My sister said that the city of Austin is shut down (no surprise - that is standard for an ice storm), but she has power. She thinks that because she is close to a fire station and a hospital that she is more immune to rolling blackouts. Our nephew 65 miles north of Austin does not have power, and neither does our niece in Pflugerville, a suburb just north of Austin. Our other niece, who is in Austin proper does have power, however. My sister said that it is supposed to be just as bad tomorrow.

Yes, for the south, ice and snow of almost any amount counts as being snowed in. Yesterday was rain and temperatures around freezing. Many roads were closed by 6-8 pm. Woke up to snow this morning and it’s been snowing gently almost all day. On top of temps in the teens no one is going out much.

No snow left on the ground here on outer Cape Cod. It got up to 50° today, rain and fog.

seagrass

Only by choice. I could have shoveled it today once it warmed up to 9 but decided to wait until tomorrow or perhaps not even shovel. Supposed to be mid 30s on Saturday, snow again on Sunday then in the 50s by mid week. The sun on the snow will cause melting below the surface even in the teens so the amount should be reduced depending on how much snow this round.

Not now, but I was snowed in over the weekend. My area got 12". I'm a bit south of Seattle. 12" is a lot for where I live. It's all gone now.

"On Saturday, 8.9 inches of snow fell in the Seattle area, the most the city had seen on a February day in nearly a century, and the snowiest Seattle day in any month in 52 years. Combined between Friday and Saturday, that was also the most snow the Seattle area had seen over a two-day period in 49 years."

https://mynorthwest.com/2592895/puget-sound-region-record-setting-snow-february-2021/

Not snowed in, but we got dumped on last night. Landlords were here at 6:30 blowing snow.

Gino's Mom and I took Gino for a walk this morning but he didn't want any part of it. Most of the sidewalks weren't shoveled and he was up to his belly. I walked in front, dragging my feet through the snow and he followed my tracks.

We took him home and kept on walking. Halfway to our knees, it was great! Then I saw the plow come around my street and they had filled the bottom of the driveway and the end of the sidewalk in, so then we both shoveled, I really appreciated her help. Even though the snow is light the crap the plow dumps is always large chunks of ice, and heavy snow.

Nope. Into the 70s on Wednesday. One of the reasons we moved to where we are in Florida is that the cat and the missus were tired of all that white stuff.

Not snowed in. We plow our own road. This is my snow picture from today. Actually, we haven’t had much snowfall this winter. My lawn furniture looked like this in October. It hasn’t really changed since then.

No. We've had less snow this Winter, than most I can remember. It's just cold.....but I've seen colder weather here. ☺ We're fine. ♥ We have a snow blower if we need it. Maybe we'll get that 3" tomorrow/Colorado they're predicting. I just did 5 miles in tennis shoes, outdoors. It's 32f.

Such freaky weather...ice this morning, then it went up to 51, and tomorrow it won't break 20. Then thurs into friday, 5-8" of snow followed by ice and freezing rain. Go figure.

DH loves to shovel! Although, he has taken to wearing his back support from a few years ago when he hurt himself shoveling the heavy slush at the foot of the driveway. We have a snowblower which would be faster and throw the snow farther so it doesn't create as much of a canyon, but DH dislikes the noise and the gas (although he doesn't mind it with the lawn mower, go figure). After several snows, he's running out of places to throw it.

The municipal plows still need to make another pass or two, and in a couple of days the earth movers will start to trim down the mountains at the intersections.

But we can't see the mailbox at the curb from the second story, DH cleared around it for the mailman. Backing out of the driveway and crossing intersections is a challenge because of the canyons and mountains, but it would have been worse if we still had the Civic!

It sure is pretty, though.

Only by choice. We got about 5" of snow on top of several hours of sleet and freezing rain, so there is a layer of ice under the snow. That is on top of last week's 4-5" snow that never melted. I cleared and de-iced the porch steps for the mailman but the driveway and walk can wait. When the plow comes through for its second pass, the walk will be buried anyway (it is right next to the curb, no tree lawn.)

