Weather...bahhh...humbug! About This Page:

[RobinKay6573]

As winter approaches I tend to remember my memories of working on horse farms. We don’t usually get a lot of snow here in Mid-Michigan but when we do we get DUMPED on. Back in the winter of I think it was 97 I was working at the Michigan State horse farm. It was a Saturday in maybe early March. It has snowed all night and the wind was blowing…pure blizzard. We got about 2 feet of snow total but with the wind blowing it around some of the drifts were over 5 feet tall! No matter what the weather the horses have to be fed and the stalls have to be cleaned the manure has to be dumped. At the time I was driving a little purple cavalier so getting over the snowdrifts in driveway was not possible. Both my co-worker and I parked at the office parking lot across the street from the farm (MSU farms do not plow on weekends) [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] Our Gator (a Gator is like a golf cart with much bigger tires and a dumper on the back) could not get through the snow so we had to walk 15 buckets of grain out to 100 plus head of horses. We just barely got the tractor through the gates and proceeded to get it stuck several times so we could feed over 45 bales of hay to the horses. We did get everything done although we had to skip lunch and we didn’t get out until well after 6 PM (shifts end at 5 pm). My boss called a couple of times (claiming she was snowed in and could not get out of her driveway…she lived less then a mile away) she even had the gall to ask if we had taken a lunch [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/jawdrop.gif[/img] If we would have left I doubt either of us would have come back! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img] It was an awful day and one I will never forget. Did I mention through all this the wind chill was below zero?

What is your worst weather related experience??

[DrDolphin]

Does being in a Cat 3 hurricane count??? Let's just say first and last time I made that mistake!!

[graygables]

When I was 6 mo PG w/ DD3, we had driven to Oklahoma in mid-December and we were heading home for the holidays. We planned to drive home in one day (16 hours). The radar showed a band of rain straight up I44 and I71, so we started out. By the time we hit the Ohio border it was getting NASTY, so we stopped for a bite to eat. A highway patrol officer came in and told us that we'd better get moving or we'd get stuck. So, we took one last potty stop and headed back out. DH had to drive, but it was so bad, the wipers couldn't keep the windshield clean, so DH would have to stop, get out, and wipe the window. AFter awhile, we were down to a single lane, moving about 20 mph and nowhere for DH to pull off, so he grabbed my scarf (my favorite hunter green oh so soft scarf) and reached out to wipe the windshield when a gust of wind snatched it out of his hand. Remember, I'm 6 mo pregnant at this point and my favorite scarf just blew away. I was having mild contractions (probably from dehydration...I was afraid to drink b/c there were no potties!). It got to the point where we had to find a potty stop, so we pulled into a truck stop. The floors were lined with truckers and others on sleeping bags and blankets. We went potty and I tried to see if there was an available hotel room, but there weren't. DH refused to stay and the HP said they were closing the interstate, so we had to hurry to get back on before they closed us off. By this point, I'm in a panic, the contractions were quite uncomfortable, and it's a full blown white out blizzard. We finally got to an exit we could get home from and had to take it b/c the road ahead was also closed. I just closed my eyes at that point and did not open them until DH said we were home. We had to park in his parents' driveway and walk through hip-deep snow to get to our house. I was basically hysterical (and frozen) by that point. The drive from Columbus (usually 2 hours), took 10 hours that day, so our 16hr drive turned into 24hours. That's when we swore never to road trip in the winter again. Thankfully, the contractions calmed down and there were no long-term problems, just my poor scarf laying in some field in the middle of Ohio! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img]

[wheatenwalker]

Getting stuck at work in snowstorms- yuck! Now I live pretty close to work but if noone can get there, I have to stay. I really dont like winter!

