OK, I know a lot of you boys and girls live in places where it snows. (It's coming soon by the way).

Now, I have lived in Los Angeles almost my entire life and have never lived where there is snow (well, actually not true, lived where it snowed when I was 0-2 years old, so I have no recolleciton of it).

Anyway, have not been in snow in my entire adult life and have no idea how to deal with it.

So, anyway, there's a chance I'm moving to Maryland. And, just because I like knowing what I'm doing, I decide to look up weather in MD. Records show there is snow there in the months of Jan - April, with Jan and Feb averaging 6.5" per month (at least that's what I can figure out . . . I hope that ain't 6.5 " per day....)

Anyway, there's a link with pix of snow in the Baltimore area . . . . and when I look at them I am shocked to see this !!!!!!!




WTF !!!!

OK, here's the first of my stupid questions . . .
(Honest to God guys, this is not a joke . . . I have no idea or have I ever encountered anyhting like this so I am clueless) . . .

How do you get your car out of this mess? Do you litterally have to dig your car out of this every morning? How do you do that? And how long does someting like this take? Or do you just say screw it and not go to work?

I look at the above picture (looks like it might be outdoor parking at an apartment complex). So if most of those folks go to work at 9AM, and they are all shoveling snow away from their truck/cars, but everyone else is shoveling away snow too . . . where you you put it? You'd have everyone burrying each other with each other's snow! How do you get out of there???

And here's another pic . . . this looks like a private house . . .



How do you get the driveway cleaned up like that?
Does the city do that for you? Or do you literally spend most of your life during the winter with a shovel, shoveling snow?

ANd that's 6.5" ???

And I've heard about salt gets placed on the roads? I looked that up on the internet, something about it melts the snow and prevents the roads from freezing, but causes the car/truck to corrode. What's up with that? Is there somehting you can spray on the undercarriage to protect it from salt? Or do you have to hose off the car each time you drive it and wash off the salt (how do you keep that from freezing?)

Mostly, I'm wondering if I'll have to get up at 3 AM every morning just to start shoveling so I can make it to work by 8AM. That just seems nuts! there must be some easy way to handle all that snow.

I know these questions seem foolish, but when you've never encountered snow, you can't imagine how it all works out....

Thanks for any insight anyone can provide.

K

 

Around here, we just drive right through it. It'll wear itself down.

 

Welcome to snow country!!

I was a little intimidated when we first moved to Alaska because I'd never really dealt with the white stuff myself. I grew up in it but shortly after I started driving I got married and moved to Texas. Then I hear reports that Cordova (the town we moved to when we first came to Alaska) receives an annual snowfall of something like 80 inches!!

So to answer a few of your questions...This is based on my experience in Cordova (apartment style housing) and Juneau (private residence).

In Cordova: The housing we lived in had a contractor clear the parking lot (most apartment complexes do, here anyhow) but we had to keep our own rig cleaned off. Most people just drove over the snow but I shoveled out around mine so it wouldn't build up to much. I would clear off the truck and then shovel a path all the way around it. Mostly I piled the snow in the yard area behind the truck, when we're talking that much snow nobody cares if you fill up the grassy areas. When it got to high to pile it anymore I'd shovel it into the back of the truck and haul it out the road a ways to empty it! I usually spent a good hour on sidewalks and truck on the morning after a snowfall. Great exercise!!

Here in Juneau: We have to deal with our own driveway. All the city does is clear the street out front and usually leave a pile of snow at the end of the drive to deal with If I shovel it, I spend an average of 2 hours on driveway and sidewalks. But our landlords are nice enough to provide us with a snowblower which makes the job considerably shorter. When we buy our own home we will either get a snowblower or put a plow blade on our 4-wheeler. The truck is parked in a portable garage so it stays clear but I do clean the snow off the cover so it doesn't collapse. Definitely a snowblower or plow of some sort is the way to go if you have your own home.

Salting the roads melts the snow and ice so the roadway does not become excessively slippery. They mostly use it in high traffic areas and intersections. It is extremely hard on your paint and undercarriage. I'm not aware of anything you can spray on to keep it from happening but a good undercoat can help a lot. Rinsing is an option if you have a heated area to do it or can use hot water. But then you run the risk of making an ice rink out of your driveway. I have washed my truck on days so cold that the rinse water froze on the shady side of the truck!!

