We live too close to the Pacific shore in the extreme northwest of California to get snow. Our winter nights rarely fall below freezing. Our daytime highs in winter are around 52F (11C). The small cities nearby are all right on the water and their weather is even milder. Their winter highs are usually around 57F (13C) and the lows around 40F (5C). Their summer temperatures aren't much warmer. The people come outside in shorts and sandals when a summer day reaches 65F (17C). Today the weather is almost summer-like, 72F (22C). A very unusual autum, usually this late in the year the weather is winter-like and we have to heat the house. The towns just a few miles inland are at higher elevations, and they get snow every year. We get a light dusting of it for a few hours once every three or four years. We drive our Lhasa Apso dogs up into the snow. They don't realize it but they were bred for the Himalayas. They step out of the car very carefully, wondering what that white stuff is, but within a few minutes they're bounding around in it like mountain goats, chasing each other straight up and down the sides of snowy cliffs. Gives them a chance to use the features they were bred for: long, warm fur; huge, stable feet; a long, agile body; and short, strong legs.
You've mentioned living in Humboldt Fraggle. I lived in Eureka most of my life, and there is the occasional freak snowstorm there that sticks. I remember one year finding out that snow hurts your eyes when you ride a bicycle while it is falling. And the time I looked outside at a friends house, and saw that snow was steadily falling, and building up on the road. Not that big of a deal, except that I ridden my motorcycle over for dinner. I immediately left before the buildup got too thick, and had to shake clumps of snow off of myself on arriving home. Weather here in Chico is low 80's. Tomorrows predicted high is 88 degrees. Fall is a nice season here. Winter mostly consists of rain, with the occasional freak snowshower. But it is almost as rare here as where Fragggle lives.
My old stomping grounds of Silverton, CO had their first big snow and ran their chairlifts for some skiing over a month ago (Sept. 4th) as all my old friends and collegues always send me excited emails and snaps. Thats not unusual for out there. Currently in Vermont - the lack of mountains here mean there is no real snow usually until well into November. BUT - the leaves are starting to change now, and the hill out here dressed in those bright colors are pretty amazing!
whitewolf wrote: Wish I had an answer to that one. It seems bizarre the way things are. I am in Northern Wisconsin...we don't get as much snow as we used to...but things rarely close here. School or businesses might open later, about a half hour or so if it snows more than 6 inches just because there is a lot of plowing to do to get there in th first place. Which throws my teenager into fits of dismay because if the principal of the school can make it in, school is on lol I used to work with a girl from New Mexico and she had said that one year it snowed about a 1/2 inch when she was in highschool and they closed the school and most of the roads! lol She said it was because they rarely got snow and didn't have enough trucks to haul in salt/sand and plows...plows! lol for a 1/2 inch! HA HA Anyways, I guess I never had understood why some places that usually get snow close things...you'd think they would be prepared.
Well, places that don't get as much snow don't have the infrastructure (road pull-offs, plows and etc) to handle lots of snow. Also the snow some places is much more icy and slick than the snow is in other places that might get a lot MORE snow but its less dense and icy. And there are certainly parts of New Mexico that get nearly no snow. But its a diverse place, after all - Taos (New Mexico) gets more snow than you EVER get in Northern Wisconsin!
Oh, you haven't really been the Compleat Motor-Cyclist if you haven't ridden through the snow on purpose. We used to take our dirt bikes up to Tejon Summit (the top of the Grapevine on I-5 between L.A. and Bakersfield, about 5,000 ft) and ride through the snowdrifts that covered our summertime desert trails. What a hoot. You fall down occasionally but it's like skiing, you just make a fluffy plop in the snow. One year the snow line was quite a bit lower and rather far down the mountains that circle L.A. Except we didn't know that. We were out for a mildly bracing Southern California Winter ride, zooming around on our favorite mountain roads. Suddenly the roadway was covered with snow. I was riding my Triumph 650 road bike -- fairing, saddlebags, and all -- with a buddy on the back. It was no problem slowing down, we had plenty of warning. The other guys stopped and wondered what to do. I just motored right on into it, sending up roostertails of snow, applying all the skills I'd learned on my knobby-tired Hodaka 100 as well as my faith in what to this day I consider The Finest Motorcycle Ever Built (despite the British people's congenital inabilities to master electricity or design an oil-proof gasket), being just the most macho guy in the crowd. My good-natured passenger after a few minutes realized that I must really have known what I was doing because we were still upright and I'd never even had to put a foot down, and his sense of relief manifested as an explosion of laughter that galvanized the rest of the group into following us. Twenty miles of that stuff, occasionally so deep and so completely untrammeled that we couldn't find the road and were going cross-country hoping not to hit any boulders. And we were racing, hitting speeds up to 50mph in drifts that would have stopped most cars. Everyone failing dismally to catch the guy who grew up in snowless southern Arizona on the full-dress Triumph. That was one of the most memorable rides of my life. One of the many reasons that as I got older and more in touch with my mortality, it wasn't hard to hang up the old helmet and get a nice civilized sportscar. There weren't many two-wheeled thrills that I didn't have when I was young enough and foolish enough to try them.
