Woman buried in snowbank survives for 3 days

[kaos429]

Is it packed down deliberately, or just as a side effect of use?

Around here, a side effect. When using side streets, the ones that are not plowed, I try to avoid the tire tracks layed out by other cars and drive on the snow, just to pack it down. Generally speaking it's not that slippery if you know what you are doing, even after the packed snow has had time to get polished up. Depending on the street you might get a gravel truck that will scrape. Right now I hope they don't do that here. I reckon there is about 4 inches of packed snow on my street. If the city came by and plowed it, they would only serve to box in parked cars and driveways with the mountain of ice that they will form. So far so good. All they've dropped is gravel outside my house.

And you don't need a 4WD or AWD drive car, you just gotta know how to drive, which Calgarians seem to forget every year when the snow flies for the first time, or if there is a long break in between. I don't even use winter tires.

 

[emzie]

So what all do you do when the roads haven't been plowed? Do you all drive 4wd and just go over the top of it? Because that only works until the snow is up to the undercarriage and then you're stuck. And with storm after storm uncleared seems like you'd get to that pretty fast.

Here, while we get snow, the town and state do a pretty good job of clearing it pretty quick. While a lot of people think they need 4wd, it's really pretty pointless.

Well, during a storm, as long as it's not too bad, the constant flow of cars keeps the major streets somewhat clear. I think of it as a team effort. If the snow's falling too fast for traffic to clear the roads, I do my best to avoid driving.

Side streets though suck. If you can't avoid side streets, depending on the type of snow, either your don't stop unless you have to, or hopefully someone with AWD went down before you, and you can follow the path their tires made. I've done the drive-in-their-tracks thing before... quite odd. Your car steers itself. Doesn't work with fluffy snow, though.

And you don't need a 4WD or AWD drive car, you just gotta know how to drive, which Calgarians seem to forget every year when the snow flies for the first time, or if there is a long break in between. I don't even use winter tires.

2wd with winter tires > AWD with all season. I was amazed when I had my winter tires put on. Sure, I didn't need them, but damn do I prefer them.

 

[Cutlass]

I do that here to an extent, but it's pretty rare for there to be 3 inches of snow on the road from the last time a plow passed. If there is, then that's a storm you should know to stay home from. These days I rarely have to get out when it's snowing, but a couple years ago I was out in pretty much every storm. But as I say, they're pretty good about clearing it around here.

 

[emzie]

I do that here to an extent, but it's pretty rare for there to be 3 inches of snow on the road from the last time a plow passed. If there is, then that's a storm you should know to stay home from. These days I rarely have to get out when it's snowing, but a couple years ago I was out in pretty much every storm. But as I say, they're pretty good about clearing it around here.

Do they plow during a storm, or only once it's slowed down?

 

[Cutlass]

The sanding trucks are out within an hour of it starting and the plowing starts when there's an inch or so down and it doesn't stop until the storm is over. They'll make a dozen passes on each side of side streets and more on main roads. Last storm the truck made 2 passes on my side in less time than it took me to clear one driveway, and that was with the storm pretty much wound down.

 

[emzie]

The sanding trucks are out within an hour of it starting and the plowing starts when there's an inch or so down and it doesn't stop until the storm is over. They'll make a dozen passes on each side of side streets and more on main roads. Last storm the truck made 2 passes on my side in less time than it took me to clear one driveway, and that was with the storm pretty much wound down.

I no longer feel spoiled

 

[kaos429]

2wd with winter tires > AWD with all season. I was amazed when I had my winter tires put on. Sure, I didn't need them, but damn do I prefer them.

If the car is FWD then all seasons will do just fine. Winter tires give you more traction, yes, but they don't help you stop...as some of my fellow citizens have discovered this year. They all thought they bought into something magical when you hit the black ice. Teehee.

@Cutlass - usually there is some melt time around here, but this year is just damn weird. It went deep freeze about two weeks ago, and we just got out yesterday, when it got above zero celcius. That part isnt the weird bit though, that is kinda natural and I expect another big fall in temps at least once more this year. It's weird because the snow fell, it got super cold, and it kept snowing. Usually it get's super sunny for a week and a bit, and the temperature never rises above -20°C or so. This time it snowed every night, and it even seemed to snow when it was clear. We had about 40cm in the first 2 days with the city working the best to clear the main roads and such. Residential streets are abandoned. Day after day it was another 5cm or more, and it just adds up. Like I said the packed snow on the side of the road is as high as the sidewalk now.

Oh what fun it will be when this all melts.

Global warming...

 

[emzie]

If the car is FWD then all seasons will do just fine. Winter tires give you more traction, yes, but they don't help you stop...as some of my fellow citizens have discovered this year. They all thought they bought into something magical when you hit the black ice. Teehee.

Yeah, I have a FWD Honda. I made it through last winter (Something like 15ft, 10 cm short of the record set in 70-71) on old all-season tires. Only lost control a few times.... And winter tires + dry roads = crappy handling and braking.

Sometimes I wish I could swap sets at liberty.

 

[kaos429]

Yeah, I have a FWD Honda. I made it through last winter (Something like 15ft, 10 cm short of the record set in 70-71) on old all-season tires. Only lost control a few times.... And winter tires + dry roads = crappy handling and braking.

