Snow...

[rickmastfan67]

They are saying we will get another storm here in Pgh on Tuesday Night.  Predicting another 6 inches here..........

[Brandon]

Chicagoland is bracing for 6-12" (more in NW Indiana) tonight and tomorrow.  The plows will be out in force.

[froggie]

Just checked a few daily climate summaries.  So far this winter (through midnight last night), DC (as measured at DCA) has seen more snow than Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, NYC, Boston, or Portland, ME.  And the folks out near Dulles (IAD) have seen more than Buffalo, NY.

[Revive 755]

I should be grateful I'm not going to see the amounts seen farther east, but I'm still not happy about seeing snow tonight.  Especially when IDOT seems to have forgotten to pre-treat parts of I-255.

Can't say I'm happy with accident management in Illinois tonight either; ought to be some sort of advanced warning when a pileup in a cloverleaf has more than the weaving lane blocked.  Not pleasant to see a bunch of flashing lights that appear to be across the whole highway and wonder if one is about to take an unplanned tour of the East St. Louis area after dark.

[mightyace]

Tennessee is getting hit with another snow/ice combo this evening.

It looks like only an inch or two of snow, but the precipitation is going back and forth between snow, freezing rain, and rain.

[Brandon]

I should be grateful I'm not going to see the amounts seen farther east, but I'm still not happy about seeing snow tonight.  Especially when IDOT seems to have forgotten to pre-treat parts of I-255.

Can't say I'm happy with accident management in Illinois tonight either; ought to be some sort of advanced warning when a pileup in a cloverleaf has more than the weaving lane blocked.  Not pleasant to see a bunch of flashing lights that appear to be across the whole highway and wonder if one is about to take an unplanned tour of the East St. Louis area after dark.

They must do it differently in the Collinsville District.  Up here, we have VMSs all over the place, and advance warning is usually pretty good, especially on the Tollways.  And District 1 tends not to forget to pretreat the expressway system (nor does ISTHA for that matter).

This morning, I-55 was clear, and I was able to maintain 65-70 mph on wet pavement through Will and DuPage Counties.  Traffic was surprisingly good.  Skilling must've scared enough people into staying home for the day. 

[Chris]

0.5 inch of snow and this is the impact on the Dutch traffic:

(last two columns indicate delays and length of the traffic jam)

[Truvelo]

Those are ridiculous delays for such a pathetic amount of snow. Here we've had a light dusting and traffic is moving normally. The sun came out afterwards and started melting it. Last month when we had the really low temperatures the first wave of heavy snow caused mayhem but the second lot of snow a few weeks later caused less trouble because people were prepared for it.

[Nexis4Jersey]

Some people in some countries aren't used snow or even a dusting and think its like rain, but its not.  Thus they have accidents.

[Chris]

Those are ridiculous delays for such a pathetic amount of snow.

On four-lane freeways, the left lane becomes almost unused by traffic, many people are afraid to drive on even a thin layer of snow, so such freeways, which often carry between 70,000 and 100,000 AADT are basically reduced to only one lane each way. Add minor accidents to that, and you've got mayhem for dozens of miles in a row. I mean, a 60 mile backup, what's up with that? Such lengths aren't even reached when there is a full road closure.

Another problem is that Dutch freeways are busy for long distances. It's not like in most of the U.S. where you leave the urban area and traffic volumes drop to 20,000 - 30,000 AADT. You can leave Amsterdam, and it's another 80 miles before traffic volumes drop below 50,000. Not because of cross-country commuting, but just because the average Dutch population density is like New Jersey.

[Revive 755]

They must do it differently in the Collinsville District.  Up here, we have VMSs all over the place, and advance warning is usually pretty good, especially on the Tollways.  And District 1 tends not to forget to pretreat the expressway system (nor does ISTHA for that matter).

Unfortunately, there aren't any permanent VMS's on I-255 in Illinois; there should really be at least one SB before I-64 so one knows if the JB Bridge is not the best route to take.

[Chris]

Can't say I'm happy with accident management in Illinois tonight either; ought to be some sort of advanced warning when a pileup in a cloverleaf has more than the weaving lane blocked.  Not pleasant to see a bunch of flashing lights that appear to be across the whole highway and wonder if one is about to take an unplanned tour of the East St. Louis area after dark.

I knew East St. Louis was bad, but is it that bad it's not safe to drive there after dark?

[Brandon]

Some people in some countries aren't used snow or even a dusting and think its like rain, but its not.  Thus they have accidents.

Such as Atlanta? 

[Brandon]

0.5 inch of snow and this is the impact on the Dutch traffic:
_{Snip image file}

Hideous, IMHO.  We got 8-12" yestday and last night, and our traffic is nowhere near as bad.
We have a site just for Chicagoland (and Milwaukee) traffic travel times here for comparison.

http://www.gcmtravel.com/gcm/home.jsp

You can find travel times, speeds, even what is posted on the VMSs.

[mightyace]

Some people in some countries aren't used snow or even a dusting and think its like rain, but its not.  Thus they have accidents.

Such as Atlanta? 

Or Nashville? 

[PAHighways]

My county is under a blizzard warning until 4 AM EST Thursday.

PennDOT has partially or completely closed I-76 (Schuylkill Expressway), I-78, I-81 (Maryland to I-80), I-83, I-176, I-476 (Blue Route), I-676, and PA 581 and imposed a 45 MPH limit on all Interstates and expressways.  I-80 eastbound in Clearfield County is closed due to a pile-up involving 30 tractor-trailers and 20 cars.  The Turnpike is congested from Donegal to Blue Mountain due to blizzard conditions and they are advising people to hunker down at a service plaza and wait out the storm rather than risk traveling.

[Stojko]

We're either getting loads of snow or loads of rain here on Friday.

Or both.

I'm hoping snow.

[agentsteel53]

We're either getting loads of snow or loads of rain here on Friday.

Or both.

I'm hoping snow.

I'm in Boston and we're at the extreme north end of this system - we're getting hardly anything, but south of us is getting honest snow.  Dunno if the storm will turn northwards later to get NF.

[deathtopumpkins]

We got another inch or two today (with more possible saturday and monday) and, as usual, people went crazy. There was a 50-car pileup on I-64 (in Williamsburg at Exit 238).

Really Jake? My sister lives in Brookline and says that everyone is hunkering down for a really bad storm.

[Chris]

I'm in Boston

Do you actually have a place that you call home? You're everywhere.

[froggie]

Most of the roads in Frederick County, MD are closed due to blowing/drifting snow, including I-70, US 15, and US 340.  Just saw live images of cars stuck/trapped on 15/340 south of Frederick.

[Alex]

And the next storm is poised to drop between 1 and 5" of snow through the Deep South and Gulf Coast states. Many county offices and schools are already closed for tomorrow.

[Scott5114]

We got a little bit here, probably not even an inch. It's really starting to drive my roommate nuts–she wants to pour concrete to finance a trip to CA next month, but the snow is making that impossible.

[mightyace]

Before today's sun started melting it, my dad said he had 2 feet (24") on his back porch near Bloomsburg, PA.

(I guess it only looks like a 21" now.  )

[bugo]

I left Mena, AR this morning and it started snowing a couple of hours later.  I didn't see any snow on my way to Tulsa.  I missed the Xmas Eve storm in Tulsa because I was in Mena, and I'm missing the storm in Mena tonight because I'm in Tulsa.  I'm like the anti-Jim Cantore.