So what's the weather like in your neck of the woods?

[Coffee Warlord]

Hooo yeah, here comes the blizzard.

[Mustang]

We rake our roof to help with ice forming in the gutters. The attic could be a little better insulated so, what happens is that the snow melts on the roof at an accelerated rate, flows into the gutters where it is colder and then freezes. When it warms up the ice in the gutters starts to melt and then tries to find a place to go and can wick up underneath the roof and flow into the house. We have a roof rake and heating coils to help reduce this potential issue.

Winter is such fun....

Oh.. and it isn't a rake in the sense of a lawn rake. It is basically a 25 ft pole with a solid rectangle at the end.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

My brother-in-law had some ice-damning issues a couple years ago, I forget how he solved them, I didn't think it was with a rake though. Interesting little lessen I'm getting here!

If fixing the way the roof is insulated can't be done (or doesn't fix the problem) it's also possible to run heating wires on the roof to melt the snow and avoid this problem. Since most of the ice damning happens on the roof edges (apparently where the heat/insulation issues crop up the most for some reason - I'm not a builder), you just run the wires from the gutter to about one or one and one half feet up the roof.

This is reason #293847 why it's important to focus on the quality/condition of the roof when purchasing a house.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Mustang

We rake our roof to help with ice forming in the gutters.

I actually have heating wires in the gutters specifically for this.

[Thomkal]

It's going to be 75 here today :::ducks all the snowballs:::

[Fidatelo]

I can't believe I spelled lesson 'lessen' up there.

[Alan T]

Just started to snow here.

[cartman]

The last couple of weeks have been a roller coaster. Last Tuesday morning, it was 75 degrees, then that night the cold front came through and it was 28 degrees and snow. The cold lasted until Friday, then it started to warm up again, and by Sunday afternoon it was 80 degrees. Then on Sunday night, in the span of about 15 minutes, the temp dropped 30 degrees, and it got back down to 25 degrees overnight. Monday and Tuesday were icy, then on Wednesday it slowly started to warm up, and today it is supposed to be back in the high 60s/low 70s.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

I can't believe I spelled lesson 'lessen' up there.

And don't forget about "damning"...

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

And don't forget about "damning"...

Dam you!

[Galaxy]

We are just getting nailed in upstate NY. Snow was falling at 2 inches per hour in Buffalo.

[Kodos]

Looks like we have about 3 inches so far near the coast of Connecticut. I hate snow. Maybe in retirement I can live outside of the snowbelt.

[SFL Cat]

79 and sunny here with a nice breeze coming in off the ocean. Man, this time of year, I love living in South Florida!

[dawgfan]

High's in the high 20's through Sunday, more snow expected tomorrow along with a major windstorm. Could be a lot of people without power tomorrow night in sub-freezing conditions.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Cripes. Another round of freezing rain? This is getting ridiculous. Al Gore can go to hell.

[miked]

Was farging 20 degrees when I woke up yesterday, and 30 this morning. WTF.

[Lorena]

It's supposed to warm up to 53 degrees but right now it's 37.

[Mustang]

snow, snow, snow and more snow... up to another 12" by end of tomorrow. Side streets are just horrible... there is no where to plow the snow to so, roads have narrowed down considerably

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I'll say one thing. On Sunday, we had a high of around 8 degrees with a low of -3. I have come to the conclusion that everyone in Canada needs to move south during the winter. That's just too damn cold, especially with wind.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Uhhhh, Earth to Seattle. WTF?????? The holier-than-thou quote at the end of the article is priceless.......

Local News | Seattle refuses to use salt; roads "snow packed" by design | Seattle Times Newspaper

Seattle refuses to use salt; roads "snow packed" by design
Seattle's strategy for clearing roads relies on sand and de-icer, not salt, which is a more effective method of melting ice and snow.

By Susan Kelleher
Seattle Times consumer affairs reporter

To hear the city's spin, Seattle's road crews are making "great progress" in clearing the ice-caked streets.

But it turns out "plowed streets" in Seattle actually means "snow-packed," as in there's snow and ice left on major arterials by design.

"We're trying to create a hard-packed surface," said Alex Wiggins, chief of staff for the Seattle Department of Transportation. "It doesn't look like anything you'd find in Chicago or New York."

The city's approach means crews clear the roads enough for all-wheel and four-wheel-drive vehicles, or those with front-wheel drive cars as long as they are using chains, Wiggins said.

