Governor Paris (dog-smile) Glendenning has proclaimed a state of emergency for Maryland. He was just on teevee advising that this allows him to call out the National Guard which he has done. Phase 3 snow emergengy plan in effect:" NO DRIVING ALLOWED except for work or extreme emergency". Less snow than they see in Vermont on a typical day in June. Too bad for you Maryland pollies with NO TOILET PAPER. Got a pass?

-- Charli (claypool@belatlantic.net), January 25, 2000

Answers

Three day winter storm.

-- Earl (earl.shuholm@worldnet.att.net), January 25, 2000.

IS there an ice storm / bad conditions secondary to the recent cold snap, or is this supposedly related in some way to fuel shortages?

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.com), January 25, 2000.

Baltimore, MD

National Weather Service Local Forecast Issued at 3:45 PM EST - Tuesday, January 25, 2000

...Winter storm warning through 10pm... ...Winter weather advisory overnight for blowing and Drifting snow...

Tonight: Snow tapering to flurries by midnight...Then partly cloudy. Total accumulation 14 to 20 inches. Blustery and cold with blowing and Drifting snow. Lows in the lower 20s. Northwest winds 20 to 25 mph and Gusty.

-- we are prepared (for_a_3_day@snow.storm), January 25, 2000.

What a knee-jerk reactionary...I bet this is like the Hurricane, much ado about something that isn't as big as what it is billed to be.

Since when is an accumulation of 14-20 inches an emergency? Sure it makes the roads a problem for a while but not for calling out the National Guard....Anyway what are they going to do? Send people home who are out on the road?

-- William R. Sullivan (wrs@wham.com), January 25, 2000.

Frank, It's what we call a Nor'easter and my toung is firmly in cheek. But ALL of the elements that we talked about for months are in place! Hard to resist- and yes, being out of TP qualifies as "an extreme emergency" around here.

-- Charli (claypool@belatlantic.net), January 25, 2000.

10-14 inches is a LOT for places that don't get much. I agree, though, in the Sierras, this was barely enough to give us better skiing for a couple of days, and no problem. Over 6 feet, and it got a bit more tricky...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), January 25, 2000.

In the MD/VA/DC area people are not prepared for snow. They don't know how to drive in snow, no snow tires, no chains. It only takes 1-2 inches of snow to bring traffic to a halt with skidding, sliding, accidents. Schools close. So anything over 6 inches is a really big deal. The US Gov. was closed today as were all schools, 99% of businesses, etc. Getting over 1 ft of snow is really incapacitating. Doctors and nurses can't get in to hospitals, pharmacists can't get into drug stores, etc. Earlier today they were calling for help for people with 4 wheel drive vehicles to help transport medical personnel to hospitals. None of the local jurisdictions are really prepared for snow removal --- they don't have the budgets, enough snow plows, personnel, etc. It's not like in New England, or the mid-West where they know how to clear the streets quickly. DC is only working on major roads and won't even start on the subdivision until sometime tommorrow. Why did the MD Gov. call out the National Guard? I don't know. Maybe he needed help transporting medical staff, maybe he wanted to protect stores from possible looting.

-- slza (slzattas@erols.com), January 25, 2000.

When I was attending Michigan State University we had a 20 inch "surprise" snowfall that shut down the university for three days (first time in history). So you can imagine what havoc this magnitude of storm is reeking in the Mid-Atlantic region. The forecasters missed the boat on this one as well (its great when the mighty media misses the call and life just happens). Raleigh, NC also received 18+ inches of snow and Governor Hunt also called out the National Guard. The City or Raleigh probably doesn't have more than a handful of snowplows. Here in the DC area, where one inch of snow usually causes people to abandon their cars in the middle of the highway, things are at a standstill. Hey, its WINTER. Its great when mother nature slows us down and gives us a little time to reflect and enjoy the company of our families.

-- Robie Wood (robiewood@home.com), January 25, 2000.

Is the assumption here that being a polly about Y2K presupposes no preparedness for ordinary emergencies?

In any case, it will be a good test to see if we start hearing about unprepared pollies dropping like flies...

-- I'mSo (happy@prepped.com), January 25, 2000.

Hi Charli,

Hope you are safe and sound up there.