[DisneyFanAnn]

I love winter (I know I'm in the major minority!) so my worst story isn't winter related (I do remember lots of massive lake effect snows in PA...snowed in for 8 days....Loved it! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img]
My worst is being in a tornado in 1985 in PA...it hit right behind our house...didn't destroy it but it was pretty bad. Freaked me out and now that we're in Missouri and get tornado watches and too many warnings I don't do so well...gee....wonder why I love winter! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[GoofyMom]

Too many winter weather experiences to tell! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] A couple years ago we had transmission troubles on Boxing Day (Dec. 26 - it's a holiday here) when we were visiting my parents' cottage at the lake. My parents, sister and us decided to head back to their farm 2½ hours away, so my parents & sister left in one car and we were driving our van. It was -38 actual temp (I have no clue what the windchill factor was), and we were in the boonies with no farm houses around for miles. We were driving in first gear trying to limp our way back to the cottage, realizing all the while that once we got there, we didn't have a key to get in. All we had was ½ tank of gas and our emergency gear of sleeping bags and a couple candles. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] Eventually, my parents realized we weren't following them, so they turned around to look for us and ended up back at the cottage (with the key!) and we had to spend another night there because there was no place to tow the van to for repairs on Boxing Day.

But! I think my absolute worst weather experience was the tornado that went through the farm yard one summer. We didn't have a safe place to go, so we just stood in the doorway between the kitchen & livingroom in the centre of the house and prayed we'd make it out ok. Luckily there was no damage to the house because the tornado clipped the outside edge of the farmyard, but in the small town 2 miles away, it flattened the curling rink/community hall.

[loobyoxlip]

Oh, Robin, I have too many to remember [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

[BostonTeaParty]

The Blizzard of '78. I'll never forget it. I lived in the coastal town of Hull, Massachusetts - surrounded on three sides by water - aka a peninsula. Massachusetts "Storm of the Century" the blizzard dumped 27 inches of snow on Boston, paralyzing the city and surrounding suburbs for a week. We lost electricity as the storm howled and raged outside. It got so cold in our house that my brother Tommy and I put our coats and hats on, and huddled under a blanket together for warmth. Since we didn't have TV or radio we were unable to hear the horrible weather reports. My sisters, all living out of the area heard and saw the reports. They became very concerned and called us on the phone. We didn't realize how serious the storm was and told them not to worry, we'd be fine. It was just a typical ocean related nor'easter. Who knew?

Although snow was less of an issue along the immediate coast, the tides were devastating. These tides, topped with crashing waves, wreaked havoc on coastal homes, roads, and infrastructure. Inland, the storm strengthened during afternoon rush hour, and people were buried in their cars on the highways surrounding Boston. Over 3,000 cars and 500 trucks were immobilized along an eight-mile stretch of Route 128. All told, 99 people were killed and thousands of houses and businesses were destroyed or severely damaged.

[katspjs]

[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yeahthat.gif[/img] I remember the Blizzard of '78. I was 10. You couldn't even imagine the amount of snow. After everyone was plowed out the snowbanks were up to the eavestroughs on the house! There was a state of emergency and no one was to drive their car and everyone walked to the grocery store (thankfully we had one in our town and not far from our house). I seem to recall being off school for two weeks - I think the storm either came before or after our February School Vacation.


In January 1998 we had an ice storm which I believe stretched out to NH. DH had gone to work, I was off on mat leave with Tyler who was about 4 1/2 months old at the time. Our power went out at about noon. Thankfully, I had made a few bottles that morning. I put a blanket sleeper on top of the other sleeper he had on and got out all the blankets we had and we just cuddled in the bed. DH was finally let out of work and no one could tell us when the power was coming back on. The in-laws had power so we decided to head over there because the house was really cold and would only get colder as the night wore on. We packed up our stuff and took the terrifying drive across the city to the in-laws. We weren't there for 5 minutes before their power went out! But the weird thing was the houses across the street still had power. So we sent our dinner and kettle of water to make Tyler's bottles across the street. We ate in front of the fire and went to bed with many blankets and Tyler sleeping between us. Their power came back on very early in the morning.

We left Tyler with the in-laws and took another terrifying drive across the city and found that our power was back on and after a stop at our grocery store we went back to pick Tyler up and head home.

People went almost two weeks - in the middle of winter - without power. They had set up shelters and kitchens where people could get hot meals and showers until their power came back on. That spring you could see the damage to the trees that the ice had caused. Really shocking - especially to see how far south of us it extended.

[iamgrumpy]

Last winter, i lost control of my car and spent 2 hours in a ditch until i got towed out.

Amy