Snow! Really?!

[noparlpf]

It is when the snow covers most of your wheels. On top of the ice and the hail banging in your face for 15 minutes every hour or so.

Okay yeah. If the snow is more than a couple of inches deep it's tough. I just haven't seen that for almost two years now, except for the one freak snowfall we had last October here in New England, so I forgot it happens.

[Krade]

The snow on the ground tends to stick around in these parts. I once tried biking and after slipping on ice and falling three times in rapid succession, I decided it would be best if I just hoofed it when there was snow on the ground.

Also, once it get so cold, biking gets to be a pain in my heavy winter coat.

[thorgrim29]

Screw winter... I don't mind the cold as such, or even the snow when it's on the ground, but I hate shovelling snow and scraping ice off my car. But I can relate with the texas thing, I used to live in central France, everyone freaked out when there was a bit of snow, it was hilarious.

[Traab]

My main problems are both connected. Effing snow plows. First they leave a 10 foot gap between my yard and the plowed section meaning I have to shovel about twice as much snow to get my car out. Then they come back 12 hours later and plow again, this time closer, and now I have to move a mountain of hardened giant snowballs away from the ends of my nicely shoveled paths. And you HAVE to do this, because otherwise if someone falls you are liable. Someone meaning mailmen, delivery people, and random nimrods walking to your door to spread the word of whatever god they worship.

[The Underlord]

What's snow? I'm from Texas

Heh, you want wonky? I grew up in South Dakota. Winter here is anywhere from three to six months long.

Anyways, I was in Texas for military training when they had 'the worst record snowfall' for the last 25 years or so. It was two inches of snow.

From my perspective it was hilarious. Schools were canceled. People were panicking rushing into stores for snow shovels, snowblowers, snow chains.

I passed four accidents on a fifteen minute drive. I walked into the store wearing a tshirt and shorts, because it was still above 50 degrees. The clerk saw me, asked if I was insane, and then asked why I would brave 'this weather' for a copy of a new game.

I replied, 'Because its december, its still fifty degrees outside, and I am bored. Oh and this is nothing. I'm used to six feet. Minimum."

Then I laughed, picturing Texas under six fet of snow.

This reminds me of the time I was in Canada and it was around 70-80 degrees. Everyone was "Omg its so hot!" and I'm thinking "This is nothing, I'm used to 90. Minimum"

[noparlpf]

My main problems are both connected. Effing snow plows. First they leave a 10 foot gap between my yard and the plowed section meaning I have to shovel about twice as much snow to get my car out. Then they come back 12 hours later and plow again, this time closer, and now I have to move a mountain of hardened giant snowballs away from the ends of my nicely shoveled paths. And you HAVE to do this, because otherwise if someone falls you are liable. Someone meaning mailmen, delivery people, and random nimrods walking to your door to spread the word of whatever god they worship.

Where I live now (at my old house there were no sidewalks anywhere except one hundred-meter strip in front of one of the churches), not a one of my neighbours ever bothers to shovel the sidewalk for like a week, so my house is the only place with clear sidewalks. And when I clear a sidewalk, I clear it properly, all the way to the edges, not the tiny strips that eventually show up a week after it's snowed when someone finally gets out with a snowblower and does one half-hearted pass down the walk.

[pffh]

What's snow? I'm from Texas

This reminds me of the time I was in Canada and it was around 70-80 degrees. Everyone was "Omg its so hot!" and I'm thinking "This is nothing, I'm used to 90. Minimum"

*Grumble grumble* That's about 26°C and holy crap that's hot. If it's above 20°C I melt, I prefer a warm 10-12°C weather with a light cooling drizzle since that really is just perfect.

[noparlpf]

*Grumble grumble* That's about 26°C and holy crap that's hot. If it's above 20°C I melt, I prefer a warm 10-12°C weather with a light cooling drizzle since that really is just perfect.

I prefer about 15°C, myself. Above 20°C is uncomfortable. And guess what? The sadist running the thermostat in this dorm usually has it up to about 25°C.

[Astral Avenger]

Dr.Epic I like the way you think.