Although the main roads are now in pretty good shape, the side streets are still slickish. I don't need to go anywhere that can't wait until tomorrow or even the weekend. We also are supposed to get a few more inches on Thursday, but right here in the middle of Franklin County we never seem to get quite as much as is forecast.

I have a metal gazebo frame covered with netting, to protect my blueberries and extra-dwarf apple tree from birds and other critters. The weight of the last snow on the netting broke one of the cross bars, and the snow had turned into a solid block of ice so I couldn't manage to remove it. So, two of the uprights were already leaning into the center - and with yesterday's additional weight, the mass of snow and ice is actually sitting on the berry pots. I am amazed that the netting has so much give! I am hoping that Thursday's snow doesn't collapse the structure completely.

No...South Central Wisconsin...about a foot on the ground and had a couple

of new inches last night. Roads are clear and so is my drive and walk. It's

the darn cold that is gripping us...highs have all been below zero for several

days..but supposed to get better starting tomorrow. It is about 15 right now

I think, going to about 7 below tonight (that's a heat wave) LOL The biggest

problem is the big tall banks of plowed snow. Running out of places to

put it. Still better off than our Southern neighbor (Chicago)...they were really

hit. Had about 18 inches at O'Hare.

We've barely seen any precipitation this year, and we never get frozer than hail. All your stories and pictures sound scary to me!

Here in Michigan we go out with snow. We are seasoned to drive in it. BUT ice is another thing, no truck or car can drive with solid ice. We stay home when that happens. We got dumped on last night and had a snow truck to our drive. All roads are plowed now and are in good shape,

I could wish to be. For the last couple of days it's been over 110F and incredibly humid. The airconditioning at the school where I work is evaporative so it's not really coping at all with the humidity. The students and staff are all crabby and sweaty and damp. I don't need to go to hell, I'm already there :-/

The snow bank beside my driveway is almost as tall as I am.

"Here in Michigan we go out with snow."

I well remember snow in Michigan as a child. It was much more fun for the kids than adults. No snow for us here in SoCal but the memories of it are pretty clear. People like DH who've lived in SoCal all their lives have no clue what dealing with a lot of snow is like. We did have hail just recently that covered lawns in white. So funny to see people running outside snapping photos. Then again, some people here can come unglued when it rains.

I'm in upstate New York. I have 2 feet currently on the ground, with another foot coming Thursday night. I don't expect any cancellations and life goes on as per usual. :)

NOPE, SW FL and I golfed today! Hard to believe how cold it is in Texas where I am from...

Not anymore

Nope, we have a lot of snow here in Northern Michigan, but we know how to move it. We've used the snowblower on the walks and raked the roof, my SIL came with his plow truck and did the driveway, Elery will go to the farm tomorrow and move snow with the tractor and bucket so we can get into the barnyard to feed the cattle. I made it into town today for an appiontment. We have a four wheel drive truck and my Buick Enclave is all wheel drive. We got about two feet of snow last week, some more over the weekend, but had a very mild December and early January.

The real issue here is the cold, it's been below zero several nights, and in the single digits for the last couple of weeks. It's going to stay cold through the end of the week, then warm up into the low 30s at the end of the week, but lows still in the low teens. The Road Commission has been spreading sand on hills and curves instead of salt, when it's this cold the salt doesn't work to melt the ice anyway.

The deer are starting to come to the yard to eat the pine trees, the snow is up to their bellies in a lot of places.

Annie

The main roads weren't too bad. I35 had at least 1 lane open on both sides. Side roads are an entirely different story. Snow packed on top of ice patches.

I could get out but have no desire or need. Hubs on the other hand, hasn't missed a day going into work, but his job is essential. It started snowing about 3 pm today, (Tuesday) and we're supposed to get about 6 to 10 more inches. At least the wind isn't blowing.

And we have power.

