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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by John Cole|  February 9, 20108:12 am| 62 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Looking outside, the sky looks like an angry, swollen bruise- the kind of sky you see in movies like The Perfect Storm.

Time for Round 2 of Snowpocalypse.

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Reader Interactions

62Comments

  1. 1.

    demo woman

    February 9, 2010 at 8:14 am

    How’s the shoulder? It’s going to be a rainy day in GA.

  2. 2.

    ericvsthem

    February 9, 2010 at 8:17 am

    Almost 25 inches of snow fell over the weekend in my part of Philadelphia, and the forecast for the next storm is between 12 and 24 inches.

    Biggest concern is with the flooding that will surely happen when this starts to thaw.

  3. 3.

    swalker

    February 9, 2010 at 8:17 am

    Dun dun DUN.

  4. 4.

    New Yorker

    February 9, 2010 at 8:17 am

    Bright and sunny here in Brooklyn. Of course, we are supposed to get 6-12 inches tonight and tomorrow, and this time they mean it (the storm missed us completely on Saturday).

  5. 5.

    Linda Featheringill

    February 9, 2010 at 8:23 am

    You guys bundle up really well, okay? [Yes, that sounds like a little old lady but I AM a lol.]

    I noted a good deal of variation in predictions of amount of snow, both on this site and at WaPo. I am sure it depends on where exactly you are located.

    We are supposed to get more snow tomorrow but I think that is a separate weather system.

    My dog gets hungry for extra food when the weather is especially cold. The cats don’t seem to change much.

  6. 6.

    geg6

    February 9, 2010 at 8:23 am

    Fuck.me. I can’t take much more of this shit.

    We got 21″ the other day and we still don’t have all the roads cleared. Today, starting at noon, they predict another 6-10″ with winds up to 45-50 mph into Thursday evening.

    I am supposed to go and give a FAFSA completion workshop at a local high school in a very rural and hilly area tonight at 6:30pm. I am about to call them to see if we can postpone or cancel because there is no fucking way that I’m driving out into the middle of nowhere in the dark while it is snowing buckets. Thankfully, I went to the supermarket yesterday and got all the necessities stocked up. My plan is to leave work as soon as it starts snowing and huddle up at home for the duration. I had originally taken yesterday off as a vacation day (Super Bowl Monday is known here on campus as geg’s personal national holiday) but the campus was closed so I still have that day to use and I plan on using it.

    It would be nice if Mother Nature had given us a week or so before kicking our asses again.

  7. 7.

    Ellie

    February 9, 2010 at 8:26 am

    After 26 inches over the weekend here in NoVa, the forecast is for another 12-18 by tomorrow night. /shaking fist at clouds

  8. 8.

    SpotWeld

    February 9, 2010 at 8:26 am

    There was a premise put forth by the author Spider Robinson that if a community can pull together during the hard times (espcially those created by natual events)…

    ..then they are just as likely to be total b@sterds when it happens the second time around.

    Batten down man, batten down.

  9. 9.

    DecidedFenceSitter

    February 9, 2010 at 8:29 am

    30ish inches here. I-95HOV was hell. What really made me nervous was the prediction of snow->sleet->snow. I’d rather deal with another 20 inches of pure snow than a mixture of sleet. At least with pure snow I have a hope of not breaking a shovel on the ice bank.

    At least I have a pick axe.

  10. 10.

    frosty

    February 9, 2010 at 8:29 am

    Wait a minute, I think you have your terminology wrong.

    Dec 19th was the Snowpocalypse.

    Last weekend, Obama declared it was Snowmageddon.

    This week, it’s SnOMG!!

    I’ve got a driveway that’s still got ice on it, street parking still snowed in, new roof leaks, and I’m now learning about ice dams.

    Good times.

  11. 11.

    demo woman

    February 9, 2010 at 8:31 am

    @geg6: Somehow this won’t make you feel better but it’s still humorous.
    It describes the way you are feeling.

