View Full Version : According to the news storm is coming!
BushMasterBoy
02-01-2022, 17:49
Tail end of large front is appearing over the Wet mtns S. of Pueblo. They claim this front is 2000 miles long. I have been stacking up the firewood.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/01/weather/winter-storm-ice-snow-midwest-south-northeast/index.html
clodhopper
02-01-2022, 18:01
Why are you watching BabylonCNNee? I think they updated their site to reflect they are a satire site. And if not, they should.
Running out to stock up on bread and milk as we speak.
Just kidding.
But I bet some people are.
beast556
02-01-2022, 18:33
Were supposedly gonna get 12in up this way, we'll see.
Zundfolge
02-01-2022, 18:37
Here's how this always seems to work with storms. The bigger the hype, the smaller the storm.
Big hype on this one (was just at walmart) so its gonna fizzle out.
funkymonkey1111
02-01-2022, 18:40
Running out to stock up on bread and milk as we speak.
Just kidding.
But I bet some people are.
https://youtu.be/i6zaVYWLTkU
clodhopper
02-01-2022, 18:41
Were supposedly gonna get 12in up this way, we'll see.
I dunno. Projections show ~12in up in cheyenne. Fort Collins area 1 to 3. Now, watch it dump and show the computers all suck.
Were supposedly gonna get 12in up this way, we'll see.
And I heard you might get some snow too.
I needed oil to fry chicken fried steaks. Soopers was a shitshow
hollohas
02-01-2022, 19:05
I have always been SUPER critical of weathermen in the past. They suck. And the only job that being 100% wrong is ok. And I've seen them be so wrong that all they'd have to do to be right is look outside. I've literally seen them say 0% chance of rain while it was raining outside their studio.
But. I have to give credit where credit is due. They have been very accurate the last few storms this month. Down to the minute they were going to start and end. Same for this one.
So maybe we do have a good storm with this one.
Put some new all-terrains on the company truck last week. Bring it, mother nature.
theGinsue
02-01-2022, 19:42
Put some new all-terrains on the company truck last week. Bring it, mother nature.
Same here. Also filled the tank today as I would have needed to by Thursday morning and it's supposed to be really cold by then and I hate standing out in the cold.
BushMasterBoy
02-01-2022, 20:47
Snowing here now.
kidicarus13
02-01-2022, 20:58
Everyone posting lives in Colorado. It snows in Colorado. R-e-l-a-x.
It’s also February, so we should expect snow… no surprises to see here if you ask me.
Well, I feel like a kid at Christmas- all excited to peek and see what I got. I hope I?m not disappointed.
I just finished checking the local all in one status report for business / road closures - yea stuff is closed
http://www.flashalertcs.net/closures-cats.html
I don't think there is a version of this site for Denver - but it is sure useful for the Springs.
It don't look too bad out there; but with 7 degrees it is a few steps past brisk. Stay warm out there.
hollohas
02-02-2022, 09:07
Reports of 2ft in south west Colorado Springs.
We got about 10" so far over by 285/Kipling. Cleared the driveway and hit the road for work at 6. Driving was easy, not all iced underneath like the last couple storms.
Everyone posting lives in Colorado. It snows in Colorado. R-e-l-a-x.
LIES!
Zundfolge lives in Dorothy land.
BPTactical
02-02-2022, 09:34
After 18 years of [Plow][Plow][Plow][Plow][Plow][Plow][Plow][Plow][Plow][Plow][Plow][Plow][Plow][Plow]
Yawn........
Uneventful commute on generally clean roads. Speeds were reduced due mostly to people deciding 25 mph was a good speed. Took a little over an hour to get from Thornton to Aurora. It was nice that the plow trucks had obviously been out before I left for work which typically isn?t the case.
buffalobo
02-02-2022, 10:37
You guys in town just need more wind to build the drifts for ya.
Snow day for me today. Spent an hour plowing/shoveling, went inside to warm up and get stuff ready to leave and less than 30 mins later wind had blown most of it back in. Only about 4" so far but 25mph winds make it seem like 12".
BushMasterBoy
02-02-2022, 11:45
Hooked up a trickle charger to the truck. Silverado with all the computers eats batteries. You would think OnStar would tell you the battery is low.
Seems to have stopped so I went out to shovel the walk, maybe six inches. Yet another over-hyped ordinary weather event.
wctriumph
02-02-2022, 12:13
At 11:12 am up here. Dang, pictures are too big but so far from last night, only about 4 inches.
