Snownado/Arctic Deep Freeze 2016 Check-In

[TWINS]

I came here looking for frozen sharks. Disappointed

[KQ]

I came here looking for frozen sharks. Disappointed

[TBS]

Currently 21*F with about 6" snow down in beautiful Sisters OR. Supposed to snow another 6" tomorrow down here and 14-20" @ Mount Bachelor.

This time three years ago, it was -17*F. Kids from Sisters to LaPine got a couple of days off from school because the diesel jelled in all the school buses. So, everybody went skiing

[KQ]

Strictly speaking it's my 85+ y.o. inlaws who live 5 minutes away.

They still have the old family homestead on Novelty Hill compleeeet with the 1902 farmhouse and a barn from 189? on 43 acres.

They rent horse pasture. No horse stalls, no froofy equine amenities, just pasture, so sheds. And winter feeding, which the girl and I do when her parents get too tired or injured. Also chase the cows when they get out through the neigh - boring suburbs and cul de sacs.

They're the least expensive in the area and their clientele are not usually the jodhpurs sporting sort. Two of the pasture renters are horse rescuers who go to the horsemeat/glue sales and try to pick out rehabilitatable horses. They bring them back to the inlaws farm, get them healthy and place them. My daughter does a lot of work there and has since she was 4, so one of the rescuers sold us a horse for $5 . She rides it like a little Mongolian Warlord and has gotten good enough at the dressage deal that now some owners at local horse barns are going to pay her to ride their horses in shows.

But I'm not cool.

this is for you Buster:

FROM A PARENT:
One of my friends asked "Why do you pay so much money for your kids to ride horses?" Well I have a confession to make, I don't pay for my kids to ride horses. Personally, I couldn't care less about the horses.

So, if I am not paying for them to ride, what am I paying for?

- I pay for those moments when my kids become so tired they want to quit but don't.

- I pay for those days when my kids come home from school and are "too tired" to go the barn but go anyway.

- I pay for my kids to learn to be disciplined.

- I pay for my kids to learn to take care of their body.

- I pay for my kids to learn to work with others and to be good team mates.

- I pay for my kids to learn to deal with disappointment, when they don't get that score they'd hoped for, but still have to work hard in the grading.

- I pay for my kids to learn to make and accomplish goals.

- I pay for my kids to learn that it takes hours and hours and hours and hours of hard work and practice to create a champion, and that success does not happen overnight.

- I pay for the opportunity my kids have and will have to make life-long friendships.

- I pay so that my kids can be in the arena instead of in front of a screen...

...I could go on but, to be short, I don't pay for horse riding, I pay for the opportunities that horse riding provides my kids with to develop attributes that will serve them well throughout their lives and give them the opportunity to bless the lives of others. From what I have seen so far I think it is a great investment!

[Buster Highmen]

this is for you Buster:

FROM A PARENT:
For
X == 'ride horses', ski, 'go to college', dance
Do

One of my friends asked "Why do you pay so much money for your kids to X?" Well I have a confession to make, I don't pay for my kids to X. Personally, I couldn't care less about X.

So, if I am not paying for them to X, what am I paying for?

- I pay for those moments when my kids become so tired they want to quit but don't.

- I pay for those days when my kids come home from school and are "too tired" to go the barn but go anyway.

- I pay for my kids to learn to be disciplined.

- I pay for my kids to learn to take care of their body.

- I pay for my kids to learn to work with others and to be good team mates.

- I pay for my kids to learn to deal with disappointment, when they don't get that score they'd hoped for, but still have to work hard in the grading.

- I pay for my kids to learn to make and accomplish goals.

- I pay for my kids to learn that it takes hours and hours and hours and hours of hard work and practice to create a champion, and that success does not happen overnight.

- I pay for the opportunity my kids have and will have to make life-long friendships.

- I pay so that my kids can be in the arena instead of in front of a screen...

...I could go on but, to be short, I don't pay for X, I pay for the opportunities that X provides my kids with to develop attributes that will serve them well throughout their lives and give them the opportunity to bless the lives of others. From what I have seen so far I think it is a great thing!

FIFM. At least as long as I have an income, which may be interrupted at any point.

[KQ]

snowing again! 3-6" more on tap for us then it's a plunge into single digits followed by ... wait for it.... MORE SNOW!

Animals are letting me know they are over it already.

[Buster Highmen]

Puget Sound overnight lows in the low 20s. Ice busting in the water troughs.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

We hit a high of 18 today in Wenatchee. Cold enough for a pretty vigorous hike without every getting warm. Supposed to be 2 tomorrow night and 0 or below on Friday night.

