Get out your snow shovels!

[cincygreg]

We got hit pretty good today and are going to take another shot tonight through saturday afternoon.
Could be as much as 15 inches by the time it's all said and done. [img]eek.gif[/img]
Blizzard warnings are out right now. You know, I could kinda go for a blizzard but with all this snow on the ground I'm assuming that they are closed. (plus it's way too nasty out to go get one, maybe some other time)
Anywho, it's been like someone turned on a giant snow cone machine in a wind tunnel all day. [img]graemlins/hmmm.gif[/img] [img]eek.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/sure.gif[/img]
Hopefully saturday is the last of it.
Oh yeah, the river is going to crest at right around 52 feet (which is flood stage) before all this melts [img]graemlins/thumbs_down.gif[/img]
Break out the movies and games, it's looking like inside fun is where it's at.
Bottle of wine, a little huggy kissy smoochy face action...
Or just some hot chocolate, popcorn and a flick could be a winner too!

SPRING, Where for art thow!??

[Beachcomber]

Looks like you are really going to get dumped on this weekend. Depending on the model, I have seen anywhere from 6" to 20" predicted. I would guess most of Cincinnati will likely be somewhere in between the 2. Still, pretty heavy snow this late in winter. Our weather this week has been a real roller coaster. One cold front and then a warm front and another cold front. It's 80* today but heavy rains tonight with a high of 62* tomorrow. Sunday is looking pretty good at 67* and sunny. No I do not want to trade...

[gae]

I blame Raven for this weather. Anyone else notice that we didn't have snow until the background was changed?

[cincygreg]

SP [img]eek.gif[/img] [img]eek.gif[/img] KY!

From bad to worse...

Cincinnati Enquirer
March 8, 2008
Blizzard warning remains
Snow totals could reach 8-12 inches

Hamilton County and Cincinnati law enforcement officials took the unusual step this morning of declaring roads so bad that motorists are ordered not to go out unless it?s an emergency. They can be ticketed or arrested.

Officials in Boone, Butler, Campbell, Clermont, Kenton and Warren counties asked motorists to go out only if necessary.

The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning until 4 p.m. today in anticipation of another 2-4 inches of snow that could further blanket Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky today.

Snow totals could reach 8-12 inches when the snow and blowing snow ends this afternoon, said meteorologist Myron Padgett. The snow total is down from estimates Friday of 15 inches by this afternoon, but this system is still clearly the worst storm of the winter.

The blizzard warning means wind gusts up to 40 mph may cause whiteout conditions ? where visibility is near zero. Winds are blowing now at 15-20 miles an hour. Snow drifts of 1-2 feet are possible.

Forecasters this morning weren?t able to say when the last time the region was under a blizzard warning, but they are extremely rare.

Today?s high will be 25 degrees, but with the wind chill factor, it will be bitingly cold and in the single digits.

?I don?t know why anyone would want to go out,? Padgett said. ?If it?s not necessary, you probably shouldn?t be out.?

The snow took a break in some areas about 5 p.m. Friday but then started back up around 8 p.m. The snow never stopped at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, where 7 inches were recorded about midnight, Padgett said.

In Hamilton County, 4 inches fell and 5 inches were detected in Clermont County about 6:30 p.m. Friday, he said. In Butler County, 6-8 inches fell. Warren saw about five inches. Those figures were taken about midnight. Five inches also fell in Florence, Ky., and Gallatin and Pendleton counties, Padgett said.

This morning, area interstates are snow-covered but passable, according to ARTIMIS. No highways are closed.

A pickup truck ran off southbound Interstate 75/71 at the Cut-in-the-Hill in Covington, said Don Von Hagel, ARTIMIS traffic manager. No injuries were reported. ARTIMIS also reports a disabled vehicle on south I-75 to the I-275 ramp. The ramp is closed. A two-vehicle accident is on west I-74 west of Harrison/Rybolt Road exit.

?The majority of problems we have are people driving at a fairly high rate of speed,? he said. ?Some people slow down but there are other people driving right past them like there?s nothing unusual happening.?
He said he recommends people stay home this morning unless it?s absolutely necessary they go out.

?If they do go out, they should drive slowly and use caution,? he warned. ?The streets are snow-covered and slippery.?

In Cincinnati, roads are snow covered and ?bad?, said Greg Ayers, supervisor of operations for Cincinnati Public Services. Main thoroughfares should be cleared by Sunday morning but residential ones won?t be in time for church on Sunday, he said.