Everyone posting lives in Colorado. It snows in Colorado. R-e-l-a-x.
[panic][panic]
Twenty inches in northwest Colo Springs and still snowing lightly. Biggest storm we've had in a long, long time.
.455_Hunter
02-02-2022, 15:01
~12" west of Boulder. Nice snow!
theGinsue
02-02-2022, 17:58
Broke the auger engagement cable on my snowblower doing my neighbors drive. Now have 2 of those cables on order.
Had to go into work @ 11 this morning.
While I expected zero plowing efforts within or on the edge of my subdivision, when I got to Powers Blvd (aka CO Hwy 21), then to Constitution Ave, then Marksheffel Road there was no evidence plows had been over these roads. It wasn't until I got onto Hwy 94, heading East that I could tell plows had been through hours earlier.
Left work @ 3:30 and Hwy 94 was a little sketchier but Colo Spr city roads were exactly the same (perhaps another inch added).
I read a KKTV.com article last night stating that the city was getting their equipment ready to handle the snow covered roads. I guess they're still getting it ready as I saw no evidence of their presence at any point since the snow started falling and saw no plows on any of the streets I was on (note: I'd typically see a couple of them making secondary passes by now; nope.)
While my F250 in 4WD with new All Terrain's only had minor issues a couple of times, I suspect my wife will have serious issues tomorrow in her Civic unless the plows start removing some of the snow from the roads.
Serious question to those "in the know": Which is honestly worse for the roads (and ultimately worse for taxpayers), lowering the plow blade to asphault level where the blade will get worn down more quickly (vice 1-2" above - which causes transportation ice rinks), or melting snow/ice into cracks which then re-freezes and causes potholes? ETA: FULL DISCLOSURE: Growing up in MO near KC and in my 3.5 yrs in MA near Boston the plows trucks always had their blades down to road level and they were much safer than what I've seen since '95 when I moved to CO.
I think they do plow with the blade all of the way down. Just hard to get into all of the low spots and undulations that make up the shitty roads in Colorado.
StagLefty
02-03-2022, 09:21
The guy that plows the community I live in successfully turns our streets into skating rinks every storm. When you leave the park the city streets are usually bare pavement. I think he has the blade up just enough to pack down a few inches with the weight of the blade which ices up.
BPTactical
02-03-2022, 11:22
Most municipalities have shoes or bogey wheels on their plows, they usually are about 1/8" above the pavement.
DOT plows are on the pavement, we had replaceable blades with a carbide insert. In a storm event such as this one it would not be unusual to go through a couple sets of blades.
Good times being squatted under a frozen plow @ 0200 dripping slush down your neck wrestling 125#, 6' long and 3/4" thick blades fishing 5/8" diameter bolts to hold them without them slipping out of your hand.
Our HOA does not plow streets. Just common area sidewalk.
This is the side effect of having a low HOA fee.
Serious question to those "in the know": Which is honestly worse for the roads (and ultimately worse for taxpayers), lowering the plow blade to asphault level where the blade will get worn down more quickly (vice 1-2" above - which causes transportation ice rinks), or melting snow/ice into cracks which then re-freezes and causes potholes? ETA: FULL DISCLOSURE: Growing up in MO near KC and in my 3.5 yrs in MA near Boston the plows trucks always had their blades down to road level and they were much safer than what I've seen since '95 when I moved to CO.
Depends on the pavement material and condition. On Vail pass the plows remove 1-2 inches of asphalt per year. Mainly from the blades shaving the peaks of the ruts from truck tire chains. We are trying 3 concrete test sections to see if tire chain rutting can be mitigated. Monitoring the wear of the test sections and new asphalt placed last year.
Asphalt that is cracked is very vulnerable to freeze thaw damage causing layer delamination and chucking of the pavement.
On concrete blades can chip away the corners of the panels as they curl up from temperature diferential.
Most concrete placed in the last 40 years is air entrained to mitigate freezing damage. Most damage you see at joints is from the de-icer. The chloride reacts with the concrete and forms an expansive gel the beaks apart the concrete. This is mitigated with coal fly ash, slag or other pozzolanic materials. Cdot pavement for the past 20+ years has mitigated this reaction. Local roads, especially El Paso County concrete roads do not contain the required pozzolan for mitigation. This county is run by the developers who do not want to use it since it slows down strength gain a few days. These idiots running El Paso County are saving a few days today for expensive early age deterioration repairs and traffic delays.