You have to remember you will not have to do this every day. There will be times when you do but then the sun will come out and you'll get a reprieve. Just depends on how long the snowstorm lasts. I've had to go out twice a day and clear snow for 2-3 days in a row. It gets very frustrating when you're trying to shovel and the path you just made is filling up faster than you're working!! Just go inside and have a hot toddy and wait for it to stop!! But I try to keep up on it, shoveling a few inches is much easier than shoveling a foot!!

6.5" is just an average they give, there can be more or less. 80" annually was the average for Cordova but there were a couple years we got next to nothing. The year before we moved there they had something like 7-8 feet!! Juneau's annual is 96 inches. We may have gotten that last year but it doesn't all come at once and it melts down between storms so the most we ever had on the ground at once was about 2 feet.

Snow can be a bit of a pain but it can also be a lot of fun, find a nice big parking lot with no cars in it and go crazy doing donuts!! We had a lot in Cordova that was pure ice...it was so much fun!!

Hope that helps, good luck!!

 

W-M-R pretty much nailed it.

As far as goin to work, yep, get up and wipe or brush off the car or truck and head out. This is why God invented snow tires.

You will want some good tires for winter too. Bridestone Dualers and such for the truck, some good all season tires for the car or van, or snow tires that you would have installed in Nov, see www.tirerack.com

Yep, thats what 6 or 7 inches looks like, aint it purty.

That pic shows all the snow piled from the drive making it look deeper. As far as removal, hire, borrow, buy anything and everything powered by some means other than your back. Neighbor kids, own kids, snow blower, what ever. There is always some shoveling involved.

It isnt that bad after you get use to it. I have live in it for 40 years and am starting to like it.

Nothin more fun that hitting a parking lot or a good back road and really playin in it with the vehical. You can literualy slide and fish tale for miles.

Oh, one more thing. Have to make a snow angle. So the first time you get a descent snow, go out and lay face down (shhh), arms and legs spread out, after layin down, move your arm and legs in a sweeping motion, get up and see your angle.

And if all else fail or you are in a hurry, do what pickupman said..

Sled...

 

I moved from Long Beach, CA (lived there for 30 years) to Salem, MA last Nov. Just a couple of weeks before the only bad snow storm we got last winter. It was my first time in snow and we got 36" in 48 hours. Insane. Shoveling SUCKS!!!! For big jobs like the driveway most people buy a snow blower. It looks like a lawn mower and you push it around - but you will still have to dig the car out. The guys are right - and your truck is a blessing - that first storm was the only time I had to shovel, the rest of the time I just gunned it over the pile of snow and got out with no problem. It's an adventure - and the cold is much worse than the snow. The snow offers new ways to play that we SoCal's never knew about. And yes, in MD 6" in. a month sounds right - and that's nothing. Those picks are from a very bad freak storm, or WI. The guys are pulling your chain - that's a couple feet of snow.
You do want to get your truck ready. A truck sold in SoCal has many different specs than a truck here. The undercariage does need a coat if you want to keep your truck awhile. And a day or two after salting (even if it's about to snow again) get the truck washed and pay the exta buck or two to include the undercarige ( too cold from a Cali guy to do himself - trust me). You also need all season or snow tires. I went with Goodyear, but recomend the Bridgestone's too. You may save a bit buying Goodyear. Do yuo have a 4x4? If not use cinder blocks over the rear axle. I used a 2x4 plank to keep sand bags over the rear - and it worked good. But by the end of winter do you know how heavy WET sand is? I ended up with way too much weight and killed my gas mi., and could barely get them into the trash can.
Good luck! I think it was fun, but I also expect to be back in SoCal in a few years. I decided this is not permanent - nothing beats LA, NOTHING!

 

kobiashi, I am originally from Maryland and had lived there up until I turned 25.

Don't get freaked out!! I can tell you that those pictures are a lot more than 6.5-7". Those pictures are an accumulation over a few days or a freak occurence (there has been a few). It is not always like that.

One thing about being in the city is that there is always public transportation. The bus and train routes are quite extensive in Baltimore and D.C. Always watch the busses. If they stop running, you know you are in a heap of hell. They usually plow right through most stuff that cars cannot get through.

As with most areas where it snows, the major arteries are the first to get plowed. Interstates, highways, primary roads. Side streets are always the last to get plowed. So once you get out of your apartment complex and onto a major road you are usually clear sailing.

