The storm that wasn't epic failure

nj pheonix

nj pheonix

AK Subscriber
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I live in I guess you'd call it mid western jersey. Very close to where us1 and I95 cross.
There was indeed a forecast of an early winter storm today. Prediction here expected an inch or so of snow changing to rain. We probably got 3" or so. Clearly not snowpocalypse. It doesn't seem like the powers that be made any effort whatsoever to deal with it. The port authority shutdown
A coworker spent 3hrs to make a 1 hour trip entirely on the jersey turnpike. It took me an hour to make a local 10-15 minute trip all on main roads.
Someone or parties should be held accountable. I understand different jurisdictions (interstate, state, county, local townships all maintain different things. My point is I didn't see a single piece of equipment, the roads were horrible everywhere. (Likely still are)
I just don't understand. Saving money for later in the season?
This is the northeast corridor between NY and philly. This can and SHOULD be handled.
Sorry about the rant:confused:
 
Trying to understand .Do you not have the equipment to handle a dusting of snow ?Rare occasion?We had approx. a foot Monday night and didn't miss a beat what so ever.Now mind you ive lived all my life in places where 3 inches is just a minor nuisance and nothing more.
 
Agreed! I think this one just really caught everyone off guard for some reason. Luckily I got out of NYC on the train before things really became a mess - but lots of friends and neighbors are stuck and have spent many hours on the road. We didn’t get a ton of snow (6 inches or so) but it was wet and heavy and a bitch to snow blow - not an excuse but not just an easy dusting.
 
People I really feel sorry for and can relate to are the Buffalo crowd.As I well know that lake effect snow can be a major pain.In 1995 we had 5 plus feet in less than 3 days and it just kept on piling on all winter that year!My city took it in stride and just continued on as if it was just normal.You owed a snowblower and you could name your price that year.I bought my house that year and between the hose and garage there was 7 plus feet of solid snow for 50 plus feet long and over 10 wide that I had to snowblow.What a job that was.Hope everythings ok in Jersey now for the o.p.
 
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I lived in Jersey until 2016 and then moved to Texas. We come back for Thanksgiving and we're up here now. I honestly cannot fathom how badly they dropped the ball on this one. I'm just glad we were where we needed to be when the fecal matter hit the oscillating rotator.

This also makes me scratch my head and makes me think I made the right decision to relocate to Texas. https://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf...cars_cant_make_it_up_the_incline_in_snow.html
 
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Everybody should have snow tires. I had off today and was driving around for fun/shopping for a few things. When the snow started I thought, hey, no big deal. Getting between Home Depot and the gas station where I have grocery store points, I saw cars all pulled off the road and a few were smashed up. Grabbing take out for lunch and headed home, people couldn't go up hills and I just had to say **** it and go around them.

5-speed Fiat 500 with Continental Winter Contact tires.

When my wife and I went to my buddies house in the same neighborhood later, we ended up pushing about six cars that were stuck spinning tires on the packed snow/slush, freeing up a quarter mile long traffic jam.

Motorists could be more prepared for stuff like this if they really wanted to.

There was only one storm last year where I couldn't go out at all, and that was the biggest one we got. I live near where US-1 intersects with the PA Turnpike.
 
1plus on the winter tires.Is there a lack of snow removal equipment ? One thing our town has is lots of equip and skilled operators.One thing ive noticed and is not even in dispute up here is ever since they privatized highway snow removal the highway going north has been closed way too many times.The stupidest thing ive ever heard of is to get an Australian company to run snow removal.
 
2011etec said:
1plus on the winter tires.Is there a lack of snow removal equipment ? One thing our town has is lots of equip and skilled operators.One thing ive noticed and is not even in dispute up here is ever since they privatized highway snow removal the highway going north has been closed way too many times.The stupidest thing ive ever heard of is to get an Australian company to run snow removal.
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It's just early in the season for this area. We're usually pretty mild but we get at least one big storm a year. We have enough equipment but I don't think anybody planned to use it this early.
 
The warm air never filtered in to drive the changeover . 175 miles to the south , it was near 58 . I wouldn’t blame road crews for this one . And besides most if not all township trucks had their leaf containers still attached . I know because I worked 5 seasons for my township .
A ten minute drive home took one hour .
 
If you live in the area you understand better.
I understand in the south where you you get snow little to never where a small snow can be crippling.
While we tend to dodge the monsters for the most part (and even our worst doesn't compare to regular storms due to lake effect snow) there really is gear here and it's not out of the question to get a few multi digit snowfalls and in some years 2' plus. Also if you swing 50 miles in any direction that # can double or half).
My point is , we get a significant snow, I have all the patience in the world and respect the hell out of the people who work round the clock to clean it up.
You can't beat mother nature

My beef with this,
They (at least in the winter when a storm is predicted, )pretreat the road with a brine (salt solution spray) then they stage equipment in locations and the deal with it (at least reasonably well) as it evolves. As stated before , you're not keeping up with a blizzard.
This would have been (depending where you are ,because like I said this area gets very diverse snow fall, a small to medium winter storm which should have been an inconvenience rather than a catastrophe
 
Wasn't any better up in north. Actually, it was worse - one coworker took 9 hours to get home.

I had an emergency field call up rt 23 around 1pm, and was out right as the bad stuff started. I live in West Milford, so it was a quick 15 min trip home. This morning, I couldn't even get up my street, but the DPW came out a while ago and it looks better now. I'll try later when I need food.
 
I'm sure you're right.
Though in fairness they predicted snow for you.
It doesn't excuse the dpw from their responsibility.
Even 10 miles N of me probably got 3x what we got.
 
This wasn't just snow. It was borderline freezing and the snow was more like Ice. It took people hours to go a few miles because all the little Dink Mobiles have zero traction and weight to move on anything but a dry road and they all snarled the traffic.

We got close to 6 inches before it changed to ice, it snowed another inch between 5 and 8am before it blew out.
 
We got a foot here in NEPA. Totally unexpected, PennDot was not prepared and the roads last night were a mess. Started off as snow, changing to sleet/rain and back to snow again. It was a bitch to shovel and plow. Seems winter can't get here fast enough this year.
 
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