The cost of blades is minimal compared to the cost of pavement.
Most municipalities have shoes or bogey wheels on their plows, they usually are about 1/8" above the pavement.
DOT plows are on the pavement, we had replaceable blades with a carbide insert. In a storm event such as this one it would not be unusual to go through a couple sets of blades.
Good times being squatted under a frozen plow @ 0200 dripping slush down your neck wrestling 125#, 6' long and 3/4" thick blades fishing 5/8" diameter bolts to hold them without them slipping out of your hand.
Bert, I appreciate your comments and can relate to working on plows and heavy equipment outdoors in winter. We live off a state highway in an area of the mountains where we get a lot of snow. I've been plowing our driveway for almost sixty years and plowed commercially for several years. There are county side roads nearby so I watch the state and county plows nearly every day in winter. In almost every year we've had good service and lately the state and county crews have done an outstanding job.
Last week and again this afternoon the state road grader came through to push the roadside snow/ice berms back 6 feet or so. This is necessary because by mid winter the snow banks build up to where there's little room for the plows to move snow off the road. This is a big issue for any residents here because the driveway approaches get buried with dense snow by the state/county plowing operation. If you don't have a plow or snowthrower or both you're at a big disadvantage. After I clear the driveway and mailbox approach a lot of material gets packed in around the entry. Then the state grader comes through and drags a windrow of a few tons of snow into the driveway entry. No big deal. I'm so happy to have them move the material out of the way in time for the next storm.
Maybe it's just a job but I think of them as heroes.
Btw, here in the mountains the county plows also run the blades in direct contact with the pavement. Nothing to elevate the blades. When I bought my little Meyers plow I tried the blade shoes but they didn't hold up on our rocky gravel driveway. Besides, I want as clean a scrape as I can get. Some guys use strips of rubber conveyer belt material attached to the blades to reduce wear on the blade edge and any concrete surface damage.
tmjohnson
02-03-2022, 18:33
13 to 14 inches down here at Colorado City
Snow totals varied all around the Front Range. We only got about 6 inches Tuesday into Wednesday but it's been cold. Minus 12 last evening when we went to bed. At 1:30 a.m. I got up to feed the wood stove and saw that we were down to minus 18 degrees. Fairly unusual here. By 4:30 a.m. the temp was back up to minus 12.
.455_Hunter
02-03-2022, 18:52
When my Active Army unit supported snow plow operations on post, we put polyethene edges on the road grader blades. I think they also used them on the plow units designed to mate to the front of a 5-ton.
Depends on the pavement material and condition. On Vail pass the plows remove 1-2 inches of asphalt per year. Mainly from the blades shaving the peaks of the ruts from truck tire chains. We are trying 3 concrete test sections to see if tire chain rutting can be mitigated. Monitoring the wear of the test sections and new asphalt placed last year.
Asphalt that is cracked is very vulnerable to freeze thaw damage causing layer delamination and chucking of the pavement.
On concrete blades can chip away the corners of the panels as they curl up from temperature diferential.
Most concrete placed in the last 40 years is air entrained to mitigate freezing damage. Most damage you see at joints is from the de-icer. The chloride reacts with the concrete and forms an expansive gel the beaks apart the concrete. This is mitigated with coal fly ash, slag or other pozzolanic materials. Cdot pavement for the past 20+ years has mitigated this reaction. Local roads, especially El Paso County concrete roads do not contain the required pozzolan for mitigation. This county is run by the developers who do not want to use it since it slows down strength gain a few days. These idiots running El Paso County are saving a few days today for expensive early age deterioration repairs and traffic delays.
The cost of blades is minimal compared to the cost of pavement.
Eric P, very interesting information about surface wear factors but not surprising. For some time I worked heavy and highway and operated concrete plants for many years. In the early 70's, air entrainment was an extra cost additive and many contractors didn't buy it. A few years later it became industry standard and a required part of the mix package. The early fly ash mixes flowed nicely but didn't hold up very well. I wonder if steel pellets mixed with concrete might be cost effective? I don't know about current practices but it was used for heavy traffic warehouse floors.
I notice a lot of roadside tree loss from mag chloride but haven't seen an effort to remove the dead trees. I would guess that failed catalytic converters probably start a majority of highway fires and I expect the problem will get worse in the next few years.
Huh, as a muggle I assumed that plows had a simple consumable edge like HDPE.
