"The Lake Effect" (and why I live in Arizona!!!) NGC...and you'll see why!! LOL

[JJ]

Flight from Syracuse cancelled, had to drive through THIS to get to Rochester, and fly to Chicago, then back to Vortex Land! 

I have not experienced winter driving conditions like this for a long, long time!!!  

Quite an adventure!! :1:

[John Ulrich]

Builds character   

[Fuzzy]

Yeah, we have a double headed (?) storm arriving this afternoon, up to a foot of snow, then a high temp of -3F Sunday. I always say, if we are going to have weather, let's have weather. I am getting my wish this weekend.

[JJ]

Builds character   

Yes...I was originally born and raised in upstate NY... - - and I had 20+ years to build my character....

Then, one day... I had an "epiphany" about riding a motorcycle ALL YEAR ROUND - and moved to Texas first, then Arizona!

[Zoom Zoom]

Welcome to my world.

As for your epiphany, 

John Henry

[Sasquatch Jim]

  It's because of all those people who wish for a white Xmas.

[sidmonsters]

The quirks of lake effect snow, John!  We had clear skies all day yesterday and the previous night while you folks 20 miles north (and then east, of course) were getting powdered!  My son goes to school in Lakewood and I was shocked when I heard school was cancelled yesterday.  9 degrees for a high and near 50 tomorrow?  WTF?  I grew up in San Diego, granted, but have benn in Ohio for many years now...certainly long enough to get used to it.

I'm still not used to it.
Steve  (in Medina)

[ohiorider]

You know you love it!  Come on back!

Bob

[Zoom Zoom]

The older I get, the less used to it I become Steve.

John Henry

[oldbike54]

 Years ago I asked a female bartender in Watford City ND who was from Corpus Christi TX how long it took to get acclimated to the cold and snow . "Oh honey , you never get acclimated to being cold and snowed in , you just get used to BEING cold and snowed in" 

 Dusty

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Yes...I was originally born and raised in upstate NY... - - and I had 20+ years to build my character....

Then, one day... I had an "epiphany" about riding a motorcycle ALL YEAR ROUND - and moved to Texas first, then Arizona!

Your choice - fried or frozen. 

"Every paradise has a price".

[Nic in Western NYS]

The quirks of lake effect snow, John!  We had clear skies all day yesterday and the previous night while you folks 20 miles north (and then east, of course) were getting powdered!  My son goes to school in Lakewood and I was shocked when I heard school was cancelled yesterday.  9 degrees for a high and near 50 tomorrow?  WTF?  I grew up in San Diego, granted, but have benn in Ohio for many years now...certainly long enough to get used to it.
I'm still not used to it.

It's really a neat phenomenon!  The satellite photos show these plumes of snow clouds blowing west from over the Great Lakes.  There were usually a couple of times a year when the lake effect snow would reach my old place in north central Massachusetts, 3-4 hundred miles to the east and we'd have a little snow with bright blue skies.

[darkstar1269]

Despite some minor rain welcoming you back here, it looks like a great weekend ahead. Next week even better, I am planning on heading to the Salton Sea on the V7 next Friday for camping one night via I-10>78>111 and back on box canyon road to I-10 in plenty of time for Christmas eve dinner. Glad I made the move from NJ to AZ!

[Gliderjohn]

I am going to guess that at least a decent percentage of the drivers in your area have a clue concerning driving in that stuff? Even though we usually get a bit of snow each winter the it seems that most drivers totally have forgotten how to drive in snow and ice during the first storm or two then the memory returns.
GliderJohn

[JJ]

Your choice - fried or frozen. 

"Every paradise has a price".

Well stated...   In the end...there is no "utopia..."

Well, maybe the weather in NORCAL or the south of France /  Mediterranean...or ????

115-118 degrees for 4-6 months in the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix area) - is no picnic either!!

