We just got covered in ice last night. Trees are down, there are widespread power outages, train and bus service is disrupted, water pumping stations are on backup power, flights are cancelled, and people are being warned to stay off the ice-covered roads.
Mercifully, no-one’s died yet. But it’s supposed to get colder and windier, which means that no ice is going to melt and more trees may come down on power lines.
Incredibly, my building never lost power, but large parts of Oshawa did lose power. I did not go out of town to visit my aunt yesterday because I was concerned about getting back, and I think I made the right decision there.
Just south of y’all here in the Buffalo area, I see the trees and grass with some ice, but it never quite got to freezing to turn the roads to a hockey rink. Some freezing closer to Niagara Falls to take out some power lines, but Buffalo is fine.
Gotta fight against 30 years of Johnny Carson jokes here about Buffalo getting creamed regularly.
Oh, I’m sorry to hear this. I hate ice storms, I hate driving in ice, and I hate seeing the destruction. We just got snow, but I will quit complaining about it now.
We have not lost power, but both my sister and my wife’s sister and their families are without power. Luckily, my parents are in Florida and their condo still has power so my sister is squatting there. My sister-in-law, her husband, and their 1 year old are crashing at our place.
Trees and power lines are down all over - my neighbor lost his front and back glass in their car from a downed branch that we watched fall.
Cross at Niagara, head East on the thruway. Cut south through Ithaca, pass the Endless Mountains region along 380. When you get to 80, take it East. When get to GSP, head South.
Beaches are Empty. Honest.
PS- Bring Ice Wine. Irony tastes good next to a bonfire on a beach.
That was a very strange weather front over the weekend. East Tennessee saw near record high temperatures followed by torrential rains. Many of the local streams are at flood stage. Today will have temperatures dropping to 26F/-3.3C with some snow.
ETA: Ice storms are terrible. Be safe and good luck.
My family and I have been very lucky - the power has flickered off a couple of times, but just for a few minutes. I haven’t bothered with the car - the streetcars were off yesterday, but the subway and the buses were running. I was about ten feet away from a large branch when it fell on the sidewalk yesterday, but no one was hurt. We deliberately chose a gas fireplace that can be manually lit, but that hasn’t been necessary. All in all, we’re very fortunate.
And today is a good day to buy doughnuts for any Hydro crews you see - they’ve earned it and then some!!
The warm wet low causes the cold air to stay down, and as the warm rain falls over it, it freezes as it hits the lower colder air. It’s cold arctic air that creates these conditions, with out the unusual and early cold it would be warm with little rain, rather than the extreme weather causing such suffering.
Its very strange weather and all of the snow that was down last week has melted. Hey, If I could have given Ontario 40 of those degrees so all you got was a rain storm, I would have.
Ice storms are terrible and I hope everyone is ok.
PS- my post about the drive was tongue in cheek; Never try to drive in an ice storm.
My area is one of them. I was woken by a loud explosion…noticed the power was out…which is actually pretty common, so I went back to sleep…then I woke up and the power was still out and I looked outside…turned out the explosion was a power line being ripped free, and the area was now in a blackout.
It came back for a while (maybe 15 minutes?) around 2 PM then went out again until sometime this morning.
One of the trees in our back yard lost a large limb - luckily, all the ones that hung over the house had already been cut off in anticipation of just such an event. Not everybody in the neighbourhood was so lucky.
One thing I’m torn between finding frightening and funny (and it’s fucking impressive, in either case)…the junction where the power line comes into our house was yanked partially off the roof - it’s still connected, and none of the power lines into the house were ripped out…
But apparently it was directly connected to one of the outlets in my bedroom…which was yanked up into the wall about 5 inches.
The power went out in my section of Scarborough (part of the GTA) around 6:00 am and came back on at 2:45 the next morning. Tree branches were all over the backyard and the sidewalks were sheets of ice. Nothing for it but to wrap myself in blankets and huddle in the bedroom, eating cold meat loaf and reading by flashlight.
I had been planning to do my Christmas shopping yesterday; hopefully, I can get everything I need this afternoon or tomorrow.
I have not been able to get my car out of the driveway since Friday. I tried this morning, but the town had plowed the street and left the driveways blocked. We didn’t have that much ice, but enough. In Montreal. Fortunately, we have power.
One of the houses across the street has Do Not Cross tape across the property.
I didn’t want to get dressed and go outside to look (cuz it’s still cold and kind of slippery, even though the worst of the ice has been cleaned up), so all I see is a tree down (there is no vantage point where you can see their house from inside ours), so I don’t know quite why, but…yikes.
I ventured out to the office this morning, and my guess is that half the traffic lights were out - either flashing red or completely dark.
There are a few idiots out there, but most people are treating them as a four way stop. It takes a bit of time to get through a major intersection that way.