  12. 12.

    superking

    February 9, 2010 at 8:31 am

    Snowpacolypse was back in December. The weekend was Snowpacolypse 2: Snowmageddon. Today and tomorrow, will be, I think, Snowpacoplypse 3: Snow My God.

  13. 13.

    dr. bloor

    February 9, 2010 at 8:31 am

    Looking outside, the sky looks like an angry, swollen bruise- the kind of sky you see in movies like The Perfect Storm.

    Ooh, if you see Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, say hi to her for me. Total babe.

  14. 14.

    raff

    February 9, 2010 at 8:33 am

    The sky was angry that day, my friends – like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.

  15. 15.

    Blahblah

    February 9, 2010 at 8:35 am

    Dark clouds like an angry swollen bruise… That is a wonderful original simile. I mean it. Never seen that before but it ought to already be cliche it sounds so good.

  16. 16.

    Brick Oven Bill

    February 9, 2010 at 8:35 am

    Mother Gaia surely is angry with Phil Jones. Feel her wrath.

  17. 17.

    jeffreyw

    February 9, 2010 at 8:36 am

    mornin…grumpy as hell..fuckin snow…coffee not helpin…and the damn wind is howlin, howlin for the blood of innocents

  18. 18.

    JenJen

    February 9, 2010 at 8:37 am

    Here in Cincinnati, we’ve got a couple of fresh inches of snow on top of last week’s wallop, and it promises to snow all day.

    Took my first winter spill yesterday, and luckily only bruised my shoulder. If it weren’t for everything being iced over, I love this time of year. :-)

    Olympics in 3 days! It’s more wintery here than in Vancouver right now.

  19. 19.

    Woodbuster

    February 9, 2010 at 8:39 am

    Yes, it is horrible! My yard is still damp from the rain! Gawd, help me, I can’t take anymore!!

    Also, too, Jenny Sanford seems to be enjoying the repeated public skewering of her almost former hubby. Good for her! Course, she is responsible for his having been thrust on us Sandlappers.

  20. 20.

    RedKitten

    February 9, 2010 at 8:39 am

    Stay warm, be safe, and try to avoid driving. Oh, and even if it’s still snowing, go out and shovel off your front step every hour or so. Otherwise, if you let it build up, when you open your door you might get a mini-avalanche landing in your entryway, resulting in much cursing and mopping.

    And I hope that your spring thaw this year is gentle and gradual, with no major flooding.

    And if all else fails, you could always consider moving to Canada, where there’s less snow…

  21. 21.

    Davis X. Machina

    February 9, 2010 at 8:39 am

    My students (rural ME) are pissed. You are having their snow, and meanwhile we’re having XC ski events postponed because of a lack of the stuff.

    My son — a CMU student — was chatting with an old-timer up in Squirrel Hill yesterday who was rejoicing that the snow in P’burgh was finally coming down white.

  22. 22.

    jayjaybear

    February 9, 2010 at 8:40 am

    @jeffreyw:

    …howling for the blood of innocents.

    Well, I’m safe, then. Whew!

  23. 23.

    jeffreyw

    February 9, 2010 at 8:40 am

    Saw on an open thread a ways back that some folks were asking for the location of the shelter where Mrs J volunteers. I’ll drop it in here if you don’t mind.

  24. 24.

    ChrisS

    February 9, 2010 at 8:41 am

    I live in Syracuse. Fortunately, we have the equipment and swollen county budgets (with the required taxes to boot) to deal with 200″ of snow a year.

    I feel for places that aren’t ready to handle a massive amount of snow. Let alone back-to-back events.

    Make sure you shovel your roof off, too.

  25. 25.

    mr. whipple

    February 9, 2010 at 8:43 am

    My dog gets hungry for extra food when the weather is especially cold. The cats don’t seem to change much.

    We can usually tell a storm is coming from watching the bird feeders. They seem to know when a storm is coming, and get into a feeding frenzy.

