Let it Plow, Let it Plow, Let it Plow

January 26, 2015 2:51 PM

Find yourself elsewhere than in the grips of Juno, the Blizzard of 2015? Want to play the home game? Track the plows of NYC using the PlowNYC map. Want something faster than 15 minute update intervals, or less NYC-centric? Twitter's got you covered.
posted by ocherdraco (250 comments total)

The worst part is none of the white walkers know how to walk on city streets and keep blocking the sidewalks.
posted by The Whelk at 2:58 PM on January 26, 2015 [12 favorites]

NYC Mayor: ‘Reconcile Yourselves With Your God, For All Will Perish In The Tempest’
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:58 PM on January 26, 2015 [22 favorites]

Boston.com has "BlizzardWatch" including articles such as:

• How Old Boston Cleared Snow
• Road Salt: Where Does It Come From, Where Does It Go?
• Snow Porn: Boston Blanketed Through the Years
• Why Boston’s Snow Budget Falls Short
• How Do Snow Days Get Decided?
• What’s Your Snow Removal Personality Type?

posted by ocherdraco at 3:05 PM on January 26, 2015

The RI Governor closed pretty much everything until tomorrow at 4. I guess she doesn't want a stupid RI snow incident in the first few weeks of her term.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:08 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

It's not very snowy in Times Square yet.
posted by rtha at 3:14 PM on January 26, 2015

I'm about a mile north of Times Square... it was snowing for a while this afternoon but has stopped momentarily.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 3:17 PM on January 26, 2015

Impressive, but it's no Snowmageddon.
posted by fairmettle at 3:17 PM on January 26, 2015

I just heard a plow go by - and it set off a car alarm.

Joy.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:20 PM on January 26, 2015

If you refer to this unnamed storm as Juno you also have to measure the duration in Swatch Beats.
posted by bondcliff at 3:20 PM on January 26, 2015 [14 favorites]

In December 2014 Gile WI got just over 6 feet of snow in a week
posted by edgeways at 3:20 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Road Salt: Where Does It Come From,

SALT MINES

Where Does It Go?

ROADS
posted by indubitable at 3:20 PM on January 26, 2015 [35 favorites]

Welcome to the 21st Century, where every above average snowfall is branded.
posted by davebush at 3:22 PM on January 26, 2015 [7 favorites]

My favorite snow twitter so far:

BBC infographic measures snowfall by dog breed

N. K. Jemisin starts a flurry (haha) of alternatives to the term Snowmageddon. My favorite: Snow Dogs & Cats Living Together, Mass (Snow) Hysteria
posted by moonmilk at 3:24 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

All the stores are mobbed right now but we don't have any bourbon. Do I go out? Consign myself to far less appropriate gin drinks? Should have planned ahead.
posted by backseatpilot at 3:27 PM on January 26, 2015 [8 favorites]

Juno, what a weenie name.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:27 PM on January 26, 2015

All the stores are mobbed right now but we don't have any bourbon.

Heh. I went to the liquor store this morning and bought a huge bottle of Rebel Yell and some beer and other stuff. It's coming down hard here in Astoria. If my job wants me to come in tommorrow they can go fuck themselves.
posted by jonmc at 3:30 PM on January 26, 2015 [16 favorites]

If it reaches the high end, it will top the Bilzzard of '78. Nemo was a big deal, you can still see the warped ruins of trees throughout the area from that one, the Blizzard in '05 was a big deal (my car was literally buried in a collapsing snow drift while trying to make it home.) This will dwarf either event. Please don't write this off as media hysteria if you live in the area.

It's pretty much too late to make preparations, so hunker down and stay safe.
posted by Slap*Happy at 3:31 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

Since I moved to the high desert, I sort of miss these huge snowstorms. I used to love taking my truck out and getting people unstuck and doing shitties in intersections and trying to get stuck. Winter driving has always been my favorite driving.

But then, it's 58 and sunny right now and we might see 10 inches of precipitation total this year and I certainly do not miss having to shovel all that crap.

And, I could head to the mountains any time I like to play in a winter wonderland so...

Good luck and have fun, youse guys.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 3:32 PM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

Couple of beers, check. Laptop with various snow cams and things, check. 60 degrees and clear in Orlando, double check.
posted by Splunge at 3:33 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

All I care about is that Fresh Direct actually made my delivery tonight, otherwise I'd be eating mustard out of the jar for the next 2 days.
posted by poffin boffin at 3:33 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Mustard?

Luxury.
posted by bondcliff at 3:35 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

Splunge, can you point us to the snow cams?
posted by ocherdraco at 3:37 PM on January 26, 2015

Where Does It Go?
ROADS

Yeah, but this is something I've worried about over the years. We seem to put an awful lot of salt down every year. (I mean, the streets turn *white*. They started out *black*.) Presumably it winds up in streams, rivers, or soil. I keep wondering what kind of impact it has on the environment...maybe it's not so bad if most of it washes away by the time plants are trying to grow in spring, but it bugs me.
And on sidewalks, I'd be just fine with some sand, thanks, especially when there's a *lot* of ice. Throw some salt on an inch of ice and you get water on top of ice...not exactly a win.
posted by uosuaq at 3:38 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

You could put it on snow. No need to eat it out of the jar. Mmm, snowburgers for dinner with snow fries on the side, and mustard snowcake for dessert!
posted by XMLicious at 3:38 PM on January 26, 2015

I actually completely by coincidence did one of my twice-a-year forays to an Asian supermarket in Sunset Park yesterday to stock up, and so I have the makings of about three weeks' worth of homemade ramen and hot pot and yakitori as well as mochi and Pocky and these weird umbrella-pinwheel cookie things and kasugai gummies (which are TOTALLY THE BEST THING YOU GUYS), so I'll be fine during the storm.

But I may end up craving a burger.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:38 PM on January 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

"Let It Plow" had me thinking this would be about managing your feelings about the weather by watching machinery resist, like this or like this or like this.

Anyway that is a thing, I guess, and there could be worse ways to spend your storm time. Stay warm.
posted by Western Infidels at 3:39 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

Stop trying to make Juno happen.
posted by schmod at 3:39 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

rtha: "It's not very snowy in Times Square yet."

Here's one. Others are: Weatherbug Local Cameras

NYCDOT traffic cameras

And of course, the Weather Channel.

I'm sure there are many more.
posted by Splunge at 3:43 PM on January 26, 2015

Just checking in: light rain now falling in San Diego!
posted by SPrintF at 3:44 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

The Back Bay Trader Joes was the most crowded I've ever seen. The end of the check-out line got within 10 feet of the entrance. Items completely bought out were: bread (of course), milk (makes sense), and tortilla chips (que?).
posted by benito.strauss at 3:45 PM on January 26, 2015

Welcome to the 21st Century, where every above average snowfall is branded.

I look forward to the Durex Pleasuremax Snowstorm of 2019.
posted by dephlogisticated at 3:45 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

If you're interested in Boston updates (including photos of empty store shelves), you should follow Metafilter's own @universalhub.
posted by backseatpilot at 3:48 PM on January 26, 2015

Items completely bought out were: bread (of course), milk (makes sense), and tortilla chips (que?).

Hey, the munchies hit when they hit.
posted by nubs at 3:48 PM on January 26, 2015

I look forward to the Durex Pleasuremax Snowstorm of 2019.

Yeah, you look forward to it now, but you'll regret the next morning on your way work.
posted by Elmore at 3:49 PM on January 26, 2015

What do you think people are going to do, sit around eating slices of bread and drinking milk? They want some chips.
posted by thelonius at 3:49 PM on January 26, 2015 [7 favorites]

I did my panic shopping last night, and got ingredients to make salsa, and thought "I should buy some chips." I didn't buy any chips. I PANICKED
posted by moonmilk at 3:50 PM on January 26, 2015 [11 favorites]

Sorry, Wolf Blitzer, et al, but the snow's stopped where I am in the Bronx. Seems like we got a grand total of 4 inches. So unless something starts coming down overnight, then I'm going to be really pissed that I lugged the company-issued 10 lb. desktop replacement computer home for an hour and a half on the bloody NYC MTA.

