Connecticut Appleman

Knowing that area very well as I grew up in Norfolk - chasing would have been nearly impossible as it traveled through areas where there aren't any roads and they are almost all tree covered with little view.

I used to be in Ellington - moved in 2018. In Ellington - we never were close a jackpot with the eastern hills right to the east.

One the few times where things lined up just right to keep having it pulse up on top of the hill. We rarely jackpot here.

Just over 2 inches of much needed rain here on the days so far. Came down hard for better part of an hour.

Can't buy a drop of rain here. We have certainly been on losing streak here for since last year. We moved here almost two years ago and only had one thunderstorm actually hit us and that was last winter...

Just added to the Tor watch.

Awesome snow shower right now. Hardest it has snowed all year. Down to 32 degrees.

Down to 53, cloudy with a stiff wind - ugly. Was planning to do a few things outside this afternoon. So much for that plan.

I just like the fact that I look smart for not taking the blower off the tractor. Reality was that I was lazy last weekend, but now...genius!

Snowing quite nicely out there. Ground is white and driveway beginning to turn white as well. 29 degrees.

Recycling sand on roadways is just about impossible as traffic running over it tends to round the sand particles which makes it act like marbles and does not help as much with traction. It also creates a ton of very fine particles which turns to mud. Sand/salt mix works well on gravel roads - particularly right after application as the dissolution of the sodium chloride is endothermic (absorbs heat) and can cause the road to ice up temporarily. Every state has different application rates, but the use of straight salt does increase the amount of salt used some, but it is not as much as most people think, since the salt in the sand was doing the work for snow and ice removal so you just had to apply a lot more material to get the desired affect. When CT switched from a sand/salt (de-icing) mix on state roads to all salt (anti-icing), the number of crashes occurring on roads with snow, slush or ice was significantly decreased. The idea of anti-icing is preventing the bond of the snow pack to the pavement which ultimately requires less salt to get the pavement bare at the end of the storm. The idea is to maintain a layer of brine between the snow and the road. For salt to be "melt snow", it needs to be a brine - dry salt does not affect ice. And for what its worth - salt (sodium, calcium or magnesium chloride) does not damage asphalt pavement. The same can not be said for Portland Cement concrete. I will apologize for the dissertation on winter operations - it is something that I have spent a lot of time on.

The sand does temporarily help with traction, but after 30 cars or so go over it, depending on speed, there is no sand left in the wheel paths. I have done a lot of work on this for CT and as chloride levels in ground water continue to increase, it is amazing to me how many people think of the good ole days of sand not realizing that there was salt mixed in with it. Without the salt, it would have frozen in the back of the truck. The sand is an environmental headache as they clog rivers and streams and generate hundreds of thousands of tons of sweeping that need to be disposed of which is not a cheap or simple problem.

LR model theme for this winter: hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies - Shawshank Redemption

That sounds about right. We had right around 2 inches here in New Hartford. It is just a memory as it has all but melted.

NW CT looks workable on the18Z GFS...that being said, I am currently having trust issues with what any model has been spitting out.

Wind has come up and getting some snow shower action.

Barometric pressure seems to have bottomed out and starting back up here in NW CT. Temp back down to 32 from a high of 33. Maybe we can squeak a cheap coating of snow out this... Sad that coatings of snow have become noteworthy. To the folks up north - enjoy! Serious snow envy down here.

Just finally hit 32 here. Never expected to be below freezing for so long. We are getting the periodic flick of the power.

Good call - paving should not be done this time of year unless it is an emergency. I have been a pavement materials engineer for just about 25 years and rarely does anything good come from work done this time of year. Unlike concrete, there are very few things that can be done with asphalt to make it work this time of year. Now back to this week's weather mashup - with what will hopefully be a better outcome!

The German's haven't bombed pearl Harbor...yet.

Was living in Norfolk at the time and was trying to plow at the place I was working and it was immovable and topping over the plow. Had to get someone with a front end loader to move the snow from the parking lot. Don't remember how much snow we had - but it was a lot. We also lost power for two days.

Great write-up. Sounds like we need to roll snake eyes 5 times in row for this to work out to something substantial.

It is amazing how things can break positive or negative. In the first half of the 2010's, no matter how good or bad the overall look was, it always felt like things always seemed to break for the better. The second half of the 2010's, just the opposite and I'm talking in my backyard. Even though the winter of 2011-12 was overall horrible, that little snowstorm at the end of October surely made the entire winter season memorable. All I can do is hope for something more substantial to come along as this is our second winter in New Hartford at 1,000 feet and we haven't really much snow since we got here.

Nice big flakes for the finale. Barring something wacky - 3 inches looks like it will just about do it.

You beat me to it! I saw the lightning and was waiting for the thunder and then it rumbled the whole house.