I unfortunately moved to an area, Raleigh NC. where they have no idea how to plow roads, even if a 4 lane highway ran through my back yard.

So lets take the first picture. How do you deal with this scenario. First of all, I would try to get up early. You don't want to be shoveling the snow off your car as well as the snow the clown next to you you threw on or around your car. I would dig out only what was needed to get your car out of the parking space. There has got to be sidewalks, I would throw the snow up on that. Don't get the space completely clear and pretty because you will most likely not have that space when you get home from work. Some jerk WILL steal your space. Good thing is that once everyone goes to work this gives the complex time to plow the lots. Oh yeah make sure you clean off the top of your car. Nothing is more scarier than being behind a vehicle and have the snow from the top of their car go flying off and hitting your windshield. The police will actually pull you over for not cleaning the top of your car. Get a soft bristle broom.

As for the salt on the roads. Thats what car washes are for. Although if it is cold for a long period of time some car washes will shut down due to freezing pipes etc.

I lived in Albany NY for some time as well where it snowed 2-3 times a week from October until March. Now that was a ***** storm. Maryland was a walk in the park compared to that. But Albany had a lot better snow removal.

Oh yeah, that second picture. That home owner either knows someone witha plow or they payed a plow service to do that. It looks too perfect to have been done by hand and shovel.

Hope this helps. You will be fine, eventually it will melt

P.S. There is nothing more awesome than to wake up in the morning after it had snowed all night and look outside. Simply beautiful.......and then you realize you have to drive in that cr@p!

 

OK kobiashi...I grew up in Chicago...here's the scoop.

*You'll have to buy; a good long snow brush with a scraper on one end, a second short scraper, a snow shovel, waterproof gloves, boots, a scarf, a warm winter jacket, a bag of salt, and if you have your own driveway...a snow blower.

You have a Lightning, right? Find a garage to store it for the winter and buy yourself a FWD beater. If you're not used to driving in snow, the L will be a handfull plus the salt will tear it up. I've driven plenty of two wheel drive trucks and muscle cars in the snow...believe me...the beater is the way to go.

If Maryland is anything like Chicago, after the first snow of the season everybody forgets how to drive in the stuff, and there are lots of accidents. This is not a good day for you to learn. If you can...head for the mountains near you and practice ASAP. If the roads are slick it takes a lot longer to stop, and people are ***-ended all the time. Drive like an old lady til you get used to it.

You must winterize your vehicles (including the one in storage). You'll have to; flush and fill the cooling system with antifreeze, dump any water out of your windshield washer container and fill it with the blue stuff that won't freeze, wipe your door's rubber seals with silicone, make sure the paint has been waxed, make sure your tires have plenty of tread left on em, and make any repairs you might have been putting-off, like belts and hoses. If you don't, sure as hell they'll fail on the coldest day of the year. If your battery is old, buy a new one. Clean the inside of your windows befor the temp gets below freezing too.

I think I covered most of it. You'll find that driving in the winter in the snow belt ain't like the Antilope freeway!

MR

 

Hey man, those photos are the exact reason why my truck is 4-wheel drive.
I skimmed over the posts in this thread, so hopefully I won't repaet what others have said.

The MD photos look to me like they were taken directly after a heavy winter storm, but that's not a typical winter day.

Heck I've lived in Baffin Island 100 miles south of the circle and even for there it wasnt a typical winter day.
Maybe for Buffalo, but that's another story

I keep my truck garage parked, so its a nice time saving convenience not having to scrape and clear snow of it after a heavy storm.

Nothing feels nicer than pulling your shiny clean truck out of the garage after a heavy snow, and driving the streets looking all purdy while everyone else is covered, then finding a empty parking lot to have some fun in.

Keep us posted on the move and good luck.

Habibi

 

kobiashi, I have lived in MD since 1970. Those pictures you saw are not the norm. Yes, the average is about 6.5". However, one year you might not get anything but freezing rain, the next you might get a storm of 18". Unfortunately, depending on where you live, you might not get your street plowed for a couple of days. Because we don't get a lot of big storms,the governments don't invest in a lot of snow clearing equipment. Mostly they hire companies to do the clearing for them.
As for you driveway. You are it. You can shovel it, buy a snowblower (which is what I did), or hire someone to clear it. Around here most of the landscaping companies also plow in the winter. This is how they earn money during the off season.
If you do decide to move to this area, welcome.

