Sometimes you get what you ask for--snow

[rockm]

I was hoping for a few inches of snow to help mulch my trees in. Here in Va. I got more than I wanted. Been offline since 10:30 am on Monday--no power for 12 hours, roads impassable. We were just outside the bullseye for the storm. --12 inche of heavy wet heart attack snow. Stuck to everything-it's dangerous to go near the woods, as trees are snapping right an left. The snow load stuck to my big landscape arakawa JM in the backyard snapped off the top off barely missing my winter stored bonsai. Cherry tree out in the front yard has snapped branches hanging over my truck. Helped a neighbor pull numerous large branches off their car. South of here towards Fredericksburg they got 14 inches. I 95 has been closed i stretches since yesterday because of multiple accidents.

Temp got down to 17 last night, so all the wet snow froze solid. Skating rink on the roads and parking lot. Below are a couple of photos of my trees in storage. Had to knock accumulating snow off of most of them to prevent snapped branches--this is a real delicate thing, as in trying to move the snow, you can snap branches yourself, particularly with heavy wet snow that acts more like cement than powder.

 

[Nybonsai12]

After a couple winters mulching trees in and dealing with damage from heavy snow and also animals I finally said F it and just shuffle the trees in and out of the unheated garage when heavy snowfall occurs and temps get too frigid.

hopefully yours are now cozy and insulated with no damage.

 

[penumbra]

I was hoping for a few inches of snow to help mulch my trees in. Here in Va. I got more than I wanted. Been offline since 10:30 am on Monday--no power for 12 hours, roads impassable. We were just outside the bullseye for the storm. --12 inche of heavy wet heart attack snow. Stuck to everything-it's dangerous to go near the woods, as trees are snapping right an left. The snow load stuck to my big landscape arakawa JM in the backyard snapped off the top off barely missing my winter stored bonsai. Cherry tree out in the front yard has snapped branches hanging over my truck. Helped a neighbor pull numerous large branches off their car. South of here towards Fredericksburg they got 14 inches. I 95 has been closed i stretches since yesterday because of multiple accidents.

Temp got down to 17 last night, so all the wet snow froze solid. Skating rink on the roads and parking lot. Below are a couple of photos of my trees in storage. Had to knock accumulating snow off of most of them to prevent snapped branches--this is a real delicate thing, as in trying to move the snow, you can snap branches yourself, particularly with heavy wet snow that acts more like cement than powder.

I grew up in Fairfax but have been in Front Royal a bit over 40 years now. I was lucky and got about 3-4 inches. It is about the wettest heaviest snow I remember. There were a few worse, but this one is bad. Hope you get you power back soon. Sorry for any damage that occurs. Happy for your plants roots.

 

[rockm]

After a couple winters mulching trees in and dealing with damage from heavy snow and also animals I finally said F it and just shuffle the trees in and out of the unheated garage when heavy snowfall occurs and temps get too frigid.

hopefully yours are now cozy and insulated with no damage.

Yeah, great if you have a garage I live in a crummy townhouse without one. Backyard is the only option.

 

[rockm]

I grew up in Fairfax but have been in Front Royal a bit over 40 years now. I was lucky and got about 3-4 inches. It is about the wettest heaviest snow I remember. There were a few worse, but this one is bad. Hope you get you power back soon. Sorry for any damage that occurs. Happy for your plants roots.

This is almost as bad as the back to back blizzards in 2010, when we got five feet of snow. That snow was all powder and easier to deal with. This crap is nasty and heavy.

Luckily power came back at around midnight, Got to 50 inside the house.

 

[penumbra]

You will be happy your roots are snowed in Friday night when it could hit single digits.
Our area is expecting another 3 inches Thursday evening and 12F Friday evening.

50F sounds warmish, but inside it is damned cold.

 

[rockm]

You will be happy your roots are snowed in Friday night when it could hit single digits.
Our area is expecting another 3 inches Thursday evening and 12F Friday evening.

50F sounds warmish, but inside it is damned cold.

It was warmish, but dropping fast--it would have been in the 30's by this morning had the power not come back. It was only a "one dog night"

 

[rockm]

You will be happy your roots are snowed in Friday night when it could hit single digits.
Our area is expecting another 3 inches Thursday evening and 12F Friday evening.

50F sounds warmish, but inside it is damned cold.

The snow for Thursday has been taken out of the D.C. metro area forecast, so that's good news. lows in the teens and twenties for the next week and a half though...The snow we have is going to be around for a while.

 

[Wood]

Around 9-10 inches of snow fell in my area, and I think I got away pretty lucky. Sometime in November, I filled the largest storage bin I could find a home depot with mulch and put my fragile trees in it. Yesterday, I put a couple inches more snow on top of the soil, underneath the branches to help insulate it more for the upcoming week.

