Whoa! Woke up this morning to this forecast!

[digger242j]

WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM TUESDAY TO 10 PM TUESDAY
NIGHT...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM
WATCH FOR LATE TONIGHT INTO TUESDAY EVENING.

SNOW WILL DEVELOP EARLY TUESDAY MORNING WITH AN INCH OR TWO
ACCUMULATION POSSIBLE BY DAYBREAK.

DURING THE DAY ON TUESDAY SNOW MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES. SNOW
ACCUMULATIONS COULD REACH AS HIGH AS 6 INCHES WITH HIGHER AMOUNTS
POSSIBLE NORTH AND EAST OF PITTSBURGH.


As of last evening they'd mentioned the chance of a few flurries, or rain...

We'll see if they're right, and then go back and bust the chops of everybody who said it was over for this season. :D

(Uh, unless *I* said that--I don't remember what I said exactly...)
:confused:

[dynamike]

Kind of shocked me to digger, last night when I went to bed they were not calling for much of anything. Woke up this morning and was like wow! I hope they hit it right.

[wyldman]

We got shocked last night with a quick blast of wet snow.We salted,and melted most of it off.Then another blast came through early AM and froze solid.Another good salt run.Calling for more tommorow too.Looks like winter hasn't left us yet. :D

[BRL]

We've had 2 days of warnings of possible "accumulating" snow at least, compared to waking up to a 6" cast after fluries casted the night before :eek: . But the casts have changed for the better for sure as this AM they were at 3"-5" for here, but not under a watch yet. So that means they probably think only 1-2 will stick to the paved areas, as 3-5 meets our Watch criteria here. But that's good enough for a salt run! We'll see what happens.

Cool thing is I was scheduling to bring one of the trucks in all geared up to show off to my son's 1st grade class. His teach was going to be out for Wed so we were considering Tue or Thu based on which would have better weather. How cool will it be for the kiddies to make piles on their playground, instead of just moving the plow up down left & right on a sunny March day! :grinz

[cutntrim]

Huh, we didn't get anything Chris. Just a little light flurry activity. But...they're calling for 15+cm for Oakville/Burlington/Hamilton tomorrow. I don't mind that we'll be going out again (I knew winter wasn't over) but I don't need 6-12" either. We'll see...

[Tileman]

Hang on boys the storm is heading NE. Started here after 1 AM. Got started hooking up plows and salt spreaders about 3:30 AM. Thought all we were going to do was salt, around daylight we droped plows and had to start plowing. By then we had around 2 1/2 to 3 in. on the ground. Finished up around 2 PM .
In the county we got between 3 and 6 in. so hang on it is moving east. This is one of the latest storms I can remember for around here.


Tileman

[BWhite]

Here is that dreaded hole on the precip that really caused a lack of snow during a storm earlier this winter . Hope it fills in :D

Its the "Mass triangle "

[jt5019]

I think it will fill in. It was slow to start here but its coming down pretty good now.Roads are just wet we need about 7 1/2 more inches to get the 8 they predicted:rolleyes:

[capnkel]

Hey BWHITE,We have one here too,ours is the southern Maine triangle,just about every storm this winter avoided us,but left plenty all around the edges.Sounds like we may finally get one that will leave us some,6-12inches for tonight and tommorow,with 30-40 north east winds and 16-25 degrees and staying cold for a few days,possibilly more snow friday.Plow is on the truck now,just waiting for it to arrive.:cash :cash

[BRL]

Lunch break (well OK probably lunch & dinner, but certainly better than nothing lol)! Storm is doing nice here now! Started around 9:00 AM & put down an inch by 10:00 AM, slowed down for the mid day & with temps in the 35 -36 range, pavements melted & remained black & wet for the most part. Then we suffered an hour of heavy rain & sleet which definitely cut down our totals. But it changed back around 3:00 PM & has been snowing with a vengeance since then. Probably 4-5" on the grassy areas, and now about 1-2" on the road & untreated pavements. So if this keeps up, certainly looks like it will be more than salting can burn off, with lows supposed to be 25 tonight. Then highs tomorrow of 34. Good luck to all who get to play in this one!