The icy streets are the result of Seattle's refusal to use salt, an effective ice-buster used by the state Department of Transportation and cities accustomed to dealing with heavy winter snows.

"If we were using salt, you'd see patches of bare road because salt is very effective," Wiggins said. "We decided not to utilize salt because it's not a healthy addition to Puget Sound."

By ruling out salt and some of the chemicals routinely used by snowbound cities, Seattle has embraced a less-effective strategy for clearing roads, namely sand sprinkled on top of snowpack along major arterials, and a chemical de-icer that is effective when temperatures are below 32 degrees.

Seattle also equips its plows with rubber blades. That minimizes the damage to roads and manhole covers, but it doesn't scrape off the ice, Wiggins said.

That leaves many drivers, including Seattle police, pretty much on their own until nature does to the snow what the sand can't: melt it.

The city's patrol cars are rear-wheel drive. And even with tire chains, officers are avoiding hills and responding on foot, according to a West Precinct officer.

Between Thursday and Monday, the city spread about 6,000 tons of sand on 1,531 miles of streets it considers major arterials.

The tonnage, sprinkled atop the packed snow, amounts to 1.4 pounds of sand per linear foot of roadway, an amount one expert said might be too little to provide effective traction.

"Hmmm. Six thousand tons of sand for that length of road doesn't seem like it's enough," said Diane Spector, a water-resources planner for Wenck Associates, which evaluated snow and ice clearance for nine cities in the Midwest.

Spector and snow-control experts in four cities said sand is typically mixed with salt and used for trouble spots.

"The occasional application of salt is probably not going to have a lasting effect" on the environment, Spector said. But she cautioned it's highly dependent on where it's used, how often and how much is applied.

Seattle's stand against using salt is not shared by the state Department of Transportation, which has battled the latest storms in Western Washington with de-icer, 5,800 tons of salt and 11,500 cubic yards of salt and sand mix, said spokesman Travis Phelps.

Many cities are moving away from sand because it clogs the sewers, runs into waterways, creates air pollution and costs more to clean up.

Its main attraction is that it typically costs less than one-fifth the price of salt, according to Spector.

"We never use sand," said Ann Williams, spokeswoman for Denver's Department of Public Works. "Sand causes dust, and there's also water-quality issues where it goes into streets and into our rivers."

Instead, it sprays an "anti-icing" agent on dry roads before the snow falls and then a combination of chemicals to melt the ice.

Cheryl Kuck, spokeswoman for the Portland Bureau of Transportation, said her city prepared the streets last week with the "anti-icing" spray. Once the snow started, Portland used chemical de-icers, followed by plowing with 55 plows and treating trouble spots with sand and gravel.

Although the city had plowed 29 of its 36 major routes, "nothing is clear," Kuck said late Monday afternoon. "This is a difficult and challenging situation that's going to take us a long time to recover from."

Wiggins, of Seattle's transportation department, said the city's 27 trucks had plowed and sanded 100 percent of Seattle's main roads, and were going back for second and third passes.

"It's tough going. I won't argue with you on that," he said. But here in Seattle, "we're sensitive about everything we do that impacts the environment."

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

I'll say one thing. On Sunday, we had a high of around 8 degrees with a low of -3. I have come to the conclusion that everyone in Canada needs to move south during the winter. That's just too damn cold, especially with wind.

We have a rule that our Old English Sheepdog has to stay inside while we're at work if it's colder than -15 celsius during the day (5 fahrenheit). She's been inside every day all month. Today we actually broke the rule because it's going up to -17 (1 fahrenheit) and the dog has been refusing to come inside lately because she's sick of it, and I also suspect she has become so used to the freezing cold temps that today feels like spring :P

Long story short: yes, it's time to move south!

[Cringer]

It's been pretty cold ( ) around here most of the last couple weeks it seems, in the 40's and 50's most of the time. Of course it will be in the 70's and 80's the next few days to take away any weather to add a little to that Christmas feel for this Washington state boy.

[Alan T]

This is my front walkway after the weekend of snow (Snow all three days, but not more than a few inches on Saturday, most was Friday and Sunday)



Measured 2 ft 3 inches on the yardstick. You can see here on the sides of my walkpath (and you can kind of see the streets on the top of the picture), snow is already over the 3 feet mark where it is pushed up to the sides.

Considering the temperatures, I am guessing I won't see my grass again until April now.