Wednesday, February 2, 2011

ICE STORM 2011 -- KEY PARTY HARDER:  Your winter weather reports are welcome.  (2h late here, but I don't see any ice, really.)

added:  Chicago's Lake Shore Drive, wow.

59 comments:

  1. Christy in Philly7:44 AM

    Same here-- 2 hours late. It's looking clear in Center City but may be worse in neighborhoods that didn't get cleared after last week's storm. I'm going back to bed for an hour.

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  2. Adam C.7:49 AM

    LMSD is closed - just went out to see what was what and our front walk is completely glazed over, thin shell of ice on the cars, but a reasonably thick coating of ice on tree limbs, power lines, etc.  Hoping that things warm up quickly enough today (forecasted high is mid 40s) to get a good melt before things come crashing down.  I'll head into work, though a bit late.

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  3. littleredyarn8:15 AM

    Just rain here on the other side of the Walt.

    Man, I can't wait to see the sun again.

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  4. Adam C.8:24 AM

    The other side of the...WAAAAAAALLLLLT!?

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  5. Everything closed again in Central Pa. So very tired of snow days now.

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  6. Adam C.8:42 AM

    It's turned into a steady light rain here in the past half-hour, so I think things will probably be OK as the day goes on (...he said, eying suspiciously the still-icy tree limbs above the power lines).

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  7. JS-Kit is swallowing comments again.  Poster beware.

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  8. Just rainy in Pittsburgh although several of the schools have 2-hour delays.  They are predicting it to get worse later in the day, but we'll see.  The weathermen have been crying wolf quite a bit this week.

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  9. My lunch meeting for today has been cancelled, but I'm still heading in.  Expect it to be exceedingly quiet, with the usual "folks from NJ and CT don't come in, a lot of folks from the outer boroughs don't come in, but the Manhattanites do" structure.  With relative quiet, managed to write two settlement agreements yesterday plus some other stuff, so sometimes, this can be beneficial.

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  10. calliekl9:00 AM

    Adam C- I wish I could super-like this.

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  11. Heather K9:02 AM

    Last night here in Chicago there was lightning and THUNDERSNOW which was awesome and terrifying as we went to bed. 17" called at ORD. Lake Shore Drive has been closed for twelve hours. That is right in front of our house. We stayed in last night and I don't work Wednesdays so I am home for the day. The fiancee may or may not make his way to the office. We don't have that much snow on the ground but we had 60mph winds for most of the snowing and I bet our snow is over on state street or Michigan avenue.

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  12. calliekl9:03 AM

    We are closed again.. but yay we have furniture! And access to caffeine! I predict a peaceful morning with no violence imminent.

    Also, it is still snowing in southern NH... we got ~8 inches yesterday, and we are supposed to get another 10-12 today. Forecasters are predicting falling roofs (rooves?), so that will be fun.

    How is the Chicago contingent doing? I heard they cancelled school today for the first time in 12 years?? Which I found funny... today is the first day they've cancelled school here... today (schools closed early yesterday).

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  13. calliekl9:07 AM

    oooo Thundersnow!! That is so awesome. From the point of view of weather nerd, I kind of wish I could be everywhere at once today, I would love to see this unfold across the entire country. I haven't ever seen a single winter storm of these proportions in my life- a weather friend of mine said it was the biggest winter storm he's seen since 1978.

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  14. calliekl9:11 AM

    Also (and sorry for the threadjack), but can we please talk about the new Nicolas Cage movie "Drive Angry 3D"? Check out the synopsis and the trailer here... it gives me the giggles every time I read it... it's tuly epic.

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  15. Adam C.9:43 AM

    I thought from the ads that the title was "Drive Angry Shot in 3D."  Which, really, how many more hardcore 3D geeks are you bringing in by referencing the distinction between shooting in 3D and converting to 3D?  Did that hurt the box office for Clash of the Titans?

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  16. They hyped "shot in 3D" for the last Resident Evil as well.  It's actually worth saying, because the only post-production conversion I've seen ("Green Hornet 3D") was far less effective than the films shot in ("Avatar," "Tron 2") or designed/animated for ("Megamind," "Toy Story 3") 3D.