[Arizona Wayne]

We're visiting my son in the Portland/Vancouver area right now where I lived for 11 years `71-`82 leaving from Arizona Tuesday.  From Redding, Ca. on it was rainy but we got over the Siskiyou pass on I-5 but about @ Salem, Or. in light snow the traffic came to a stop.    We sat there for 25 min. when suddenly some impatient drivers behind us passed on the right shoulder never to be seen again.  I was losing my patience and decided to see where they went in our Rav4.  I find both lanes stopped because of the left lane I think a driver had a flat front tire and in front of us a woman driver had stopped to see what his issue was.  So we had to stop behind her on an upward slope. Now I'm PISSED!     When conditions are iffy you don't stop for anything unless you want to get stuck too.  I yelled at her to get the hell out of the way so we can get by her.  She got my message and got back into her car and spun her front wheels on the ice and luckily got moving forward.  So now I know we are in a dilemma with our front tires on ice instead of snow  and went back to the woman driver behind us a ways and told her I was going to back up some to get my tires in snow to be able to move forward.  I was able to get traction in the snow and drive forward  while everybody else in cars/semi trucks are just sitting there.  In front of us there were no vehicles on the hi-way for MILES and I got up to 50 mph passing other vehicles doing 40 mph or slower later.    Here I am from AZ. and these local yocals don't know how to drive in these conditions.     They're all too timid, which is fine as long as you don't hold me up.  We drove all the way to Wilsonville, Or. before the traffic came to being backed up and barely moving forward.   We saw a sign for a Motel 6 and were able to get a room before they filled up.   Got food @ a gas station right next door and had wine with us.  Next day we ventured out again on I-5 @ 11am and luckily the roads were mainly clear with a lot of people staying home due to snow/ice on roads. 

[jazzamoto]

JJ,
Looking at those pics just gives me the creeps. That's why I left CT.

John

[Kent in Upstate NY]

We are just starting our first winter in upstate NY. No worse that the Illinois winters I grew up with.

[kingoffleece]

Lake Effect?

I'm from Buffalo-still live here. 'Nuff said.

[Nic in Western NYS]

Lake Effect?

I'm from Buffalo-still live here. 'Nuff said.

Go Bills!  (Obligatory when Buffalo is mentioned, at least in my wife's family)

[JJ]

JJ,
Looking at those pics just gives me the creeps. That's why I left CT.

John

There was a storm just like this back in 1978 in Danbury, CT, as I was driving to Austin, TX, age 23, to start working for Motorola.   

I remember the further SOUTH and WEST I drove, the better the weather was!   

I distinctly remember being truly amazed on how BLUE the skies were in Texas.  No looking back for me... 




image host

[JJ]

...and for Tom Short, living and working now in Germany...a little sunshine and blues skies from northern Arizona!  Enjoy! 

[giusto]

It becomes a dichotomy of wishes in the Lake effect belt..or belts....of which I am smack dab...if winter temps stay warmish..ya know teens and 20"s then the lake effect machine rolls on...but if you pray for really cold weather...minus teens and such...can lead to a substantial lake freeze...absolutely turning off the pump....clear blues and no snow...only the occasional system stuff, not what is in place now...snow every day for the last 2 weeks and predicted for the next 2. our sunniest month in N Lower MI= February...:)

though there is something to be said about snow shoeing into a frozen waterfall for a fresh winter accent.

[Bob Wegman]

Winter starts later this week.

[JJ]

Winter starts later this week.

36 degrees this morning, at 9:50am, but sunny and blue skies here in the Village of Oak Creek - and that works for me!  :1:

[Matteo]

It becomes a dichotomy of wishes in the Lake effect belt..or belts....of which I am smack dab...if winter temps stay warmish..ya know teens and 20"s then the lake effect machine rolls on...but if you pray for really cold weather...minus teens and such...can lead to a substantial lake freeze...absolutely turning off the pump....clear blues and no snow...only the occasional system stuff, not what is in place now...snow every day for the last 2 weeks and predicted for the next 2. our sunniest month in N Lower MI= February...:)

though there is something to be said about snow shoeing into a frozen waterfall for a fresh winter accent.


[/URL

Are they letting you climb there again? That was always a good time.

[PeteS]

Just be glad you didn't have to drive to Watertown, NY or Eire, PA. The area just west of Lakes Erie and Ontario get at least three time snow Buffalo, Rochester, and Syacuse does.

Pete

[giusto]

Are they letting you climb there again? That was always a good time.

Well yes and no...under the cloak of darkness or park a mile away and be stealthy.

[Nic in Western NYS]

Best lake effect snow I've seen was Sodus Point NY, on Lake Ontario.  Driving north on Rt 14 it was sunny sunny sunny BLIZZARD

[kingoffleece]

We'd take the snowmobiles to Tug Hill for years.  Over 300 inches of snow.  One year we were there and it snowed 90 some inches in 24 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was beyond ridiculous.

And, were you perhaps in the Feb 1978 storm that blanketed the 95 from Providence to Boston?  That was a hoot.  Aerial photos showed no evidence of an Interstate highway as there was so much snow.