"Blizzard". Feh. I'll believe it when I see it (although I'm sure northern New England will get a right socking. They always do).
posted by droplet at 3:53 PM on January 26, 2015

70 and sunny in California.
send water, please.
so thirsty
posted by entropicamericana at 3:53 PM on January 26, 2015 [22 favorites]

I was in Boston in 08 and I'm sure there was 2ft plus.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 3:53 PM on January 26, 2015

Sorry, Wolf Blitzer, et al, but the snow's stopped where I am in the Bronx.

The heaviest snow isn't supposed to start in NYC until this evening and is expected to last through much of the day tomorrow.
posted by plastic_animals at 3:55 PM on January 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

So funny about the chips, moonmilk!! Up here in Maine, there's a great local market near our house. My husband had already purchased the crucial items (beer and eggs), but I felt a strong need to buy chips and salsa, so I went there afterward. When I was in line, 4 shoppers in a row, including me, were buying chips and salsa. I still have no idea why.
posted by miss tea at 3:56 PM on January 26, 2015

goddammit stop hoarding our blizzards, it is currently 72°F in Boulder, Colorado and the ski forecasters are already predicting CLIMATE CHANGE END TIMES!!!!
posted by lonefrontranger at 3:57 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

To me, snow storm means party.

To me, a party's gotta have chips and salsa!
posted by stinkfoot at 3:57 PM on January 26, 2015

I was in Boston in 08 and I'm sure there was 2ft plus.

Was that the storm that started in the middle of the day and then all the plows went out at the same time the governor told everyone to go home and it took me four and a half hours to drive the 12 miles back to my apartment and I almost ran out of gas?
posted by backseatpilot at 3:57 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

ITS BOMBOGENESIS BABY!

(10 points to the first to post a picture of the bombogenesis baby)
posted by moonmilk at 3:58 PM on January 26, 2015

I bought chips and salsa YESTERDAY. I'm starting to get the hang of this old Yankee thing.
posted by Curious Artificer at 3:59 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm with stinkfoot. Snow -> party -> chips! Also snow -> cozy -> stew, and stew beef was on sale last night...
posted by moonmilk at 3:59 PM on January 26, 2015

Pretty darn quiet in Philly. I'll keep an eye on things for y'all.
posted by carter at 4:00 PM on January 26, 2015

Columbia is closed. BoltBus won't be running.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 4:00 PM on January 26, 2015

What do you think people are going to do, sit around eating slices of bread and drinking milk? They want some chips.

Last winter a local CBC host here in Halifax, Nova Scotia coined the hashtag #stormchips which seems to have set off a chip buying craze during every blizzard, and this one is apparently no exception
posted by Flashman at 4:00 PM on January 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

Really depends on when the front hits, I think 08 was when it started just before rush hour and everyone dashed at the same time, total gridlock 3 miles took almost 4 hours. The governors are almost threatening to shoot at folks out for a joyride in the snow after midnight, thus empty roads allow plows to keep up on main roads. It'll take hours of shoveling to get out of the driveway for most folks, so the region is essentially on lockdown.
posted by sammyo at 4:00 PM on January 26, 2015

Juno, what a weenie name.

Not that long ago we had winter storm Falco.

Complete with retro samples of Roh-Roh-Roh-Rock Me Amadeus.
posted by gimonca at 4:01 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

The situation in Rhode Island earlier today.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 4:03 PM on January 26, 2015 [11 favorites]

I should have bought more #stormchips; only crumbs left in the one bag I bought and we're not even in it yet!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:05 PM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

When I was in line, 4 shoppers in a row, including me, were buying chips and salsa. I still have no idea why.

The mind control satellites of SALSA*, no doubt. Those inexplicable cravings are all mind control by someone. The confusing turbulence of our lives can be chalked up to competing mind control programs -- what's in the water interfering with the radio waves overwriting the microwave reprogramming beams from space, etec etc.

*Sinister Alien Lifeform Space Armada
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:06 PM on January 26, 2015 [8 favorites]

Hey you guys you know those loud crinkly Sun Chips bags? They make excellent tinfoil hats!
posted by moonmilk at 4:07 PM on January 26, 2015

“"I've lived in NYC for 26 years and there has never been a food problem because of a storm!" -Dude at coffee shop begging to get eaten first”— Adrian Chen (@AdrianChen) January 26, 2015
posted by ob1quixote at 4:07 PM on January 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

My husband is snowed-in at a conference in PA with friends. I'm snowed in at home with our toddler and baby. #jealous
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:08 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

I do like universalhub's "French Toast Alert Level". But I've always wondered what makes people think "there's a big storm coming and the power might be out! Let's go buy some really perishable foodstuffs!"
posted by uosuaq at 4:08 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

I posted on facebook about the chips and salsa, and SO MANY people have said they did the same. Some sort of villainous indoctrination? Mind control?
posted by miss tea at 4:09 PM on January 26, 2015

60 degrees and clear in Orlando, double check.

Next Florida hurricane, I'll be chuckling my ass off. ;>

Sorry, Wolf Blitzer, et al, but the snow's stopped where I am in the Bronx.

Eye of the storm, droplet. It'll get worse.
posted by jonmc at 4:10 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

If we have to name winter storms now, let's at least sell the naming rights and put the proceeds towards the budgets for NWS and NOAA.

"Turn in for the latest updates on 'Winter Storm Cool-Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos' brought to you by, Taco Bell! Doritos! and the National Weather Service."
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:11 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

The heaviest snow isn't supposed to start in NYC until this evening and is expected to last through much of the day tomorrow.

Oh, I see! Well. I'm all good. I did my shopping and laundry and so on late last week, so it'll be cozy here. Thanks, plastic_animals (and jonmc)!

And may all your hot chocolates out there be spiked.
posted by droplet at 4:11 PM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

I'm grateful I have a home to hunker down in.
posted by threeants at 4:13 PM on January 26, 2015 [19 favorites]

threeants - I feel you. The homeless and semi-homeless guys who sell books at my store...I hope they found some shelter.
posted by jonmc at 4:15 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

entropicamericana: "70 and sunny in California.
send water, please.
so thirsty"

How do we know you won't fritter it on your almond orchards?
posted by boo_radley at 4:21 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

The Red Line appeared to be super effed this evening. Coming home from work I went down into my station, saw a train stopped halfway down the platform and PA talk of signal problems, was all "NOPE" and walked the 45 minutes home in the snow.
posted by threeants at 4:21 PM on January 26, 2015

Fresh Direct is supposed to deliver to me between 7 and 9. I really hope they make it or I'm having PB&J and wine for dinner.
posted by Mavri at 4:22 PM on January 26, 2015

Did your winter storm freak out Jim Cantore?

If not, color me unimpressed.
posted by eriko at 4:22 PM on January 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

Guys, Snowzilla is the greatest vehicle I have ever seen and, as you know, my children make me watch/read a LOT about vehicles. It is literally a jet engine bolted on to a trolley with a gigantic snowblower nozzle stuck on the end. They turn on the jet engine for its super-hot jet stream and use it to melt/blow snow off trolley tracks. It is AMAZING.

"Its given name is the Portec RMC Hurricane Jet Snow Blower, model RP-3, and at its heart is a jet engine transplanted from a Korean War-era fighter. The engine is capable of generating 3,000 pounds of thrust and reaching a temperature of 1,000 degrees, and its exhaust is directed down a chute to blast snow from the Mattapan line. ... A powerful but homely creature, Snowzilla sounds like 10,000 hair dryers running at once and resembles a cross between an aardvark and a tollbooth. It sits on railroad wheels, weighs 26,000 pounds, and measures 8 by 12 by 27 feet — though most of that length is taken up by its elongated snout. Its thirst for fuel is so great — it guzzles 900 gallons in a single run — that a tanker truck must follow it from station to station"

posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:23 PM on January 26, 2015 [11 favorites]

In general, I don't buy into the "I miss weather" line of thinking, but I'm surprised at how much I miss the excitement of weather like this. I still occasionally talk about a storm that happened in Boston probably 2003 or so where we got 50+ inches in the span of a few days in back to back storms. Cambridge Street in Inman Square was a bizarre no mans land with shoulder-high trenches snow blown out of the snow to clear the sidewalks on either side.
posted by feloniousmonk at 4:23 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

I do like it when there's so much snow that the cars just pretty much give up and everyone's walking in the streets. Whose streets? Our streets.
posted by uosuaq at 4:26 PM on January 26, 2015 [14 favorites]

The storm is mostly past out here in Western PA, we got five or six inches at the most. It was kind of slippy on the drive home tonight but no big problems.
posted by octothorpe at 4:26 PM on January 26, 2015

It was like a holiday in Benny's (Providence) today - to their eternal credit most of RI appeared to be purchasing sleds.