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  17. The final season did debut a year ago today; I may repost Isaac's preview at some point.  But that ice today was underwhelming in my neighborhood.  I thought I'd need a lot more SAAAAAAAAALT!

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  18. calliekl9:57 AM

    Reading the synopsis, I kind of want this to be Office Space 2. Is that too old of a reference for SNL to jump on?

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  19. gtv20009:57 AM

    17.5" in central Missouri - the university is closed again today.  I-70 closed from KC to SL yesterday.  Tired of snow days here as well!

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  20. Not sure what the official line will be, but we have at least 12" on our back deck.  It's still snowing.  Michigan State is closed (which it's only done four times in its history).  So is the state capitol.  Snow day for everyone in our house, though I'm sure everything will be open tomorrow.

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  21. God, you would not BElieve the rain we had last night.

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  22. They cancelled school a couple of times in January 1999, when I was living there. 

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  23. After all of the "DC might get part of the winter storm," the biggest impact of it here appears to be that it washed away a lot of the ice that was lingering on the ground.  Now they're saying that temps here are going to get near or into the 50s this afternoon.  It might actually be worth wandering over to my car to clear her off.

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  24. It just hit me what that means:  If that was 12 years ago, then later this year are the (1) 12th anniversary of me finishing my district court clerkship and (2) 14th anniversary of graduating from law school.  Ugh.

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  25. Joseph J. Finn10:31 AM

    We had thundersnow in Oak Park as well, which was pretty awesome while we were watching How To Train Your Dragon.  I made it into the office, though almost eveything else relevant to us is closed (Circuit Court, all the federal offices, etc).  State and Michigan are pretty decent, as is Dearborn out my window, but I wouldn't drive it to be sure.

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  26. patricia10:33 AM

    Yep, I don't remember it raining that hard in the winter anytime in recent memory.  Lots of lightning and thunder too, which is also rare.  It was nice to go to sleep listening to it, though.

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  27. Stevie11:04 AM

    It thunder-snowed in Andersonville. We are officially off today, which is fine. I live on a major street and can hardly see across it from my front window. I'm in a six flat and all but one of our entrances is blocked by a drift.

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  28. Adam C.11:31 AM

    Fortunately, my brakes were following my commands to HAAAAAAALLLLLT!  

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  29. Adam C.11:32 AM

    Oh, I'm not disputing that it looks way better, just whether it's a meaningful marketing tool.

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  30. Fogpocalypse!

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  31. Anonymous11:46 AM

    You guys who live in cold weather will love this.  In Austin (and across Texas) we are having rolling blackouts.  Basically because the temp dropped below 20 degrees.  No snow, no ice, no rain...just colder weather than usual.  My office had no power for 3 hours and we just came back online.  Waiting to see if it rolls this way again...

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  32. littleredyarn11:48 AM

    But if someone hit you from behind, it would be their FAAAAAULLLT!

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  33. Joseph J. Finn11:50 AM

    But hopefully you can agree to share the damages, and then go out for a chocolate MAAAAAAAALT!

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  34. Heather K11:56 AM

    But according to twitter the Starbucks on Clark in a'ville is open.

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  35. calliekl12:18 PM

    Do you get rolling blackouts in the summer because of high temperatures? Because that does happen here.

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  36. As usual--Rick Bayless FTW--opening Frontera and offering a Margarita special. 

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  37. Meghan12:46 PM

    Sunny and 63 here in Charlotte.

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  38. MidwestAndrew12:54 PM

    Southeast Kansas received 15-20 inches. And for this area, it's rare to get any more than about 3-4 inches. Yesterday, I got stuck 6 times going to and from work. Today, I convinced my bosses I could just work from home. I'm glad I did.

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  39. Heather K12:58 PM

    That is 3/4 a mile from the apartment, and the fiancee and I are in tlks about it as our dinner break.

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  40. Pure ice in Brooklyn.  Almost busted my ass a few times trying to get to the train.  Figured out that the bus, while longer, involved less walking.  Made it to work late.

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  41. spacewoman1:31 PM

    Oy GEVAAAAAALLLLLLTTTTT!

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  42. spacewoman1:33 PM

    Ha--I was talking to a friend here in the office, and he mentioned that he'd been out of law school 12 years, to which I countered that *I* had been out for 12, meaning that he'd been out for ... 17.  It does sneak up on one.