A few years ago I was visiting cousins in Kansas while even more cousins from Alabama were also visiting. Long story short, it snowed about 2-3 inches while we were there. I'm from Minnesota, so this is just a light dusting to me, but the Alabama ones were freaking out. Long story short, the cousins from Alabama challenged us to a snowball fight while wearing full winter gear and heavy mittens. I was in a t-shirt & shorts and barefoot. I believe I won that one quite soundly.

I have sense become a competitive Nordic skier (cross country for those that don't live in MN or Finland) and hate it when we go past Nov 10 without snow.

[Drakeburn]

I don't enjoy snow. It pretty much gives me reason to enjoy some hot chocolate and egg nog, and stay indoors. Seems like the season for roleplaying games in my case.

[Castaras]

Snow makes me happy because it means it's cold and winter, and I like winter.

It's best either when you're with a bunch of friends who decide to have fun making silly snow sculptures while it's snowing and it's all awesome and such, or when you can look outside, watch the snow fall, and stay indoors feeling even more cosy than usual.

Otherwise, irritating annoying wet stuff. And of course, Britain shuts down entirely as soon as we get a millimetre of dusting on the ground.

[Dr.Epic]

Dr.Epic I like the way you think.

Thank you.

[TheThan]

Yeah, I grew up in the mountains. A lot of snow but I never got a snow day.

I find it hilarious when I hear people talk about how much they love the snow and would love to live in it. then I say “you won’t after you have to shovel a ton of it.” and they always seem to not realize how much of a hassle and hazard it is.

Sure everyone like to visit the snow, go skiing/snowboarding get into snowball fights etc. but it’s a whole different ball game when you’re dealing with it every year.

[noparlpf]

Yeah, I grew up in the mountains. A lot of snow but I never got a snow day.

I find it hilarious when I hear people talk about how much they love the snow and would love to live in it. then I say “you won’t after you have to shovel a ton of it.” and they always seem to not realize how much of a hassle and hazard it is.

Sure everyone like to visit the snow, go skiing/snowboarding get into snowball fights etc. but it’s a whole different ball game when you’re dealing with it every year.

Eh, I grew up in New England, and we usually get a fair amount of snow (except for last year). I still like snow. And we didn't have a snowblower until a couple of years back, so until I was about fifteen we shoveled entirely by hand.
Snow days were always funny. I remember one day in high school that we went to school in a heavy snowstorm with very poor visibility (though it didn't last more than a couple of hours in the morning, so it didn't get all that deep), and then the next day it somehow hit around fifty or sixty degrees Fahrenheit, bright, sunny, and cloudless, and that day they called a snow day.

[Traab]

Eh, I grew up in New England, and we usually get a fair amount of snow (except for last year). I still like snow. And we didn't have a snowblower until a couple of years back, so until I was about fifteen we shoveled entirely by hand.
Snow days were always funny. I remember one day in high school that we went to school in a heavy snowstorm with very poor visibility (though it didn't last more than a couple of hours in the morning, so it didn't get all that deep), and then the next day it somehow hit around fifty or sixty degrees Fahrenheit, bright, sunny, and cloudless, and that day they called a snow day.

Whats annoying me is that the last few years my state has gotten positively skittish about declaring snow days. They call them for anything. They call them hours before snow even falls. They call them when snow wont even start to build up until after everyone is home. I remember as a kid going to school when its already snowing, and staring out the windows as it snows all day, wondering if they will give us an early dismissal. Sometimes they would, sometimes we got to go home at the usual time in several inches of snow. It seemed to be treated as a matter of timing. If there were a couple inches on the ground well before the start of school, it got canceled or delayed. If the snow started to really pile up after that point, an early dismissal. If it was just snowing and not being a white out or blizzard, then we had to suck it up and go to class.

[noparlpf]

Whats annoying me is that the last few years my state has gotten positively skittish about declaring snow days. They call them for anything. They call them hours before snow even falls. They call them when snow wont even start to build up until after everyone is home. I remember as a kid going to school when its already snowing, and staring out the windows as it snows all day, wondering if they will give us an early dismissal. Sometimes they would, sometimes we got to go home at the usual time in several inches of snow. It seemed to be treated as a matter of timing. If there were a couple inches on the ground well before the start of school, it got canceled or delayed. If the snow started to really pile up after that point, an early dismissal. If it was just snowing and not being a white out or blizzard, then we had to suck it up and go to class.

