Just Got Hit With Freezing Rain...Again Tuesday Feb 12

[Iron Woode]

Looks to be about an inch or so. That plus an inch or 2 of wet snow equals horrible driving and walking conditions.

Hopefully it warms up enough to melt this nightmare.

 

[nakedfrog]

That's pretty terrible, we had a similar combo a few weeks ago.

 

[gill77]

Sucks. Limbs come down on power lines. Stuck in the cold and dark.

 

[Exterous]

Sorry to hear that. We largely got spared despite the news warnings about it. I've had worse drives\walks into work this calendar year

 

[DietDrThunder]

So do you guys that live in those regions that freeze buy backup generators for your homes?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Nasty. Freezing rain is the worse. Just messes up everything, and it's usually permanent for the season.

 

[Homerboy]

So do you guys that live in those regions that freeze buy backup generators for your homes?

No

 

[Iron Woode]

So do you guys that live in those regions that freeze buy backup generators for your homes?

I guess it would depend on the person and where they live. If power outages are common then I suspect people would have them.

 

[Red Squirrel]

So do you guys that live in those regions that freeze buy backup generators for your homes?

I've thought about it, but never did. There's only been a few instances where I live that the power went out long enough that I would have made use of one though. If I did get one, I'd want a propane one, so it burns cleaner and overall don't have to worry too much about it sitting for a long time before being used. But when you go propane you're now in the standby generator territory and they are more expensive. There's natural gas ones too, but I think I would go propane as it's a bit more "off grid". If something large scale happens and natural gas AND power is out then I'd be kinda screwed.

Solar panels would be my next idea, problem is, ironicly, freezing rain. The ones on my shed are out of commission for the year as we got freezing rain in early December and now they are just caked with this crusty/icy snow layer that can't come off. They are producing just enough to keep the battery trickle charged but it would not run any serious load. If I had a bigger property I'd just put up a vertical array with awning to protect from the snow and rain.

 

[Iron Woode]

Looks like all the schools are closed here.

https://lfpress.com/news/local-news...-roads-looking-treacherous-amid-freezing-rain

Freezing rain hitting large parts of Southwestern Ontario turned a typical Wednesday morning upside down for thousands, shutting schools, cancelling more than a dozen flights in and out of London and creating headaches on roads across the region.

Both the Thames Valley District and the London District Catholic school boards announced early Wednesday the cancellation of all classes due to poor road conditions. All administrative buildings from both boards were also closed for the day.

While weather conditions forced the cancellation of classes at the University of Waterloo, both Fanshawe College and Western University were open Wednesday. Both local schools, however, were asking students to be careful on their way to classes.

 

[nakedfrog]

So do you guys that live in those regions that freeze buy backup generators for your homes?

Not here, power outages are actually pretty rare for us (they do have utility crews go through and trim branches near power lines every year).
The longest power outage I've had in fourteen years living in this town (two different houses) was a couple summers ago when we had a massive windstorm thing that had trees down all over the place, it was out for eight hours or so.

 

[DietDrThunder]

I've thought about it, but never did. There's only been a few instances where I live that the power went out long enough that I would have made use of one though. If I did get one, I'd want a propane one, so it burns cleaner and overall don't have to worry too much about it sitting for a long time before being used. But when you go propane you're now in the standby generator territory and they are more expensive. There's natural gas ones too, but I think I would go propane as it's a bit more "off grid". If something large scale happens and natural gas AND power is out then I'd be kinda screwed.

Solar panels would be my next idea, problem is, ironicly, freezing rain. The ones on my shed are out of commission for the year as we got freezing rain in early December and now they are just caked with this crusty/icy snow layer that can't come off. They are producing just enough to keep the battery trickle charged but it would not run any serious load. If I had a bigger property I'd just put up a vertical array with awning to protect from the snow and rain.

We typically have the opposite problem down here. My next door neighbor works at the power plant, and during the Summer when the grid is pulling too much current, they will intentionally do a temporary brown out. He said that they hope to catch peoples HVAC systems while running so they won't cycle down properly, and no longer cool and reduce the load. This is really bad on the HVAC's starter capacitor. I used to have to drive home from work and reset everything, but my wife has gotten real good at turning the thermostats to off, flipping the breakers off, and letting the HVAC system cycle down for about five minutes. Then everything usually powers back up fine unless the starter capacitor is shot.

 

[snoopy7548]

We're gonna get some freezing rain tonight. Good thing the past two days have been ~50F+, so most of the snow is gone and the roads are all clear.

 

[Iron Woode]

UPDATE:

A week later and BAM! hit with more snow and freezing rain today. Schools and school buses are cancelled here.

 

[snoopy7548]

We're getting 5-8" of snow starting around 2p.m. and ending at like 6p.m., then turning to rain/slush overnight. I'll probably leave work around 4p.m.

 

[DietDrThunder]

We apparently are having a slightly below average temperature winter. Our average winter high temperature is 57.4F and this winter it has been 57F. A whole .4F cooler. We've also had 6.75 inches of rain this winter, which is 2.25 inches above normal.

 

[Exterous]

Today's drive in was a mess. Car was coated in a coat of ice when I got to the parking garage

 

[IronWing]

I had to scrap the sunshine off the windshield this morning.

 

[shortylickens]

Mother nature is not your friend.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Nasty, glad it's staying cold up here, we're only getting snow now. No rain. Announcing around 10-15cm overnight and it's suppose to keep going for next few days. Nothing too major.

Last year was bad, the weather was all over the place, we got freezing rain several times throughout the year. By spring the driveway was a huge mess. Can't do shit with that since it creates multi layers of ice crust. Pretty much have to hire a backhoe or wait for it to melt in May/June when it stays hot through the night.

 

[Iron Woode]

It's snowing here now and it's supposed to snow tomorrow, too. Looks like we will be riding the weather roller-coaster for a few days.

 

[brainhulk]

Is freezing rain just another local term for skeet?

 

[shortylickens]

Is freezing rain just another local term for skeet?

In the Navy "skeet" means something entirely different.

 

[snoopy7548]

Got maybe 4" of snow last night then 2-3" of sleet. I snowblowed right before it started sleeting, then snowblowed after the ~1" of sleet (at 9:30p.m.), and this morning I just made two tire tracks with my shovel up the driveway.

 

[Iron Woode]

it's been snowing all day here. Looks to be about 4" of the white stuff.

It's going to be a slow night at work.