Thundersnow!!

[sunburned]

So how did everyone fair in the storm last night? I'd say the road crews reeeeally dropped the ball on this one. Our dumb base didn't let us out early, so I left work at 4:45 and the roads were already completely covered in snow with barely any plow trucks out. I didn't have any issues in the Jeep, but people were getting stuck left and right on even the smallest inclines. I would have driven around more and probably helped some people, but I already had other plans for the night. Coming out of DC this morning, I must have passed 30-40 abandoned cars, some in the middle of highways.

Anyone have any interesting stories? I know Tim would tell us one if he was ever on here anymore. Something about a 5 hour drive from DC to Arlington...

 

[SYMach1]

It tooke my 4.5hr to get from my work to my house which is 17 miles...EPIC FAIL

 

[tomustang]

Wife and I went out last night cruising around in the SUV, great time to go out since there's less people out there.

Driveway after a plow in the morning is the only downside, even though I have snowblower and never use it :bash:

 

[kingCOBRAsvt_99]

Power is out at my house, hopefully its back on when I get home from work today but definetly not gonna hold my breath on that. Crazy amounts of abandoned cars that were left in the middle of the road (rt. 50 and rt 7 out in tysons) Neighbor has a industrial sized snow blower that he bought for 3+ grand he was out all night snow blowing the entire street I live on since plow trucks plow my street last (dead end street). I just hope my 16 gallon keg of DFH 90 minute doesnt get too hot and go bad. Hope all are safe in MACA :beer:

 

[TDoh]

Fed let out 2 hours early in DC yesterday, so I got home before it changed back over to snow. I heard some real horror stories about people who weren't so fortunate, though. A friend of my GF got stuck for 5+ hours on Fairfax County Parkway, eventually gave up and abandoned her car, and went to a nearby hotel. But the hotel was fully booked, so she ended up sleeping in the lobby. Ridiculous!

I-270 South was pretty good this morning. Only a few unplowed lanes, at least until the Spur, which was a COMPLETE mess. There were hundreds of abandoned cars on the Northbound side, and we saw MDOT out there with the intent of towing each and every one of them at 0530 this morning. Ouch!

Meanwhile, you gotta love the 20" wheels and 16" ground clearance of the Dodge Ram. I was able to back right out of my plowed-in driveway like the 3-foot snowbank wasn't even there! Feel sorry for anyone whose Cobra is a DD. Gonna be a rough couple of days for those guys...

 

[98cobraRx]

That sucks they did not let you out early. Living here after being in PA I can safely saw there are a lot of people in MD who have no clue how to drive in snow. I saw a ton of 4x4 vehicles abandoned. Including a 4 wheel drive dodge truck. Unreal.

 

[FISHTAIL]

The roads last night were pretty lousy, but they were passable. I got home, then went out to hooters, then drove back home again. I saw a few people in ditches, and lots of people doing things they shouldn't have been doing, but no good stories to tell.

 

[gcassidy]

The fail was on the part of those of us living in the most congested highway region in the country trying to actually get anywhere when a snow storm is coming during rush hour and they can't treat the roads because the rain just washes it off. It wasn't the snow that stopped many drivers, it was all the other drivers.

Every disaster, whether natural or man-made, has had it's most horrible focal points that live on and define the disaster for generations to come. For Gettysburg it was Devils Den and the Railroad Cut. For Katrina it was the Crescent City Bridge and the Superdome. We now have the GW Parkway and I-270. These were roads that get jammed during a sunny rush hour. It's not a surprise they were still gridlocked at 3AM this morning.

I'm lucky I left work in VA at 2 in the afternoon knowing what was coming, and got home in MD by 3, a bit more than usual drive. Otherwise, I would have spent the night at work like some of my co-workers did.

I can't wait to see how the COG says they can avoid this in the future. I don't think you can.

 

[gcassidy]

This, my friends, is what Anarchy looks like.
(By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 27, 2011; 9:02 AM )

About 6:15 p.m., Steve Roberts, 42, began to merge his Dodge Ram pickup onto the George Washington Parkway en route to Sterling. Two hours later, he was still waiting to merge.

"I hear there's an accident up by the parkway and 495, and that's blocking everything up," said Roberts, who began his commute at the Pentagon. "I've got a long way before I get home."

Denise Borders spent nearly 13 grueling hours on the Parkway - "just sitting for hours. Literally. Sitting, not moving" - without food, without a bathroom, without sleep. There were trees down and people whose cars got stuck trying to turn around and get off the parkway, Borders said. But for most of the drivers on the road, the snow was less of a problem than the complete gridlock that enveloped them.

"You saw people get out and have to relieve themselves out in the street. It was horrible," Borders said after finally arriving at her home in Reston, close to 5:30 a.m.