On the bench is a Jacqueline Hillier elm and a European beech. Accent snowman by my wife

 

[just.wing.it]

65 mile backup on I-95 according to local radio.
People pooping in plastic bags, stuck in their vehicles for over 24 hours now.
Might be worse than the snow storm that hit Atlanta a few years back, when they only had 10 plow trucks.
Welcome to 2022....

 

[JesusFreak]

So snow helps with insulating roots?

 

[Wood]

Yes, it's a pretty good insulator (think igloos. They get surprisingly warm). The DC's forecast has lows between 17 and 33 degrees for the next week.

 

[PA_Penjing]

Man, you're making Eastern PA look warm so far.

 

[Wood]

And it was 65 on the day before

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

If you do not normally get 12 inch dumps of snow, when one comes, it can be a killer. In the northern Mid-West, we get this type of snow 3 out of every 5 winters. Usually one, sometimes 2 big storms for the year. So far we have been lucky this year. Knock on wood.

 

[Dav4]

65 mile backup on I-95 according to local radio.
People pooping in plastic bags, stuck in their vehicles for over 24 hours now.
Might be worse than the snow storm that hit Atlanta a few years back, when they only had 10 plow trucks.
Welcome to 2022....

Atlanta has never had 10 snow plows!!

Fwiw, that was a completely different kind of "natural disaster". 22 counties make up metro Atlanta, where all school systems open for business one morning despite a small chance for measurable snow. That small chance of snow is realized by noon... literally 2 inch of snow... and all the school systems decide to release the kids early... and the parents of 1.5 million school kids all get into their cars at the same time- about 1 pm- to drive home and pick the kids up at school, and the epic forever known as "snowmageddon 2014" was born... https://www.11alive.com/article/new...rsary/85-bcf15186-4d02-4a47-8025-5a2cc1f3fdac. My wife was stuck in that mess for 14 hours... 37 mile drive. All I can say is that she grew up in upstate New York and knew how to use low gear. I'll be interested to see what really caused that mess on I-95... I'm betting something similar to what happened in Atlanta in 2014... I know they have plenty of snow plows!

 

[coh]

If you do not normally get 12 inch dumps of snow, when one comes, it can be a killer. In the northern Mid-West, we get this type of snow 3 out of every 5 winters. Usually one, sometimes 2 big storms for the year. So far we have been lucky this year. Knock on wood.

Even areas that are used to dealing with snow can be brought to a halt by a surprisingly small amount of snow that falls quickly at the wrong time. A year or two ago we had a storm that hit during morning rush hour, it hit hard with 3" per hour rates. The overall storm total wound up being far less than a foot but many people got stuck on the highways which led to gridlock, abandoned vehicles, etc. The problem was getting 3" of snow when traffic was already very slow or stopped due to the rush hour volume, cars weren't buried but people got stuck and couldn't get moving. Took a while to clear some of those highways. It was kind of shocking; we often we get much bigger storms (a foot or more) that have much less impact.

Edit to add - Dave posted while I was typing but that sounds like the same kind of scenario - put everyone on the road at once just as the snow is pouring down. That will cause trouble almost anywhere.

 

[just.wing.it]

Atlanta has never had 10 snow plows!!

Fwiw, that was a completely different kind of "natural disaster". 22 counties make up metro Atlanta, where all school systems open for business one morning despite a small chance for measurable snow. That small chance of snow is realized by noon... literally 2 inch of snow... and all the school systems decide to release the kids early... and the parents of 1.5 million school kids all get into their cars at the same time- about 1 pm- to drive home and pick the kids up at school, and the epic forever known as "snowmageddon 2014" was born... https://www.11alive.com/article/new...rsary/85-bcf15186-4d02-4a47-8025-5a2cc1f3fdac. My wife was stuck in that mess for 14 hours... 37 mile drive. All I can say is that she grew up in upstate New York and knew how to use low gear. I'll be interested to see what really caused that mess on I-95... I'm betting something similar to what happened in Atlanta in 2014... I know they have plenty of snow plows!

One report I heard claimed that there were only 10 plows in the whole city... could have been fake news.
Or maybe they meant there are only 10 random dudes in Atlanta with dinky plows on their rusted out Ford Rangers.

Edit: funny....my auto correct changed report to repot. Haha!
I listen to repots and report my trees!

 

[GreatLakesBrad]

4-5 inches on the ground, and 6-8 more coming tomorrow. I am also grateful for the snow cover, as we have very cold temps arriving…
That wet snow is brutal! Hope the arakawa recovers well!

 

[Wood]

Yeah, this storm was pretty close to a worst case scenario. 65 degrees the night before, and around 35-40 degrees at Sunday midnight/Monday morning. It started raining at that point so there was no chance to pretreat the roads. Temperature dropped to below freezing and the heaviest snow fell 8am-11am Monday. Almost all of the snow accumulation happened during that time, and it stayed super slushy and wet. Last night was a low of around 17, so everything re-froze