So you people think you know cold huh Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I'm from Manitoba, Canada and i think about the coldest i've seen is -45 C plus windchill, and me being the dumb shit I am (or macho, w/e u prefer) didn't feel it was necessary to zip up my jacket. I mean hell........I don't even put the thing on until it hits -20 C. Yah, anyways, long story short I froze my ear solid. Don't worry though, it thawed out fine and without any long-term effects (unless a week with a red ear is long term). From then on I've always worn a toque. For those of you who've seen days as cold as I and dared to take the garbage out at 5 in the morning in nothing but your boxers. RIGHT ON BROTHA!
im just going into my summer heatwave, although the ozone hole is 20% smaller this year, i still must thank you americans for all your toxic waste, making my winters bitter and my summers unbearable. why dont you give me some of your ozone!!!
Yeah, I went to College in Alamosa, CO -- which is in a weird little geographical anamoly (lowest spot in the highest biggest alpine valley), it is the coldest town in the lower 48 US states. I've seen it not get above -40f for over a week. Once saw it at -58f. We were the same way, stupid - and would walk from one dorm to another wearing shorts and shit. Kind of exhilerating, though if you locked yourself outside you could *die*! And in typical American buerocratic idiocy - they kept the dorms so hot, and didn't let us have our own thermostats - so it would be -40 outside and we'd have to have our windows open a bit sometimes! Then I worked at a ski area for 12 years that gets the most snow in CO - 500" to 800" a year on average. Now I'm in New England, and these Yankee's have this weird machismo about wanting to think its *SO* harsh to live here . . . but its nothing, its mild compared to what I'm used to!
Winter driving tips from a Canadian 1- Slow down 2- When approaching an icy intersection do not travel on the common path created by other vehicles, rather, straddle the common path so your tires ride the middle of the lane and the far side of the lane. Those sections do not tend to freeze as much as the travelled portion - you'll be able to stop a lot quicker. 3- If you have a 4WD, Keep in mind that you may be able to accellerate easier but, you still have to stop - and the fact that you have a 4WD means your vehicles braking ability is already impaired because of weight etc. 4- Keep your distance from vehicles in fron tof you. 5- Do not try and 'pump' the brakes on a car with anti-lock brakes - Trust your anti-lock brakes. They are designed to 'pump' brake application at a much faster rate than you possibly could. 6- Never Never Never Never use cruise control in winter....NEVER! 7- On the highway - if you feel your vehicle slipping around a corner DO NOT touch the brake, otherwise you'll be in the 'giggle-weeds' faster than you can say HOLY SHIT! If you can, steer into skid, regain control then steer into curve slowly without applying the accellerator or brake - critical component of this being successful is reduced speed at the outset. 8- One thing I always do is travel in the outside lane in bad conditions. If I have to stop suddenly I can always opt for the ditch or snowbank, rather than oncoming traffic. 9- All-season tires suck! Use winter tires instead. 10- If your unlucky and lose complete control of your car keep the brake ON and hands OFF the steering wheel. heh, I remember a story I heard once, can't back it up but it's funny none-the-less: A Canadian couple came upon a road block in NY State, the road was closed due to snow. They pulled up, Trooper approached the car and advised the road was closed due to weather (snow). Trooper asked where they were from, to which they answered, 'Canada.' Trooper stood up, looked at his partner and said, 'Let them through, they're from Canada.'
A couple of weeks ago, we had snow at night. It melted after a couple of days though. It has been below freezing at night, so we will start having more significan snowfalls anytime.
Of course it all depends where you are from in Canada. Unless you are from the Mountains of B.C. -- my daily commute to work for over a decade (Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado) gets a LOT more snow. However, your list is quite good. I'd add "SUV's and trucks handle worse on slick roads than 4WD/AWD cars like Audi Quattro's and Subaru's . . . less mass and lower center of gravity is everything!"
True true true... I know a few folks from the US side of the Rockies that could give driving lessons to those in, lets say TORONTO. SUV's. 4WD Trucks - YUP! They tend to give their owners a false sense of control in winter conditions. On the other hand an Audi Quattro and the like are much much better suited for winter driving than ANY vehicle on the road, for reasons you point out - weight, centre of gravity etc. I live in Northern Ontario: lotsa snow, shitty highways, and good drivers. Funny thing though, it usually takes a day or two following a good dumping of snow, and several stupid fender benders, before we revert back to our defensive winter driving habits. Oh how I hate those first few days....
In Colorado we used to play "SUV Bingo" -- crossing off the models of SUV's we'd see off in the ditch on our way to work! We'd also slow down to make sure everybody was ok, and in the case of somebody driving one of the more obnoxious *huge* ones . . . if they were ok - we'd point, laugh, spin a donut in our AWD drive car, and speed off. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
'SUV BINGO' never heard of it, but I may play this winter. sadly, up here, most accidents on winter highways involve Pulp Trucks and some poor sucker in another vehicle. When those rigs lose control - Pulp Trucks - everyone is at their mercy. The idiots who end up in the ditch (i've been an idiot in this context a few times) are the lucky ones.
