Winter Storm of Feb 1, 2015

[Lowell]

So which is the best strategy? Fire up the snowblower tonight and clear it again tomorrow or just wait until it's finished tomorrow and clear it all at once? Last I heard they're predicting a total of 12 inches around Detroit by the time it's over.

No. Wait for the snow service.

[313WX]

National WEather Service, based on upstream observations, is expecting several more hours of moderate/heavy snow, with snowfall totals now as high as 18" [[12" being the low-end).

[Gpwrangler]

You don't.

But saying that doesn't make for good PR...

And it would be impossible for the city to enforce a snow emergency...

funny how I can juggle 3 cars in a single wide driveway/2 car garage and never leave any in the street. My neighbors notsomuch. I say tow 'em.

[Jimaz]

So which is the best strategy? Fire up the snowblower tonight and clear it again tomorrow or just wait until it's finished tomorrow and clear it all at once? Last I heard they're predicting a total of 12 inches around Detroit by the time it's over.

No. Wait for the snow service.

Thanks for the advice.

Unfortunately I no longer have the luxury of a service — so it was a sincere question.

The reason I asked was that there was only one immediate neighbor clearing their driveway tonight. There were sounds of other distant snowblowers but after my own daylong relentless sweeping of the same small porch with no progress, I began to realize the futility. At least it's a fluffy snow.

Last I heard the snowfall will begin to diminish starting about 3AM and will stop around 7AM. I'm planning to fire up the snowblower then.

Michigan winters build endurance.

[MikeM]

If you do it tonight, the wind will blow it back in by morning.

If you wait until the morning, the wind chill be be blow zero.

Do it in the morning.

[yaktown]

Just came in from snowblowing the driveway and even part of the street in front. Don't want my car to get stuck...again. I'm usually up at 6:30am for work but I'll be up earlier to see if it needs another pass. I measured the snowfall here in Pontiac at 10 inches.

[sumas]

I shoveled three times figuring that few inches was easer to move then a foot or more. A neighbor came and shoveled some more. I finally gave up and hired a nice young man down the street from the community house. He is coming back this morning when the snow stops.

My only bad is didn't do any banking Friday. Paid him yesterday in cash and that cleaned me out.

He agreed to come back for my apparently now famous tray of spinach cheese pie. I'll still pay him of course but not til I get to a bank or ATM.

Could not even open my back door for the dogs.

But my husband and I agree this is Michigan, expect snow. He sleepily asked me if it was still snowing at 5 AM, it was!

[Jimaz]

WWJ is reporting this as the third heaviest snowfall in the entire history of the metro area.

[Ltdave]

well its still snowing in Fort Gratiot [[port huron) and ive got a couple of bare spots in the drive that are countered by waist high drifts. and like i said its still snowing this morning...

[belleislerunner]

12.5 inches here in Detroit. Took me about an hour to shovel out the driveway this morning and the city of Detroit plows came down the side street twice between 6 and 7am to clear the path. Able to get to the office by 8:00. Jefferson was clear as could be and completely plowed.

All in all, I'd call that a success story for Detroit's third biggest snowstorm.

Well done, Detroit!

[Shai_Hulud]

You don't.

But saying that doesn't make for good PR...

And it would be impossible for the city to enforce a snow emergency...

On my route there were very few cars on the street when there usually are. It looks like most had enough sense not to park on the street in hopes they would be plowed.

[Zacha341]

12.5 inches here in Detroit.

A particularly bad time for any one with those low profile tires. I'm staying home today even though I have 15 standards.

[mtburb]

Just over 7 inches here in Wyandotte.

[Scottathew]

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/27...snow-plow-plan

WJBK says this is Detroit's Snow Plan:

The city categorizes this storm as a Level-3, meaning we received 6 inches or more of snow. For a Level-3 storm, the city estimates plowing all 684 miles of major streets in Detroit will take 3-5 days.

Private, residential contractors will soon begin clearing 10-foot wide paths on all city streets. Driveways will not be cleared. Detroit has 1,884 miles of residential streets.

[Scottathew]

13+ inches in Rochester Hills, with drifts well over two feet.

[313WX]

Just over 7 inches here in Wyandotte.

The guy I know in Wyandotte [[who also does the official measurements for Detroit at MEtro Airport) says the total was 16.5" down there...

[bailey]

funny how I can juggle 3 cars in a single wide driveway/2 car garage and never leave any in the street. My neighbors notsomuch. I say tow 'em.

OMG...that is the most annoying thing. Parking on our street is on one side...we all have the single wide drives with 2 car garages. Drives me crazy that when we have anyone over, they'll most likely need to park down the block because certain of our neighbors can't be bothered to use their own driveways or garages. I do love it when those same neighbors have their cars plowed in.

[Zacha341]

WSU is closed. When they close you know it is BAD out!!

[yaktown]

Just came in from snowblowing the driveway and even part of the street in front. Don't want my car to get stuck...again. I'm usually up at 6:30am for work but I'll be up earlier to see if it needs another pass. I measured the snowfall here in Pontiac at 10 inches.