[cat320]

coming down at a good clip now

[Mick]

Weatherbug sent a "Corrected" alert:

It Now Appears As Though The Low Pressure System Responsible For The Snow Will Now Pass A Bit Further Out To Sea Than Previously Thought. Because Of This... Only 2 To 4 Inches Of Snow Is Expected In The Mountains Of Western Maine And Northern New Hampshire. Thus... The Winter Storm Watch For That Area Has Been Cancelled.

:(

My customers won't even want 4" plowed. Looks like I went to a lot of trouble hooking up plows and the sander for the exercise.

[cat320]

so does this mean boston will get less than th 14" predicted?

[BWhite]

Whdh is sticking to 7-11 "

[jt5019]

Heres a shot of a local public works truck stopped for coffee while i was on my way out from my g/fs place...

[jt5019]

First pic is one of the newer freightliner plows.If you look close you can see the spinner for the sander on the side of the truck.This next one is one of the older autocars

[Chuck Smith]

See BRL, didn't I tell you just the other day that there would be at least one more plowable event this season? LOL. ;) :cash payup

~Chuck

[digger242j]

Since I'm the one who got excited enough about that forecast to start this thread, here's what we got--no more than 1" anywhere, and the accounts downtown didn't even need salt. :mad:

CAUTION: VENTING FOLLOWS...

Called first thing in the morning and coordinated drivers to be sure everyone was available for the impending event.

One truck was all ready to go, plow and salter on, and salt loaded. Second truck needed E-60 reinstalled after having been serviced by a local hydraulics shop, and needed plow installed. The truck had also just come back from having new trans cooler lines and a new oil pan installed. Third truck needed salter and plow put on, and salt loaded. Forth one needed plow put on.

Installed E-60 and plow on truck. While truck was idling in driveway, a large puddle of trans fluid accumlated on the ground underneath. Once plow was installed, discovered that it would *only* angle left--not raise or angle right. Fussed with it for quite a while, even to the point of getting wife to push the buttons while I checked for current at the connections to the coils. With current supplied form a battery charger to the appropriate coils it will lift and angle correctly. Test light indicates current is present at the "truck" side of the connections as well. More on this later. It remains a mystery.

Hand loaded 75 50# bags of salt into K 3500 dump truck. Installed Western Proflow salter, and plow. Salter woudn't spin. Fussed around with wiring and discovered that the problem seemed to simply be that there was poor contact in the inline fuse to the controller. Plow worked normally. Went to back truck out of the spot it was in--a *slight* uphill, and *slightly* rutted in the dirt spot. First attempt was unsuccessful. Rolled forward about a foot and tried a second time (and believe me, I didn't "floor it" either.) Reverse gear... goes away, somewhere(?). This truck is out of service.

Installed plow on the other one, which surprisingly enough went easily.

Since the exhaust pipe is now cool enough to work around, rolled around on the floor and tightened trans cooler lines which were leaking where they enter the tranny. Back to the E-60 problem. Removed that one and got the E-47 that's been useful as a spare. Installed it and raised the plow. Halfway up, E-47 motor ceases to turn. Attempts at revival prove futile. Since the dump clearly is going nowhere, remove E-60 from it and install. SAME SYMPTOMS AS THE OTHER E-60!

It's now 1:30 a.m. and snow is forecast to begin at 5:00 a.m. Since it's supposed to be a "snow all day" type of event, elect to give up on the E-60 problem and count on the fact that only partial plowing will be possible during business hours anyway, and there will be ample time to deal with accumulation before the beginning of business on Wednesday morning, even with 2 trucks down.

