Ill-Equipped for Snow?

And that brings up a sub-topic: plowing in third rail territory.

That does?????  Some type of heater blower?? I have no idea.

I believe they are approaching record total snow fall in Boston.  My daughter who lives west of Boston, Medfield, has voiced discontent with all the snow.  Most noted conversation seems to be water in homes.  Roof snow and ice accumulation is beyond a lot of structure designs.  Patty (daughter) says their home is one of a few, per coffee room chat, that does not have water damage at the moment.  Then there is the melt. The other point of concern is intersections. Snow piles at intersections obstruct the view, not that driving in the Great State of Mass wasn't a free-for-all with out the snow.  IMO.  A Western PA guy has to ramp-it-up three notches to drive in Boston Traffic.   

 

Extensive remodel in the last (4) years, I remember a lot of ice dam and huge icicles before heavy insulation.  There was no snow on the roof before insulation.   Patty has pictures of icicles that are all the way to the ground. 

  

When it comes to Boston the MBTA is badly mismanaged. Hence one reason the head of the MBTA just resigned.

 

the MBTA does use jet powered snow melting equipment 

His replacement will be as bad or worse. I wonder how the freight railroads are doing ??

Her.  The former head of MBTA was Beverly Hall.  She also ran MARTA here in Atlanta before going to the T.

Edit:  Sorry; my brain wasn't firing on all cylinders and I got my Beverly's mixed up.  Beverly Scott was the head of MBTA and former head of MARTA.  Beverly Hall is the former Atlanta Public Schools superintendent.

Curt

The NJDOT has sent a fleet of trucks and bobcat loaders to Boston to help out with the storms...a member of my crew went up Tuesday and is not expected to be back for at least another week.
My wife asked why I didn't "volunteer" and I told her I don't won't to plow the snow we have here ...why would I want to get involved with that mess !!!

MARC generally runs on a reduced schedule. I can't think of any occasion, where MARC has fully stopped due to the snow. I think they stopped running when Sandy came through but can't recall. 

 

WMATA can run until snow is about 8". At that point, it starts to burry the third rail. 2009/10 found them stop running above ground for a spell. I'm not aware of any major pieces of snow fighting equipment. I know they have some but not like our northern friends. I'm often surprised they haven't invested in such a thing. 

Wow. Good luck to all in snowy New England and environs. 

More pitures from Boston.

Work cafeteria, snow outside the window.

Outside the windows.

A lot of homes look like this.

Ice, dangerous icicles.

This weekend's storm.  Winter storm Neptune. Ice and snow removal from sidewalks is limited at best. My daughter was telling me about some special equipment being use to remove snow from sidewalks in commercial area.

The Pa. PennDOT sent some equipment up to Mass. the other day but the area they came from is getting hit.  Places can't afford to maintain all the equipment you would need to fight a storm like this. My son called me to see if I was OK. He is 400 miles away in Va.and they will be down to 0 tonight. Just glad that I am retired and don't have to go out in this mess-so far.

Folks in MA. need to invest in some snow rakes for their roofs.

 

Jon  

 

And better insulation in the attic to prevent ice dams from forming in the first place.

 

One or two more storms and Boston will top 100 inches.  As for me in Western Mass we have yet to match our total of 56 inches from last winter.  The difference a few miles makes.  Also you can usually depend on a warm up after a storm to help melt some of the snow.  This year there's only been rapid cool downs with record breaking cold, so the snow is piling up.  No January thaw no nothing.   Only been above 32 once in the past few weeks.  They should be taping Maple trees by now but not when it's below zero just about every night for a week.

Snow removal with a make-shift snow rake. Still a lot of concern about the relatively flat roof dormer to the back.  Edit add:  Snow on the dormer was removed, this afternoon.   No water damage anywhere. Yes.    The cut edge snow and blown snow in the front yard, is from a municipal bobcat that has a snow blower attachment.  They appear to do a relatively good job of maintaining at least one way traffic.  Which has become another whole discussion as the roads narrow, some of them dangerously narrow.  

At the Norwood, MA  airport, more snow work.

The Grumman Cheetah looks pretty good, dust the wings and it's ready to go.

 

You got to love that clear Blue sky. A little bit of Arizona in the Northeast.

I suspect the railroads have been lulled in recent years by having relatively warm winters with not that much snow. Boston is literally paralyzed by this, my son goes to school up there and it has been brutal, between the snow and cold. We had some pretty rough winters in NJ, for example, about 20 years ago (I remember 93 and 95-96 only too well), where it snowed and snowed and didn't melt until spring...but those have been rare. NYC and environs hasn't had quite as much snow, but we have had a lot of sleet and freezing rain then plummeting temperatures, it has been a brutal winter, and last year was no bargain.

One other thing to keep in mind, while the northeast is getting pounded by cold weather and storms, other areas experience drought, and while some areas are having record cold, other areas are really mild. I was talking to a friend of mine, who is from Poland, and while our winter has been pretty bad in the NYC area where she comes from the whole winter has been like spring... without getting into whether global warming is real or not, climate is measured globally, and saying because Boston and the northeast are having record snows means global warming is not happening is like saying because a cold weather place is having an unusually warm winter that it is happening, climate is global and local weather doesn't tell the whole story...and I will add that anything that causes the climate to change rapidly, whether it is global cooling or global warming or a volcano someplace, causes climatic disruptions that can be counter to what you think, because climate, while not 'zero sum', is as global sum. 

I have seen photos of New Haven RR snow plows and snow melt equipment.  I recall a movie where Jack Lemon and his wife were caught in Boston during a snow storm.  He had to get to NY.  The NH RR was the only form of transportation moving.  I took a train from Providence to Washington in the early 60s for the same reason.  I don't think that the NH was ever hit by the amount of snow that Boston is now experiencing.

 

The NH was hit by several hurricanes which shut it down.  The weather destroyed much of the shoreline and was partially responsible for the NH going into bankruptcy.

 

 

I won't tell you about the wonderful weather here in the SF Bay Area.  Of course, this means that the drought continues.  I wish that there was some way to get the water from Boston to SF.  

 

Joe

  

I don't feel for them, as we annually get pounded with snow up here in Central NY.

 

I have trees in the front of my house that you can't even tell that they are under the snow... I cannot throw the snow any higher on one side of the driveway and have been carting it over to the other.  Last night, I was outside in -1F darkness swapping a new battery into my Jeep.  It was dead, and it went quick; less than two months.  It been this bitter, bitter cold.

 

But, CSX and Amtrak just keep on rolling on the Water Level Route... I hear them every night when I'm out there shoveling, and sometimes see Amtrak at the Rome station in the morning on the way to work.

 

Even NYSW has been getting in on the plow action:

Thanks,

Mario

That's some serious snow. A couple of inches over here and we think it's the end of the world.

I'd be picking myself up a snowmobile..... 

 

Stay safe.

 

Nick