 

AWESOME information people…

Here’s my little information I will add. As far as salt and any corrosion it has to be above freezing for any corrosion to happen. Therefore when it’s real cold where the car washes shut down then it is below freezing and therefore no need to worry about corrosion.

However, as soon as possible you want to get to a car wash and get the undercarriage washed. You can do the automated drive through which usually always have an undercarriage wash or you can do it yourself in the bay with the wand.

TRUST ME, when its cold out and you need to use the wand in the bay BUY SOME FREAKEN GLOVES, man I almost lost my damn hands one year because they got so damn cold. You don’t realize it until you get in the truck and they feel numb. When they begin to thaw they sting like a MOTHER!!!!

If that happens you can thaw them quicker without to much STING by putting them under cool to luke warm tap water, never real warm or hot. Put hot water on your frozen hands and you’ll think you just lost your pecker or something DAMN!!!!!!!

I too had lived in California most my life and moved to New Hampshire in 1993. I finally got this crap figured out and HATE THIS PLACE IN WINTER…

 

I grew up in the mountains of VA, almost as far west in the state as you can go. I HATE SNOW!!!! The picture of MD you have posted was an average snow event up there. The snow drifts were regularly 6-10 feet high on the secondary roads; and, everthing shut down for snow if you didn't live in town. I consider moving to the southwest part of the country every winter, even here in NC where the snows are nothing in comparison to other places in the country, just to avoid ever seeing another flake of the stuff. I hope you enjoy your move to hell.

 

Have to disagree, these areas are the place that hell forgot...

 

WOW everyone!
Thanks for your replies (and not laughing at my ignorance).

I had to look up snowblower.





Amazing!

As for a few things to clear up . . .

I discovered that those pictures I posted happened last Feb. 15th and 16th of 2003, in what a great number of sites referred to as "The Great President's Day Blizzard" and it was an unusually heavy snowfall.

(Nice to know however that still doesn't make me feel a great deal better).

As for me owning a truck, I just wanted to let you guys know I no longer own the Lightning since last Feb. as it was a 2002 and I was getting tapping noises and other funny sounds from the engine and I decided not to wait for plugs to launch, so I traded it in on a Lexus LS430 (which has been a nightmare of problems).

I don't know if any of you caught my post but I was thinking of getting rid of the Lexus and getting a 2004 FX4 SuperCrew (Like Zoltan's except that the one I looked at was screaming yellow), for two reasons (one because the Lexus is frustrating the heck out of me, and two, I thought that if it snows in MD and I do move there, snow vs. FX4 SCrew = snow loses.
However, the GF nixed the FX4 idea.

After greater thought, I realized that the GF did save me from making the mistake of getting a SCREAMING YELLOW vehicle (further reflection had me realize that I probably would not have liked that colour after a period of time...it was a 2004 that the dealer was trying to unload as the 05 are coming in) . . . AND, a little research shows me that some owners of FX4 SuperCrews can't fit the damn things in their garages !!

So, here's what I am going to do. . .

I'm going to have a meeting with the company in MD (some place called Pikesville, just outside of Baltimore) the second week of Sept. If all goes well then I will drive around and check out the surrounding areas and see what looks like a good place to live and get opinions of the folks I meet as to what good neighborhoods are.

If I move there I will probably rent (probably a house with a garage) first before buying a place. THEN I will decide which four wheel vehicle to get with great consideration based on what the parking situation would be.

It's beginning to look like since this is now Sept. I would of course be moving right around the time the first snow falls!!!!!!

Baptism by fire (or ice in this case)

Now, that being said, There is another Lightning in my future whether I live in snow or not. If I live in snow, it's looking like it will not be a winter vehicle, that's for sure!

Actually, a Lightning and an FX4 Screw in the garage sounds fine to me! (GF be damned!!!!! If she doesn't like it she can drop her own 65K and buy herself her own LS).

PS . . .

sleddogg

EVEN I KNOW that you don't make snow angles FACE FIRST !!!!!

 

Depends on how much you've been drinking.

 

And also, never eat the yellow snow.

PS If there's any information I may be able to provide on the area, let me know. I work in Baltimore and live about 30 miles outside.