I got 9.5 inches with 2 foots drifts

I was for a couple of days....I tell those who shovel for me, to put me last on the list because I don't have anywhere I HAVE to be, and I had a good sized drift in my drive and my garage was frozen shut.

We don't really get "snowed in" for more than af ew hours but the cold here has been a huge issue...several days below zero with wind chills like you wouldn't believe.
Don't know how much snow we have on the ground....but it will be a mess when it melts!...upwards of 20 inches I am guessing.

Not snowed in. I'm iced in, instead.

We've seen it on TV. It looks very scary.

IN NE Ohio, we got wintry mix which consisted of these strange wet balls of ice coming down during the night so we woke up to solid ice on the roads. Somehow, my husband was able to go to work as the main roads were salted. We were supposed to have gotten 5 to 8 inches of snow...I would have rather that because this ice isn't going anywhere and it's currently 5 degrees so no melting. Hopefully today when the sun will supposedly shine, that will melt it and activate all the salt they put down. I will not drive in ice at all. It's way too dangerous for me!

We have had snow on the ground (like about 5 inches) for something like 3 weeks and it isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Then we got that ice on top of it so it is hard for the dog having to go outside and stepping on the ice which breaks under her weight and makes her almost fall when it snaps. UGH! She is not liking that one bit!

More snow than I'm used to. I have been watching road conditions and power outages. It would seem Texas and Oklahoma are having a harder time of it than the rest of us. My heart goes out to you.

In my neighborhood, people stayed in the first day. The next day there was a four wheeler dragging people around on a sled. My child went to go sled, without one because we don't own one!, and they were sliding down the hill on their rear. Someone offered to loan them their sled, and that was enough fun for a few minutes. Another person offered to go get everyone's errands done for them because they felt like they could drive in this. Our local pharmacy delivered to the front door of somebody else they knew couldn't get out. I'll let you know at the end of today, but I think we're going to have a break enough that I can go out and run my own errands for a few minutes. Until we get hit again. I'll stay put until Monday after that. We're supposed to warm up over the weekend, so I get to go to the bank and close on my house. Then I'll get to come right back home and work from home some more (ETA: worked just fine. We can stay put until Monday now). My point is I guess that the snow has been a reprieve here, not debilitating.

The roads are bad unless you have a 4 wheel drive and I don't. So I am snowed in, to the extent I can't go anywhere. But I have to be outside several hours a day, so in that respect, I'm not.

Love my Milwaukee heated vest. Uses drill batteries. And CanadaGoose coat.

Have a few dozen pairs of shoe 'teeth'. Work provided. Necessary thaw/freeze. Black ice.

Do keep one car cleared right up to the road. (emergencies) We only needed to keep a salted path for deliveries to our door. A shovel wide. Both cars are cleared and clean. Long driveway. Both at the road entrance. Salt the small path.

Eminent snow storm...back your car up to the road. Less shoveling if you need to get out. Fast snow, keep up with it. Five minutes once an hour is less stress. I used my cordless leaf blower once an hour.

I got out for a few groceries today
while the temp was up slightly and the sun was out. However, right now
at 4:45pm, temp going back down and I don't know if I'll be able to walk
out onto the back porch and down the steps to take the cats to the
cellar. The snow on the porch melted, but then left a big puddle of
water. Yeah, now it's turning to ice. I hurried to put ice melt on it,
will see if it makes any difference by tomorrow am.

Front of the house walk and yard has snow with ice under it. Again,
the sun melted some of it but now the puddles of water are re-freezing.
ugh. I'm trapped inside my house! And only have 1/4 of a bag of ice
melt left.

Here in Portland OR, we’re coming out of a week long snow-and-ice storm that, at one point, had nearly 500,000 without power. The largest electric utility said that 40% of its customers were without power. Practically all of my friends, including my whole neighborhood, lost power for at least a couple days, typically from last Saturday or Sunday until Tuesday or Wednesday. The cause was ice-loaded trees falling or dropping large branches, taking out transmission lines, feeders, transformers, even substations. At this point some (around 70,000) are still without power. A lot also lost internet, and that is proving slower to restore - which is troublesome this year when so many are working or attending school from home.

