ice storm misc

The worst case scenario was that we would have snow by 7pm, lasting until midnight, then freezing rain at 4, leading to a disasterous morning commute.

The snow began by 1:30 yesterday afternoon.

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I took my friends to Winco for their weekly shopping trip and the snow began before I was even to their house.

If you are driving and worried about the other idiots on the road, do not go shopping.  I had no problems but others did and while some were speeding right along, others were driving at zero miles an hour and screwing up traffic.

Winco was a zoo.

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Never underestimate the value of brand new high quality tires.

This last summer, I had enough saved for a basic set of tires but when my ex and I went to Les Swab to get the tires, the salesman gave a good pitch for their higher quality tires.  K* lived here and drove here for 6 years and knows first hand the value of good tires.  She said she’d pay the difference and I got much better tires than I had planned.

Good thing! 

My new tires have a deep, sharp tread and I had no real problems, even with an inch or more of snow on the roads and parking lots.  The snow that fell was dry and it was below freezing, so little ice formed over night on my routes.

Which was very good for me- the tire chains that I have fit the tires that come standard on my van, but I have larger tires than stock and the chains do not fit. 

Oops 

I would have used them if I had been able to, but I just drove slow and steady and did not regret not having chains.

It had been below freezing all day yesterday but the temperature rose as the rain fell and the packed snow is wet slush now here in town.  Towards the Gorge to the east it is a different story- 10 trucks jackknifed on I-84 near Troutdale and shut down the highway in both directions for awhile.  And there is an ice storm going on there now.

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(I used to live in Maine and Pennsylvania, and this is nothing comapared to those places)

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As I’ve mentioned before, I do commercial deliveries of the Oregonian newspaper and drive the same routes over and over.  Last night the benefits of this clearly showed themselves.  I know the routes and where to avoid problems.  I know the timing of all the signals.  The most important thing when drivng in snow is to maintain momentum.  Once you get started, avoid stopping- it is can be hard to get started again.

I ran stop signs and signals all over my routes- looked to make sure the coast was clear and then just drove through the intersections.

Apparently the delivering the paper is nearly an official essential service- police, fire, and the morning papers.  I had no trouble.

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The papers started extra early last night, so even with the added time the weather creates, I am finished a little before I normally do on Mondays.

93 stops, 1183 papers delivered without a problem.

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Front wheel drive rocks!

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