Anyone have any good ones?
Example: Coldest or deepest snow you ever camped out in?
Worst blizzard your car or other transportation ever got stuck in?
Worst winter weather you ever had to WORK outside in?
Have you ever been out in extreme winter weather where you were really worried you might be severely injured or even die?
‘Good’? Not really. But current.
I flushed the toilet after urinating about half an hour ago. It was a weak flush, and the toilet didn’t fill. Uh-oh. Intake line is frozen. I turned the cold water on in the shower. I heard water, but nothing came out. Hot water worked. After a few seconds, the cold water started running and the toilet’s tank filled. It was 18ºF when I got up.
We had the pipes under the house insulated about three years ago. There’s a little ceramic heater in the bathroom that had been turned on overnight. Not all the way; low setting, with the thermostat set to medium (which is still too warm when it reaches that temperature). I should check the deep sink in the laundry room, and turn on the space heater in the back bedroom. (The intake/drain pipes for the laundry room share a wall with that bedroom.)
Coldest weather I’ve been in was negative 4ºF, at the top of a ski run in Tahoe. Wasn’t so bad. What was bad was that I wiped out later, and destroyed my right knee and some nerves going to my foot.
Worst driving was when I drove down to Oregon to visit the then-future Mrs. L.A. on Christmas Eve about seven or eight years ago. It was snowing heavily south of Portland. The freeway lanes were plowed, but the spaces between the lanes were not. I was in the leftmost lane, and needed to get over, but the snow was pretty deep. I finally just pulled the 4WD lever and went for it. Not much farther on, it was snowing so heavily I almost pulled off as far as I could to stop and wait it out. Couldn’t see a thing. But I pushed on, and eventually made it to Coos Bay. (Incidentally, when I was getting ready to leave on the trip, I noticed that someone had stolen the driver’s-side windshield wiper and arm from my Jeep. Fortunately, a 4WD junkyard was open about 40 or 50 miles away.)
Anyway, it was cold this morning, and we’ll have to keep an eye on the water situation. But it’s supposed to be quite warm (40ºF) soon.
I was preparing the potatoes to make hashbrowns this morning, washing up the food processor, etc. When I turned the water off, I still heard water dripping. The toilet’s intake line was leaking at the valve. I turned the valve off. But I’m going to have to call a plumber.
Not my personal story. But when I was young, my cousin and three of his friends decided to go camping. In January. They figured it was a great plan because the park was officially closed so they were able to use the campground for free.
They were huddled around the fire, trying to convince themselves that they weren’t really as cold as they felt. And they saw a bird perched on a nearby tree. So they began telling each other that they would be okay because wild animals, like that bird, lived outdoors all year round and they didn’t have stuff like fires or tents or blankets. If wild animals could stand the winter cold then so could they.
That lasted for a few minutes until somebody noticed the bird was still perched on the same branch. They went and checked and found that the bird had frozen to death.
That’s when they packed up and headed home.
My street goes up a hill, and my block is a particularly steep drop, with a STOP sign at the intersection below me. People tend to misjudge the hill on this block even on a sunny day.
Every time it snows, before the street can get plowed and treated (if the snow starts at night, we won’t see anything until morning), it turns into an automotive Slip ‘n’ Slide in front of the house. The whole street is a hill, but it’s my block where people slide and crash into the curb and each other. Fortunately the house is set back a good 35-40 feet from the sidewalk. Cars have slid up onto the lawn and taken out my trash cans, and last winter someone slid down the hill and took out someone’s fence on the next block. No one has ever been hurt, but there’s been a hell of a lot of busted bumper covers and dented fenders.
I spend snowy evenings sitting on my porch with a few neighbors, drinking beers and watching, and going out to the street to help anyone who’s crashed and trying to warn off people coming down the hill (with limited success). It’s actually how I met all of the neighbors that we know. Good times!
Every winter since we’ve lived here we’ve called the police and the DoT to ask them to close off at least our block, if not the whole street when it starts snowing, but they’ve never come. Which is not unsurprising, I’m sure they have bigger concerns, but we try anyways. We’ve considered getting some traffic barrels and closing it ourselves, but I’m pretty sure neither myself nor any of my neighbors has any authority to do that.
And once when I was 18 I was on the Beltway in the snow and did a full 360. I was certain I was going to die, but after coming all the way around, in seemingly slow motion, the car righted itself and I drove on. Didn’t hit a thing.
Current, in Kansas. It iced up last night, and now it’s snowing. The temp is actually going down. I went to work at 5:30 AM and it was 23 degrees. Now it’s 17 degrees and the wind is blowing bitter. I don’t even want to think about what the wind chill is. At least I don’t have to go out again, until church tomorrow.
