Freezing Rain @ MindSay 
winter
Okay. I know am more politics, geopolitics and anti-jihad in my posting; however I live in the Tulsa Metro area. Two-thirds of the people are without power due to an ice storm.
Okies are not used to cold temperatures of the nature of freezing and just below freezing. Add this to the apparent majority of households/Apartments seemed to all electric without gas heat.
Our family embarked to a motel that had power. That motel told us we were the last reservation and then they would be full.
My honey is a travelling sales lady so me and the grandkid pulled up stakes and travelling with her the next day in Arkansas. It is not freezing in Arkansas.
Just as we were about to leave the motel in the Tulsa Metro area, that motel lost power.
Driving in the area around 8:00 AM it was a view like the movie The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. The sky was grey and the trees were crushed with ice. Limbs were in the streets, on cars and on houses. Then we disembarked for Arkansas.
So here I sit in an Arkansas motel wondering when the power is coming back on in the Tulsa Metro area.
JRH
**********************
Power out in much of Tulsa
By BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writer
December 11, 2007
Storm linked to 14 state deaths, 2 here
More than two-thirds of the Tulsa metro area was without electricity Monday as heavy ice caused trees to snap and fall, taking power lines with them.
At least 14 deaths statewide were attributed to the weather, including two in Tulsa.
The first was in a morning traffic accident on 46th Street North in which a man drove his truck into a low-hanging electrical wire that pulled the utility pole down, crushing him.
The second Tulsa fatality was of a woman who died of smoke inhalation in one of the more than 75 reported structural fires.
Among those was a house that was destroyed by fire on Monday night, firefighters said.
About 5:15 p.m., fire crews were called to the 7600 block of East 58th Place after an electrical short on the outside of the house caused a fire to spread into attic of the 2,220-square-foot brick home, said District Chief Pat Remmert.
The fire, which likely started because of a short circuit caused by the ice and falling limbs, engulfed the house, although all of the occupants were able to escape unharmed, Remmert said.
The Fire Department received 1,800 calls between 8 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m. Monday -- about 10 times more than normally received, officials said.
The American Red Cross was overwhelmed by the huge demand for services in the Tulsa area and was unable to assist the family in Monday night's fire, Remmert said.
Lt. Gov. Jari Askins signed a state of emergency declaration for Oklahoma on Monday because of the storm.
Askins has been acting governor since last week, when Gov. Brad Henry flew to Honolulu for the dedication of the USS Oklahoma Memorial.
Paul Sund, spokesman for Henry, said the governor was trying to fly back to the state as soon as possible.
"The goal is to return to Oklahoma by Tuesday. The problem is getting a flight and making sure you can land in Oklahoma City," Sund said.
AEP-PSO was reporting more than 213,000 homes and businesses without power Monday night out of roughly 300,000 in the Tulsa metropolitan area.
"It's an absolute mess out there," said Preston Kissman, American Electric Power-Public Service Company of Oklahoma vice president of distribution.
Tulsa International Airport had power outages and hospitals were using generators. Residents of a Collinsville nursing home were evacuated after the facility lost power.
It could take until mid-next week -- seven to 10 days -- to restore electricity to everyone, with individual homes being last on the priority list, Kissman said.
"We will be able to make a huge dent in that number later today and Tuesday," he said. "It will get better each day after that, but the reality of it is, it's going to take a long time to recover."
Oklahoma Gas & Electric, based in Oklahoma City, reported 237,306 customers were without power as of Monday, according to the company's Web site.
Cox Communications had about 5,000 phone customers in the Tulsa area without service and 24,000 in the Oklahoma City area.
Tulsa residents were being asked to conserve water Monday afternoon because Mohawk Water Treatment Plant was without power. Output was increased at the A.B. Jewell Water Treatment Plant.
The Mohawk plant was on AEP-PSO's priority list and expected to have electricity restored later in the day.
Kissman said this is the worst ice storm to hit Tulsa since the late 1980s.
"It's like what McAlester experienced last January," he said.
