Thursday, January 24, 2013

Where Am I, Cincinnati?

We had an ice storm today.  That NEVER happens in Salt Lake.
We're in the middle of the worst temperature inversion since 1982 (which was worse by far), today was the first day to get UP to freezing in weeks, and the air quality resembles that of a casino in the 1970s.  But today it rained -- because it was warm enough to do that above the inversion.  Unfortunately, when the rain hit the cold air below the inversion, it didn't shift to snow; it just froze.
The roads, the sidewalks, and everyone's windshields turned to sheets of ice.  Cars were sliding off the roads everywhere and getting to school was like watching goats with skates strapped to their hoofs.
By the time I got home this evening, the driveway looked like someone had hosed it down and let it freeze.  I seriously had ice half an inch thick in several areas.  It took me 45 minutes and ten pounds of ice melt (not an exaggeration) to get it to the point where it was safe to drive my car into the garage.
I hope it's not that bad again in the morning because I'm nearly out of ice melt now!

5 comments:

  1. That's crazy! We get a lot of ice storms here (south of Baltimore) because we're always on the snow/rain line. It practically shuts down the county when it happens. I can't believe you still had school!

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    1. This is Utah. The state government has no respect for teachers or public school in general, but -- as long as the busses can run by 6:30 AM on the roads -- school WILL be in session. After all, the state legislature can shorten the number of days in a school year and then force us to give up yet more teaching time in order to give test after ridiculous test, but why would they care if a teacher or two get hurt or killed on the way to work?

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  2. Ick. This Floridian can't even imagine.

    I'm glad the Hillsborough school board isn't as insane. If a tropical storm comes within three hundred miles, they cancel school. (traffic lights tend to go out in the rain and wind...making driving a nightmare. Glad they realize that.)

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  3. Yeah, the ice was INSANITY! Of course, my daughter thought a huge ice-rink outside was the coolest thing on the planet. She may be right, but that doesn't mean it was SAFE. :/

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  4. I made it to school before it hit Salt Lake, but my student teacher, who lives in Ogden, didn't even bother trying. Smart move, since I-15 was completely shut down up there because of accidents. Crazy stuff.

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