Nothing scares me like an ice storm, Gandle. 4WD vehicles are powerless to move in them, and trees buckle under the weight of the ice and come crashing down. Power lines begin to sag and fail. I sometimes say a prayer for those unknown souls who have no choice but to go out in them to restore the power to the grids. At those times, I can't think of a more dangerous and thankless job.

The worst blizzard in my memory was I believe in 1977. It started with 74 degree weather. I remember that, as my second husband was in law enforcement and was on a stake out that night on a roof, for pity's sake. He was rained upon for hours and then the thermometer just nose-dived and went the other way. Our rivers froze up and the dams and bridges were at risk by the water backing up and the flows were dynamited. Mountains of snow grew in parking lots where the ploughs shoved them. I had little children at home and had to bundle them up and go walking to all the little mom and pop groceries nearby in hopes that they'd have some sort of milk available. My little Karman Ghia convertible was buried under the trail of the ploughs and was hidden for three weeks, encased in snow. The air was blue with cold and it seems to last an eternity.

I hear you when you talk about the travelers around the holidays trying to get in and out of that mess. It is certainly just a time to hole in and not go out. I've been to Nebraska more than a few times, and know just from those times I lived in Missouri and Kansas, the plains states are not for the weak of heart in winter.

I've been unfortunate to have been in only one ice storm. But that was enough to do me the rest of my life.

I was visiting a cousin and her husband in Atlanta. It was cold, but the city was unprepared for the rain that night. Ice broke the trees and power lines all over. If I could have gotten out, I would have gone back home. Her husband was a lineman for the power company. He had to leave us in a house with no power for about a week. He came home once or twice when he was nearby to check on us. He couldn't even stay long enough to change clothes. I have no idea how the men like him managed to sleep or eat.

I can remember her worrying about her husband so much that I wondered what she would have done had I not been there to keep her company. It was before the days of cell phones so there was no way for him to keep in touch.

Ridiculous is right. We just took our little bucket of kitchen waste down to the compost heap and lo and behold there was a dandelion in bloom. Steve in Baltimore County

Sometimes I think we see more ice than snow around here. Northerners come to live near the nation's capitol and snurk at our caution during winter precipitation; then they discover (quite often while in a moving vehicle) that snow truly is composed of ice, and in this area the active effect is icy, not snowy. I don't think I've seen powder-snow more than a dozen times in the past forty years. The next time you hear that DC suburbs have closed schools (offices, malls, etc) due to a couple inches of snow, try to think of it as a couple inches of crushed ice!

The worst experience with ice I ever had occurred about twelve years ago. The weather forecast had been for snow coming in late at night, but instead sleet started falling about noon. At 11:30, the meterologists made an abrupt about-face, and sent warnings to the school systems to expect sleet and ice for the remainder of the afternoon. The schools did an emergency closing (note that those closings don't apply to admin offices such as mine) and buses rolled out, wearing clanking chains and determined drivers. By 12:30 the ground was completely covered with sheets of ice and layers of tiny hail balls, the power lines were hanging heavy with foot-long icicles, and the admin staff were taking sick leave and departing. I did too, with the help of the custodian (I was still in a leg brace at that time), I slid to my car and began the drive home. I still don't understand the mentality that can see a road slick with ice but not realize that same ice is going to affect how a vehicle handles - but I certainly saw plenty of vehicles going into ditches after spinning through a stoplight. Luckily, about 3 miles of the trip was behind a sand truck; but the last 5 miles was as one among a long line of creeping, sliding cars slipping over unsanded ice-covered roads. Along the way, an SUV came flying from a cross-street (hey look folks-it's just snow- oops no traction!) barely missing my rear bumper but plowing into the side of the car in the next lane. The car behind me slid into the SUV, and from the sound effects, I think several more vehicles became involved. I knew the driver of the car that had been behind me and he waved at me to keep on going. The drive home which normally took about 20 minutes, on that day took over 5 hours. Nonetheless, I fared better than the bus drivers; many of whom didn't return to the lot until after 8 p.m. when the ice finally changed to snow and provided a semblance of traction.

I remember the ice storms when we lived in Iowa and also Oklahoma. That black ice was a killer and almost got me once. I was driving out into the country to teach and hit some glare ice going around 25 mph. Didn't even know it was there...rolled over into a ditch completey upside down. Now,if I see a snowflake,I stay home. Be careful George..it's so easy to slip and break a bone.

I've been through deep snows in Chicago that paralyzed the city and got mayors into trouble, but the biggest and most serious weather mess I was ever in was in Washington almost 25 years ago. I was looking at photographs at the Library of Congress with a friend for a business project we were working on and finished up late morning. Snow had starting falling thickly and we decided the Metro was our best chance to get to National Airport for our mid-afternoon flight.

The Metro stopped for a long time between stations, though, and we were much later getting to the airport than we expected. We ran to the ticket counter, but it was closed and everything was cancelled.

Then we learned from the televisions in one of the bars in the concourse that a plane had crashed into the 14th Street Bridge on takeoff, about the same time we were delayed in the Metro, and that delay turned out to involve a fatal accident, as well. At the bar was a guy who was sipposed to be on the plane that crashed, drinking whiskey like it was water.

For a long time it looked as though we'd have to sleep in the airport. We couldn't call home because a lot of the airport phone lines had been cut where they crossed the 14th Street Bridge. The few lines that were functrioning were jammed. We couldn't get a cab back in because the bridge was closed. A lot of the Metro was shut down.