Hundreds of linemen were working to restore power Monday. A request has been made for 1,500 more.
"This has hit Oklahoma City all the way up to Missouri, so there's a heavy demand for resources," Kissman said.
"The good news is that it's supposed to warm up, but we're not out of the woods yet."
Emergency shelters were opened in several locations.
Mayor Kathy Taylor said few people Monday were taking advantage of Tulsa's shelters.
"We want residents to know that if they're in the dark and have no heat, they have a place to go," she said, noting that food will be provided.
About 40 people were stranded at the Tulsa Greyhound Bus Station and some of them made their way to the shelters.
Tulsa area schools were closed Monday and many have canceled classes Tuesday.
Many nonessential government workers were sent home for the day.
Tulsa's Emergency Operations Center was activated at 5:30 a.m. Monday.
The center has asked state emergency management officials for assistance for both the city and the county by preparing emergency declarations.
Residents were urged not to try to move downed tree limbs or power lines themselves.
"Right now is not the best time for you to be addressing the trees in your backyard," Capt. Larry Bowles said.
"You should stay in your homes because the trees are still breaking and someone could get hurt."
Bowles also said that all downed lines should be considered live.
"Stay away from them," he said.
Fire officials also warned residents of carbon monoxide poisoning through the use of alternative heating sources.
"Go to a shelter if you need a warm place," Bowles said. "Don't risk harm or death for you or your family."
Firefighters were busy Monday handling structure fires related to electrical problems. Many homes also have sustained roof damage from falling trees.
EMSA spokeswoman Tina Wells said ambulances responded to 168 medical emergencies between midnight and 2 p.m.
"We're seeing a lot of people with breathing conditions and heart conditions who are experiencing trouble in this cold air and who are out exerting themselves," she said.
Tulsa's street crews spent more time clearing tree debris from the roadway Monday than spreading salt.
"Our top priority is to keep the streets passable," said Dan Crossland, Public Works Department deputy director of public facilities.
"We've got a lot of arterials that are partially if not completely blocked."
Broken tree limbs are simply being pushed to the side of the road, Crossland said.
"Once we start to see some melting, we can go back and start picking them up, but right now we're far too busy for that," he said.
Crews began putting salt on the city streets early Sunday morning and have been working 12-hour shifts.
"The streets really haven't been that bad because we've kept on top of them," Crossland said. "You just have to watch yourself on the bridges and the highway overpasses."
Tulsa County road crews began emergency weather operations late Sunday afternoon.
County Engineer Ray Jordan said county crews are running two, 10-hour shifts a day.
"We're clearing trees from roads -- that's the big issue," he said.
The Tulsa Police Department on Monday was operating at twice the normal strength, with more than 120 uniformed officers on the streets.
The midnight uniformed shift was held over to work through the daytime hours and being assisted by detectives and academy recruits.
"About two-thirds of them are devoted to blocking streets where the power lines and trees are down," Police Chief Ron Palmer said.
Many intersections are without working lights and officials have not been able to place four-way stop signs everywhere, he said.
The Police Department remains on Operation Slick Streets, meaning that officers will not respond to noninjury traffic accidents.
Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Gary Cox encouraged people without power to keep their refrigerators closed.
Frozen foods should last about 48 hours. If there's any question as to whether food has spoiled, it should be thrown away, he said.
____________________
Power out in much of Tulsa
World staff writers Ginnie Graham, Curtis Killman, Randy Krehbiel, Kevin Canfield and Jason Womack contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2007 , World Publishing Co. All rights reserved.
That isn't about to happen. Not for a while anyway. After 2 days of snow, rain, sleet, freezing rain, snow, sleet, snow etc, (Not necessarily in that order) I decided it was about time to go out in the cold and clean up the mess yesterday. It wasn't all that bad even though the temperature was in the low 20's. Since I had not been out doing much recently it was probably time I did something constructive. "I guess I needed the freak. .in exer. .cise" *I mumbled somewhat loudly in my best Jack Nicholson imitation*. (Since you couldn't hear me just assume it was my best imitation). Besides, playing in the snow is fun.
