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The weather in the USA...

bcuster said:
I'd recommend the current US 7th Cavalry go to the assistance of the Native Americans at Pine Ridge with alacrity. They certainly owe them...


www.argusleader.com

Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

“We don’t have the proper equipment here to handle what’s been going on. We have drifts as high as some houses that stretch 60, 70 yards at a time.”
www.argusleader.com www.argusleader.com
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Sadly, this is pretty common on the Pine Ridge. Lack of infrastructure at about every level coupled with 30 inches of snowfall would be a disaster anywhere. On the Pine Ridge, it's in addition to the ongoing disaster there.
 
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I've just been reading some of the updates on the situation. The change in the weather in just a few hours is frightening and those temperatures are crazy. Cheyenne went from 43F to 3F in half an hour! What do you even do in that situation? I know there were weather warnings but you could easily be at work, unable to leave immediately for whatever reason and suddenly it's extreme ice, blizzard conditions. Like way beyond any 'snow day' you might get. Even states which expect proper winter weather are struggling. It's horrific.
 
Really interesting (slightly speeded up) clip here showing what happened when the continental arctic air mass flowed out of the land on to the Gulf of Mexico:

 
Well, I won't be home for Christmas this year. I was already concerned about the snowfall and temperatures, but I started out anyway. About 30 miles outside of town, my car started throwing a flashing check engine light. I turned around rather than be stranded in 4 F weather. There were road signs out telling people to call the state patrol if they got stranded so they could get you off the road before you freeze to death. I saw a lot of dead vehicles along the road in just that 30 miles. But, I made it home ok. I won't be able to get anyone to look at the car until after the holiday(s).
 
petee said:
402 had a 60 car pile-up, per bcuster 's link. close by?
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At this point its whiteout conditions everywhere. The 401 is now completely closed. It runs from the Windsor/Detroit crossing to Quebec, ~600km. Tow trucks can't reliably rescue anyone at the point and the plows cant keep up. There are large swathes of farm/rural land between major cities so anyone attempting to travel is taking their life into their hands.
 
Yuwipi Woman said:
Well, I won't be home for Christmas this year. I was already concerned about the snowfall and temperatures, but I started out anyway. About 30 miles outside of town, my car started throwing a flashing check engine light. I turned around rather than be stranded in 4 F weather. There were road signs out telling people to call the state patrol if they got stranded so they could get you off the road before you freeze to death. I saw a lot of dead vehicles along the road in just that 30 miles. But, I made it home ok. I won't be able to get anyone to look at the car until after the holiday(s).
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Glad you are home safe , hunker down!
 
Graymalkin said:
At this point its whiteout conditions everywhere. The 401 is now completely closed. It runs from the Windsor/Detroit crossing to Quebec, ~600km. Tow trucks can't reliably rescue anyone at the point and the plows cant keep up. There are large swathes of farm/rural land between major cities so anyone attempting to travel is taking their life into their hands.
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a Christmas nightmare. and I thought we've got it bad here... May God help the stranded & lost.
 
farmerbarleymow said:
The only option is to batten down the hatches in this sort of weather - hope you're all doing OK over in the US and Canada.
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I can't complain. We are staying at a friends and they're prepared enough for us to weather this storm in the most first world way possible. Our neighbour back home is keeping us updated and the power there never went out. Our pets are the only concern but we could probably get our neighbour to check in on them.
 
Yuwipi Woman said:
Well, I won't be home for Christmas this year. I was already concerned about the snowfall and temperatures, but I started out anyway. About 30 miles outside of town, my car started throwing a flashing check engine light. I turned around rather than be stranded in 4 F weather. There were road signs out telling people to call the state patrol if they got stranded so they could get you off the road before you freeze to death. I saw a lot of dead vehicles along the road in just that 30 miles. But, I made it home ok. I won't be able to get anyone to look at the car until after the holiday(s).
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Glad you are safe. It sounds really scary from here!
 
I had seen on TV during previous cold spells the old trick of throwing a mug of boiling water into the air, which immediately turns into snow. But the stat that really shocked me about this event was a reporter saying that in the worst affected places, between the extreme cold and the added wind chill factor, anyone outdoors could expect to start getting frostbite in a mere few minutes :eek:
 
It was being called a "once a generation" storm days before it hit. It's certainly lived up to it. There was a very severe ice storm in 1998 that knocked power out in some parts of eastern Ontario and southern Quebec for up to two weeks. This one is not quite as locally severe but easily 10-20 times as extensive.
 
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