Had no idea that there was a lot of complexity to running a plow, but in hindsight, it makes sense.
Any additional education would be great.
theGinsue
02-03-2022, 19:00
Depends on the pavement material and condition. On Vail pass the plows remove 1-2 inches of asphalt per year. Mainly from the blades shaving the peaks of the ruts from truck tire chains. We are trying 3 concrete test sections to see if tire chain rutting can be mitigated. Monitoring the wear of the test sections and new asphalt placed last year.
Asphalt that is cracked is very vulnerable to freeze thaw damage causing layer delamination and chucking of the pavement.
On concrete blades can chip away the corners of the panels as they curl up from temperature diferential.
Most concrete placed in the last 40 years is air entrained to mitigate freezing damage. Most damage you see at joints is from the de-icer. The chloride reacts with the concrete and forms an expansive gel the beaks apart the concrete. This is mitigated with coal fly ash, slag or other pozzolanic materials. Cdot pavement for the past 20+ years has mitigated this reaction. Local roads, especially El Paso County concrete roads do not contain the required pozzolan for mitigation. This county is run by the developers who do not want to use it since it slows down strength gain a few days. These idiots running El Paso County are saving a few days today for expensive early age deterioration repairs and traffic delays.
The cost of blades is minimal compared to the cost of pavement.
Awesome response; thank you. I definitely appreciate the more technical info that helped me understand things I've noticed and suspected.
As to the cost of blades being less than pavement, my guess is that there is a separate budget for snow removal supplies and equipment which is probably far too low so they stretch the dollars by preserving the blades - which creates hazardous driving conditions.
Most municipalities have shoes or bogey wheels on their plows, they usually are about 1/8" above the pavement.
DOT plows are on the pavement, we had replaceable blades with a carbide insert. In a storm event such as this one it would not be unusual to go through a couple sets of blades.
Good times being squatted under a frozen plow @ 0200 dripping slush down your neck wrestling 125#, 6' long and 3/4" thick blades fishing 5/8" diameter bolts to hold them without them slipping out of your hand.
I've paid close attention to many plows on Colo Spr trucks and never noticed any shoes holding the blades up but I've clearly seen the blades raised a couple of inches about the pavement. About 10 yrs ago I asked a city plow driver about it and was told it was to reduce wear on the blades. But like StagLefty said, it packs the remaining snow down which is then turned to a nice gloss when the sun hits it. Wonder skating rink effect. I can't tell you the last time I saw a plow blade create sparks which is something I saw regularly growing up and in Massachusetts.
On top of this, the witch who was in charge of Colo Spr street planning until a couple of years ago started having all of the lanes narrower "to reduce speeding". Now you've got cars close in with drivers who won't get more than a few feet off of your bumper and once the snow falls the city turns into one big bumper car arena.
ETA: For the record, I have mad respect for the plow operators and what they do. I just wish the bureaucrats giving the directions appreciated the citizens equally as much.
Eric P, very interesting information about surface wear factors but not surprising. For some time I worked heavy and highway and operated concrete plants for many years. In the early 70's, air entrainment was an extra cost additive and many contractors didn't buy it. A few years later it became industry standard and a required part of the mix package. The early fly ash mixes flowed nicely but didn't hold up very well. I wonder if steel pellets mixed with concrete might be cost effective? I don't know about current practices but it was used for heavy traffic warehouse floors.
I notice a lot of roadside tree loss from mag chloride but haven't seen an effort to remove the dead trees. I would guess that failed catalytic converters probably start a majority of highway fires and I expect the problem will get worse in the next few years.
Early fly ash had poor controls and high in carbon. The carbon absorbed the air entrainment admixture turning the mix into a no air mix. Steel will rust and expand, breaking the concrete apart from the inside.
We are trying 3 types of concrete on vail pass. A standard pavement mix, one with lots of silica fume a d the 3rd with carbon nano tubes. Silica fume is used in concrete for energy dispersion blocks on dam spillway since if helps resist the abrasion from the water and aggregate particles. The nano tubes are new to concrete. They were used in concrete pads for snow cats at vail resorts. The snowcats have carbide tracks and vail resorts has gone 4 seasons without needing to replace the pads. The pads are usually replaced every 2-4 years from wear.
I jokingly told the resident engineer and maintainance super that I want my name to be cursed when blades snag on these panels as the asphalt wears away and they forget to lift the blade. If these work at resisting wear, when they add the climbing lanes they would use voncrete for the truck lanes.
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