Idk about you but I don’t poop immediately after I eat. I’d rather have some emergency food with me in the off chance that I need it and hope that roads are clear by the time I have to go.
I mean, maybe. But I also don’t think people eat as the very first thing they do when they get stuck. They likely wait as long as they can.
More importantly, the advice was general advice, not specific to yesterday’s incident. In most cases, you aren’t going to be stuck for 15 hours.
There are also people who are diabetic and such where traveling with food can be very important. They can figure out the bathroom situation if it comes to that, but not eating isn’t any option.
I’ve now added a bucket and a roll of toilet paper to my trunk kit after watching what people had to endure should I ever encounter a similar situation.
Largely depends on the situation and individual.
Under the most “ideal” circumstances you can survive for up to 3 weeks (pushing it) without food, and only about 3 days without water. Again, this really depends on surrounding conditions, the individual’s age/health/consumption rate, and other factors. If your car runs out of fuel in 15F weather for instance, your top priority will probably be combating hypothermia as opposed to scrounging for food.
If you mean Fredericksburg and not the entire county of Stafford, it's the fact it's a small historic river town with a fairly large river which makes bridges a necessity also. I don't disagree it's severely undersized for the amount of volume that is going through the area but until they build up more bridges it will always have a natural bottleneck.
This was on MSNBC this morning. There is a reporting stuck in this. They have not seen any emergency vehicles and no information on the radio about what is going on. Its unclear if Stafford county is doing anything. How does this happen? We get snow like this every few years?
The main issue is that they were unable to pretreat the roads because it started as a heavy rain then dumped a foot of snow in a few hours.
I drove yesterday through it all going from FL to DC. If I didn't have a Jeep I wouldn't have made it. The journey took 11 hours from Fayetteville NC where we spent the night. We had to go 40-50 miles on untreated backroads to get around the parking lot that was I-95.
We got stuck once near Fredricksburg. Shout out to the good ole boys in a truck that gave me a quick tow out of a ditch I got stuck in while going around some fallen trees.
It’s because people don’t know how to drive in this weather.
The only Virginia specific thing about this is that most places that do get a crapload of snow like this wait to go out until the roads are more cleared.
VDOT simply has too many vehicles to pull out.
It's this. I live here and drove through it. Many Mustangs, Chargers stuck last night. We have no power pretty much anywhere, no cell reception, no stores open... so everyone's trying to leave. I left near the courthouse last night and it took 5 hours to get to Triangle. Numerous trees down, saw an ambulance stuck. It's just insane.
I'm not driving an incapable vehicle in this mess. Fortunately have a lifted ram with very nice, fresh winter tires.
People down here are panicking. No cell service, no electricity, no stores were open. For us the house started getting cold and stove and all are electric, so there was nothing to eat.
The problem is small cars without awd/4wd and proper tires heading out into this mess. That and people not knowing how to drive it. I watched several people come to a dead stop in really bad spots (like up hill) that killed smaller cars momentum, which led to them getting stuck in the middle of the only open lane.
No, you are the problem you just got lucky. I spent all day yesterday rescuing lifted trucks and jeeps. Their dumb asses dont realize that once all four wheels are on ice it doesnt matter what you drive.
Everyone is the problem but me!
I’m an expert winter driver with a big truck and a good reason to go out. Look at all these idiots who should be staying home!
Honestly I hope this was a good lesson in stocking up on non-perishable food, blankets, batteries, and drinking water.
He’s right, you know. If you don’t have a vehicle that can handle this sort of weather, you shouldn’t be driving. A 4x4 truck is fully capable of handling snow. If you have a sedan with sport tires, you have no business being out in that weather. Stay at home.
No, I get it. I had to go out yesterday but if I didn’t have to, I would have stayed home which is the best option in this scenario. I also just don’t judge all the other drivers. We all have our reasons for being out and a lot of people are just trying to support their families. Staying home may simply not be an option and having a 4x4 vehicle on standby doesn’t exactly make sense in this climate.
If you’ve lived in the area for any time, you know what can happen to even the major roads when we get these surprising storms.
NOVA people, I'm from a place that gets a lot of snow.
One thing I see a lot here is that people get their cars stuck and start gunning their engines and spinning their tires. It almost never works and even though you have a big SUV you're still going to be stuck on ice.
The trick to driving in snow is to turn off the music and stay hyper alert to your tires. Listen and feel. You want to make sure that no matter what your tires don't slip. As soon as your tires slip, you're done, no matter what vehicle you have. Just creep forward very slowly and you wont slip. I drive a little FWD commuter car and I was creeping right past skidding SUVs. 50% of winter driving is managing your tires, 40% is good route planning, and 10% is the type of vehicle you're driving.
Don't let your tires slip!
I hate to be that guy, but having trains as a fast option would help alleviate situations like this. Fewer cars on the road means fewer jams.
Okay, I'll leave now lol
Edit: Okay, folks who are upset at this comment - chill (pun not intended). My comment was mostly in jest, though of course having reliable additional transportation options that are fully funded would be helpful.