  26. 26.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 9, 2010 at 8:44 am

    @SpotWeld #8: Have never heard that theory before, but in my own experience it’s quite true. I lived in NYC during the Original Great Blackout (November 1965) and with few exceptions everyone was great, helpful, almost a carnival atmosphere. A few years later, another city-wide blackout was met with widespread looting and violence.

    BTW: just for fun I clicked on your b@sterds. LOL, of course it took me to an email form :-)

  27. 27.

    geg6

    February 9, 2010 at 8:45 am

    @demo woman:

    Heh. It does resemble my grumpiness toward the end there. The sad thing is that I have negotiated winter driving and snow/ice removal my entire life. But this one/two punch, in conjunction with now being over 50, is just too much. Every other college and university in the area is closed today (and one of them even cancelled the whole week). But PSU always soldiers on! Yesterday’s campus closure didn’t come down until 7am.

    Thankfully, I just got a phone call from the high school I was supposed to present at tonight. We’ve re-scheduled for next week. Whew, what a relief!

  28. 28.

    RedKitten

    February 9, 2010 at 8:47 am

    Make sure you shovel your roof off, too.

    Yes! A lot of people don’t think of that, because they forget just how heavy snow can be. Even if you can’t shovel it off completely, getting the worst of it off will save you from potential disaster.

  29. 29.

    jibeaux

    February 9, 2010 at 8:48 am

    No snow here in NC, but last weekend had really the absolute perfect snow. About five inches, nice and beautiful, with just enough moisture for snowballs, snowmen, sledding. It fell on a weekend, too. Only bad part is the inevitable post-snow Southern school freakout, in which school is closed for THREE days (starting two days after the snow) by which time the only remaining snow is some tiny filthy piles in parking lots. But anyway, would really like to go sledding again….

  30. 30.

    BenA

    February 9, 2010 at 8:49 am

    I “only” got 9.5″ (I used a ruler) on Friday night/Saturday… I’m ready for more!

  31. 31.

    Xenos

    February 9, 2010 at 8:49 am

    Here in Western Mass it is another cold, cold day, no snow, no precipitation of any kind. One high-pressure system after another, keeping it cool and dry… the usual El Nino pattern, I believe. After all the snow days last year this is a pretty big relief.

    The kids are pretty pissed off, though.

  32. 32.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 9, 2010 at 8:50 am

    @Blahblah #15: I’ve seen John Cole use the “bruise-coloured sky” or “sky like a big angry bruise” a couple of times before. I think it’s original with him — have never seen it anywhere else. I love it. It’s wonderfully evocative.

  33. 33.

    Skepticat

    February 9, 2010 at 8:51 am

    Well, JC, you should know about angry, swollen bruises.

    We’re looking at a little snow here in Massachusetts. Mother Nature needs her GPS adjusted.

  34. 34.

    Comrade javafascist

    February 9, 2010 at 8:54 am

    @Davis X. Machina: Ditto. It’s February in Vermont and I can see the damn brown grass. That ain’t right.

  35. 35.

    Legalize

    February 9, 2010 at 8:54 am

    The White Death has reaped its fury upon Northern Kentucky and Southwestern Ohio. 2, 3, maybe 4 inches!

  36. 36.

    geg6

    February 9, 2010 at 8:57 am

    @Davis X. Machina:

    My son—a CMU student—was chatting with an old-timer up in Squirrel Hill yesterday who was rejoicing that the snow in P’burgh was finally coming down white.

