Author Topic: The Weather - 2022  (Read 5839 times)

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Offline KnorrForYourMoney

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #25: January 04, 2022, 05:54:41 PM »
The Governor made me drive faster than I should have been in those conditions. LOL.

Most people who got caught in that hadn't done anything wrong, though.  And any public official should expect a certain number of car accidents during winter weather, unless they live in Buffalo or something.

Offline Natsinpwc

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #26: January 04, 2022, 06:08:34 PM »
Most people who got caught in that hadn't done anything wrong, though.  And any public official should expect a certain number of car accidents during winter weather, unless they live in Buffalo or something.
I don’t know. Why were they on the roads when they were told to not be on the roads?  I expect some were essential workers somewhere but not all.  The Kaine thing is funny. He couldn’t have called in? There were no official sessions I believe Monday due to the storm.

I’m just saying that just about everything I have read is that there were multiple jackknifed tractor trailers. Not easy to move those in such conditions. I’m sure VDOT and the State Police could have done better. Probably they don’t get enough practice.  Some want to blame small cars like driving them is illegal when virtually every news report says it was trucks crashed.

Offline dracnal

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #27: January 04, 2022, 06:12:31 PM »
I don’t know. Why were they on the roads when they were told to not be on the roads?  I expect some were essential workers somewhere but not all.  The Kaine thing is funny. He couldn’t have called in? There were no official sessions I believe Monday due to the storm.

I’m just saying that just about everything I have read is that there were multiple jackknifed tractor trailers. Not easy to move those in such conditions. I’m sure VDOT and the State Police could have done better. Probably they don’t get enough practice.  Some want to blame small cars like driving them is illegal when virtually every news report says it was trucks crashed.

While I agree that the prep wasn't great and the response the day of was -really- bad, I think it's important to note that it was mid 60s and raining for most of the day before the storm. Warm enough to ensure the ground and streets were wet, and enough water to melt any pre-treatment if they had bothered (from what I could see, they didn't). Once that got cold, there was a layer of black ice under the snow. I know a LOT of folks do not understand how to drive in the snow around here, but this one was a little unusual compared to the normal snow driving idiocy.

Offline KnorrForYourMoney

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #28: January 04, 2022, 06:26:34 PM »
I don’t know. Why were they on the roads when they were told to not be on the roads?  I expect some were essential workers somewhere but not all.  The Kaine thing is funny. He couldn’t have called in? There were no official sessions I believe Monday due to the storm.

Were they?  If so, most of them are to blame.  From my experience, state and local governments do a pretty crap job of discouraging people from driving unless there are snowpocalypse-like conditions.

And Tim Kaine was being a complete idiot, but that shouldn't surprise anyone.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #29: January 04, 2022, 06:50:57 PM »
Unless the roads are closed, I don’t buy the ‘They were told not to go out excuse’. I don’t blame any driver- it’s I95, you expect it to be plowed and treated

Offline Natsinpwc

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #30: January 04, 2022, 07:14:00 PM »
Were they?  If so, most of them are to blame.  From my experience, state and local governments do a pretty crap job of discouraging people from driving unless there are snowpocalypse-like conditions.

And Tim Kaine was being a complete idiot, but that shouldn't surprise anyone.
I watched WUSA9 some on Monday morning and it was clear the heavier snow was going to be toward Fredsburg. Most people just assume that it won’t come as predicted. As sometimes happens.

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #31: January 04, 2022, 07:40:40 PM »
Maybe frostbite? If they ran out of gas they'd be sitting in the cold all night. I also cannot even fathom what they were doing for potty breaks.
dehydrated :(

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #32: January 04, 2022, 08:01:04 PM »
I used to operate under one basic rule for driving in snow: don't. Heavy traffic means you have to trust there's no idiots on the road and everyone is competent in snow. That's a real reach.

Offline imref

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #33: January 04, 2022, 09:34:18 PM »
A lot of people were stuck for like 24 hours. I'm sorry that is truly unacceptable, I'm really incredulous no one stepped up with plan to rescue those poor people.