Sometimes I wish I could swap sets at liberty.

FWD Toyota here. I've only lost control once to speak of. Doing 80k, I spun out after fish tailing on some black ice on the freeway here. I went across one lane into the snow filled ditch. Didn't hit anyone. That was on older all-seasons about 3 years ago.

Is it summer yet?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

You only use sand when it's too cold for salt to melt ice. Valka lives in a place a bit colder than where you or I live.

Not only that, but salt contributes to soil and groundwater contamination. That's the reason residents are also told not to use salt or kitty litter on our sidewalks. Also, it was noticed that using salt makes it necessary to re-pave the streets more often.

So what all do you do when the roads haven't been plowed? Do you all drive 4wd and just go over the top of it? Because that only works until the snow is up to the undercarriage and then you're stuck. And with storm after storm uncleared seems like you'd get to that pretty fast.

Here, while we get snow, the town and state do a pretty good job of clearing it pretty quick. While a lot of people think they need 4wd, it's really pretty pointless.

Heh, around here, that's when the little 15-watt light bulb would go on in peoples' heads at City Hall and they'd think that maybe if an ambulance couldn't get through, somebody might die... gee, maybe they should clear away some of the snow...?

Around here, a side effect. When using side streets, the ones that are not plowed, I try to avoid the tire tracks layed out by other cars and drive on the snow, just to pack it down. Generally speaking it's not that slippery if you know what you are doing, even after the packed snow has had time to get polished up. Depending on the street you might get a gravel truck that will scrape. Right now I hope they don't do that here. I reckon there is about 4 inches of packed snow on my street. If the city came by and plowed it, they would only serve to box in parked cars and driveways with the mountain of ice that they will form. So far so good. All they've dropped is gravel outside my house.

And you don't need a 4WD or AWD drive car, you just gotta know how to drive, which Calgarians seem to forget every year when the snow flies for the first time, or if there is a long break in between. I don't even use winter tires.

When your residential streets are plowed, are you not required to move your vehicles? Here people get several hours' advance warning (usually 12) to move their cars. Otherwise, the car gets towed away at the owner's expense.

 

[Cutlass]

I no longer feel spoiled

I think that outside a few areas such as the Great Lakes region, the upper Great Plains, and the Rocky mountains, Americans have gotten pretty soft and spoiled where snow is concerned. People old enough so that they were driving in the snow with rear drive cars most of their lives now can't possibly be safe without 4wd or AWD

 

[TheLastOne36]

spoiled? what do you mean by that? Did America traditionally get alot of snow?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I remember some unbelievably cold winters in the '60s and '70s. The winter trends started to really get weird in the '80s, and that's when we first heard of the El Nino/La Nina phenomenon. It's like Nature put all our normal temperatures, precipitation, wind, etc. into a can and shook them up. Then they got spilled out like a game of Pick-up Sticks so we ended up with no snow on Christmas, water rationing in April, and an ungodly sleet storm in early September.

I remember vividly on May 29, 1986, when Red Deer got about three blizzards' worth of snow dumped on us in about a day and a half. The whole city shut down for several days (no electricity), as people were told to stay home unless without necessities. My own family was fine; we had a camp stove and fuel, flashlights, candles, and pets to cuddle up with. My cat and I spent three days tucked up in bed under our quilts and were fine.

There were a few odd instances of really cold weather (-55C) in the '90s, but thankfully not recently. For me, this year has just been mostly wet and windy and damp (high humidity can be just as irritating in winter as in summer).

According to the weather casters, 2008 is the first year since 1971 that Canada has had snow all across the country at the same time at Christmas.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Valka how old are you?

Also i remember fairly good winters in my time in Toronto. I'm guessing that those kind of winters aren't actually the 'real' winters we were suppose to get?

 

[El_Machinae]

I've driven in Edmonton, the Rockies, and Atlantic Canada during the winters (including blizzards). The snow in Atlantic Canada is much easier to deal with: there's more of it, but it melts a lot faster. In Edmonton, once it snows, it doesn't melt and so the roads just get layers of packed ice.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Valka how old are you?

Also i remember fairly good winters in my time in Toronto. I'm guessing that those kind of winters aren't actually the 'real' winters we were suppose to get?

I'm 45. My earliest memories of winter are from when I was about 2 or 3 years old (1965-1966). We've got old black and white photos from then, with my dad and me bundled up, with the family dog. The drifts were quite a bit higher than those we're used to these days -- even though at that time I lived on an acreage.

 

[Cutlass]

spoiled? what do you mean by that? Did America traditionally get alot of snow?

We have near 1/2 a continent to our name. We get every form of weather you can name. The southern 1/2 of the US sees very little snow. The northern 1/2 gets between "some" and "climb through the second floor window because we can't get the door dug out"

 

[Zarn]

Half? I think Mexico + Central America + Caribbean + Canada + Greenland is much greater than 1/2 of North America.

 

[Cutlass]

Central America is often considered seperate from North America. I don't recall anyone ever considering Greenland part of North America.

 

[emzie]

Central America is often considered seperate from North America. I don't recall anyone ever considering Greenland part of North America.

You've never looked at a map of North American then!