[skiJ]

I don't know, Buster...
It sounds beyond cool to me. But I took almost no advantage of the access to horses I had as an adolescent...

I think KQ has it right, and If you are doing [ it ] to try to 'earn' "cool" points, you are forgetting :

you might be "cool" to her friends -- the best you should hope for(,) is that You are her Dad.


And If your daughter is 'a badass' you are doing Just fine... !!! tj

[liv2ski]

The thing is, kids remember stuff and as they become adults they either love or hate you for how you raised them.
I am pretty sure Busters kids are in the Big Love camp for their Dad. You're a good man Charlie Brown. Keep up the good work.
Headed to Mammoth tomorrow. 17 during the days and 0 at night. Should be a fun weekend.

[KQ]

another 8 inches of snow fell last night - oy vey! Chores where a bear this morning. Got the ATV stuck once or twice but shifted to low and punched out of it. Snow was up to the running boards.



Friday Night Wind Chill

From snow to an arctic blast on the way this weekend! A disturbance will drop down from the north overnight into early tomorrow morning giving us another chance for light snow showers. Right now, light accumulations may be possible of 1/2" or less tomorrow morning. Watch out for minor impacts to the morning commute.

The distubance will bring down arctic air with temperatures dropping to 0 to -8 degrees heading into Friday night. Dangerous wind chills possible Friday night into Saturday morning with -10 to -18 degrees possible.

Throughout the weekend temperatures will stay well below average. Look for a highs in the low teens Saturday afternoon and upper teens Sunday afternoon. We will gradually start to warm back up above freezing Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

[johnnyg82]

This is what I've currently got

[PowderHorse]

It was 65 degrees in Boulder this afternoon. Totally weird. Back to single digits on Saturday.

[BmillsSkier]

Family in NE Ohio tipped me to this from the evening news and I see it pop up on Jalopnik, so could be crossposted to Car Porn Thread for sure.

Crazy bastard in Miata in Lake Effect Snow Machine:

http://jalopnik.com/national-hero-gl...-do-1790166198



What's 10 degree weather and 8" of snow gonna do to a Miata owner's attitude?

Not much.

[SkiBall]

Currently 21*F with about 6" snow down in beautiful Sisters OR. Supposed to snow another 6" tomorrow down here and 14-20" @ Mount Bachelor.

This time three years ago, it was -17*F. Kids from Sisters to LaPine got a couple of days off from school because the diesel jelled in all the school buses. So, everybody went skiing

I just read a couple year old story on Stealhead Joe from that area. RIP.

[TNKen]

Currently about 5 degrees in the mountains of NC tonight. Today's high was 10, winds gusting to 45 mph. A little precip in the forecast. Not much more than a dusting to an inch.

Great few days for snowmaking in the south!!

[BmillsSkier]

Currently about 5 degrees in the mountains of NC tonight. Today's high was 10, winds gusting to 45 mph. A little precip in the forecast. Not much more than a dusting to an inch.

Great few days for snowmaking in the south!!

I know my N GA buddy is looking forward to some Maggie Valley turns with his kid this week!


Is there anything more demeaning to a reporter (looking at you Tippster) than being assigned to the "salt pile" beat?

Coming at you LIVE! from the salt pile! It's snowing, and cold as balls, and I'm here at the salt pile where jack shit is happening!

[neufox47]

-29 with a brisk 80 mph wind on Mt Washington.

[Vt-Freeheel]

-8` wind between 10 and 22 in central VT. -18` summit

[sb]

balmy 9F check in

[neufox47]

MTW is supposed to go from -35 to 36 back to -5 between now and Monday am. What a swing.

[ICantLogIn]

MTW is supposed to go from -35 to 36 back to -5 between now and Monday am. What a swing.

Wind chill -90F

[KQ]

And it's snowing again on top of the foot we have on the ground! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Picture from our local rag taken in W2 on Wednesday:

[Game Over]

^I get the feeling that there is a hungover person somewhere wondering where their car is

22° with 3/4" of ice coating everything. Walking thru grass sounds like shattering glass. Trees still falling randomly.

[KQ]

^I get the feeling that there is a hungover person somewhere wondering where their car is

22° with 3/4" of ice coating everything. Walking thru grass sounds like shattering glass. Trees still falling randomly.

Oh man ice is the worst. The snow we have on the ground is a hassle but I'll take it over ice any day.

LOL@ Portland! Seen this happen in Seattle too:



How did an inch of snow shut down Portland? Hubris and bad timing

An inch of snow, which would be charitably called a "dusting" in other parts of the country, brought Portland to its knees Wednesday.