When you’ve got a thousand or so people stranded it takes time.

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #34: January 05, 2022, 08:52:45 AM »
Gonna guess that the after-action report will say more message boards telling folks to get off the road due to an accident ahead or bad conditions, and maybe quicker deployment of state police to shut down entrances once the trouble starts.  Maybe a beefed up snow emergency authority limiting access to highways might also be in order but tough to execute.

Also, to Tim Kaine - there's a thing called Amtrak that runs from Richmond to right near your office in DC.  I forget which side of the Hill the Senate is on, but south there's L'Enfant and you metro 2 stops, and north of the Capitol there's Union Station.  You say you've been doing the 2 hour drive every week up on Mondays back usually Thursday since you were elected.  How freakin' hard is it to learn Amtrak's schedule and use it once in a while, especially in bad weather?

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #35: January 05, 2022, 09:11:02 AM »
Amtrak in bad weather seems like a nightmare. South of DC their service is awful and subject to the whims of freight rail

Offline Slateman

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #36: January 05, 2022, 09:12:21 AM »
dehydrated :(
They had to evacuate at least one person for dialysis

Offline Slateman

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #37: January 05, 2022, 09:24:57 AM »
Gonna guess that the after-action report will say more message boards telling folks to get off the road due to an accident ahead or bad conditions, and maybe quicker deployment of state police to shut down entrances once the trouble starts.  Maybe a beefed up snow emergency authority limiting access to highways might also be in order but tough to execute.

Also, to Tim Kaine - there's a thing called Amtrak that runs from Richmond to right near your office in DC.  I forget which side of the Hill the Senate is on, but south there's L'Enfant and you metro 2 stops, and north of the Capitol there's Union Station.  You say you've been doing the 2 hour drive every week up on Mondays back usually Thursday since you were elected.  How freakin' hard is it to learn Amtrak's schedule and use it once in a while, especially in bad weather?
The after action will say that VDOT needs more money for contractors to clear and treat roads. Which means toll roads and taxes will go up. Which will then be spent on a bunch of bullcrap programs that didnt address the fundamental issues. And then we'll be right back here in 3-5 years with another situation.

Offline 1995hoo

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #38: January 05, 2022, 09:30:04 AM »
Gonna guess that the after-action report will say more message boards telling folks to get off the road due to an accident ahead or bad conditions, and maybe quicker deployment of state police to shut down entrances once the trouble starts.  Maybe a beefed up snow emergency authority limiting access to highways might also be in order but tough to execute.

Also, to Tim Kaine - there's a thing called Amtrak that runs from Richmond to right near your office in DC.  I forget which side of the Hill the Senate is on, but south there's L'Enfant and you metro 2 stops, and north of the Capitol there's Union Station.  You say you've been doing the 2 hour drive every week up on Mondays back usually Thursday since you were elected.  How freakin' hard is it to learn Amtrak's schedule and use it once in a while, especially in bad weather?

Amtrak was delayed because a tree fell across the tracks about a mile south of the Auto Train depot in Lorton, so it wouldn't have helped him too much here.

Offline imref

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #39: January 05, 2022, 09:49:33 AM »
I assume it sucked to be stuck on 95 in an EV

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #40: January 05, 2022, 10:12:15 AM »
Is the takeaway to avoid EVs or to avoid I-95? 

Offline 1995hoo

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #41: January 05, 2022, 10:51:50 AM »
Such timing on this job posting that opened Monday! Such exquisite timing!

https://www.daybook.com/jobs/M5qtJjb732MwZHySG

Offline Slateman

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #42: January 05, 2022, 11:04:43 AM »
Is the takeaway to avoid EVs or to avoid I-95? 
EVs arent really an issue, provided they are charged even half way. EVs dont use resitive heating (at least Teslas dont). Theres a video out there of a guy who parked his fully charged Tesla outdoors in below freezing temps, and was able to keep the interior heated to 68 degrees for over 70 hours. So, even after driving a bit, a fully charged EV should make ot 24 hours in thede circumstances. Hell, playing music and charging phones/laptops is a fraction of the power that heating is.