Fortunately, it wasn’t that cold - into the 20s for a couple nights of substantial snow, then the rest of the time hovering around freezing - hence all the ice, precipitation came down as freezing rain. Houses here are built for cold weather, so water pipes didn’t freeze. Even so, heating systems don’t work without electricity - even gas furnaces need power for the fans - so blankets and fireplaces were in heavy use.

In our case, we kept power for quite a while, feeling lucky as our friends reported darkness descending, then early Monday morning it was our turn to lose electricity and internet and even cell service. I drove to my office, figuring SWMBO and DD could follow and camp out, then found that my building had lost power as well. Uh-oh. That meant not being able to work, and now that I’m self employed that is more problematic than it used to be.

I drove downtown, planning on renting a couple rooms at one of the hotels. A nice one, I thought, imagining a pleasant staycation at the Benson or the Heathman, playing the tourist in our own city.

Alas, I’d forgotten what downtown Portland is like nowadays. There are almost no office workers or shoppers or tourists. All the museums and movie theatres are closed, most of the nice restaurants are similarly boarded up and trying to wait out the pandemic, only Powell’s Books and a few scrappy little shops are still open. There are clusters of homeless campers’ tents on many blocks, and people in various stages of mental confusion shuffle around while the people who do have business downtown, such as the construction workers building shiny new highrises that are no doubt failing to pre-lease, stare them down and police cars drive by. Yeah, not staying here all week.

I remembered a tiny house hotel just six blocks from my house, called and got the last two “houses”. So SWMBO and I moved into the “Cottage” and DD and my temporary office were set up in the “Beach”.

This is a normally a very lively area, with twenty-some restaurants within several blocks, a couple of 24 hour convenience stores, a brewpub, Whole Foods and a Starbucks.

It is still pretty active. Not all the restaurants have survived the pandemic, but most are still hanging in there. Pam, who owns the Tiny Digs hotel, is hanging in there too, thanks to the PPP loan and a lot of grit. I booked for the week, promised to stay regardless of when my power returns. All her tiny houses are booked and we’ve had to move houses once, but each house is different so it’s an adventure. She was having a (much needed) good week, as are all the hotels in Portland. In fact, by Monday there wasn’t a hotel room left in downtown.

We’ve been here all week, cozy and warm, with internet and just a short walk from our house where we return to feed the cats. I have generally refrained from telling my friends where we are - why make them feel bad about huddling under blankets and charging their phones in their cars? - but I did reveal our secret to a few close friends - who seem to be less friendly now, with “shut up!” among the milder comments.

Most of the snow and ice has melted, most houses have power again, expect for the unlucky ones who have lost substations. I still don’t have internet at home due to a large tree mid block that fell down, blocking the street and pulling down the cable line that my neighbor and I depend on. He and his wife are both schoolteachers and trying to figure how they can teach their online classes. My office building is open again so they might come use my conference room. I have some things to repair in the back yard, because the ice load collapsed some awnings and damaged part of a fence and some outdoor furniture. Things feel almost normal.

Well, we are still living in a boxcar. We could go home, of course, but internet . . . and we’ve paid for this through Friday . . . and it’s fun.

10 inches yesterday. Lots of black ice today.

Another 3" yesterday followed by more freezing/sleeting stuff. Expecting another couple of inches today. Then we get a nice long break...until Monday that is when the next storm is coming!

That ground hog wasn't foolin' around!

I still have lots of snow. A friendly farmer and his big tractor and snow blower came earlier in the week and cleared my drive, then we got about two more inches of snow. I guess my mail carrier thought she could not handle the two inches so she did not deliver my mail yesterday!. Fed X delivered and had other vehicles come but no mail carrier with my package. Will see what happens today. I think it might heat up tp the 20's today.