I didn't want to bring my good camera outside with me so I used my cell phone camera to take a few pics. Since I have a Verizon cell phone I thought maybe I would be able to get some of the thousands of network assistants to help me out so I could finish faster. You know, the ones you see on the commercials for Verizon who follow the customer all over the place. I couldn't seem to find even one of them. I guess it was too cold out.
Since I realized I was on my own I decided to take one more pic and get busy cleaning up the mess.
The snow was basically powder on top but wet and icy underneath. Time to start digging.
While cleaning up the snow it just made me more aware of the mess of leaves that were still packed underneath.
It made me start to wonder if I should have left the snow there. At least it looked a bit nicer without all the leaves sticking out all over the place.
With most of the snow cleaned up it was time to clean up my snow clearing buddy, Mr. Snow Blower. Then park him back in the garage to be ready for the next Winter Wonderland Adventure.
More snow is on the way for tomorrow but probably not all that much. The next storm heading this way may bring more in the way of freezing rain towards the end of the weekend. Mr. Snow Blower won't be much help with that.
Have a safe, warm, comfortable and cozy evening.
Here Comes The Crud
Here comes the crud, here comes the crud
And I say it's turning all white
Little darlin' it may be a long cold lonely winter
Little darlin' it feels like it's rising past my ears
Here comes the crud, here comes the crud
And I say it's turning all white
Little darlin' the smiles are exiting their faces
Little darlin' it seems like it's rising past my ears
Here comes the crud, here comes the crud
And I say it's turning all white
Crud, crud, crud, here it comes
Crud, crud, crud, here it comes
Little darlin' I feel the ice will never be meltin'
Little darlin' it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the crud, here comes the crud
And I say it's turning all white . . . .
Over the last 2 days we have had just about every form of precipitation imaginable along with off and on high winds of over 50 MPH. Not bad for the first bad weather of this winter season. Yes, I suppose it could be worse. The midwest probably has had more snow and freezing rain. Today the west coast had to put up with huge storms, high winds of over 100 MPH and massive flooding. We have had a foot or more of snow in the higher elevations. More 911 calls for vehicle accidents than you can shake a bent bumper at. I guess it is a good time to stay off the roads for a while until all those who have forgotten how to drive in this weather have wrecked their cars. Then the roads will be safe for a while. Then there is the beginning of the road salt season. The time when everyone rushes to the car washes on the days when it gets above freezing in hopes of slowing the deterioration of their vehicles.
We started out with snow, then freezing rain and sleet, then rain, then back to freezing rain, then rain and now back to snow. The following image shows some of what we have had.
This is just a tease from Mother Nature to get us ready for what may be a long and cold winter ahead. But then again the long range forecast calls for a bit of a warming trend for next week. Since my lawn has not been cut for the winter and I still have tons of leaves on top of that currently buried under a blanket of snow, maybe I will get a chance to clean it up later. If not it will be waiting for me when spring arrives. If I get a little ambition tomorrow and it is not too cold and miserable out perhaps I will get out and get some pictures. I will have to see what tomorrow brings and if I can find some photo worthy scenes. The winter weather has just begun and we will not really know what is in store until it gets here. We shall see.
The freezing rain isn't likely to hurt much in the garden - everything has a good cover and the odd branch can always be trimmed back if it should break from the ice. John will have a challenge getting home from work, apparently getting there won't be too tough. Glad we've got Blizzaks on the car - what a difference it makes!
I'll give the statistical rundown in the morning and hope I manage a good photograph or two to go with it!
Until then!
DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT DID THIS MORNING!?!?!
it fucking thunderstormed and rained...not even sleet...not even Freezing rain...it just downpoured...
old man winter is a lazy old bastard.
m0rbid4ngel is snowed in! Cassie, Give me my snow god damn it!!
Update: WTF Shit is this!? It's snowing in Oregon but not here? *shakes fist at subtleparanoia * dang you Mickey...
Showing 1 - 5. [ Next ]