Old story- When I was a month old, in January of 1955, there was a bitter ice storn here in Topeka. A good chunk of the city lost power. That night my folks kept me in their bed, so I would be warm. The next day they took me to some friends who lived in the country. They had a wood burning stove, and it kept their kitchen nice and toasty. What’s amusing is that the area that was then " in the country" is now well withing the city limits, and is all built up.
Camped and skied at -30 F. There’s no such thing as bad weather, just inadequate gear.
For six consecutive years I participated in a kayak event the Sunday before opening of Pennsylvania’s trout season (which this year is April 15). Some years it was 25F, some years it was 40F. Often we got some snow, and the water was always icy cold.
The stream was Class I, II, and III water. I only went into the water once, and it was a pretty awful experience. I was in a kayak, but there were guys (it was a men’s only trip) who did it in canoes, wearing jeans and t shirts.
I never bothered to bring beer, because I was always able to pick beers out of the water after younger guys capsized their canoes. Each year there were a few hospital admissions, mostly due to cold, but also assorted sprains/strains/fractures.
Example: Coldest or deepest snow you ever camped out in?
Boy Scouts in January. Camped at the Regional Park in the river valley for a weekend. Snow was only about 6" to 12" deep, but it was close to melting so a very damp cold. Did not enjoy it and have never gone winter camping again.
Worst blizzard your car or other transportation ever got stuck in?
Don’t really have one that stands out here, because blizzards are commonplace in Saskatchewan and it’s not uncommon to get stuck, usually in the city where the snow accumulates more quickly than on the roads in the country. Did get storm-stayed once on the way back to university after Christmas break - too dangerous to drive so we pulled in to a town and spent the night in a motel. More recently, I was supposed to be in court in a town farther north, but the roads were so icy I turned back to Saskatoon and appeared in court by telephone. (So my expense claim was that I drove 300 km from Regina to Saskatoon to appear in court by telephone in Battleford. It got approved, no problem - that sort of thing happens in Saskatchewan in January.)
Worst winter weather you ever had to WORK outside in?
I don’t work outside as part of my job, but I have shovelled out the driveway during blizzards in -30 C weather.
Have you ever been out in extreme winter weather where you were really worried you might be severely injured or even die?
Nope. I don’t go out in the cold without proper gear, and the car always has a winter survival pack in it.
Years ago, I was coming home for Christmas from college. Huge storm in the Sierras. I was the last car to leave Bishop before the road got closed. Snow was comin’ down fast and hard. I was completely alone between Mammoth and Lee Vining. Very eerie. Snow was about a foot deep on the road.
Suddenly, some fool comes blasting past in a 4 wheel drive, and disappeared into the white-out.
About a mile down the road, I see the tracks he left go into a spin, and off the embankment to the right.
Hell No, I didn’t stop.
Snow eased up a bit around the Nevada state line, and I made it all the way home, almost. Got stuck on the crazy street my folks lived on, about 100 yards from the house. Very steep road, goes into a over 90 degree turn and gets steeper. :rolleyes:
After hours and hours of driving in absolute bullshit, had to walk the last few feet.
Several:
Worst cold+stupid: -63F in Fairbanks, AK. I was in college and my girlfriend decided she wanted French fries, so I threw on my coat and walked to the SUB without gloves or ear covering. It was a bout a quarter of a mile. I frostbit both my ears, which still bothers me in a cold wind some 50 years later.
Worst cold+camping: Boy Scouts. They took us out to the old Campbell Air Strip in Anchorage for the “Winter Camporee”, but failed to check the forecast or to make sure that we were all prepared for the weather prior to leaving town (hey, it’s right in the fucking motto!). So we had kids wearing street shoes and coats not up to the task when the bottom fell out of the thermometer that night down to -30F. Several kids had frostbitten toes and fingers. Parents were outraged, and that was my last scouting experience.
Worst cold+work: Northern Japan in 1974-75. Our project was to install jet aircraft tie-downs on the parking apron. In winter. The sight of guys wrapped in cocoons of clothing and mittens while jackhammering concrete in a blizzard is still fresh in my mind.
Two blizzards:
I woke up one school day to see bright light outside my window. Since the trip to school in winter was always in the dark, I knew that I had overslept. Went into the kitchen and my parents were sitting there drinking coffee. “Whaaa?”, I managed. My mother pointed to the window, which was completely covered with drifted snow. A system with high winds had blown in overnight and the southern face of every object was drifted high; in our case, up to the eaves of the house.
The second was in Anchorage around 2003. A storm blew in on St. Patrick’s Day and stalled over the Anchorage Basin, dumping nearly three feet of snow. I opened the garage, looked at it, and shut the door. Went out snowshoeing later.
A few years ago (2011), my brigade was doing a confirmation exercise for the Arctic Response Company Group. The exercise had our soldiers going from Churchill, Manitoba, to Nunalla (near the border or Nunavut and Manitoba) and then on to Arviat, Nunavut. In February, the “month of the ten-day storms”.