Well in an area that frequently gets snow, the people ought to know how to drive in snow, and they shouldn't mind light to moderate snowfall. The only time it's really properly dangerous to be driving is if it's icy, or if there's heavy snow and poor visibility. But nobody's tested on winter driving (seriously the driving education system is crap in general), and I feel like fewer people are good enough at it to teach their kids. And then you get things like our new principal being from Arizona (they couldn't find anybody nearer to Connecticut willing to work there, I guess?) and not knowing what snow is.

[Traab]

Well in an area that frequently gets snow, the people ought to know how to drive in snow, and they shouldn't mind light to moderate snowfall. The only time it's really properly dangerous to be driving is if it's icy, or if there's heavy snow and poor visibility. But nobody's tested on winter driving (seriously the driving education system is crap in general), and I feel like fewer people are good enough at it to teach their kids. And then you get things like our new principal being from Arizona (they couldn't find anybody nearer to Connecticut willing to work there, I guess?) and not knowing what snow is.

In all honesty, I think it stemmed from once, just once, there was a minor to moderate traffic accident involving a school bus and the snow a few years back. I cant even remember how long ago it was. No kids got more than minor bumps, those buses are freaking tanks, but after that, the "Wont SOMEBODY think of the CHILDREN?!" crowd went berserk. Now they almost have to call snow days whenever the temp drops below 40 just in case, because once out of 10,000 trips, there was a minor accident where no kids got hurt.

[noparlpf]

In all honesty, I think it stemmed from once, just once, there was a minor to moderate traffic accident involving a school bus and the snow a few years back. I cant even remember how long ago it was. No kids got more than minor bumps, those buses are freaking tanks, but after that, the "Wont SOMEBODY think of the CHILDREN?!" crowd went berserk. Now they almost have to call snow days whenever the temp drops below 40 just in case, because once out of 10,000 trips, there was a minor accident where no kids got hurt.

That's a little crazy. I had a bus driver literally get both wheels up across the sidewalk (we had reached a part of town with a couple of sidewalks) and he just figured out what was wrong and drove back onto the road. And nobody really cared that he had just almost driven us off the road and down a steep hill.

[Traab]

Yeah, but this was an actual car accident, not a whoopsie. Either the bus driver hit a car, or the car hit him. Either way the snow/ice was to blame, even though the kids were more or less fine, people got panicky about our childrens lives being in danger, and a far more jumpy method of cancelling school was put in place. More than once it has happened where they cancelled school only for the storm to miss us completely, or turn out to be less than an inch.

[noparlpf]

Yeah, but this was an actual car accident, not a whoopsie. Either the bus driver hit a car, or the car hit him. Either way the snow/ice was to blame, even though the kids were more or less fine, people got panicky about our childrens lives being in danger, and a far more jumpy method of cancelling school was put in place. More than once it has happened where they cancelled school only for the storm to miss us completely, or turn out to be less than an inch.

Yeah. Another foot and this would've been a major accident, though, so I was surprised nobody complained.

[Astral Avenger]

Yeah. Another foot and this would've been a major accident, though, so I was surprised nobody complained.

Another foot may have slowed the out of control vehicle down enough to make it even more minor.

[noparlpf]

Another foot may have slowed the out of control vehicle down enough to make it even more minor.

We would've been on a fairly steep hill at that point, so I doubt it. And we weren't out of control so much as the driver could barely tell where the road was.

[Astral Avenger]

hmm... I see my subconscious decided everyone has as flat an area as I do, hadn't even thought of hills factoring in.

[noparlpf]

hmm... I see my subconscious decided everyone has as flat an area as I do, hadn't even thought of hills factoring in.

Yeah, although not the hilliest place around, Danbury, CT is far from flat. My dad lives on a big hill just at the edge of the Bear Mountain reserve (they have those everywhere, geez), though I don't think there's actually a proper mountain anywhere around, and in fact I'm pretty sure he's higher up than the rest of the reserve. And my mum's old house was in the hilliest part of town, on the east side of the lake.
Made biking a drag, I can tell you.