?Nothing is clear,? he said this morning. ?The roads are bad. There are no two ways about it. From what I understand it?s no better anywhere else in Ohio. It?s bad everywhere. The snow is just coming down too quick. We?ve been fighting it all night, but it just keeps coming.?

He estimates 6 to 8 inches of snow are on the ground ? and blowing snow is a problem. As fast as snow is cleared from roads, it blows back over from buildings and parking lots, he said. Falling temperatures overnight didn?t help.

?It?s basically a losing battle,? he said.

Road crews will remain out working 12-hour shifts until all the snow is cleared, he said. Overnight, 70 dump trucks and 20 pickup trucks were out clearing streets.

Today, a total of 150 units will be back out ? 50 of those clearing snow from downtown, he said. Downtown snow will be put into trucks and then taken to the former Queen City Barrel Co. on Summer Street in Queensgate, he said.

Residents are warned to move cars from streets so plows can get through.

In Hebron, the airport is open with two runways, but 10 percent of the flights ? about 40 - probably be canceled this morning due to the weather, said Ted Bushelman, airport spokesman.

Travelers should contact their airlines or travel agents before venturing out.

The airport has $15 million in snow and ice removal equipment, Bushelman noted, so the airport will stay open.

?We haven?t closed for years,? he said. ?We are one of the few airports in the snow belt that is always open.?

Road crews were out in force Friday and again overnight in most places, trying to clear streets.

In Warren County, crews from all 18 snow plows in service rested for a few hours overnight and then headed back out about 5 a.m., said Jim Apking, the county?s deputy of road operations.

He estimates anywhere from 8 to 10 inches is on the ground, including snow that has drifted.

?It?s hard to tell how much we have,? he said. ?There?s nowhere you can officially measure it.?

The county?s salt supply is running low at 450, but he didn?t anticipate that causing a major problem. Only ?problem areas? are being treated with salt: intersections, curves, hills.

?We?re not completely out yet,? said Jim Apking, deputy of road operations for Warren County. ?We are just running pretty low. We have been out so many times this year, it?s just depleted our supply.?

The county scrambled this week to try to buy more salt but found suppliers have promised their salt to other entities, he said.

?We are looking at a couple possibilities but we don?t have anything yet,? he said.

The low tonight will fall to 12 degrees with a wind chill of 6. The sun will make a welcome return on Sunday, when the high will be 33 degrees.

A warm-up will continue next week with temperatures gradually warming from 39 degrees Monday to 55 Wednesday and Thursday.

But with balmier temperatures comes the risk of flooding. No area rivers are at flood stage yet but that likely will change next week.

?You know after getting a foot of snow that area rivers, once you warm up, are going to run high and the potential for flooding increases,? Padgett said.

The last time the region saw so much snow was Feb. 5, 1998, when more than a foot of snow - 13 inches - was recorded, according to the National Weather Service.

More recently, forecasters said, 9 inches of snow and a quarter inch or more of ice blanketed Greater Cincinnati Dec. 22 and 23, 2004.

This could be the largest March snowstorm this region has seen in 40 years.

More than 10 inches of snow ? 10.5 - fell March 22, 23, and 24 in 1968, according to the weather service

[LAKE]

Hamilton County and Cincinnati law enforcement officials took the unusual step this morning of declaring roads so bad that motorists are ordered not to go out unless it?s an emergency. They can be ticketed or arrested.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Beer runs qualify. [img]wink.gif[/img]

[Raven Soul]

I walked out the back of my house out in Fairfield, and we got hit with roughly 14 inches of snow here. Of course it is almost all gone now, but the dogs sure did love it.

[gae]

Originally posted by LAKE:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Hamilton County and Cincinnati law enforcement officials took the unusual step this morning of declaring roads so bad that motorists are ordered not to go out unless it?s an emergency. They can be ticketed or arrested.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Beer runs qualify. [img]wink.gif[/img] </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">They may indeed, Lake, but people in this city CANNOT drive in snow every other year.


[img]graemlins/music.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/music.gif[/img] La, la, la, la! SO looking forward to NC. I'm thinking my AWD vehicle and I will make millions getting folks to the local Kroger (or whatever) when they have thier 1/2 inch of snow. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[cincygreg]

Didnt get quite that much over here by me. Maybe a little less than a foot. Still, plenty though.

Looked like it was pretty good for sledding and building snow dudes the next day, [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

I'm ready for spring!