Woke up this morning at 5:30 and took a peek outside. Went back to bed and called my boss at 7:30 so I could take a personal day. Now then, I live on a dead-end street so the chances that a city plow will ever come down here are slim to none. In fact, I spotted a car stuck in the snow diagonally down at the corner, blocking our way out. A few hours later I noticed it was unstuck. Thankfully, one of the neighbors has a plow truck and did most of my street. When I went back out for a second pass with the snow blower around noon, I noticed there were a few more inches. So I just relaxed at home today and hopefully the streets will be semi-navigable by tomorrow morning.

[jackie5275]

Thanks for the advice.

Unfortunately I no longer have the luxury of a service — so it was a sincere question.

The reason I asked was that there was only one immediate neighbor clearing their driveway tonight. There were sounds of other distant snowblowers but after my own daylong relentless sweeping of the same small porch with no progress, I began to realize the futility. At least it's a fluffy snow.

Last I heard the snowfall will begin to diminish starting about 3AM and will stop around 7AM. I'm planning to fire up the snowblower then.

Michigan winters build endurance.

Sorry for the late response, but I think it depends on the size of your snowblower. I have a small one, so I did two passes yesterday while it was still snowing. I did the final one today after it stopped. If I had waited, it would've been too deep for my small one. It stalled a few times when I tried to clean the approach to my driveway after the city plowed it. I ended up digging that out manually with a shovel.

[Jimaz]

Sorry for the late response, but I think it depends on the size of your snowblower. I have a small one, so I did two passes yesterday while it was still snowing. I did the final one today after it stopped. If I had waited, it would've been too deep for my small one. It stalled a few times when I tried to clean the approach to my driveway after the city plowed it. I ended up digging that out manually with a shovel.

Thank you very much for responding. That makes perfect sense.

I waited until it was all over and didn't have much threat of stalling but had to chew away at the plow drifts in two steps, once by levering the snowblower down onto the top half and then again sweeping in sideways for the bottom half. Annoyingly slow but eventually effective.

My electric start feature failed [[motor spun without turning the engine) so I had to revert to the manual pull cord. Sometimes that worked surprisingly well, other times not at all. Time to have it serviced by the experts, I suppose.

As a former desert rat, I still feel new to these snowblowing techniques. I appreciate any tips at all. It's quite a survival science.

I couldn't believe how exhausted I was after dealing with that mess. Both physically and mentally. [[Yeah, I'm out of shape.) But it was the third deepest snowstorm in Detroit history so what else should I have expected?!

Tip of the hat to rugged Michiganders. You are very impressive!

[Gannon]

I'm thankful I've got some mechanical skills...even though I went outside twice yesterday, keeping the side path and car with snow tires clear, the snow still drifted over a foot deep along the front drive. It was too much for manual shoveling. I gave up twice before leaving it for the morning...we knew it was going to be a snow day.

Took some experimentation with that broken primer button, and careful application of starting fluid after replacing the spark plug...but I finally got my gal's Toro monster snow thrower working. You can learn yours, Jimaz, I'm sure of it.

All I needed was the right motivation...and those damn warnings from my new Beaumont heart doctor back in November are still ringing in my head. None of us are getting younger...gotta rely on our technology a bit more. Or hire out. I'm too stubborn for that.

[Jimaz]

I'm pretty sure we had no mail delivery today because a neighbor's mailbox flag has been raised since Sunday, maybe Saturday. That right there is a testimonial to the severity of the storm.

[sumas]

I'm pretty sure we had no mail delivery today because a neighbor's mailbox flag has been raised since Sunday, maybe Saturday. That right there is a testimonial to the severity of the storm.

I have complained about our mail delivery services before on various threads. So I surely wasn't expecting delivery today. I did suit up and shoveled all steps and salted early on. My neighbor opposite was still bailing out around 12:30 when I checked my mail box, of course nada. Exchanging comments across the street. I told my neighbor all I had in my mail box was an inch of snow. My husband thought I was making a funny joke, I wasn't, I really had an inch of snow in it. My porch is roofed, the mail box has a cover. No clue how snow got in.

What's the phrase??? Neither rain, nor sleet nor snow. It goes something like that.

[sumas]

I'm thankful I've got some mechanical skills...even though I went outside twice yesterday, keeping the side path and car with snow tires clear, the snow still drifted over a foot deep along the front drive. It was too much for manual shoveling. I gave up twice before leaving it for the morning...we knew it was going to be a snow day.

Took some experimentation with that broken primer button, and careful application of starting fluid after replacing the spark plug...but I finally got my gal's Toro monster snow thrower working. You can learn yours, Jimaz, I'm sure of it.

All I needed was the right motivation...and those damn warnings from my new Beaumont heart doctor back in November are still ringing in my head. None of us are getting younger...gotta rely on our technology a bit more. Or hire out. I'm too stubborn for that.

Give up, contract it out as you can. Heavy work we paid for the previous evening but extra snow and drifting I did in the morning. All I could think was don't need a heart attack.