There's a characteristic visual to a storm: all the cars have their wipers lifted up.
posted by grubby at 4:27 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

The first year I moved to Ottawa, they got more snow than they had since 1950-something. When we were shovelling our driveway, we had to lift the shovels above our heads before we could toss snow out onto the lawn. Two-story snow piles in parking lots were the rule, not the exception. The city snow dump still had snow melting in it in July.

I got a lot of great memories of that winter and a lot of great photos, too.

So yeah, I'm kind of jealous that this storm is going to miss where I am entirely.
posted by Imperfect at 4:32 PM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

I hate the new TWC naming(tm) of winter storms. I also hate how quickly people have bought into it.
posted by futz at 4:33 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Still 40 here in sunny Minneapolis!

Except that it's dark. It's supposed to be near 40 all week, this is usually one of the coldest weeks of the year.
posted by Sphinx at 4:34 PM on January 26, 2015

I saw this one lady in Tory Burch flats almost slap this other lady in an LLBean puffy vest over the last half gallon of Lactaid at the stop 'n shop and it made me so happy.

I really do love watching storm panic (because I secretly storm panic.)
posted by waterisfinite at 4:35 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

jonmc: "60 degrees and clear in Orlando, double check.

Next Florida hurricane, I'll be chuckling my ass off. ;>

Sorry, Wolf Blitzer, et al, but the snow's stopped where I am in the Bronx.

Eye of the storm, droplet. It'll get worse."

Completely understood. Funny though... Ever since we moved here, no hurricanes to speak of. But now you jinxed it.
posted by Splunge at 4:35 PM on January 26, 2015

I do like it when there's so much snow that the cars just pretty much give up and everyone's walking in the streets. Whose streets? Our streets.
- uosuaq

All the parked cars have their hands up in surrender.
posted by grubby at 4:40 PM on January 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

Oh, winter. And we were doing so well.
posted by lydhre at 4:40 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

Splunge, I lived in Dade County for two years at the turn of the milennium while my wife was in grad school, and lived through a few tropical storms. They were no fucking Mardi Gras,so count your blessings, bro.
posted by jonmc at 4:44 PM on January 26, 2015

As overhyped as the snowpocalypse stuff might be in NYC, I far prefer it to that time when we underestimated the consequences, and the mayor fucked off to Bermuda, and the city shut down indefinitely.

If the storm turns out to be a big nothing, we still get to try out our disaster preparedness plans and see how well they work out. And, worst case, we keep the streets clear for emergency vehicles, and the train tracks clear for cleaning, and we get back up and running in a day or two.

Plus, we finally got rid of that Bermuda fucker. Great stuff, all around.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 4:45 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

Don't send too much water. We don't know what to do with too much water.
posted by halifix at 4:45 PM on January 26, 2015

Class 3 Kill Storm
posted by Fizz at 4:47 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

This is giving this Chicago resident memories of the Feb. 1/2 2011 storm, where I narrowly escaped being one of those stuck in the snow on Lake Shore Drive. (seriously, had I left my office downtown around 5-10 minutes later, I would have ended up on one of the buses that got stuck. I know cuz while riding home I was reading Facebook posts from a friend who was apparently just a few buses behind me. I got home in 2 hours. He had to bail out and walk.)

(I looked back at my Facebook posts from that day. I'd clearly planned ahead - for dinner that night I had meatloaf with mushroom gravy and twice baked potatoes. Also I guess I binge watched Downton Abbey, which I guess would've been the first season?)

Hope all our MeFites in the area stay safe and warm.
posted by dnash at 4:47 PM on January 26, 2015

One of the worst storms I remember for totals was the surprising April Fool's Day Blizzard in 1997 - it says that my hometown logged 33 inches, but there were drifts and places that were much deeper than that. By the time I got let out from work (oh the joys of management) no one was on the Mass Pike and I was terrified I would be stranded, it was a total whiteout and no one was left on the road. It was April, I wasn't prepared at all. I really should've just stayed in my office, it was treacherous but it worsened so quickly.

Plus, I was introduced to thunder snow and lightning in a blizzard, which I'd never heard of or contemplated. Gah.

The Pike was down to one narrow barely plowed lane, no visibility. Then, up ahead, I saw a light that got brighter and brighter. This fresh new hell was a car on fire, totally engulfed and almost blocking the one damn lane. It appeared abandoned (never could find anything about it in the news after). Because there was only a narrow lane, I had to drive very close to it and it was so blindingly hot just to pass it - I was terrified it would explode. I often think that would make a great movie imagery - total whiteout of snow with nothing but a burning car. I thought of that hellish scenario again when watching some of the great scenes in Breaking Bad.

When I finally made it home to my apartment complex, there were no spaces to park anywhere. I spent two hours digging into a parking spot, the only time I've ever had to do that.

Because it was April, it was all gone in a few days.

I work out of my home so don't have to drive in snow all that much anymore. But I always have blankets, gloves, socks, energy bars, water and flashlights in my trunk.
posted by madamjujujive at 4:49 PM on January 26, 2015 [19 favorites]

As a Californian I just want you all to know, it was in the 70's today and I'm wearing shorts. That is all.
posted by doctor_negative at 4:51 PM on January 26, 2015

I'm surprised at the confusion that people bought snacks ahead of the storm - it's become a hurricane tradition and this is basically a snow hurricane, potentially.
posted by zutalors! at 4:52 PM on January 26, 2015

The worst part is I can't come up with a decent "Juno, your caseworker!" joke about this
posted by The Whelk at 4:53 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

As a Californian I just want you all to know, it was in the 70's today and I'm wearing shorts. That is all.

And as a New Englander, I just want you Californians to know that all of this snow will eventually melt into water and replenish our many reservoirs, streams, ponds, and lakes.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:58 PM on January 26, 2015 [60 favorites]

BRING ON THE SNOW MONSTER. I love snow so much. SNOW. SNOW!
posted by grumpybear69 at 4:59 PM on January 26, 2015

Well I just want you to know that I'm on Mercury and it's like a brazillion degrees and I'm wearing an ablative smartmatter cryosuit and I'm plumb out of Fritos.


Cape Cod, plenty of chili, firewood and etc. Love you all.
posted by Divine_Wino at 5:00 PM on January 26, 2015 [10 favorites]

As a Californian I just want you all to know, it was in the 70's today and I'm wearing shorts. That is all.

Yeah, but earthquakes, man!

I'm kind of bummed that the greater DC area is missing out on this storm, to tell the truth. Snowmageddon 2010, or, as it's known in my household, "The Glorious Week When The Office Was Closed For Four Days Running", feels so long ago.
posted by longdaysjourney at 5:02 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

BRING ON THE SNOW MONSTER. I love snow so much. SNOW. SNOW!

nb this comment is so much better when you envision the actual speaker as a grumpy little bear
posted by poffin boffin at 5:03 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

Cape Cod, plenty of chili, firewood and etc. Love you all.

Astoria, a jar of spicy pickled quail eggs, and some Queensryche mp3s. miss you bro.
posted by jonmc at 5:07 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

Why blizzards make us go crazy for milk and bread


These things always leave me feeling a little left out since I don't generally drink milk or eat bread.
posted by octothorpe at 5:07 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

but do you drink bread and eat milk?
posted by jonmc at 5:08 PM on January 26, 2015

I spent two hours digging into a parking spot, the only time I've ever had to do that.