I admit, I was cocky. I was born and raised in Winnipeg, MB, long celebrated (in the winter, the summers are incredibly hot) as the “Coldest Major City in The World”. I felt “I knew cold”.
I was terribly wrong. At one point, we checked the temps digitally with a device that went to -60. It dropped to the bottoms reading the then showed an error. I have never had wind that you could physically lean into and not fall over. My stay in Arviat was extended by the blizzard by several days.
The coldest that I have ever subjected myself to was -50 (with windchill) when training for a winter race. Still, I’d rather have it be that steady snap-we-ass cold then warm and then cold (then you sweat and then you freeze).
[quote=“Little_Nemo, post:4, topic:774930”]
Tlasted for a few minutes until somebody noticed the bird was still perched on the same branch. They went and checked and found that the bird had frozen to death.
[QUOTE]
Somehow I knew that was how this story was going to end. 
Poysyn, you’re from the Prairies and you’ve never encountered a wind you can lean into? 
I remember one wind so strong it blew my toddler niece over. Being from Ontario, she thought it very unfair…
I spent the winter of '93/'94 as part-time evening outside help at a local grocer. I seemed to be the only one willing to clear ice off the store’s sidewalk. One night was so bad that even my mustache froze!
My stuck car story is actually my Dad’s. One of the few cars that he bought new, at least after I was born, was a Pinto. A yellow '71 that he used for commuting. One night between '72 and '77, it got stuck in a drift on his way home and he hoofed it to a nearby house to call for help. When he returned, he was surprised to find that it was completely covered except for one tire.
Yes, tire. One of the county’s plows had come along and strayed off the road a bit where his car was. The blade caught the gap between the driver’s door and the fender and ripped the fender off along with the headlight.
I have a friend whose mother had to be transported by the national guard (part of me wants to say in a tank, but I’m not sure that was the case) to the hospital to have her. That was some snowstorm in the late 60’s/early 70’s in … Wisconsin? Ohio? Michigan? One of those cold, snowy states.
I was in Atlanta for Snowpocalypse 2014 (when all the cars got stuck on the interstates), but since I ride the train to work, I had absolutely zero problems getting home that day.
Sorry - should have added, as an adult 
Nope - no pics of me. I do my best to let the soldiers get the credit and attention. I’m support.
Two stories:
Ice storm of 1997. I came home on Monday evening and my coat was covered in ice. Next morning, the power failed. We slept home Tuesday night, cold already. Wednesday we got an air mattress and went to my office, where I had a couch and there was still power. My wife insisted on sleeping on the air mattress, while I slept on the couch. We had brought a small suitcase with us. Thursday, I called a friend who still had power and asked if we could come over and shower. Sure. So we went using the Metro which was still operating, leaving the suitcase behind. Mistake, for my chairman called at the friends to tell us the power had failed in my building. Friend still had power and a spare mattress on the floor of one room. He had his in-laws and another family staying with him, but everyone had a place to sleep. We stayed over and Friday drove to my house to get another suitcase full of clothes. Saturday came and went, Sunday, Monday, ditto, finally on Tuesday morning almost exactly 168 hours after the power had failed, I called home and the answering machine picked up, meaning we had power. I should mention that the temperatures hovered around freezing and the freezing rain kept coming for several days. When we went to my house and two others on Friday, we turned off the water and drained the system. Although when we got back on Tuesday, the house temperature read 34F, so it might not have actually frozen. Most of the provincial power lines from the dams in the north had collapsed. My friend also had intermittent power interruptions, but these were intentional to spread the agony. Some people didn’t have power for weeks, so I feel rather fortunate. A couple two blocks from my house tried to burn some wood in their basement and both died of smoke inhalation. Two of the very very few deaths from the storm. The really scary part was that we had no water for an hour and a half. Lack of water is really dangerous. The city would have faced an evacuation order because of the possibility of fires.
Second story is more amusing than dangerous. Nov. 12, 1968, my first winter in Montreal. I had made an appointment that day to have my car “winterized” (change the tires, check all the fluids, etc.). I took it early that morning to the Volvery, about 4 miles away and was told to come back around 3. As I was getting on the bus to go there, it started snowing heavily. Some snow had been predicted, but not that heavy. I got there around 3 and the car wasn’t ready. Around 4 it was ready. Unfortunately, the salting crews weren’t out and as I left the garage, I ran into a monstrous bumper-to-bumper traffic jam. I had snow tires, but no one else did and there was a hill to negotiate. I inched along with the traffic and didn’t get home till 8. My wife was frantic (no cell phones in 1968). At one point I just had to pee. I was wearing rubber overshoes and took one off and peed into it. Then I opened the car door and dumped it and filled it with snow and cleaned it out. Since traffic was literally creeping, it was okay to stop for a minute. The total accumulation was 13.6", I still remember it.