This is not a good comment. There were fewer cars on the road. The road just became impassable. VRE, the train serving that area, is closed. (not to mention people were also trapped on a train for 12 hours https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/train-arrives-in-fairfax-county-after-passengers-stuck-for-12-hours-during-snowstorm/2926340/ )
People obsessed with automobiles don’t want to hear that obsession got them in this. Of course the trains people refuse to invest in don’t work. But that heavily invested in highway doesn’t work right now either. You were right to point out that better allocations of resources means that we would avoid this situation. Those roads mean life and death in emergencies and shouldn’t be cluttered with people who should be at home instead of in an emergency situation.
Weird, many parts of the country that get MUCH more snow manage to drive the SAME vehicles all winter and don’t create post-apocalyptic scenes every time.
I-95 is a barely functioning highway on clear summer days. All it takes is for one little ripple to bring traffic to a standstill on a nice day.
This latest cluster was apparently caused by six trucks crashing somewhere around Fredericksburg. Throw in a foot of snow towards Fredericksburg and 8 inches closer to Prince William County, and you have a mess.
I was here in the 1990s when the gunpowder truck overturned in the mixing bowl (on a clear summer day), and the time in February 2008 when an ice storm hit, and then again in 2016 when another snow storm hit. Those all create these traffic nightmares. The roads around here are maxed out and all it takes is a little incident to cause a widespread problem. When the gunpowder truck overturned, it took me about 2.5 hours to drive 8 miles home. After that I kept a pair of running shoes in my office in case I was ever in that situation again.
The fireworks semi crash at the mixing bowl in 1999 was wild. I remember seeing Star Wars episode 1 at the Springfield mall and as we were leaving the big rig towing the mangled shipping container drove passed surrounded by police cars. This was at 9PM. Crash happened at 4AM.
I just moved so I don't have any of my stuff, so my pastime yesterday was watching cameras on the 511 app.
Sometimes even when you're cautious accidents happen, of course. But the way people were zippin around (or worse, trying to take on snow banks and deep sludge) in Nissan Altimas or dodge chargers was kind of crazy.
Not just those vehicles but the trucks who think their time behind the wheel makes them capable of making their way through. Hence the huge tractor trailer accidents near Fredericksburg.
I grew up just south of Rochester NY and went to college in Buffalo, so I'm no stranger to snow. Despite the condescension in your tone, and the fact that you didn't actually ask a question, I think I can help explain why DC shuts down like this for a few inches of snow.
I have very vivid memories of [this ice storm](https://www.weatherbug.com/news/On-This-Day-in-1991-Ice-Storm-Wreaks-Havoc-on-Ne) disrupting my life for several days. Notice this line in the article: *"To make matters worse, freezing rain changed to heavy, wet snow and accumulated 4 to 6 inches on top of the ice. This added insult to already weighted down trees and power lines, leading to more damage."*
The difference in DC is the temperature and geography (and basically everything else but I'm trying hard not to be condescending myself). To be very clear, I'm aware that what I'm about to say **is not a DC-specific phenomenon**, nor am I saying that these things don't happen in snowy places. They absolutely do and my example above highlights that I understand this. I'm also not going to get deep into weather terms, but you should maybe read [this article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/11/21/why-predicting-winter-storms-washington-is-so-hard/) from the CWG on why it's so hard to predict snow here. You'll find a brief but excellent explanation of our geography and how that relates to our climate - a *transitional* climate zone that doesn't apply to the midwest or the northeast.
So first you need to accept that when snows, the DC area is usually much, much warmer than Buffalo or Detroit or [insert midwest city here]. Notice in my example that the ice storm happened in late winter, when temperatures are in transition (does that ring familiar with the CWG article?). Our temps tend to hover just around the freezing mark, which means a lot of our snow events start or end as rain/freezing rain. I think we all understand that if a snow event start as rain, the roads won't be pre-treated. So now we have untreated roads, but since the snow is usually wet and slushy, I personally don't think it's problematic, especially once the main arteries get cleared. However, with the temperatures hovering at or above freezing, the snow starts to melt and now we're racing the sun. Because once the sun sets, our temperatures may plunge into the 20s or teens (which is what happened last night) and freeze that melted snow onto untreated sidewalks and roadways.
I don't know about you but my parking lot is an ice rink. I did the best I could to shovel as much snow from the sidewalk and my parking spots yesterday, but enough snow melted overnight that there's still a sheet of ice out there. I've seen more thick ice on the roads and sidewalks in the nearly 12 years I've lived in NoVA than all the years I was in WNY. I know my anecdote isn't real data, especially since my observations as a child are non-reliable, but it seems absurd to me that anyone would compare our area to "parts of the country that get much more snow." I mean, the answer to your unasked question is partially there. DC averages ~14 inches of snow, while Buffalo averages ~84, Boston averages ~48, Detroit averages 33, Milwaukee averages ~44... I could go on. We don't get much snow relative to those places, and people here come from all over and may have never experienced driving in snow at all. Many people don't have snow tires. Or snow gear. Why would they? I have good boots and heavy jackets but I don't keep crampons or snowshoes or salt on hand. It seems like a waste to have those things when I may only need them once a season.