[Lentrax]

Yeah, although not the hilliest place around, Danbury, CT is far from flat. My dad lives on a big hill just at the edge of the Bear Mountain reserve (they have those everywhere, geez), though I don't think there's actually a proper mountain anywhere around, and in fact I'm pretty sure he's higher up than the rest of the reserve. And my mum's old house was in the hilliest part of town, on the east side of the lake.
Made biking a drag, I can tell you.

Oh man, talking about hills reminds me...

I was driving home from my friends house one night, and my old '88 Ford Tempo did not have the power to make it up the hills on any side of his place. Didn't stop me from trying though. So for like half an hour I was sitting there, tires squeling from the strain... Awesome.

I did finally manage it though. By backing up until I had the runup to get to 50 mph. In a residential area. At two in the morning.

[noparlpf]

Oh man, talking about hills reminds me...

I was driving home from my friends house one night, and my old '88 Ford Tempo did not have the power to make it up the hills on any side of his place. Didn't stop me from trying though. So for like half an hour I was sitting there, tires squeling from the strain... Awesome.

I did finally manage it though. By backing up until I had the runup to get to 50 mph. In a residential area. At two in the morning.

Ha, that's a mix of awful and excellent. And it reminds me, I have a friend who likes to get up speed to coast up hills in neutral.

[Lentrax]

Like one giant vehicular roller coaster? Sounds fun. Where do I sign up?

[Traab]

Yeah, although not the hilliest place around, Danbury, CT is far from flat. My dad lives on a big hill just at the edge of the Bear Mountain reserve (they have those everywhere, geez), though I don't think there's actually a proper mountain anywhere around, and in fact I'm pretty sure he's higher up than the rest of the reserve. And my mum's old house was in the hilliest part of town, on the east side of the lake.
Made biking a drag, I can tell you.

I got you beat. When I visit my uncle, I have to go up bunker hill road in woodbury. The hills are like a rollar coaster, there are nothing but unpaved fields once the edges of the roads end, and everything is a ditch on the side. The only saving grace is, its mostly straight line. So feel free to go 50 miles an hour downhill in the snow. You will need that momentum to make it up the other side. And for those who dont know the area, there are something like 7 hills built that way. God forbid we instal guardrails, oh heck no, we cant have that. Pray the tire tracks in front of you didnt go offroad themselves and keep moving. Or bring a book and a blanket, because you are going to get stuck.

[noparlpf]

Like one giant vehicular roller coaster? Sounds fun. Where do I sign up?

Usually I experience this practice between Danbury, CT and Great Barrington, MA or Brunswick, ME, depending on where we're going. Although lately I haven't been to any of the three. Really, anywhere with hills and long flattish stretches. The goal is to clear the hill without switching back into drive.

I got you beat. When I visit my uncle, I have to go up bunker hill road in woodbury. The hills are like a rollar coaster, there are nothing but unpaved fields once the edges of the roads end, and everything is a ditch on the side. The only saving grace is, its mostly straight line. So feel free to go 50 miles an hour downhill in the snow. You will need that momentum to make it up the other side. And for those who dont know the area, there are something like 7 hills built that way. God forbid we instal guardrails, oh heck no, we cant have that. Pray the tire tracks in front of you didnt go offroad themselves and keep moving. Or bring a book and a blanket, because you are going to get stuck.

I assume you mean Woodbury, CT and not the Woodbury a bit west of me on Long Island, because Long Island is nearly flat. Anyway, I've never driven in (or been a passenger in a car in) Woodbury. But that sounds bad. At least Danbury has guardrails on the worst slopes, like that one twisty road from my area past the south tip of the lake. It's a sheer drop on either side for a short stretch. Although that's another thing, most roads on my side of town are really twisty.

[Drakeburn]

Reminds me of a car trip I had years ago. As a little boy, my family was returning home from visiting some relatives in Idaho, and at the time there was a heck of a snowstorm going on. Around us, there were cars sliding around, flipping over, crashing, and so on and so forth.

It was such a terrifying experience. I don't know how me and my parents managed to make it all the way home, but I'm not complaining.