Digging into a parking spot is the absolute worst.
posted by Aizkolari at 5:08 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

LOTS OF OFFSHORE
LIGHTNING ACTIVITY INDICATIVE THAT THIS STORM IS GETTING BEEFY/INTENSIFYING. ITS BOMBOGENESIS BABY!

I read then I read that the predicted snowfall is 2' and it did not compute. 2' isn't that much, am I totally missing something?
posted by fshgrl at 5:11 PM on January 26, 2015

That's two feet, not inches.
posted by backseatpilot at 5:12 PM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

This thread is making me want chips and salsa. Demand it, in fact. Could the 24-hour deli on the corner still be open? It might be time... to find out.
posted by phooky at 5:18 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Bread, milk, and eggs are great things to buy if you think you will be stuck inside but with the power on. Dense calories and protein, as long as you can keep them refrigerated. It seems reasonable to buy them before a blizzard. Obviously stupid before a hurricane.

Beer is good in all storm situations. It's just too bad you mostly can't get Landshark in New England.
posted by vogon_poet at 5:18 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

Seymour Zamboni: "I love the NWS forecast discussion. ... ITS BOMBOGENESIS BABY!"

The NWS is pretty much my favorite thing my federal tax dollars pay for.

octothorpe: "Why blizzards make us go crazy for milk and bread"

I actually think it's because if you have kids, milk is probably the grocery item you run out of the most frequently. Bread and fresh fruit are close seconds because of relatively short shelf lives. I think it mostly happens because instead of spreading their shopping evenly across the week, every parent in the city goes "SHIT I HAVE TO GET MILK BEFORE THE SNOWSTORM OR I HAVE TO LISTEN TO JUNIOR WHINE FOR TWO HOURS THAT HE CAN'T HAVE MILK ON HIS COCOA PUFFS ON WEDNESDAY." Plus if you lose power during a storm, you can shove PB&J sandwiches at your children more or less indefinitely. If I'm grocery shopping when I know there's a big storm coming, I always pause to think, "Wait, am I going to be able to make chicken ala king if the power goes out? Hm ... I should probably get some salad and cold rotisserie chicken too just in case, I can always have it for lunch." If it's just ME I can nosh on whatever's around but with kids you kinda have to feed them actual meals. I always have a couple jars of peanut butter and jelly in the pantry, but bread runs out quickly.

I'm sure there's a knock-on effect of people going, "Shit, everyone else is buying bread and milk, I should buy that too before it's gone!" but I think it's mostly every parent in the city shopping at once and needing those two things.

Also it being a SNOWSTORM I don't usually worry about food going bad if the power's out ... if it were out for more than 8 hours, I'd just put stuff I was worried about spoiling in a cooler and put the cooler on my back step. In the snow. Where it's cold. See also: the trunk of your car.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:18 PM on January 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

This is clearly the winning Boston.com entry on the snow so far.
posted by TwoStride at 5:21 PM on January 26, 2015 [11 favorites]

it's because the ice wraiths can only be defeated by french toast, everyone knows this.
posted by poffin boffin at 5:22 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

Bread, milk and eggs because FRENCH TOAST.
posted by Mchelly at 5:24 PM on January 26, 2015

I still remember the meTa in the aftermath of the Sandy superstorm where people were without power for ages and someone (or their relatives? I forget) was going insane because they had no coffee. So: Make coffee now! Put it in a thermos or a jar or whatever! And if you need to make coffee and don't have power, you can make fancy hipster coffee by just putting the grounds in water for a bunch of hours and then filter, dilute and drink the result!

Me, I always stocked up on cat food because cats think bread is dumb (well, mine did). Beer, coffee, milk for coffee, cat food, candles. And snacks. That's what I stocked up on when I still lived where blizzards happen. Stay safe, everybody!
posted by rtha at 5:24 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

blizzardjinx
posted by Mchelly at 5:24 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Bread, milk, and eggs take up valuable beer room.
posted by eriko at 5:26 PM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

> Also I guess I binge watched Downton Abbey, which I guess would've been the first season?

Ha, I just got the first season DVD from the library yesterday, and that's my plan for tomorrow. Assuming the power stays on, of course. If it doesn't I guess I'll just sit in the candlelight and make up my own stories: "Stiffly starched british person #1 to rumpled dirty british person #2, 'So you know about british person #3's secret then? But how?'" (I'm not very good at Downtoning yet.)
posted by benito.strauss at 5:26 PM on January 26, 2015 [7 favorites]

As a Californian I just want you all to know, it was in the 70's today and I'm wearing shorts. That is all.

And as a New Englander, I just want you Californians to know that all of this snow will eventually melt into water and replenish our many reservoirs, streams, ponds, and lakes.

I live in LA and I wouldn't gloat about warm weather. A lot of our year-round water comes supply from Winter snowpack, which is why it can be bad when it's really warm in January - it needs to be cold enough in the mountains that the precipitation actually comes down as snow and not rain. Like, it's raining where I am now, but I have to wonder if the mountains even got any snow from this. Snow lasts for a while, but rain just washes away and creates flash floods, which do pretty much nothing for the drought. Honestly, I look at pictures of snow back East and think of the drought here.

Anyway, even with the snow, at least you're not in San Diego.
posted by teponaztli at 5:27 PM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

I own a rarely used jar of instant coffee just on the off chance I'd have to make emergency coffee.

And and a French press somewhere in the cupboard.

My BLIZAGADA dinner was veal Marsala with fresh peas and mushrooms. No milk or bread hoarding here.
posted by The Whelk at 5:33 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

"Wicked big stawm" sign isn't real. Awwww.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:35 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Bread, milk, and eggs take up valuable beer room.

Why do you have bread, milk and eggs in your beer fridge? You don't have what, now?
posted by The Bellman at 5:35 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

Well this is certainly exciting.
posted by spitbull at 5:36 PM on January 26, 2015

> Digging into a parking spot is the absolute worst.

It might lose out to digging your car out of the impound lot where it got towed to in the snow emergency. 'Cause you just paid $120 (impound fee, cash only) for the privilege of being allowed to dig it out, you don't get to use the spot you dug out, and there's the extra prize of the $75 ticket for the parking violation under your windshield wipers when you're done digging it out.
posted by benito.strauss at 5:36 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

Also, Blue Diamond wasabi and soy sauce flavored almonds (sorry, California) are the fucking bomb with Irish whiskey.
posted by spitbull at 5:37 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

but do you drink bread and eat milk?

Beer and cheese. The way the Good Lord intended.
posted by ocschwar at 5:38 PM on January 26, 2015 [11 favorites]

The Bellman: "Why do you have bread, milk and eggs in your beer fridge?"

When it snows, all of outdoors is my beer fridge!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:38 PM on January 26, 2015 [6 favorites]

Also, Blue Diamond wasabi and soy sauce flavored almonds (sorry, California) are the fucking bomb with Irish whiskey.
Ha, I picked up precisely those almonds as my storm snack. Did not have the foresight to get any whiskey though.
posted by peacheater at 5:40 PM on January 26, 2015

Bread, milk, and eggs take up valuable beer room.

Especially in your stomach.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:41 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

As a Californian I just want you all to know, it was in the 70's today and I'm wearing shorts. That is all.

Different strokes and all that, but I never quite got why "It's always bland out and never particularly changes" is a selling point or something that people would be jealous of.

BRING ON THE SNOW MONSTER. I love snow so much. SNOW. SNOW!

Preach it, brother!
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:41 PM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

Kindle is loaded.
Library is full.
Flashlights, including a reading light with fresh batteries.

But if you'd rather keep the pretence that this storm has not severed your link to the rest of humanity, the Internet is still running, and so here's a map of the locations of literally every goat in the United States. (From my wife).

God help us all.
posted by ocschwar at 5:44 PM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

"Wicked big stawm" sign isn't real. Awwww.

No, but "Wicked High Tides" is real along with this past holiday season's "Yes Virginia There Is...Probable Tidal Flooding" and "Prepare for Yule Tides"

And it's worth noting that those humorous signs were up during periods of nuisance flooding. I wouldn't expect MassDOT to do that during a real emergency.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:44 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

No, but "Wicked High Tides" is real along with this past holiday season's "Yes Virginia There Is...Probable Tidal Flooding" and "Prepare for Yule Tides"

*Wipes away tear*

That's...beautiful.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:48 PM on January 26, 2015

Snowmageddon 2010, or, as it's known in my household, "The Glorious Week When The Office Was Closed For Four Days Running", feels so long ago.

I got snowed in for three days with a girl I'd just started dating.

We're married now.
posted by Riki tiki at 5:54 PM on January 26, 2015 [35 favorites]

Wicked warning on Morrissey Boulevard: Flooding likely

Folks launch their boats feet from that sign so it's funny but pretty much a "duh" warning. And I mean right off the beach, not a long ramp or anything.
posted by sammyo at 5:54 PM on January 26, 2015

MA/RI line checking in...people were still showing up at my library at 6:00 pm, grabbing DVDs, mostly. All the other area libraries closed at 4.
I did a regular shop on Friday, but I stopped at Stop and Shop last night to get a few things. There were hardly any people in the store, but the shelves were a mess. Some were completely empty, some were a jumble of random items. The emptiest section was, surprisingly, the broth. Not the soup. The broth. Lotta homemade soup happening around here, I guess.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone about snow bank safety. Don't let your kids climb snow banks, or dig into snow banks or do anything in a snow bank. Snow banks are trying to kill you. Thank you.
posted by Biblio at 5:58 PM on January 26, 2015

24-hour deli was open, but didn't have chocolate chips. Went two blocks to the other 24-hour deli, which did have chocolate chips. We are now fully capable of baking chocolate chip cookies. If there's any other preparations we're supposed to make, well, I just don't care. We are ready.
posted by phooky at 5:58 PM on January 26, 2015 [8 favorites]

"Stiffly starched british person #1 to rumpled dirty british person #2, 'So you know about british person #3's secret then? But how?'" (I'm not very good at Downtoning yet.)

To the contrary, you just ruined ALL OF SEASON FOUR.
posted by uosuaq at 5:58 PM on January 26, 2015 [12 favorites]

All Angels Church is housing homeless through the storm [NYC, UWS], asks for help
posted by Mchelly at 6:02 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

live in LA and I wouldn't gloat about warm weather. A lot of our year-round water comes supply from Winter snowpack, which is why it can be bad when it's really warm in January - it needs to be cold enough in the mountains that the precipitation actually comes down as snow and not rain. Like, it's raining where I am now, but I have to wonder if the mountains even got any snow from this.

Yeah, I drove over Donner Summit this weekend, and there is basically no snow. Like, NO snow. It was 60 degrees up there. Last measurable precipitation they had was on Christmas Eve, and that was .012" of rain.

Start saving yer spit in a jar, Californians, because come June you may need it.
posted by mudpuppie at 6:11 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

NWS bulleteins for this sort of stuff sometimes remind me of the galactic Usenet posts in "A Fire Upon The Deep" - intense, technical jargon interspersed with brilliant little bursts of personality. It helps you take it more seriously, if that makes any sense - there's someone with judgement and an opinion and a head for the details. It's not a faceless committee or automated alert you can ignore.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:13 PM on January 26, 2015 [12 favorites]

Different strokes and all that, but I never quite got why "It's always bland out and never particularly changes" is a selling point or something that people would be jealous of.

I mean, I love the weather here. Yeah, it's sunny a lot, but you react to things differently - at least I don't find it bland, anyway. That said, I'm from the other coast and I still miss snow and thunderstorms. And I've never experienced thundersnow. So yes, I am totally jealous when I hear about blizzards. My whole family is sending updates about how pretty it is.

Yeah, I drove over Donner Summit this weekend, and there is basically no snow. Like, NO snow. It was 60 degrees up there. Last measurable precipitation they had was on Christmas Eve, and that was .012" of rain.

Yeah, it's a real problem. People seem to have this idea that it's totally cool if it's 20 degrees above average here because it's California, but it's still bad. It shouldn't be 85 in January (it was yesterday).
posted by teponaztli at 6:17 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

> This is clearly the winning Boston.com entry on the snow so far.

Yes, yes it is. I may have to sit and watch that all evening. The ears! The floppiness!
posted by gingerbeer at 6:19 PM on January 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

This makes me so homesick for North America. I don't just miss blizzards - now that I live in London I miss all weather.

I just spent the last half hour lamenting all the amazing things I used to experience, like Henry Hill at the end of Goodfellas, except with weather.
posted by theory at 6:20 PM on January 26, 2015

Somewhat off-topic: does anyone know what "suspended at 11pm" means for the subway, in this case? Usually they specify that that's the last time the train will leave its point of origin, but this time, it seems like NJTransit and LIRR trains are finishing their last runs at 11pm. But it's not like the trains can just stop wherever they are at 11pm.
posted by unknowncommand at 6:24 PM on January 26, 2015

I like this storm, because otherwise I would be annoyed about my 12 hr layover in London. Instead I am glad I got out of Boston this morning.
posted by nat at 6:28 PM on January 26, 2015

unknowncommand, I think they started storing the trains around 8pm so I would assume you cannot go anywhere after 11.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:37 PM on January 26, 2015

Just measured - five inches, and it's not even 10:00pm. The really heavy snow is due at 1:00am. We may exceed the forecast by quite a bit.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:38 PM on January 26, 2015

I lived in California for three years, and I think it was sunny and cool the whole time. I missed weather so much.

Now that I'm back in weatherland, I'm all grown up and have to act coolly professional about snow days when in fact I'm screaming, "BRING IT! BRING IT ALL! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!" somewhere... not so deep inside.
posted by kythuen at 6:38 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

NY1 and MSNBC have now both seriously downgraded city estimate totals to probably about a foot.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:39 PM on January 26, 2015

I read then I read that the predicted snowfall is 2' and it did not compute. 2' isn't that much, am I totally missing something?

It may have tended to understate the hugeness of the blizzard that we had a snowfall that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:40 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

Blizzards include wind, hater.
posted by uosuaq at 6:44 PM on January 26, 2015

Thanks, Seymour Zamboni, for taking time out of your busy ice-smoothing season to post that interesting explanation!
posted by moonmilk at 6:56 PM on January 26, 2015 [6 favorites]

Is there a website where you can check how much snow has currently accumulated at a given weather station? As in, how much snow is currently on the ground outside?
posted by teponaztli at 6:58 PM on January 26, 2015

We were having a Snicket-like continuous series of small events until now...
posted by uosuaq at 6:58 PM on January 26, 2015

Is there a website where you can check how much snow has currently accumulated at a given weather station? As in, how much snow is currently on the ground outside?

If you go to the almanac section on Weather Underground you can check snow for the year, snow for this season, snow this month, and snow currently on the ground (although it probably doesn't report snow currently on the ground right this damn minute (although central park apparently has 2"?)).

3 inches here, 2 inches there, etc.

I moved from San Diego to northwestern-ish Wisconsin in August, and frankly I'm disappointed with the lack of mega snow here. We've gotten well over half our normal snowfall for a season already, but we've never had more than 5 inches or so on the ground at any one time. I wanted to build an igloo! I bake my own bread so I don't have to worry about the store!

Following the weather here is fascinating. I'm so used to "high of 75, low of 55, morning clouds giving way to afternoon sunshine" for months at a time, but here the high temperature will fluctuate by 30 degrees in the space of a week. We had more lighting in one week in September than I ever saw the entire 35 years I lived in San Diego.
posted by LionIndex at 7:10 PM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

The New York Times is updating this map pretty frequently with current snow accumulations (just for this storm, though, and not the whole Northeast).
posted by argonauta at 7:10 PM on January 26, 2015

LionIndex: "but here the high temperature will fluctuate by 30 degrees in the space of a week. "

Oh dude. Wait for spring. You'll get that in a DAY when the spring thunderstorms blow through, you will love it.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:22 PM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

Fortunately it's snowing sideways here, so we shouldn't get any accumulation.
posted by uosuaq at 7:28 PM on January 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

oh my goD THE MAYOR HAS BANNED TAKEOUT he is a monster
posted by poffin boffin at 7:35 PM on January 26, 2015 [8 favorites]

That NYT map - where it says "3.0"" on the east side of Narragansett Bay, we have 6" now, and it's 10:30. The storm went from "Meh. Snow." to "Mu-hu-wah-ha-ha! Snow!" in the past hour. I believe drinking the last can I had of of Naragansett Brewery's "Lovecraft Honey Ale" is to blame.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:36 PM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

All seems quiet here. I expected it to be crazy by now. Bedtime; we'll see how things look in the morning.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:50 PM on January 26, 2015

That's two feet, not inches.

I know, I'm just surprised it's the all time record. Too much time spent in snowy places I guess.
posted by fshgrl at 7:56 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

OK everyone, you can relax now - I got my #stormchips! I just wanted to prove to myself that – even at 11pm during a storm emergency – nothing shuts down the Brooklyn bodegas.

The bars and pizza shops and all night diners were all open too. Midnight meetup at Donuts Luncheonette?
posted by moonmilk at 8:07 PM on January 26, 2015

The wind is starting to get a bit more serious here in central MA. Snow volume is still on the low side - hard to judge but looks in the 3 to 5 inch range.
posted by madamjujujive at 8:14 PM on January 26, 2015

I haven't read the thread yet, just want to say that some enterprising character at OkCupid created this and included the following in the "X checked you out!" email:

We're letting you know because they're a stone cold fox. You should check them out too. And a couple of things:

• We're smart about sending these: we'll only ever send one
per winter storm that hits you
• They'll be blowing out of town next week, so act fast

Go get 'em!
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:25 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

I just got that too.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:53 PM on January 26, 2015

Woohoo! Trains were still running-ish until at least 11:35.
posted by unknowncommand at 9:06 PM on January 26, 2015

I made what turned out to be a last-minute trip down the hill to the Fairway, and while I was inside they announced they were shutting at 7:00. I was all set on buying sage sausage and frying that up with a big bunch of broccoli rabe, but the teeming hordes had bought all of it! So dinner was hamburgers instead.

I also noted while reading a forum on FDNY activity that the Bronx and Brooklyn have gone to what's called a Stage 2 Fallback. That entails a reduced level of response for certain automatic alarms, such as in commercial buildings. Certainly the scanner is busy right now. There's a call for a "cardiac in the subway."
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 9:18 PM on January 26, 2015

So I have friends that have a house in the Catskills they rent out, and sometimes use themselves (they're based here). They'd been meaning to go check it out after hearing the dishwasher was wonky, but then decided to get up there in advance of the storm and get snowed in, because it is actually BETTER up there.

I told them to bring a copy of Van Morrison's TUPELO HONEY because there is a song on there that is specifically about getting snowed in IN THE CATSKILLS with one's sweetie.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:27 PM on January 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

someone is driving around the west village in an ice cream truck

people are chasing it on foot but it does not appear to be stopping for ice cream business
posted by poffin boffin at 9:29 PM on January 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

i really want ice cream now
posted by poffin boffin at 9:30 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

I believe drinking the last can I had of of Naragansett Brewery's "Lovecraft Honey Ale" is to blame.

Having tried it, I fear that, by the end of its run, Lovecraft Honey Ale will be to blame for many things.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 9:33 PM on January 26, 2015

> someone is driving around the west village in an ice cream truck

That's the real Blizzardmobile.
posted by gingerbeer at 9:39 PM on January 26, 2015

i really want ice cream now

Maple syrup poured on snow is an adequate substitute. Um, according to a friend.
posted by moonmilk at 9:51 PM on January 26, 2015

There's this MSNBC reporter who's doing a report from Sandwich and I swear it's the most hardcore winter standup I've been in a long time - the wind was blowing so hard he couldn't reallt stand up straight and it kept roaring in his mike and the snow was horizontal. You go, reporter guy!
posted by rtha at 9:51 PM on January 26, 2015

your friend, laura ingalls wilder, is a FILTHY LIAR
posted by poffin boffin at 9:57 PM on January 26, 2015 [8 favorites]

The snow in the last 20 min out my window has gone from lightish scattering to full on pink bloom white out.
posted by The Whelk at 10:03 PM on January 26, 2015

Shit, rtha, do you mean Sandwich, Massachusetts? That's where my parents live, and near my brother's place.

(My parents, however, are in fuckin' FLORIDA.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:08 PM on January 26, 2015

I'm about 10 miles south from Sandwich, as the crow tumbles, and it's gnarly, but not get religion gnarly, fwiw. Weather and wind off the ocean especially is very variable around here, the wind is howling for sure, but the radar I'm looking at shows that most of the nonsense is about half past us, not that I really trust accuweather.
posted by Divine_Wino at 10:26 PM on January 26, 2015

Also, what the fuck people? It's all low-carb this whole wheat that and I'm soooo paleo until IT MIGHT SNOW A BIT then BAM all the bagels in Fairway are GONE EVEN THE GROSS CINNAMON RASIN ONES THAT NO ONE LIKES and I maybe want a buttered bagel in the morning as a treat and I have to hear about FLOUR BRAIN and WHEAT GUT and the POSION OF GLUTEN Until it gets SLIGHTLY COLD then you RUN TO THE BAKERY LIKE YOU'RE MIDDLE-AGES PEASANTS AND SOMEONE SAID THE HUNS ARE COMING AND I GET NOTHING .
posted by The Whelk at 10:26 PM on January 26, 2015 [17 favorites]

maybe get new friends who eat real food?

step 2: pillage
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:30 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

Reminder to everyone that stale bread can make great breadcrumbs for coating and making chicken fried steak or schnitzel and that custards and quiches and good ways to use up milk and eggs, and you can sour the milk to make buttermilk which is great in biscuits and as a bath for chicken to use with the breadcrumbs you made from the stale bread, to make shallow fried chicken.
posted by The Whelk at 10:54 PM on January 26, 2015

Or ...pancakes.
posted by The Whelk at 10:54 PM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

The Fillyjonk Who Believed in Disasters, a sweet short story by Tove Jansson, from the Moominvalley Tales. For those of you who love storm panics.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 2:37 AM on January 27, 2015 [3 favorites]

Historic overreaction in NYC. I just read one report that we had rec'vd 7" overnight. Blizzard warning lifted.
posted by mlis at 3:03 AM on January 27, 2015

The anchor on NECN just mentioned that they're streaming online "in case you lose power"
posted by RonButNotStupid at 3:29 AM on January 27, 2015

The anchor on NECN just mentioned that they're streaming online "in case you lose power"

iPhones have batteries, you know.
posted by Pendragon at 3:46 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

So who got all our snow?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:49 AM on January 27, 2015

We have blizzard - weather folks reporting my town has 15-18 inches, looks about right from my window. We accumulated a lot since I woke up about 3 am. Very windy so lots of driftiness. TV just reported thunder snow over Buzzard's Bay and lightning in Sandwich.

Heavy snow is supposed to continue at least through noon. If so, we will have no trouble reaching 2 feet. Wheeee.

Hope all you folks on Cape Cod & the coast are hunkered down and cozy, fully empowered and experimenting with all The Whelk's blizzard cooking tips.
posted by madamjujujive at 3:53 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Does this mean I have to go to work?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:56 AM on January 27, 2015

Lol 7 inches in NYC. Once again the hype machine for the win.
posted by spitbull at 3:58 AM on January 27, 2015

Huge dud in NYC... But now the panic of being snowed in for only one day sets in: Waffles or drop biscuits?!?
posted by Mchelly at 4:00 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm kind of disappointed the Infowars false flag guy hasn't been at any of the press conferences in the MEMA bunker accusing the governor of staging the blizzard.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:11 AM on January 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

I just woke up - there's at least a foot of snow on the ground and it's still coming down sideways.
posted by backseatpilot at 4:25 AM on January 27, 2015

Up here in Maine I have turned around the cars, brewed the coffee, and queued Youtube up to the Skyrim soundtrack. Nothing more is required.
posted by selfnoise at 4:28 AM on January 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

Winning the wind lotto at the moment - very few snowdrifts by the house/car and the gusts have plowed the sidewalks for me.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 4:30 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Stopped snowing sometime overnight here in Jersey City, doesn't look too bad out from my window. Won't be able to get to work until/unless they resume PATH service, but I imagine they'll get it going sometime today.

How did Long Island do?
posted by oh yeah! at 4:58 AM on January 27, 2015

The other day I saw teens with shovels circling the neighborhood. I have cash, kids! Visit me first!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:04 AM on January 27, 2015

There's a story going around about how the NYC subway didn't really shut down, it just ran without passengers all night.
posted by smackfu at 5:14 AM on January 27, 2015

Really heavy accumulation in last 90 minutes, plus very blowy and whistley.

How tall is your standard fire hydrant? 22 inches? 24 inches? Mine totally disappeared - when I woke up, I could see the full cap. now it is buried. TV is saying my town is 22"
posted by madamjujujive at 5:32 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm just southeast of Boston and this storm certainly isn't a dud here. They've shut down a major roadway due to flooding, and I have no idea how much snow we have because of all of the blowing and drifting. (Although, as in Seymour Zamboni's area, the colder temps seem to have kept the snow from sticking to the power lines and trees. Here's hoping that doesn't change!)

I do live within sight of a major roadway, and people seem to be obeying the travel ban, because the only vehicles I've seen since 6:30 have been plows, public works trucks, and one police SUV.

The traffic report was pretty good this morning, too: "There is... one car on 495. It just spun out. It's in the snowbank now."
posted by pie ninja at 5:33 AM on January 27, 2015 [9 favorites]

There's a story going around about how the NYC subway didn't really shut down, it just ran without passengers all night.

Seems likely - that's what NJ Transit did, helps to keep the tracks from icing up.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:35 AM on January 27, 2015

I wondered about that. It seemed stupid to park the whole system even if we had gotten more snow. Surely keeping trains rolling makes more sense, and garaging them all at terminus lots could take days to get back in service.
posted by spitbull at 5:39 AM on January 27, 2015

NYC subways will resume Sunday service at noon. Waiting on info about the parks though.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:44 AM on January 27, 2015

There's a story going around about how the NYC subway didn't really shut down, it just ran without passengers all night.

They definitely do this in Boston during events like this--they keep some of the trains running constantly to keep the above-ground rails clear from accumulation, so that there are fewer problems when service actually resumes.
posted by Kosh at 5:46 AM on January 27, 2015 [3 favorites]

People the "subway shutdown" was just so they could finally search all the tunnels and destroy any C.H.U.D nests, #teachthecontroversy
posted by The Whelk at 5:47 AM on January 27, 2015 [4 favorites]

Wind is high here in northeast RI, and from my bedroom window I would guess about a foot of snow on the ground. No way I am going out there for a while yet!

Yesterday someone suggested that my kids go around (on their snowshoes) and offer to sell hot chocolate to people shoveling their driveways -- like an inverted lemonade stand. They are greedy little buggers, and would only be in the way while I use the snow-blower, so I might suggest it in a while. :7)
posted by wenestvedt at 5:52 AM on January 27, 2015 [3 favorites]

Who has access to cash while shoveling? They should make two passes - one to take orders, one to deliver.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:56 AM on January 27, 2015 [4 favorites]

Fair point. But if an elf on snowshoes appears with hot chocolate as you shovel away, wouldn't you run inside for a few dollars? (Ignoring the fact that you could make yourself in irish coffee while you're in there, of course.)
posted by wenestvedt at 6:02 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Photos of NYC during the travel ban
posted by The Whelk at 6:04 AM on January 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

Drifting like mad - 16" or so, if I had to guess, but light, fluffy stuff. East-bay RI, right on the coast. We lost internet for a few hours, but the power never conked out. The wind was severe, but not terrible - 70mph gusts aren't all that unusual hereabouts.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:07 AM on January 27, 2015

My store is opening. I can't believe it. I'm supposed to be there by 10:45. Why?
posted by jonmc at 6:09 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

You're an important corner of the Snow Day Trifecta: Bread, Booze, and Books.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:38 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Slap a paperback between two slices of rye, grab a pale ale and chow down
posted by The Whelk at 6:39 AM on January 27, 2015

How did Long Island do?

It's maybe 14 inches here, and still coming down.
posted by pemberkins at 6:39 AM on January 27, 2015

Providence, RI here -- it's pretty chilly (20F) or so), so the snow is light and powdery, which means lots of accumulation and drifting. I'd guess 12-15" at the moments with drifts up to 3' from where I'm watching. This is going to be a pain to clean, since the snow is just going to drift over any clearing that gets done, but I think it's better than less dense heavy snow (like if it was 10F warmer), which would be bringing down trees, powerlines, and/or roofs. It looks like a plow took out a decorative pole on the street, though, so there is that.

Strangely for RI, the plows seems to be running pretty regularly, so at least the main streets are reasonably clear for people who have to go out (with everyone home, I am waiting for one of my neighbors to set off the smoke alarms. What fun that will be!)
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:45 AM on January 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

By the way, I meant "a lesser amount of dense, heavy snow" not that powdery snow is somehow less dense than wet snow. Which is, I think we can all agree, insane.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:01 AM on January 27, 2015

My neighborhood's snow is already saturated by dog pee. And the DSNY turned over all the corner trash baskets, I guess to keep them from blowing into the street, so the bottoms are pointing up, but there's very little snow covering them, and they are simply covered in piles of plastic bags of dog poop that someone is going to have to pick up before the baskets get turned back over again.

Ah NYC, never change.
posted by spitbull at 7:03 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Although to be fair, you could totally get away with not picking up your dog's poop today and that would be worse, so yay neighbors. Especially the 5' tall woman with the 4' tall Great Dane whose poops are probably the size of her head.
posted by spitbull at 7:12 AM on January 27, 2015 [3 favorites]

Cuz had we gotten "three feet of OMG BLIZZARD" that would have been funny. Presumably there comes a point when you have to take a dog that big outside to do his business.
posted by spitbull at 7:14 AM on January 27, 2015

Well, what a dud. I was expecting some major ish, and it looks like 5-6" inches tops where I am. Bit windy, I guess.

I am disappoint.

But at least I'm disappointed in my fuzzy sweater and slippers, having a nice coffee and toast, and the power's on! I certainly have been through worse winters and am grateful that we got off with a relative dusting. For you souls who got the brunt of it, fare thee well! I hope you're warm and dry and stuffing yourselves silly.
posted by droplet at 7:16 AM on January 27, 2015

I'm on the South Shore in Nassau County Long Island, and I honestly can't work out how much snow we have. Six inches? Maybe eight? Maybe?

The problem is the wind's blown the snow around so much that I can still see grass peeking through under one of my trees, and with a steady drift rising across five feet until it's even with the top of my front stoop, which must be 24 inches up. How much snow depends on where you put the measuring stick down.
posted by Andrhia at 7:19 AM on January 27, 2015

I'm reading lots of things online where people are getting angry because the location of the storm wasn't perfectly predicted, and NYC didn't really need to shut down, blah blah blah. I mean, I guess meteorology is, in general, quite exact, but still it seems to me that the people who are getting angry are assuming winter storm forecasting abilities which just don't yet exist.
posted by ocherdraco at 8:06 AM on January 27, 2015 [8 favorites]

Also, I'm personally of the opinion that this (well planned caution) is a far better result than that storm a few years ago where poor parts of the city were left unplowed while Bloomberg was in Bermuda. At least we don't have to deal with that schmuck anymore.
posted by ocherdraco at 8:09 AM on January 27, 2015 [3 favorites]

ocherdraco, I don't think people are mad that we didn't get more snow. They are mostly mad that they waited on very long grocery lines yesterday and/or got abandoned by the MTA. My friend had to take her kitty to the vet this morning in Manhattan and ended up getting a ride from a random stranger for $20.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:11 AM on January 27, 2015

I'm here at the bookstore. Are we really that essential? It's not like we're a liquor store or something.
posted by jonmc at 8:14 AM on January 27, 2015 [7 favorites]

There isn't really anything more confusing to me than people shrieking "how dare you make us safe and prepared!" Like, oh, wow, sorry you are safe at home with food and aren't trapped inside your car on the highway, I guess you were really looking forward to that ordeal.
posted by poffin boffin at 8:36 AM on January 27, 2015 [28 favorites]

OTOH, you certainly don't want to treat every six inch snowstorm like a three foot one, especially in a place with good transit options like NYC that shrugs off a six inch storm.
posted by smackfu at 8:47 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

(Given that, this example was not overhyped, it was a blown call, which you can't do much about. Don't think most people grousing understand the distinction though.)
posted by smackfu at 8:50 AM on January 27, 2015

For Boston-area folks who feel like braving the elements, Eater's keeping track of stuff that's open. Last-minute meetup at 1369?
posted by dorque at 8:51 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

crying tears of milk won't help fix the forecast
posted by thelonius at 8:53 AM on January 27, 2015

I don't think it was a blown call everywhere. There was a multi-state-wide area that could have been severely impacted, and WHDH at least was up front about that. Every broadcast emphasized that they'd be able to narrow down impact areas the closer the storm got to us.

That said, just north of Boston I've got snow up to the top of my lawn furniture in the back yard, and it's still coming down like blazes. So kudos to Pete Bouchard & co; I don't feel overprepared at all.

Especially since we just ran out of chips.
posted by kythuen at 8:54 AM on January 27, 2015 [5 favorites]

Did any of you in Somerville see the Boston Yeti?
posted by TwoStride at 8:56 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Here in central CT, it seems to have stopped snowing entirely. If they'd plow, I think we could start going out soon.
posted by smackfu at 8:58 AM on January 27, 2015

Especially since we just ran out of chips.

Oh oh. This is where the cannibalism starts.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:10 AM on January 27, 2015 [3 favorites]

In Providence, the flakes have gotten somewhat bigger, so we are accumulating more. Weirdly, with the moderate winds, the lighter snow from earlier is blowing around, so we have big flakes falling vertically past the finer snow blowing horizontally. It's like winter is saying "look what I can do! Cool, huh?" Essentially, Snow Miser is drunk and need to go home.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:11 AM on January 27, 2015 [7 favorites]

I just finished shoveling our sidewalk. We had about a four foot drift right in front of the house, but the sidewalk itself was only about a foot and a half or so. We have only a very tiny front yard to put all of it, though, so now we have snow piles up to the windows.
posted by backseatpilot at 9:24 AM on January 27, 2015

All of the island of Nantucket is without power, and on the Cape the streets are flooded with mini icebergs sloshing through all their streets. And central Massachusetts is near the three-foot mark. People, just because central New York escaped doesn't mean that this storm didn't happen!
posted by wenestvedt at 9:25 AM on January 27, 2015 [14 favorites]

If anyone wants to post pictures of their snow-up-to-the-windows yards, I wouldn't mind.

(I miss snow. Stupid Cincinnati and its "Oh, yes, it is bitterly cold here but YOU GET NO SNOW" winters.)
posted by cooker girl at 9:31 AM on January 27, 2015

People, just because central New York escaped doesn't mean that this storm didn't happen!

just pretend this comment is a link to that new yorker cover i can't be bothered to look for
posted by poffin boffin at 9:36 AM on January 27, 2015 [3 favorites]

At any rate, this was a great dry-run for a future martial law curfew. Authorities are pleased.
posted by monospace at 9:43 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm in Maine and didn't know we were having a storm until I got into work yesterday and our head admin person suggested that I work from home today and possibly tomorrow. Currently outside my window the snow has drifted most of the way up the neighbors' fence and even though I live on one of the main drags through Portland there is no traffic other than the plows.

Good thing I bought cat food on my way home last night.
posted by bile and syntax at 9:54 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Here's a picture of the snow drifting up my neighbors' fence.
posted by bile and syntax at 10:11 AM on January 27, 2015 [5 favorites]

a link to that new yorker cover i can't be bothered to look for

You must have meant this one
posted by Flashman at 10:17 AM on January 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

smackfu: "OTOH, you certainly don't want to treat every six inch snowstorm like a three foot one, especially in a place with good transit options like NYC that shrugs off a six inch storm."

Yeah but on the other hand, the best thing in the world is a snow day where there's not a ton of snow so you don't have to spend the whole day shoveling.

These people are inadequately grateful. :P

I don't know, it's just not that big a deal to me when they shut down the county here and say "stay off the roads!" That's cool, dude, now nobody has to go to work! Sometimes it's like "Wow, I am super glad that nobody is driving in this, they would be dead" and sometimes it's like, "This is not that bad, they probably didn't need to shut down, but I am secretly glad they did, since I don't have to go to work and the plows can work faster."
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 10:20 AM on January 27, 2015 [4 favorites]

poffin boffin: just pretend this comment is a link to that new yorker cover i can't be bothered to look for

OK, that was funny on like three levels. Thank you for the belly laugh! :7)

Flashman, I thought she meant this one?
posted by wenestvedt at 10:21 AM on January 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

You know who must hate these big, media-saturated storms? The ASL interpreters at the various state emergency control bunkers.

They spend like 36 hours doing simultaneous translation for press conferences every hour, making that little "snow-shoveling" gesture about ten times per minute. And when it's all over, they go home and have to actually shovel for real.
posted by wenestvedt at 10:24 AM on January 27, 2015 [7 favorites]

They are often hourly contractors though, so... overtime!
posted by smackfu at 10:33 AM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

It's mostly just horizontal drifts in the Fenway now, with about 20 inches build up. But it must have been incredibly dry snow, because the trees have barely kept a dusting on them. Thank goodness.

And thanks for the listing of open places, dorque. If I didn't live on the other side of the Charles I'd take you up on the 1369 offer. But I will go down to my local Thorton's — patronize your local never-say-die businesses!
posted by benito.strauss at 11:13 AM on January 27, 2015

Here's my snow timelapse (it turned out much less spectacular than I was hoping).
posted by moonmilk at 11:15 AM on January 27, 2015 [6 favorites]

I'm about an hour North of Portland, Maine.

This is what our street looks like now. You can see a guy in a snowmobile suit, far right, snow blowing the end of his driveway, a couple of houses down.

The car on the left is parked in the street. The city plow just came and honked. The dude was out there shoveling and did move his car right away.

This is what the street looks like in the other direction, just before the plow came for the 3rd or 4th time.

The snow is blowing sideways. I went out on the back deck this morning (briefly!) and the snow was about 8" deep. My coat was covered almost instantly.

Everything is closed here, tho' I had a dental check-up yesterday, and the hygienist told me the doctor will be in today in case anyone has a dental emergency. Now that's dedication. We're staying put and enjoying pulled pork later. Luckily, we're on the same grid as a local hospital and we hardly ever lose power, and if we do, it's usually back on shortly.

The governor has declared a state of emergency, and they really don't want anyone out there. It's pretty nuts right now, 35-40 mph winds and white outs blowing past the window.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 12:14 PM on January 27, 2015 [5 favorites]

It's still snowing here. I tried to dig my car out, but the drifts around it are up to my waist. The piles are over my head. Might be working from home again tomorrow.
posted by backseatpilot at 3:47 PM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Medford MA checking in:

I live on a very narrow street, so narrow that it's city policy to plow it last so we don't get the plows stuck there while other homeowners are waiting.

The city reached us at 11AM this morning.

The travel ban worked.
posted by ocschwar at 4:46 PM on January 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

Someone took advantage of the storm to dog sled through downtown Pittsburgh.
posted by octothorpe at 4:37 AM on January 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

My car is completely buried and has been plowed in by my landlord, so... looks like another day working from home.
posted by bile and syntax at 7:41 AM on January 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Providence was plowed, kind of, when I walked down to the bus terminal to maybe catch a bus to work. Yesterday evening, the Transit Authority told us that buses would resume on "some routes" at 8, but didn't get around to telling us which routes until 9:30 or so. (My bus came, so it was all OK.)
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:23 AM on January 28, 2015 [2 favorites]