On the parkway, as hour after hour passed, Borders commiserated with other drivers - parents anxiously trying to get home to their children, nursing mothers desperate to feed their infants. With their cellphone batteries slowly losing juice, the trapped drivers dialed 911 and other emergency numbers, looking for information about where to go, when the traffic would clear. No one had answers.

"I thought I was leaving early. It had just started to snow," said Borders, an educator with a global consulting firm, who left her Dupont Circle office about 4 p.m. "We still don't know what the real start of it was, but it took 13 hours to get here."

By 1:30 a.m., gridlock had turned into traffic anarchy on Colesville Road in Silver Spring. Just past Sligo, before Four Corners, frustrated bumper-to-bumper northbound drivers decided to take over the southbound lane as they attempted to climb the hill.


Except cars were still coming southbound, and snow removal trucks, too. On both sides, vehicles were stuck, including an 18-wheeler flatbed truck. Drivers - some of whom had left their offices at least seven hours earlier - were backing up, spinning their wheels, slipping and sliding.

 

[N2DAMYSTIC]

I left Silver Spring at 4pm and it was not too bad. Hopped the beltway to 95 and it moved right along. Assuming I left just 1/2 hour later it would probably be a 2 hour trip. Wife left Baltimore at 5:30 and got home 7:30. Nothing outrageous but glad we both have 4X4's.

Had a blast on the quad last night plowing driveways and pulling my neighbor around the neighborhood on a snow board.

 

[951MystiCobra]

I went home, went to Hooters and then headed back home after with no problems. When I got home from dinner we already had 4 inches of snow, so I figured that I would shovel the driveway since I knew that Pax River would be open today... by the time I got to the end of the driveway, there was already another inch covering what I had cleared... so I gave up and went inside. Fortunately this morning there wasn't much more and I was able to get out with only minor difficulties.

I can't believe the people that were stuck in their cars... that is crazy. +1 for SoMD

 

[NickF1011]

I stopped off to eat out for dinner after work just to let some of the idiots either drive themselves into ditches or get home before I decided to make the trek from Baltimore to Annapolis. Plus I just wanted to get some more snow on the ground so I could test out of the AWD on the new Edge.

I got home with no trouble...about an hour drive instead of the normal 30-35 minutes. Roads all looked great along Rt 50 and I-97 this morning, so seem AA County fared a lot better than elsewhere around the MD/DC/VA area.

 

[Allen2001GT]

Took me 3.5 hours to get to work last night 730-1100 pm from Germantown to Silver Spring. What made it so long was the parking lot on S/B 270 spur. After that i worked all night helping cars out, handling calls, and towing the many cars that people decided to abandon in the middle of various roads such as rte 29. If they were off to the side off the roadway i didn't bother but i do believe we set a record for the most amount of cars left abandoned in a roadway. At one point i said to my co-workers that the roads looked like a movie picture such as in the movie I am Legend. Just unreal.

 

[Callaway Cobra]

Just crazy

 

[PSUCOBRA96]

Spent 3 hours going from Olney to Derwood, I was in my 1991 suburban and was crusing just fine until I got to the intersection of Bowie and Muncaster. I had to get out and move car after car and direct traffic, a few other guys started comingout and we used floormats and sheer force and help pushed the cars up the hills to get them a running start lol.

I was amaized how clueless most of these people were about driving in these conditions. They would floor it or slam on the brakes, they just didn't know how to drive in general. After a while I was soaked to the bone and I had to leave people to fend for themselves as my finace was stuck in the snow a few streets from the house where we are dogsitting. Needwood was failry bad as well, but I only had to clear one car out of the way.

Spent the day picking up my dad who got stuck in VA, and then picked up some other family and dropped them off at my parents house since they still have electricity.

Glad to see you all got home safe.

 

[snakecharmer]

Good Lord, I don't know how you people deal with it. I would go looney tunes.

 

[N2DAMYSTIC]

I should also mention I had fun pushing my neighbors car with my 4 wheeler. I warned him about putting the blade against his front bumper but he did not care. I have yet to look at the damage on his car but he insisted he did not care LOL!

 

[Nutty 5.0]

Things here in PA weren't much better but this morning there were very few cars out. The roads were really bad though.

 

[gcassidy]

I should also mention I had fun pushing my neighbors car with my 4 wheeler. I warned him about putting the blade against his front bumper but he did not care. I have yet to look at the damage on his car but he insisted he did not care LOL!

His lawyer may sing a different tune when he contacts you. :rollseyes

 

[sunburned]

pulling my neighbor around the neighborhood on a snow board.

My roommates and I plan on doing this with the Jeep next time we get a decent snow. How did the board work on the street?