    That old timer was shining your son on. Pittsburgh hasn’t had dirty snow (at least the snow that is falling from the sky) in my lifetime. That would be a period from 1958 until today. Unless the old timer is really old, that is. But the Smoky City thing was back in the start of the Industrial Revolution up until the early 1940s. The first green initiative for the city was passed in 1941 and, though postponed for WWII, started the cleanup of the city. We are actually pointed to as an environmentally innovative city, which was a huge reason the G20 was here last summer.

    http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_644049.html

  37. 37.

    donnah

    February 9, 2010 at 9:00 am

    Yeah, we here in SW Ohio didn’t get too much of the snowy goodness over the weekend, just about 7 or 8 inches. It’s snowing again now, with a prediction of maybe another 4. I hope that everyone getting dumped on big time will have their power stay on. Bundle up and stay off the roads. The winds are supposed to get very nasty.

  38. 38.

    Morbo

    February 9, 2010 at 9:01 am

    Looks like it’s mostly going south of here, but we’re still on the hook for 2-4 inches. It has been a pretty tame winter locally.

  39. 39.

    Libertini

    February 9, 2010 at 9:05 am

    25 degrees and sunny in Carrollton, Texas. Sending warm(ish) thoughts to those in colder and snOMG areas! We may get some snow on Thursday, but maybe not.

  40. 40.

    Chat Noir

    February 9, 2010 at 9:09 am

    SE lower Michigan reporting. It started snowing a few minutes ago. Light now but it’s supposed to get heavier as the day wears on (and the wind is supposed to pick up) with up to 10″ falling. This winter hasn’t been nearly as bad as last. And I’m with geg6 — I hate driving in this stuff.

  41. 41.

    BenA

    February 9, 2010 at 9:10 am

    @geg6:
    We used to get the same story in Bethlehem, PA while I was at Lehigh. Dirty snow, couldn’t have a white car, etc.

  42. 42.

    Legalize

    February 9, 2010 at 9:20 am

    Now it’s starting to come down in N. Ky. It’s pretty gorgeous.

  43. 43.

    scav

    February 9, 2010 at 9:21 am

    I think Chicago is feeling left out. I can’t imagine why it’s making this much fuss about a mere predicted foot otherwise. I mean, come on, this is CHICAGO. If you can find your cars at the curb, it’s not winter.

  44. 44.

    arguingwithsignposts

    February 9, 2010 at 9:37 am

    5-7 inches in central IL. by no means a snowmaggedon.

  45. 45.

    LuciaMia

    February 9, 2010 at 9:53 am

    Meanwhile,, Vancouver, the Olympic site, is having it’s warmest winter in years, without nearly enough snow. They said today’s temp was gonna be 50 degrees.

    Fucked-up weather, anyone?

  46. 46.

    low-tech cyclist

    February 9, 2010 at 9:55 am

    Here in the DC area, we’re calling it Snowverkill.

  47. 47.

    Mister Colorful Analogy

    February 9, 2010 at 10:27 am

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Set the controls for the heart of the pie!

    Heh. This was a new one for me from Cleek’s super duper awesome pie filter. Made me chuckle, and also made me want to thank Cleek again for allowing me to ignore BoB.

    Cleek, you rock!

    That is all.

  48. 48.

    Th Republic of Stupidity

    February 9, 2010 at 10:31 am

    … the sky looks like an angry, swollen bruise…

    Oooooooooo…

    Looks like somebody’s practicing for the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest…

  49. 49.

    BDeevDad

    February 9, 2010 at 10:31 am

    I love Henry Rollins!

  50. 50.

    Steeplejack

    February 9, 2010 at 10:49 am

    I have been thinking about getting some of those pull-on snow spikes that go over whatever shoes you are wearing. I am in the belly of the Snowpocalypse (Fairfax County, VA), and over the last week (and during the big storm in December) I have realized that none of my shoes are very good in the snow: regular shoes, running shoes, L.L. Bean boots. By which I mean none of them get very good traction, and I slip around a lot. And in my immediate area sidewalks are intermittent or an afterthought, so there’s a lot of snow walking to be done. Plus I walk to and from work (the urban hiker lifestyle).

    Of course, with the additional 10-20” of snow we’re supposed to get in the next 24 hours on top of the 20-30” inches we got Friday-Saturday, maybe I should be thinking about snowshoes. Or cross-country skis.