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  43. Anonymous1:34 PM

    Strangely, no.  And we run some major AC in the summer.  We did hear that they have done something to change the power grid so perhaps that is the problem?  This is unheard of here.

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  44. spacewoman1:35 PM

    It's warm and sunny here, but otoh, my secretary and I can't figure out if we just had an earthquake or not.  Lots of fun on the 31st floor.

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  45. J. Bowman2:11 PM

    Damn skippy. My whole family is buried in snow, and it's not even cold here.

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  46. J. Bowman2:14 PM

    I love this.
    He's broken out of hell... and now the police are after him!

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  47. calliekl2:21 PM

    I hope we won't need more money for snow removal, it is in the city VAAAAAAAAAAAULT!!!!

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  48. J. Bowman2:36 PM

    Best snowstatus so far, from a calculus teacher:
    "[<span>I am] going to ask [my] calc II students to calculate the work I did shoveling my driveway using a definite integral. For extra credit, they can do the shoveling and I'll calculate the integral!</span>"

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  49. D'Arcy2:53 PM

    Up here in the Great White North, we were supposed to have a PD day today anyway, so the kids would have been home regardless, but I got the call at 6:20 saying teachers didn't have to go in, either. Everyone here was all, "What kind of storm was THAT?" this morning, but it started snowing again and I'd guess we're getting more than the 5-10 cm predicted for the next 24 hours. Oh, and I didn't personally experience the thundersnow, but friends and family from around southwestern Ontario have said they did.

    Hubby is in Indy right now, was supposed to fly out to Houston last night but no flights were leaving. He said it was pretty much an ice storm there - he came out of a movie and the rental car was covered in ice. He was really pleased to discover the rental company had NOT put an ice scraper in the vehicle. Also, he didn't eat until about 2 pm yesterday because everything was shut down when he went out for breakfast. 

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  50. Emily W2:56 PM

    My Brooklyn neighborhood was downright treacherous this morning! Luckily for me, many houses in my neighborhood have wrought-iron fences in front, which are great for holding on to. I'm looking forward to getting out as soon as I can this afternoon and hoping to make it home in one piece.

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  51. Stevie2:57 PM

    Neither sleet, nor rain, nor two feet of snow will keep Starbucks down! Big Jones is open too.

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  52. D'Arcy3:00 PM

    As for the situation on Lakeshore Drive - we had that in December on the highway between London, Ontario and Sarnia, Ontario. My (pregnant) sister-in-law flew into London that day and no one could get to the airport to pick her up. Then her husband wanted to rent a car and try to drive to Sarnia. Idiot.

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  53. Odds that Bayless himself is (a) in Chicago (b) at the restaurant?<span> </span>

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  54. Based on his tweets, he's definitely in Chicago, likely at home. 

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  55. Maggie5:35 PM

    Jenn, I know how you feel.  I was living in Wrigleyville at the time and have fond memories of that January 1999 storm, which started on New Year's Day (as I was recovering from an immensely fun New Years).  When NPR was talking about how Chicago schools had not closed in 12 years, I couldn't believe that it was during that storm...because it definitely doesn't feel like 12 years ago.  And then I felt old.

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  56. Marsha12:27 AM

    THUNDERSNOW!!!!!!

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  57. Marsha12:29 AM

    He's said that he does his own tweeting, and he tweeted a bunch of photos of his snowed-in garden today. Also a pic of the snowman his valet guys built, which was awesome.

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  58. Marsha12:33 AM

    We're alive here in Chicago (also Wrigleyville). Lake Shore Drive is still closed, both kids' schools are closed today and tomorrow, as is my work. It's kind of surreal in my 'hood - I'm less than a block from Lake Shore Drive and if you're outside, there's this steady background hum of traffic noise. Not today. My kids went for a walk on the Drive (with, it seemed like, half the population of my neighborhood).

    Final totals put us as the third-highest snowfall total in Chicago history, and it accumulated in considerably less time than either #1 (1967) or #2 (1999). Was also much nastier than the one in 1999 (which I was here for) - much higher winds, and that one started on a Friday night, so the logisitcal issues weren't as bad.

    Sure is pretty out there.

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