Heavy Equipment Forums Heavy Equipment Community

Hardest storm of the season

EZ TRBO ยท 2007-12-23 09:41

At 8:30 am central time the temp is 12F with 30 to 40 MPH winds and over 5 inches of new snow on the ground. AND I AM NOT OUT PLOWING! Got up this morning at 5 am and it was blowing like mad outside but hadn't goten a call to go plow for the township. Figured from what i could see in the dark that either we hadn't goten as much snow as they had figured or that with the gale like winds that visability was too low even for the plows to be out. At 5:30 my dad, who is in charge of the county highway dept called and asked how I was making out. I laughed and said well i'm standing in the kitchen, looking out the window, having a Mt. Dew and waiting for a phone call. Dad was instantly PO'ed. He had talked to the patrolman and said get Jason out with the truck, you take your truck and have Kevin take the grader out. That was at 4:30. Well the patroal man took the grader, which he isn't very good on, with just the one way plow, and put Kevin in his truck, and had his son, whos only a year younger than myself, but has no CDL or snow plowing experience whatsoever, in my truck(figured it would be a good time to get him some experience). So here I sit on my butt waiting to find out what the heck I am supposed to do. I already got a call from one of the board members and know that the other one has already tracked down the patrolman. I guess it isn't too bad just watching it snow and blow like mad but I enjoy it and the $$$ isn't bad as well. I'll keep yall updated on the midwestern storm from my neck of the woods. LOL if i get out in it. Trbo If it works out I'll have the camera with me to take some pics.

Replies15
  1. #1thejdman042007-12-23 13:24

    glad its not here

  2. #2telescooper2007-12-23 14:00

    I wish that we would get a storm here. Nothing like being out in thick of things, snow'n, blow'n and drifts. I love it

  3. #3PSDF3502007-12-23 20:26

    I also wish it were here, because we are getting poured on.

  4. #4nedly052007-12-23 20:37

    X2, roads are all muddy, hopefully it buttons up before the next plowing.

  5. #5EZ TRBO2007-12-23 20:44

    I'll tell all yall, you are xxxxxxx xxxx. At 7:40 pm the air temp is about 15F with 30 to 40 MPH winds. The snow total is around 6 to 7 inches but there is about an inch of ice on all the roads. Some of the best guys in the county have had their plow trucks stuck, graders stuck, even OSHKOSH's stuck(mostly due to the ice under the snow so no traction). Some drifts are higher than what the grader wing can shelf back and its still blowing. My dad was in a muliti-vehcile collision on one of the highways today, with zero visibility and super icey conditions, his county vechile which is a dodge durango, a quad axle milk truck(which rolled over), a truck and cattle trailer, a mini van and a pick up with a snow plow on front. As I said earlier, I WAS NOT OUT PLOWING(but i've vented enough on that one for now), but was with the firedept. I was in the area and just drove over, just hooded sweatshirt and carharts and gloves, and of course my ol Bud cap. The guys on my dept said i looked like the ice man cause my entire face was nothing but ice, couldn't even take my glasses off it was that thick. I don't know if it was just adrenilin or the fact that I had been PO'ed all day but I was just comfy as can be. Had to cut one guy out of his truck, JAWS wasn't working the greatest, but had sawzall, hand tools and a battery operated smaller JAWS unit and were able to free him. I didn't have any time to get any pics today, too darn busy(but not paid for it either:Banghead ) I was told to be at the township building bout 4:30 in the morning, but I heard that yesterday too and look what happend, put a GREENHORN in my truck and left me sitting. Needless to say the patrolmans job is in jeapordy, due to this stunt and a number of other things that have made the board as well as some residents not happy. Guess I will see what happens tomarrow. Trbo

  6. #6surfer-joe2007-12-23 21:19

    Boy, I sure don't miss it. Was 61 degrees here today, bright sun, no clouds or wind. Worked out in the garage with doors open all day with just a t-shirt and sweats. Watched a beautiful full moon come up over the Four Peaks mountains whilst eating supper. I hope to never experience snow and ice again. Btw, I hope yer dad is OK. Being in a wreck is no fun. Been there.

  7. #7EZ TRBO2007-12-23 21:58

    I think for the most part he is, I am sure he will feel it in the morning, when he is up at 3 am and back at work at the highway shop, his durango is proberly totaled, was a mess(after getting rearended by a milk truck, its never a good thing). I asked his 2nd in comand how he is doing and he just said well he was boiling hot after hearing that you were not out today, still hasn't cooled down over that yet(at 5 pm) and maybe a lil shaken up over the wreck today, but could have been a TON worse. So all and all hes doing ok. Thanks Trbo

  8. #8Paul W2007-12-23 22:34

    EZ TRBO.... Where abouts in the Midwest are you? Sounds like I am waiting out the same stom and wind...... Paul

  9. #9PSDF3502007-12-23 22:45

    We just got a flood warning for here. Right now temp has rising to 52 degrees.

  10. #10pwrstroke6john2007-12-24 04:18

    sounds like we got all the snow if not more then you up here in west michigan.

  11. #11nedly052007-12-24 05:25

    What happened last night PSD?, we went to 28, but it's supposed to warm up again today, things are a mess out there, it looks like late march

  12. #12EZ TRBO2007-12-24 06:19

    In the Soutwest part of Wisconsin. Bout 40 miles NE of Dubuque. I am sure that there are many places that got more snow yesterday than what we did, but with the wind and the 1/2 inch of ice has made it a HUGE pain. This isn't even our heaviest snow fall total for the the year but just the other factors have made it the worse. I see the wind is down to bout 6 MPH this morning, so hopefully with 2 trucks, a grader and tractor loader we can have the 52 miles of township roads open by the end of the day. Trbo

  13. #13Grader4me2007-12-24 06:36

    Good luck and keep safe out there!

  14. #14PSDF3502007-12-24 08:48

    Melted half our snow and got at least an inch of rain. Looks fine out there right now. dropped back down to 30 over night. But supposed to get to 40 today so mud is definitly going to be a problem. Just when things were going so well to. The rivers and lakes were frozen. Had/have a good frost in the ground. Now this will brake things up. But at least it is going to get cold again before our chances for snow this weekend.

  15. #15pushkid842007-12-24 12:16

    snow sucks we had some snow recently we got about two feet in three days and it put us out for a week the bad thing is the roads were clean the third day but the jobsites were covered and sloppy muddy. im with surffer joe snow sucks :drinkup