For some stupid reason I’m actually at work now, even though we’ve had 1"+ rain all night, which is right now changing to freezing rain, to be followed by sleet, to be followed by 4-6"+ of snow, continuing until tomorrow morning. With varying details by forecaster and from minute to minute, of course.
The entire drive in, the radio was nothing but “freezing rain started 1 hour ago in Wentzville; already 1/4” ice on the cars" and “4-6 inches of snow expected, possibly up to 8-12 inches”.
Yet, here I sit at work, obviously so busy and vital to operations that I don’t even have time to post to the Straight Dope. :smack:
I heard 12-18 inches! There were quite a few accidents this morning (mostly I heard on the radio, I only saw one and that was mostly cleaned up, looked like someone hit a street light, but any cars involved were already gone).
I’m used to snow (I’m from NH), but the streets here get so much worse, for a few reason:
Drivers from the area aren’t used to it - they either drive just like normal, or go 2 miles an hour, when somewhere in between those two are appropriate
The roads don’t get cleaned up or salted/sanded nearly as fast as places with more frequent snowfall
Last winter, a 6-inch snowfall changed my 20 minute commute to an hour, since one of the roads I needed to take was not plowed at all. Fun!
I may stay home tomorrow, even though my office will probably technically be open.
I’m in Columbia and just spent forty five minutes scraping the ice off my car. I have to be at work at 10 and haven’t even started getting ready yet. No one in their right mind will go to Circuit City today anyway. I just want to not get yelled at and get my paycheck.
This morning has been either conversations about how stupid we all are for being at work with this coming, or calls from friends working elsewhere asking if we’re getting the freezing rain yet.
I don’t foresee this being a high-productivity day…
I’ve also heard that the freezing rain will probably be knocking power out, since AmerenUE still hasn’t got all the damage fixed from the tornadic winds a few months back. Swell.
I’m in Tulsa, OK and it’s been sleeting all night. The news showed footage of my (non-highway) drive to work - It’s a sheet of ICE! That made up my mind to stay home.
We never get anything pretty - always just frigid cold weather and a bunch of crappy ice and slop to drive/slide around on. The wind chill is currently 12 F!
Up here in Detroit/Ann Arbor, we’re supposed to get socked with a few inches of snow after a few days of 65 degree weather. It’s not as bad as what you’re getting, but we’re(soon to be) in the crap too.
Here around Chicago, we’re supposed to get about 6-10" of the white stuff between 3pm today and noon tomorrow.
I’m kinda looking forward to it, as I have a new snowblower to break in, and I work from home.
It will also blunt the glare from my neighbor’s 6,000,000-watt X-Mas display. Seriously…a plane diverted from O’Hare landed on my block in error due to a 20-foot tall Rudolph with a blinking red nose.
I did not.
No snow. No lovely, white, fluffy, pretty snow (which, actually, I hate. but it’s at least pretty and sort of exciting) Just nasty icy rain and grossness.
The roads were okay this morning. But I’m guessing they’ll be worse on the way home. Which sucks because the second bus I take is always exactly on schedule because the drivers take a break at that bus stop and there’s little to no chance of delays. Whereas the bus I start out on usually arrives at the station either three minutes after the second bus left or just in time that I, running and waving with my bookbag and purse flopping around everywhere, can catch it. There’s almost no chance of my first bus being on time today. So I get to hang out at a bus stop in the cold freezing rain for nearly an hour and wait for the next bus.
I’m down-weather of the OP and it’s right at 33 degrees in Central Illinois, it’s coming down cold, cold rain with just the teensiest of teeny specks of iceballs in the middle of each raindrop. If past experience is anything to go by, we will be at “glaze ice” status come morning. And the City of Decatur agrees: I was at Kroger to stock up on bread and milk along with 85,999 other people, and when I came out, the salt trucks were officially out.
I dropped off four newly purchased ice scrapers plus a can of instant de-icer in the Better Half’s truck on the way home.
Yesterday and the day before we were all walking around in our shirt sleeves. Weather. Gotta love it.
I’m working in Sauget, IL (~ East St. Louis to you outtatowners), and it’s still cold rain here.
Meanwhile, Chesterfield, MO – ~25 min. drive west – is coated in ice. Looks like this might be one of those spotty storms: some places frozen out, others get nothing.
If people think the English talk about the weather a lot, they’ve never been to Kansas. It seems that the favorite topics of discussion are 1. sports and 2. our wacky clime.
Tuesday, it was over 70 degrees and sunny. I broke a sweat walking home from class. Yesterday, 20 degrees and a lovely sleet/ice mixture. It looks like we’ll escape the worst of the snow, but we’re still supposed to get 4".
All this, and the only transport I have is a tiny little sports car. No matter how cautious I am, I just KNOW I’m going to get into an accident.
I live in St. Louis and work in St. Peters. Nothing worse than cold rain on my way to work this morning; since then we’ve had some sleet come down but it’s not collecting. Yet everyone here is drama queen-ing out like we’re living in The Day After Tomorrow. It’s very annoying.
Similar in Memphis: 67 and light rain. The weather forecasters still can’t make up their mind what kind of stuff will be falling from the sky tonight: I’ve heard everything from just rain to sleet to ice to snow to various combinations thereof.
The only thing I know of for certain is that I do not want to be on the roads tonight or tomorrow morning.
__
<< Never confuse endurance with hospitality. >>
I have to drive to Cape Girardieu tomorrow morning (I teach one day a week down at SEMO). I am NOT looking forward to it (although I have been told in no uncertain terms by both my wife and the chair of the department at the university not to go if it’s not safe).
I’m also from New Hampshire. I don’t worry about me driving; it’s everybody else.
