KWSN Orbiting Fortress

ToeBee · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:10 pm Post subject: Ice storms!

Any other Kansas/Oklahoma loonies around here? If so I suppose you may still be offline so I guess I'll just be talking to the 4 walls but that isn't really any different than usual... Embarassed

Anyway... For those of you who don't know, there was a HUGE ice storm that came through the central US on Monday night. The air right above the ground was just below freezing but the air higher up was warmer so when it started raining, it froze on contact with the ground... or any other object that was loonie enough to get caught in the open. Of course this caused immediate problems with the roads getting slick but trees also started losing branches and these fallilng branches had a nasty tendency to fall on power lines. Well you can probably imagine what happened after 10 hours of this. From what I can tell, I am in one of the hardest hit counties in the state of Kansas but I know Oklahoma got hit even worse and then got a 2nd storm 2 days later. I believe they were declared a federal disaster area. We only got "state of emergency" status from the state.

At the lowest point, 17,000 out of 27,000 homes in this county were without power. I lost power at about 6 AM on Tuesday morning and didn't get it back until about 36 hours later and I am one of the very lucky ones. over 12,000 homes are still without power now. It is getting down into the mid teens here at night (about -10C for you metric loonies) so a lack of heating quickly turns into a big problem.

Of course the University was closed on Tuesday even though it is finals week so I didn't have to go to work but I ended up going in anyway that afternoon to get my power/internet fix since the data center, my office and all the networking equipment is hooked up to a huge (and as I learned very LOUD) generator.

Anyway... I think I have made it through the worst of it. One of my coworkers is still without power so he and his significant other are crashing at my place for the 2nd night. Others have left town and gone to relatives in other cities. It may very well be up to 10 days before everyone has power again even though the utility company has brought in over 1,000 extra linemen from as far away as south carolina to help fix power lines. Once again, I am a lucky son-of-a-gun to already have power back!

Today it finally warmed up above freezing and we had clear, sunny skies so the ice started melting. Of course this was a bit of a mixed blessing because now whenever you step outside you either have to make a wide path around any trees or be prepared to be bombarded by falling ice. Shocked

I snapped some pictures with my new digicam I bought after Thanksgiving. I put them up on facebook: http://ksu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32815&l=82ffb&id=718660934 Enjoy!

mohrorless · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:07 pm Post subject:

WOW

I'm glad to see you are alright! Those are some pictures. If it wasn't for the damage, the ice would be kind of prety on everything!

Good luck with the rest of everything!
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ToeBee · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:47 pm Post subject:

Looks like my coworker's power just came back on too so they went back home. Now its just me, my hardware and as much electricity as I want for the whole evening!

Sir Papa Smurph · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:58 pm Post subject:

I am from Michigan so that is nothing new. It is Beautiful, especially when the sun shines on it, but Deadly. The thing you forgot ( or mabey don't know ) is, when the ice melts not only is the ice dropping dangerous but you will most likely have isolated flooding. Empty your basement if you have one.
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ohiomike · Prince Joined: 20 May 2007 Posts: 858 Location: Sometimes

mohrorless · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 4:43 pm Post subject:

Killerrabbit · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:49 pm Post subject:

This is why I live on the west coast and not in the midwest, we do not get these kind of storms. We just send them to you.

Ni
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Sir Papa Smurph · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 9:02 pm Post subject:

NO, you get Fires, Volcano's, Earthquakes, Tidal waves, etc.

Plus you get Paris Hilton's, Kid Rock's and Schwarzenschriver's....
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a.k.a. Licentious of Borg.........Resistance Really is Futile.......
and a Really Hoopy Frood who always knows where his Towel is...

Killerrabbit · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 11:48 pm Post subject:

But volcano eruptions and tidal waves are rare, not like ice storms which seem to hit every year. Ours might hit once every 100 years.

Ni
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mohrorless · Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 6:12 am Post subject:

You seem to get the fires or the mud slides every year though...
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jbyram2 · Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 9:54 am Post subject:

At least on the east coast we get real weather; 0 degrees F in winter and 100 F in summer, vs 74F in winter and 80F in summer. And enough rainy days to make you appreciate the nice days when they happen.

And we get the added benefit of the exercise from picking up after all the nice trees; clusters of tiny green flower stalks, helicopopter seeds, acorns, dead branches and leaves leaves leaves.
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mohrorless · Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 7:11 pm Post subject:

ohiomike · Prince Joined: 20 May 2007 Posts: 858 Location: Sometimes

mohrorless · Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 10:12 pm Post subject:

You woudn't want to waste all that ice from the storm now, would you?
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Fetch me the Holy Hand Grenade!

#Usa

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Lady DC · Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 12:31 pm Post subject:

Lady DC · Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 12:36 pm Post subject:

People make fun of southerners when we hear that it might snow. We shutdown. Why? Because it does not snow in Georgia. It ices. And we have the transplanted Northerns who think that they can drive in it like they do up north. Hah! We do not have the infrastructure like they do up north. We southerners get our bread and milk and let all of the crazy notherners bang up their cars while we stay nice and safe in our homes.
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Sir Papa Smurph · Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 1:48 pm Post subject:

Two weeks ago I drove to North Carolina, there was a lake I passed that the docks of the houses were 30 Feet ( no joke ) above the water line.

About 6 weeks ago I was in the Wasatch mountains outside of Salt Lake City and a lake there that I have seen many times had about 1 mile of beach to the water line.

We may be in very big trouble with water in this country.
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a.k.a. Licentious of Borg.........Resistance Really is Futile.......
and a Really Hoopy Frood who always knows where his Towel is...

Killerrabbit · Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:14 am Post subject:

I pray to the rain gods nightly and they will reward me with rain tomorrow since it is in the forecast.

Ni
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Sir Latch · Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 11:16 am Post subject: