Wish we would get some snow like that in middle of no where Utah. We really need it. Keep warm.

Troy

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by 94rodeo:
<strong>Wish we would get some snow like that in middle of no where Utah. We really need it. Keep warm.

Troy</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">I hate to rub it in, but it's been a blast out here: two days off from work, etc. Just me, my wife, a coupla cats, and beer. (I made sure to stock up before the white stuff hit)

I don't want to minimize what Kevin's going through - he's way more BFE than me - but boy do we need this stuff.

The highest accumulation that NOAA's reporting for Colorado so far is Rollinsville - about 1/2 hour west of Boulder:

<img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" /> 86 inches <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" />

The rest of our accumulations are listed here.

Our winter weather has been wierd for sure. Two times this year, my favorite ski area has lost 2 plus feet of snow in less than 48 hours due to warm temps. We have had snow on the ground twice I think. 5 feet at once! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" /> Hope you have a short driveway, or a bad ass snowblower

<img border="0" alt="[Mr.T]" title="" src="graemlins/mrt.gif" /> I pity the foo that has to shovel. The A Team just shoots the snow outa the way.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by sweater:
[qb]I don't want to minimize what Kevin's going through - he's way more BFE than me - but boy do we need this stuff.
[QB]</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Well, part of it is, I've never seen it like this. We've only lived in Colorado for 5 years. Before that, we were in New Mexico and the largest dump we got was 3 feet in about 12 hours.

I'm enjoying this, but there is a bit of fear to go with it. I dont think we are in danger at all, we have food, water and lots of blankets. I guess what is really bugging me is that the town we live in only has a population of 500 and my closest neighbor is about a half mile away. Earlier, I could see their kids out playing.

We really need the moisture, I just dont like being trapped. I could probably make it to the city if I tried, but the highway is closed as well as icy and very low visibility. The wind is just insane!!! At the worst, visibility was down to around 50 feet.

When the wind died earlier, I got outside and got some good pictures, including one of my wife between the fence (in the lee) and a HUGE snowbank on the other side. The way the wind was blowing, there was a gap about 2 feet wide between the fence and the snow. It was over her head and she is 5'7".

Its kinda cool to be snowed in. Glad we always keep plenty of food, oil lamps and stuff like that on hand. I guess its part of living out in the middle of BFE. You are prepared for most anything.

Its 6PM, and the weather map shows more snow moving in.

Kevin

this is not your normal 'light weight' winter snow either. This stuff is thick and heavy. When you drive on the side streets, you have to stay in the ruts that are already there or else you get off the track and sink into about a foot of sludge/ice. When that happens, your tires just start spinning and paddling, and it's impossible to make any forward progress!!

I made a beer run for a friend earlier who couldn't get out of his neighborhood, and it was a real adventure getting into his street. Got stuck once when the tires decided they didn't want to follow the tracks that were already there <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" /> It wasn't a big deal, just had to back up, shovel down to the street for some traction, then took off again. He's gonna owe me big for that trip!

Then when I got back to my house, my next door neighbor got his F350 crewcab stuck in the cul-de-sac behind us (he was trying to break a trail over there for a neighbor). So, I got to yank him out with the Amigo (sorry, no pics). The snatch strap and a little momentum worked wonders.

Was at my mom's earlier - the angle is not the best, but you can tell that we got a fair amount of snow:
<img src="http://home1.gte.net/cpq2dp83/momshouse.jpg" alt=" - " />

Right outside our back door, we have a gas grill. Here's what it looks like now:
<img src="http://home1.gte.net/cpq2dp83/bbqsnow.jpg" alt=" - " />

Here's our dog walking back from the yard. That pile of snow on the right is the portable fireplace. It's normally about 12 inches high...

<img src="http://home1.gte.net/cpq2dp83/rustysnow.jpg" alt=" - " />

My son and his friend shoveling snow at 11:00 this morning. Hard to tell, but the friend on the left is 6 foot tall. They are actually shoveling 'the slot', which is the amigo-wide strip I use to get out on the street. The snowplow came by during the night, so there was a bunch of heavy, wet sludge pinning us in!
<img src="http://home1.gte.net/cpq2dp83/danandajshovel.jpg" alt=" - " />

That's all the pics that I have for now!

How many of you Colorado guys remember '97? The big upslope 18" dump in April, the monster storm of the century in October (2-4 ft), then the one that hit down south over Thanksgiving and dumped almost 4 feet on Walsenberg? Yeow.
Relax Kevin, it's all part of 'Springtime in the Rockies'. But don't go out during the storm unless you have to!

I remember the Christmas Blizzard of '82 quite well. The only storm I've seen in Denver that compared to this, but even it didn't have this kind of accumulation. I've heard on the news this is our most snowfall since 1913.

I got up this morning, put the big 33 x 12.5 MT's back on the Passport, and even with those and front/rear lockers I had to be careful.

I pulled out my friend's jeep and then did some driving around. This was a case where lockers were very helpful -- normal SUV's with open diff's got stuck all the time. When I got stuck I just engaged the rear ARB and rocked my way out.

Funny thing is that only the side streets are challenging right now. The snow plows have kept at least one lane open through most of the main through ways, and as of now they are just slushy and wet. Once you get where the plows haven't been, though ... WOW!

While driving this afternoon I needed lockers and my wide tires (helped me float on top of the compacted snow rather than digging down too far) go get the three blocks to a plowed road, and after that I shifted into 2wd and didn't go back into 4wd until I got back off the main drag.

My own cul de sac is pretty good because a neighber has a front loader as part of his business, and he hauled it down yesterday and cleared out the worst of our street.

The cool thing is driving around and seeing all the neighbors out chatting and shoveling together. On my street the neighbor across the way used his front loader for the community good, and all of us banded together with shovels to help out some of the less abled. Nice to see a sense of community develop.

I am so jealous....

You can relive 95% of our experience here by doing the following:

Cook up about 10 tons of mashed potatos. Chill them, then dump them in a 4 foot thick layer over your car, driveway and sidewalk. Shovel until all such paths are clear and the car is cleaned off <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" /> .

Living in Denver you expect occasional heavy snows and even a blizzard every other year or so, but this was TOO MUCH.

I generally plan about 20 minutes of shoveling after a snow storm to clear a path down the sidewalks. I don't shovel the driveway at all, as if it's only a few inches the car can clear it and the sun will melt it in a week or so.

This time I spent hours shoveling, and HAD to do my driveway because even the Passport couldn't get down it. Admittedly I just shoveled the top couple of feet off the driveway and drove over the rest, but tomorrow I'm going to have to shovel some more to get one of the cars out.

While some aspects of a major storm like this are kind of fun (well ... quite a few, actually), once every few years is often enough.

And the kicker is ... there's a HUGE amount of moisture in this heavy snow, but most of it is TOO LOW in altitude to get into our reservoirs (most of the largest of which are fairly high in the mountains). So it probably won't help stave off water rationing next Spring.

Some more "Blizzard" pics:

'03 Blizzard

<img src="http://www.rmecc.com/~v2/bliz03/Bliz03-12.jpg" alt=" - " />