Sleep from 1:30 til 3:00 a.m. Begin to pre-treat some accounts in anticipation of impending storm. Snow commences around 5:00. Around 6:30 a.m. notice that precip hitting the windsheild is sleet, not snow. Around 7:00 a.m., notice that precip hitting the windsheild is rain.

Finish salting all acounts that require it and return home. Watch the weather on the news at noon, and learn that in spite of changeover to rain there is an additional 1-2" forecast for the evening hours. Since the dump truck will be going into the shop anyway, hand unload all those bags from it, into the other truck, which was emptied during the morning.

Event ends around 5 p.m., peroid. No further accumulation.

So, what we have here is me: Moving several tons of salt, by hand. Installation of 3 plows and one salter. Several hours of aggravation, in figuring out why won't that one plow work. Rush servicing of tranny cooler leak that could have been handled at a more leisurely time (like right now), and a blown transmission.

And what was *really* necessary for this event: Grab the key to one truck and go sprinkle salt on *some* of the accounts.



:headwall

Somebody asked the question somewhere, about what part of this business presents the greatest challenge. After yesterday, and *all* the yesterdays before that, I'm leaning towards: GETTING AN ACCURATE WEATHER FORECAST! :mad:

[Mustang]

Digger- They are saying more snow possible for Friday. :headwall :grinz

[dynamike]

Digger, Thats to bad that you got so little snow, I'm probably only 30 miles North of you and we got around 5". It was a good day. I plowed lowes all day and salted a few times, went back up this morning at 3:00 and cleaned up a little and salted again.

[cat320]

Didn't seam to really add to alot for me I could of stayed in all night and just went out early.For the amout of talk it got I was expecting what we got in dec..BUt hey it was still a money maker just not enough to get my machine out :mad:

[capnkel]

I woke up to 5" of nice fluffy snow,so much for the 6"-12" we were supposed to get

[capnkel]

I hate this time of year,now the truck and the plow both need to be washed

[BRL]

Sorry to hear about the trials & tribulations of the Plowman digger242j! If it's any consolation, we did get 4.5 - 5" here with 2-3" on the pavements by late evening, and I lost 50% of my "fleet" for the night shift. Used that truck for salting during the day, ran fine. Employee parked it, then 4 or 5 hours later when it was time to push snow, dead in the water. He turned the key & there was nothing. I said "you dope, you left something on this afternoon". However we found all switches were indeed off, battery putting out 13 volts, but no power in the truck anywhere. Played around with it for an hour or so :headwall and then went to plan B lol.

I don't know which is worse though, having break downs when the storm never shows, or the breakdowns when it does show. Either way it can be torture.

[Adams Plowing]

storm went well for us got a nice bit of snow had a u-joint start to go but it held out for for the event and changed it today after i woke up...

[jt5019]

We got about 4.5 inches plowed everyone then last night we got two more inches and had to plow/sand all my commercial accounts again.Maybe another 1 to 3 inches friday morning i heard :cash

[Jerre Heyer]

Mike and digger, Seth is really great at presenting how we handle a nice snow fall here. Airport had 19+ in 18hrs. Some inland areas had 24-36" from 6:am tue till 3:am wed. Made for some nice $$$ for the guys after a slow Feb.

Got in some sled riding finally Wed night. Put on about 120miles total that night. Should have went all night but headed home to do plow's on Thu morning. Hope you see some over the weekend and get a little more than salting in.

Digger-----Time to check the system sounds like controller/wiring issues are popping up. Good luck on the trannys.

Jerre

[Jerre Heyer]

Didn't wake up to it yet. Been raining all day pretty steady. Temps started to drop about 8p.m. Went out to the truck to head home and hit the wipers only to have them moving slush off the windshield.

Headed down the road and before I got to the interstate things were turning white. Temps down to 31.

By the time I got to the house there was about 1" on the ground and more on vehicles / buildings.

Suppose to stay near freezing overnight so should be a slippery mess for tommorow a.m.

Alway expect a little white for tax time. Too bad it doesn't look like enough to do more than salting.

Jerre