    An inch of snow today will make this the second-snowiest winter in D.C. history (46-47”, and we only need 6-8”, I think, to top the worst winter ever (1898-99). Good times.

  51. 51.

    Charity

    February 9, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    Here in formerly blue state NJ, I just told my boss I’m taking a rollover day tomorrow. There goddamn well better be 2 feet of the stuff.

    Edited to add: I’m in central NJ, near lefty librul Princeton. North and south of me got 2 feet this past Saturday! We “only” got about 7-8 inches. My office is in a tizzy trying to plan coverage. Many folks are working from home tomorrow. I say, I deserve a snow day.

  52. 52.

    Cris

    February 9, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    Holy crap, the teabaggers are so incoherent in their outrage, they’re even set to primary Ron Paul.

  53. 53.

    Comrade Darkness

    February 9, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    Hey, this is getting ridiculous. GIVE US OUR SNOW BACK!

    I rely on shoveling for my winter exercise and I’m growing a paunch here. Sheesh.

  54. 54.

    freelancer

    February 9, 2010 at 1:44 pm

    I am so goddamned sick of the puerile ignorance that is just pervasive along party lines. Every pig idiot jackass I’ve heard over the past few days/weeks/months, “How do you like this ‘Global Warming‘ we’re having! Heh!”

    Smug morans.

    I just want to drag every single one of them by the ear and sit their ass down in front of an Earth Science Professor.

  55. 55.

    asiangrrlMN

    February 9, 2010 at 2:07 pm

    You East Coasters are making me so sad and jealous with your tales of feet of snow. We got…three inches? Four? Sigh. Where are my feet of snow??????

  56. 56.

    Jim Once

    February 9, 2010 at 2:10 pm

    @freelancer: This. We’re in Florida for a few days more, and I, for one, am ready to never hear that question again. I’ve been the resort guest from Hell for these people, who, when they ask this, respond with, “So, the world. Whattaya think? Flat or round?” They look confused, and then they never speak to me again. Oh darn.

  57. 57.

    Linda Featheringill

    February 9, 2010 at 2:15 pm

    Starting snowing here about 11:00 this morning. It is supposed to continue through tomorrow night. The information on weather dot com says that we are expected a couple of inchest but I have news for them. At this rate, we will get a significant amount. But still less that folks on the east coast.

  58. 58.

    Jim Once

    February 9, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    And here’s another one I hear every day: “The goddam government just can’t do anything right.” Response (because they’re all 70+): “So no Social Security for you, right? No Medicare? Damn, right on. I love a man/woman of principle.”

  59. 59.

    BDeevDad

    February 9, 2010 at 3:48 pm

    @Jim Once: I’m using this.

  60. 60.

    S. cerevisiae

    February 9, 2010 at 4:49 pm

    @freelancer: Exactly. As anyone who has lived in snow country knows, you get more snow when it’s warmer than when it is cold. Add the fact that warm air holds more water vapor and a temp just below freezing and Presto! Snowpocalypse!

    Read the regional summaries here.

  61. 61.

    carolatl

    February 9, 2010 at 5:33 pm

    When y’all get tired of all that snow, you can send it south to Atlanta. We know how to handle it – freak out, go to the grocery store to buy up all the milk, eggs and bread, and shut down all public life till every last flake melts.

    I really do wish we’d get a big snow storm. My nine-year-old has never seen more than about two inches on the ground. Poor thing, he thinks that’s a “real” snowfall.

  62. 62.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 9, 2010 at 5:56 pm

    @carolatl: Toilet paper. You forgot to mention toilet paper.

    I am just tired to death of this coldish dampish greyish weather we’ve been having in Atlanta. I’m with you, would love to see a proper snow storm here. As long as the power doesn’t go out for too long, and I’ve stocked up on wine and other necessities, I’m good.

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