadn't had extensive plowing, as per usual. But I got here. Yay. Running time was about 2½ hours to drive 67 miles, but that included filling the gas tank and a 20 minute bathroom break in Wayland. Still, the normal run, including such stops, is under 1½ hours.
So is this the new norm for this winter? Or the anomaly? We'll see...
Dr. Phil