They finally opened a stretch of Metro as far as Foggy Bottom, and we took that, walked a mile or so through foot-deep snow -- no traffic was on the streets -- and found some in-laws of my friend who worked at the State Department and who took us in for the night. They treated us to lobster and white wine at a Georgetown restuarant right around the corner from where they lived. It felt good to be alive and warm. We got back to Chicago the next day.

Here is a link that might be useful: January 13, 1982

We've been warm and sunny here for over a week.
Clouds today and i'm sure it will rain by friday.
I haven't worn a winter coat yet this year.

Ice, we've had our share over the years.
We have an ice storm every other year or so.
We are totally unprepared for anything, snow, ice
rain. I've always thought if you live in the south
it's not supposed to be anything but sunny and warm all the time. :0)

Gandle for gosh sakes be careful, don't fall and break anything.

Interstate is now closed. Too many accidents and very poor visibility. Glad we don't need anything. Some very large limbs are coming down, our power was out for about an hour but hopefully will stay on now. Church basements and shelters are starting to fill.

Been through too many major storms here in Western New York than I'd care to count...luckily we kinda have it down to a science as far as snow removal and road clearing...so matter how much snow we get we are usually up and running in a day or two...the power outages are another thing though...our last storm on 10/13 depending where you lived went from 12 hours to 7 days...we have had weather in the 40's which is unbelievable but im not complaining...I never dream of a white Christmas.

A friend was going to fly out tomorrow to go to NE for Christmas. Changing flights in Denver, which was also hit by a big storm. I wonder if she'll make it.

Wow am I glad the ds flew in last weekand not this week as he had a layover in Denver. Ugh.

This time last year we had a heck of an ice storm that hit just south and west of us. On Christmas Eve. Lots of ice, no power, streams jammed with ice and floods. One humorous note was when out of state power crews were reparing lines in the wee hours of the morning on a dark county road. They were getting more and more peeved because no matter what they did they could not seem to get the power back on. No lights were twinkling in the nearby farms. They were in the heart of Amish country. No one uses electricty. They also go totally spooked by the sound of buggies and horses when the Amish came out of the dark to bring them coffee and sanwiches.

Neil,I remember that as if were yesterday. The TV coverage was right on top of things and the cameras captured it all. It was horrible and I can still see that freezing water and snowy banks.

I see they closed Denver airport yesterday noon, through at least noon today. More snow is expected.

Here is a link that might be useful: Colorado snow story and pics

Two feet of snow in Denver per CNN, with more as one starts to go up into the mountains. That's when you have to start worrying about teh snow on your roof. I remember visiting my mom in Chicago during one of those horrible Chicago winters Neill referred to - I think it was 1979. I was sitting in my mom's kitchen having a cup of coffee, when we herd a laud cracking and then a crash. We both rushed to the window & saw that the neighbor's detached garage had collapsed under the weight of all teh snow & ice on its roof.

Here snow is a rarity, but ice isn't & living in an all-electric house, it's one of my fears in the winter. The last big ice storm here was in teh winter of 2000 & our sub-division was without power for a week. No fun at all!

OMG Tibs, that got a belly laugh from me. I drove toward Licking county to get my taxes done and had no clue the enormity of the effects of that storm. We were essentially spared, but just miles west it was as if a magic line had been drawn and a giant bulldozer had run over the earth. Trees were just cracked at the base and toppled. Whole woods full of them. It struck me then just how blessed we are to be living in the Apalachian foothills in this county. The topography changes the weather moving in from the west. It's often more accurate to listen to the West Virginia forcasts than the capitol city forcast. Made is very easy to imagine the glacial movement in the last ice age. The glaciers stopped at about the same magic line. To the West flatlands, to the east hills.

Isn't it something how our opinions of weather changes as we grow older? I think back and wonder how momma put up with me.
Growing up in North Platte, Ne, a good ice or snow storm meant getting out daddy's ladder, getting up on the roof and sliding down and off into a snowdrift. We played swords with the huge ice sicles and skated down the sidewalks and usually most of the way was on our hineys. I don't recall school ever being closed as it was just part of our normal winters.
Momma always hung the clothes out and they would freeze on the line but she wanted the fresh clean smell and then would bring the frozen laundry inside to dry. I NEVER understood that but of course that was back in the ol' days -- skating on ponds, sledding down the hills hoping we didn't go flying off into a canyon, snowball fights and building snowforts.
Seems like yesterday and brings a smile of a lot of wonderful memories and I wouldn't change a bit of it. Now living in Alabama, I don't think I could handle all that cold.
Lynn

Lynn, I was talking to someone about that the other day. When I was growing up in Chicago we never seemed to feel the cold like we do now. I remember waking up on morning to a new blanket of snow with absolute joy. And we always seemed to be outside in it - building forts (we used to drag Christmas trees left out for the trash man home for that purpose), skating on ice rinks the local parks department would make flooding areas in playgrounds & also the cement tennis courts, and sledding on whatever hill we could find around the neighborhood.

My mom never hung laundry outside in the winter. Instead it was hung in the basement & that was definitely not a good memory. Of course, with most people heating with coal back then, I'm thinking hanging it outside would likely make the laundry dirty all over again.

Children don't get so cold, I work at the local feed store the owners have children who hang out and help. I wear my down jacket all day and three year old Ivo takes his shoes off.