We still have power, but lots of areas around us are without it. I know what you mean about the husband, as you mentioned in your email...have the same thing here. LOL

Take care and check in to let us know you all are okay. ~Dee =)

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), January 25, 2000.

Hey all. We love snow up here. More insulation for the outside of the house. The more the better. When it gets down to 20 below that snow keeps the place nice and toasty. Igloo effect. -:) By the way, gas only went up two cents today. That is still $1.43 a gal. For regular! Snowing real good out there now. Whoopee......

-- jules (jules@fridgid.net), January 25, 2000.

I totally agree. I think that anybody at all, regardless of their car's preparedness for this kind of weather should be allowed to go wherever they want, whenever they want. So what is they crash into that 4 wheel vehicle trying to get medical personnel to the hospital? There should not be any circumstance at all in which the government should interfere with its citizens movements. right??. I just cannot think of any situation that requires emergency powers being called upon. This is a draconian action of the highest degree.....not. Come on, we had a state of emergency declared in NJ in january of 1996-I did not think this a problem. It was essential in order to deliver emergency services. Anarchy, anarchy, anarchy!!! Let's just go on over to the statehouse now and firebomb the place.

-- futureshock (gray@matter.com), January 25, 2000.

Robie:

It is a matter of experience [ie, where you came from]. In my experience, people in East Lansing {MSU} didn't know how to drive in snow and the city didn't have the equipment to clean the streets. It was much like MD, a little snow stopped everything. I only spent two years there, but the whole city stopped with a little snow. It was unlike the northern rockies, where they didn't plow all winter and nothing stopped.

Best wishes,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), January 25, 2000.

Could I have a link to the martial law claim?

I lived in Maryland from 90 to 9/95. They are more than prepared for this little dusting. Baltimore City for example had yellow barrels full of sand on each corner all winter long just incase a storm came through, so everyone would have ready access. The plows hit secondary roads within 24 hours. I find it impossible to believe that martial law has been declared, and national guardsmen are being called in. Maryland's road crews are excellent, and the citizens are more than able to perform in under these circumstances. We had far worse storms when I lived there, then this storm now. What a joke.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 25, 2000.

In the Twin Cities the other day we had about 8 inches come down in a few hours. When we ventured out, we quickly began to wish we hadn't. We had to snake around 3 cars stuck on a short stretch of bridge, and others. Now, you may well expect people are used to snow around here, but that is not to say they are prepared for it. So to think about the accumulations they are talking about, I think that yes they should keep as many cars off the road as possible. As for the National Guard what the ???? is that for?

-- Gia (laureltree7@hotmail.com), January 25, 2000.

Frank, if LI closes for 2" then VA/MD will close TIGHT for 14-20. Considewr that VA BCH VA has ONE snow plow for one of the largest land area cities in the US.

Chuck who, being from Utica, NY considers 8" a flurry. THough CLEVELAND seems to think it's a reasonable storm.

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), January 25, 2000.

We also have an 8 o'clock curfew here in Durham and it's a good idea. Scarce emergency resources do not have to be wasted on helping idiots stalled in their cars and suffering hypothermia (as happened last night). Highways are free of stalled and wrecked cars which impede emergency access and the few snow plows. Businesses vulnerable because security guards couldn't make it to work or because power is out (and therefore burglar alarms) are not a worry. And a curfew encourages people to stay at home and cook something rather than go out on dangerous streets to find an open fast food restaurant or supermarket delis (as many people, particularly college students, were doing this morning).

The official final total of snow is now 20.3 inches. The average annual snowfall in Raleigh is 2.4 inches. We had 20.3 inches in half a day. That's about the equivalent of Chicago getting 400 inches in half a day.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), January 25, 2000.

As a Texan (central), I'm fascinated by what this awful weather has wrought y'all.

FYI, here, if it snows, we declare our own curfews and ML by refusing to leave the house: ergo the complete shutdown of Austin if we only have 1/4 ice on the road. It's assumed: no school, work, anything, but we sure get out in it and experiment with our vehicles.

Straight-up hookey.

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), January 25, 2000.

Somewhat of a Twilight Zone effect going on here???

Might be 6" to 8" on the ground here, sidewalks and streets clear.

Toto, am I still in Buffalo, NY?