Commutes that normally take minutes stretched to hours. Drivers stuck on steep, slick hills ditched cars on roadsides, and even in traffic lanes. Snowplows and buses, the cavalry that might have saved the day, were stuck in traffic with everyone else.

What went wrong? A combination of the storm's bad timing, a city not practiced in dealing with snow, and, yes, the hubris of its residents who thought they were immune to the realities of bad weather and physics. Adding to the chaos, most school districts across the region chose not to shut down, sending more parents to work.

The first flakes appeared late Wednesday morning.

Then the snow began to stick, and panic set in. Hundreds of thousands of motorists jammed the region's roads at once as snow started to accumulate in early afternoon.

It was no surprise. The National Weather Service had predicted early Tuesday that Wednesday could bring up to 2 inches of snow. Transportation officials began broadcasting the message on social media and in the news, asking drivers to avoid travel.

But the advice went unheeded. The school day went on as planned, which Portland Public Schools has since acknowledged was a mistake, and few employers took the cue to advise workers to stay home.

"Everything was open," said Don Hamilton, an Oregon Department Transportation spokesman. "Then the storm hit in the afternoon, and everyone decided to go home at the same time."

Crews had been out for days earlier spraying the road surfaces with gravel and de-icing solution. But rock salt, a staple of cities prone to frequent snowfall, isn't often used in Oregon. Transportation officials acknowledge it's an effective melting agent but counter that it damages roads, vehicles and the environment.

Oregon, however, has begun to lay down salt at its borders with Idaho, Nevada and California. Those states use rock salt on their roads, which previously made the transition across the Oregon border a jarring one for drivers.

"We're in the fourth year of a pilot project right now to see if that's one of the tools that we can put in our arsenal to attack the winter," Hamilton said.

Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesman John Brady deflected the idea that the city should adopt the use of salt - instead of its preferred magnesium chloride - to assist in making streets more drivable.

"Salt comes with some big tradeoffs," Brady said. "It's highly corrosive, both to our equipment and to cars. Because of its corrosive qualities, it's expensive to store and not ideal environmental side effects."

Once snow began to fall, trucks fitted with snowplows began trying to clear streets, with a focus on major roads, hospitals and emergency routes. Portland has about 55 trucks fitted with snowplows and sand spreaders staged across the city, while the Oregon Department of Transportation had 80 throughout the Portland region.

Portland's fleet is somewhat smaller than the less populous -- but much snowier -- city of Minneapolis, which has at least 69 dump trucks fitted with plows. But Portland has twice the miles of street.

In the end, though, it didn't matter much. Once the snow arrived, the plow trucks found themselves stuck in traffic.

"We've got those plows out there all over the city," said Dylan Rivera, a Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesman. "Then as they were working to clear the roads, they were hampered by traffic congestion."

Making matters worse were cars without traction tires or chains that tried and failed to negotiate hills, such as U.S. 26 west of the Vista Ridge Tunnel. Road shoulders, and even travel lanes, ended up littered with abandoned cars. "Road Closed" signs went unheeded, with predictable results.

AAA Oregon/Idaho received 5,000 calls Wednesday, more than double the normal volume. By Thursday morning, it was triaging responses, with people in unsafe conditions taking priority.

"It seemed like there were many people who simply were not prepared for winter driving conditions," AAA spokeswoman Marie Dodds said.

The jams didn't let up until late in the evening. Commuters reported hourslong trips home. School kids arrived home late in the evening after delayed bus rides.

Portland teacher Sunshine McFaul got in her car and left for her Cedar Hills home after her husband sent an urgent warning about the worsening roads. It was just after 3 p.m.

She didn't get out of her car again until 10:45 p.m. Her commute, typically about 20 minutes, took more than 7-1/2 hours.

"We'd move a few feet, and we'd stop for 25 minutes," she said. "We'd move a few feet, and we'd stop for an hour. It was a lot of not moving."

TriMet buses had been fitted with tire chains to get them through the snow. That usually slows the buses down and causes delays, but in the end they were stuck in traffic with everyone else.

MAX light-rail riders suffered 20- to 30-minute disruptions and ensuing delays caused by snow-jammed switches.

Charles Dye, a 44-year-old social media marketer, flew into Portland International Airport and expected trouble. By the time he arrived at the airport about 10:30 p.m., large crowds of people "looked as if they had flat-out given up," he said.

Dye hailed an Uber and paid $75, about $30 more than usual due to the surge in demand. The ride only took 10 minutes longer than usual.

Still, the trip home presented some harrowing scenes, he said.

"There were so many abandoned cars on the road," Dye said, "it looked like when Mount St. Helens erupted, but with snow instead of ash."

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com