Still Hard to Believe
We just got a call saying that school is canceled again--for the fourth consecutive school day. On the day prior to that, we dismissed at 1:30 because of the snow.
On Sunday, between the two storms that took aim on this area, traffic moved normally, and a great deal of melting occurred. The second storm brought less snowfall than predicted, and the temperature actually stayed just above freezing all day yesterday, so the snow melted immediately wherever it landed on surfaces not already covered by snow. However, much of the mischief must have occurred during the night after the temperature dropped and we kept getting some snow which was dry enough to be carried easily by the wind.
The strong winds piled drifts high on east-west roadways. This morning the Reno County Sheriff's Facebook page quotes a member of the department who must have been out and about in lots of places early this morning: Sgt Smith advises if you don't have 4WD, don't even think about getting out. This was apparently posted at about 5:30 AM. A long list of county road closings was posted, with an explanation that there will be no barricades because no one can get out to place them. After 3:00 AM some of those roads were gradually being opened, and a list of those was posted as well.
The township (gravel) roads, which make up most of the road network in the countryside, are usually in much worse shape than the county roads, and one snow plow usually has to cover all the roads in a square six miles on each side, with roads subdividing it into one-square-mile sections. Every road needs at least two passes, and when the snow is wet and piled high, it's very slow going. Things could have been much worse if there had not been so much melting, but, as it was, snowbanks on the roadsides provided a convenient fill-in area for this most recent snow to accumulate.
Some places, where lots of snow is more common, are likely prepared to make a faster response to an event like we've had. During many of our winters, such equipment would sit idle all winter long. Avoiding that unnecessary equipment expense means that we need to be willing to deal with some inconvenience under the circumstances we have now.
Hiromi was on the job yesterday. He reported that there were lots of "________" (unwise people) out to shop. "One 80-year old woman walking with a cane came and bought things she could have easily done without." Hiromi was able to leave work a little before his shift ended, and got home without incident, but he noted that it looked a lot more snow-covered here than in town.
One couple from our church is expecting twins. Signs that they might make an appearance too early have called for lots of monitoring and some interventions. I sincerely hoped they would not need to make a hospital run on bad roads. Today is the marker day they've been hoping to get to--34 weeks along. Longer would no doubt be better for the babies.
On Sunday, between the two storms that took aim on this area, traffic moved normally, and a great deal of melting occurred. The second storm brought less snowfall than predicted, and the temperature actually stayed just above freezing all day yesterday, so the snow melted immediately wherever it landed on surfaces not already covered by snow. However, much of the mischief must have occurred during the night after the temperature dropped and we kept getting some snow which was dry enough to be carried easily by the wind.
The strong winds piled drifts high on east-west roadways. This morning the Reno County Sheriff's Facebook page quotes a member of the department who must have been out and about in lots of places early this morning: Sgt Smith advises if you don't have 4WD, don't even think about getting out. This was apparently posted at about 5:30 AM. A long list of county road closings was posted, with an explanation that there will be no barricades because no one can get out to place them. After 3:00 AM some of those roads were gradually being opened, and a list of those was posted as well.
The township (gravel) roads, which make up most of the road network in the countryside, are usually in much worse shape than the county roads, and one snow plow usually has to cover all the roads in a square six miles on each side, with roads subdividing it into one-square-mile sections. Every road needs at least two passes, and when the snow is wet and piled high, it's very slow going. Things could have been much worse if there had not been so much melting, but, as it was, snowbanks on the roadsides provided a convenient fill-in area for this most recent snow to accumulate.
Some places, where lots of snow is more common, are likely prepared to make a faster response to an event like we've had. During many of our winters, such equipment would sit idle all winter long. Avoiding that unnecessary equipment expense means that we need to be willing to deal with some inconvenience under the circumstances we have now.
Hiromi was on the job yesterday. He reported that there were lots of "________" (unwise people) out to shop. "One 80-year old woman walking with a cane came and bought things she could have easily done without." Hiromi was able to leave work a little before his shift ended, and got home without incident, but he noted that it looked a lot more snow-covered here than in town.
One couple from our church is expecting twins. Signs that they might make an appearance too early have called for lots of monitoring and some interventions. I sincerely hoped they would not need to make a hospital run on bad roads. Today is the marker day they've been hoping to get to--34 weeks along. Longer would no doubt be better for the babies.
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
5:38 AM
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