-- Michael (michaelteever@buffalo.com), January 25, 2000.

I have lived in the Northern Adirondaks, NY (two years) and Northern Wisconsin (three years). In those locals, after the first few snow falls in November, you don't see the road surface again until March. The road crews use sand, rather that salt, which works very well since the air temp usually stays well below freezing (-40F to +20F) and the mixture of sand with dry snow allows traction to about 45MPH. One gets very accustomed to driving on this snow surface. In the five years I spent in that environment, I never got stuck or had any other problems as a result of the snow. Also, the magnatude of traffic is not even comparible to a small city like East Lansing, MI.

Living in Washington DC is altogether another matter. I might be the most experienced driver in the world in snowy conditions, but that is little help when the ramp from the beltway to I 95 South is blocked by a tractor trailer laying on its side. I had an experience about ten years ago when the Federal government released all its workers at 10:00 AM when things were going sour on another storm the forecasters missed, and it took ten hours to make the 25 mile (usually 40 minute) trek home (that storm was about 8").

-- Robie Wood (robiewood@home.com), January 25, 2000.

Hokie, Hokie, Lighten up! There's no REAL martial law claim to link to but the Guard has been called up and the situation has many elements of the Martial law senerio that was so often discussed here pre-rollover. (sorry, I thought you still lived here in MD, BTW)

..."Is the assumption here that being a polly about Y2K presupposes no preparedness for ordinary emergencies?..." I'm so happy@prepped, YES This mornings AP story about the storm says that people are getting hungry in the Raleigh area and having to scrounge meals from whatever vending machines they can find. Snowbound, stranded and hungry, many folks in Raleigh turned to snack food and soft drinks as the storm shut down virtually all commerce in the capital.

-- Charli (claypool@belatlantic.net), January 26, 2000.

Hi guys,

For clarification, there is a big difference between Martial Law and a National Guard activation. The Guard remains under jurisdiction of the "State" in an emergency such as the snowstorm. They are there to provide assistance, security, and to augment police with curfew enforcement or to help where needed.

Under Martial Law, the military would basically run everything and would be in charge of law enforcement/law and order such as they did in Berlin after WWII, or Korea, or after a major conflict where there is no local infrastructure in place.

Hope this helps. =)

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), January 26, 2000.

Hey! MadMonk

How much you got up there? I'm thinking about bringing the "board "up this weekend.

-- James (brkthru@cableone.net), January 26, 2000.

I live in Maryland..

Yeah, the National Guard just broke my door down and roughed me up..no idea why.

There are tanks at every interesection. I hear the sound of machine guns constantly...I snuck out, saw a line of people fall into a ditch after the sound of machine guns..decided prudence was the better part of valor and returned to my house.

The helicopters circle constantly at low levels spraying an orangish substance.

Seriously, I dug my long driveway out today, roads in surprisingly good shape, was able to get around. Never lost power or anything during the event, picked up about 11" :-)

No evidence of the National Guard....

-- John H Krempasky (johnk@dmv.com), January 26, 2000.

I don't know if anyone will even see this because the thread's pretty far down the list. I remember hearing that if a State of Emergency is called (is that the same as what's being spoken of?) that the school day wouldn't have to be made up that's missed and I'm sure it has some affect on the gov't offices and such. I would also think that it gives local businesses the opportunity to decide whether to open or not without their customers being in their faces for choosing NOT to open.

beej

-- beej (beej@ppbbs.com), January 27, 2000.

I just got back to Orlando after being stuck in Norfolk Airport for two days (yep, sleeping on benches, and eating out of snack machines, etc.). The shuttles to the hotels couldn't (wouldn't) run. This was with only 6-9 inches of snow. The main factor was how many snow plows were available, and how much salt and sand had been stockpiled. This was the most snow the area had in years, and they just weren't ready. The roads were nearly impassible with ice (few knew how to drive in the mess).

We had one good day in Norfolk (Monday). But to get there on Sunday, we were stuck in Raleigh/Durham Airport for 8 hours, due to freezing rain. The big jets were mainly ok, but the little puddle jumpers to Norfolk were not equipped with de-icing gear.

It all boils down to how well they were prepared.

Spindoc'

-- Spindoc' (spindoc_99_2000@yahoo.com), January 27, 2000.