Sue

John,

How can you live without your espresso machine? :-)

To all:

A high-power battery leaf blower is very good for clearing snow off steps and on cars.

dcarch

I was expecting a Chew delivery with needed birdseed. As I was sitting at the livingroom desk, I saw the Fed Ex truck pull up. I went outside and asked the driver if she could pull her truck further up to the drive in front of the garage. "Just lay the two heavy boxes on the driveway and it will be easier for me to move them instead of from (snowy icy) front porch to the garage".

Luckily the neighbor had plowed the drive several days ago. Well, not only did the driver do as I asked, she said, "I'll just go ahead and put them in the garage for you". I was afraid she'd fall on the still snow covered drive. "Oh, I've seen worse than this lately!".

I couldn't thank her enough.

"How can you live without your espresso machine? :-)

To all:

A high-power battery leaf blower is very good for clearing snow off steps and on cars."

Elektra suffered a clogged drain line on Saturday (the drip tray drains to the garden and the 3/8" line can ice up where it is exposed). I may insulate the line.

This area may or may not experience an ice storm Sunday turning to snow. Supposed to reach 50 tomorrow which is good as there is about 3 inches of icy snow on the ground. I have a lawn service scheduled to come on Monday to remove some of the regrowth from last year and the crap that I have pulled/cut which is more than what the city's bag limit would allow. When I expressed surprise that it would be scheduled Monday it was apparently now or at the end of the season which last year was June. Will see what happens.

Like decarch, can't say enough good things about boot cleats. We have a half dozen pairs, different varieties, that live on our boots by the doors, even on a pair of crocs. (for a quickie to the mailbox)

BIL has been in the hospital (Portland) from an ice slip/fall. Gets out this afternoon.

Sleevendog, Elery and I both have a couple of pairs of those cleats, they're indispensable trying to get around doing farm chores. Even if there isn't ice because of the weather, there is ice because of watering animals, especially around the water faucet.

I highly recommend them.

Annie

We are getting a good melt today at 42º. I still do not go out without a cleated shoe/boot. Easy is slip on boots.

BIL is home now after 4 hospital days, yikes. He fractured a few backbones and very painful. Said they will heal with minimal movement. 3 weeks. Helps that he is in such great active shape...hikes, rowing machine, biking, skiing, meditation, yoga...

Be very careful with those add on cleats of any type if you have a shoe size less than about a 7 although a few will work but can easily slip off at a size 6. They need to be tight to the shoe and most are not for the small foot.

maifleur, I wear a 6 1/2 to 7, and mine have managed to stay on pretty well, but I can see where they would need to be adjusted if my boot were smaller. My heavy boots are bigger than shoes, of course, I've never tried putting them over something like Crocs, mostly because my Crocs have those little holes in them and my feet/socks still get wet.

Sleevendog, I hope your BIL heals up quickly and well. With him being in good shape, that'll help, I think, but he may find it hard to just have "minimal movement" for 3 weeks. Poor guy.

Annie

I don't think I've ever had winter cleats. I know I've tried them once years ago, they were strap on things. They were kind of wiggly/loose on me, and I didn't like them. Even when they were cinched up at far as they could. I wear a size 5, so that might explain why I didn't like them and never tried them again. There's probably large boys sizes now that would actually fit better. It would be warmer than wearing metal sports cleats, lol- I did actually try that, and no.

We didn't get snowed in, the guy upstairs kept the drive blown open and their side drive sort of plowed open. He took the front clip off their Subaru and strapped a sheet of plywood on to plow with, lol.

We did get the serious icing going on with all the snowfall though. Had our first actual ice dam this year, and we aren't the only ones. I know several folks up around me that have had ice dam problems this year.

Could not venture outside at the lake without boot cleets and getting outside is so important these days.

no, I went to Cancun to see ted. when I got there, he had already left ...

We moved back home on Saturday. On Sunday SWMBO and our neighbor finally pestered the city enough to get this removed from our street.

I enjoyed our stay in the boxcar but it’s nice to be home.