Of course that all assumes at least a mostly full charge. But it would be a similar situation for a ICE vehicle with a quarter tank of gas.

My bigger question is why did all these people just sit there? After a couple hours, simply browsing your phone would have told you the severity of the issue. Get your car to the shoulder, write a note with your phone number, and then walk somewhere to get food/water/a ride

Offline imref

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #43: January 05, 2022, 11:08:54 AM »
Is the takeaway to avoid EVs or to avoid I-95? 

And snow and cold weather.

Move to an island and ride a bike.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #44: January 05, 2022, 11:09:58 AM »
Is the takeaway to avoid EVs or to avoid I-95? 

If you're in the south east and snow is forecasted, don't venture far from home. This isn't the only time that roads have turned into an epic crap show around here. Usually it's ice capades, but anytime the snow hits fast after rain the roads are impassable. Even if you have a subaru with studded tires, it doesn't matter because the rwd cars on the road with you ware sliding around until they give up and stop. 

Offline imref

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #45: January 05, 2022, 11:14:15 AM »
EVs arent really an issue, provided they are charged even half way. EVs dont use resitive heating (at least Teslas dont). Theres a video out there of a guy who parked his fully charged Tesla outdoors in below freezing temps, and was able to keep the interior heated to 68 degrees for over 70 hours. So, even after driving a bit, a fully charged EV should make ot 24 hours in thede circumstances. Hell, playing music and charging phones/laptops is a fraction of the power that heating is.

Of course that all assumes at least a mostly full charge. But it would be a similar situation for a ICE vehicle with a quarter tank of gas.

My bigger question is why did all these people just sit there? After a couple hours, simply browsing your phone would have told you the severity of the issue. Get your car to the shoulder, write a note with your phone number, and then walk somewhere to get food/water/a ride

the biggest impact of EVs in cold weather is loss of range, typically about 20% or so reduction in range but it varies by vehicle.

Slate is right, the folks in Teslas were likely a lot better off than those in gas vehicles who had to run the engine to stay warm.

Offline machpost

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #46: January 05, 2022, 11:29:39 AM »
We were driving back from Florida on Monday and came very close to spending all night on I-95. Google Maps bailed us out just past King's Dominion literally in sight of the brake lights on 95. Ended up taking US 301 up through southern Maryland. Had to sit for a while to wait for some tree removal but thankfully we made it. The roads in Maryland were in much better shape than in Virginia.

Offline Slateman

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #47: January 05, 2022, 11:47:37 AM »
We were driving back from Florida on Monday and came very close to spending all night on I-95. Google Maps bailed us out just past King's Dominion literally in sight of the brake lights on 95. Ended up taking US 301 up through southern Maryland. Had to sit for a while to wait for some tree removal but thankfully we made it. The roads in Maryland were in much better shape than in Virginia.
Google Maps is love. Google Maps is life.

Offline imref

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #48: January 05, 2022, 11:51:40 AM »
Google Maps is love. Google Maps is life.

We use Waze, I don't know how much they've merged the technologies now that Google owns Waze, but Waze is awesome for avoiding traffic.

Our normal route now from NoVa is 15 South toward Culpepper, to 522 to Mineral, to 64.

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: The Weather - 2022
« Reply #49: January 05, 2022, 11:56:42 AM »
Amtrak in bad weather seems like a nightmare. South of DC their service is awful and subject to the whims of freight rail
I literally rode amtrak into DC from Boston during a lull in storms back in early 2011.  Did it because my USAir flights had been cancelled 3 times.  Was lucky because Amtrak wasn't steadily operating and I had one of the few that went through.  I think another time I went up to Boston on an overnight and it snowed enough that the automatic doors were jammed a bit open.  IOW, I've been on those trains for 10-13 hours when the weather really stunk. 

I'll just continue to say that, if a train can't get through, then it's pretty doubtful that it's going to be safe to drive.  Most of the time, trains are plenty comfortable.  You can move around, there's food (until things run out), less stress.  I've white knuckled cars in snowy conditions, and it is not fun.