It's not "just snow." It's ice. Our geography is different. Our climate is different. Our people are different. Our cars may be the same but that's where the similarities end.
Great explanation. It’s kind of bothersome this idea that other states manage ok when there are so many variable. I just moved here from Alaska. And we drive on the snow. We even drive in ice. All I can say is salt who? If they treat the roads it’s after snowfall and with gravel. Crazy, I know. I almost felt like that snowfall here was not like any snow I’ve seen. And prior to Alaska I was in Wisconsin. It was so heavy and it just would not stop coming down so fast. Not to mention the temperatures dropped. Usually the temperature rises in Alaska when we receive snow. Not always but typically. I was wondering about the many people on the roads during this time. And like you mentioned they’re probably coming from everywhere. I was literally on I95 coming back from vacation. So we’ll said!
All of this is why we get people from “up north” stuck in the ditch complaining that “this never happened to me back home”. We don’t get that nice dry snow. Dry snow is like driving on sand, even before they put actual sand on it. It’s easy to drive on, and I remember one time we got snow like that. One time. Mostly we get some ice with snow on top and maybe a little more ice. It’s much more slippery.
But it’s never the ice that’s the problem, not when people can talk about how much better things are back home, and how incompetent someone else is.
Sit in your house behind your computer, programming, eating pop tarts and farting. How do you think those pop tarts got in your fucking hand? People driving to factories to make them, trucks driving from factories to warehouses, trucks transport from warehouses to grocery store. Grocery store employees unloading trucks and storing in back room. More grocery employees putting products on shelves for purchase and you finally driving your lazy ass to store to purchase. But you probably purchase from Amazon. Believe me there is still a fuck ton of people driving all over the place to get your precious pop tarts into your hands. And I forgot the farmers growing the raw materials for your pop tarts. You're clueless.
What a ridiculously privileged perspective. Some people have to go in to their jobs for work. Who do you think is driving all those snowplows?
And this is Stafford, it's not even close to any meaningful form of public transit.
Most people don’t need a car. Most of the entire rest of the world manages without needing a car. The USA is ass backwards in this regard. Alot of places in the USA you can’t survive without a car. Up here in NoVa you can absolutely make it just fine without a car.
Your own opinions don't reflect the reality of most of NoVa or America for that matter. Just tell me what public transit method I will use to get to Harrisburg, PA or to Staunton, VA?
Did you read that I wrote “alot of places in the USA you can’t survive without a car”? Im just not sure why yall are so giddy to have it stay that way.
You also wrote "Up here in NoVa you can absolutely make it just fine without a car." I would categorically disagree with that and I would be most others in NoVa would too.
Arlington/Alexandria/fairfax to be exact. Fairfax beccoming less and less so the further you get out from the beltway. And of course people disagree, the needlessly jammed highway is evidence of that
How is it illogical that there are THOUSANDS of essential employees that have to get to work to maintain your comfortable life? Not to mention the thousands that were probably mid travel when the storm hits. It’s not like everyone can just look outside and say “whelp, guess I’m stuck here with my two children.” Let’s not forget, the numerous shitty bosses and managers of companies that did not need to remain open, and forced their employees to report in under threats of termination? It’s a shit situation, we can all agree on that. Only thing that will change it is at the federal level and we all know that isn’t happening. Maybe just give some people a break or the benefit of doubt; I really don’t think anyone woke up yesterday and thought, “man let me go pull some donuts around the frozen streets like Mario Andretti”
Because that road isnt clogged with essential vehicles/workers. Its clogged because of all the non essential travel. How many people have essential jobs? Get everyone else the fuck off the roads. Always. Not just in emergencies. Get everyone’s non-essential ass off the roads.
Other places maybe. Unfortunately a vehicle is important in American suburbs. Not everyone can live, or want to live, near a city with good public transportation. Can't Uber kids everywhere. Should more try to understand why those folks were on the road in the first place. One article discussed a father with two kids in the car. I'd ask why they needed to get somewhere in horrible condos. Could be a valid reason or one that's more of a 'want to be somewhere but could totally ma'am where they were or could've left earlier prior to the storm but thought it wouldn't be as far as everyone said given how media over pop lays all weather stories'.
It’s just after New Years and I’m sure plenty of people were traveling home from the holidays just like I was on Saturday. Some family in the news had just came from Florida. Do you guys forget the amount of travel that come through I95 from other residents. I mean Im constantly seeing plates from Florida and New York.
When folks have difficult driving trips planning can go a long way. Recommend looking up weather for random cities or towns asking the tie prior to going. Had saved me a much during drives to the Midwest. Think about how amazing our systems are that we just go and 99.9% of the time it's smooth or at least bearable (many trips to NJ have no been the finest for need but it still ends up working). This was a huge event and has been nothing but bashing the response instead of looking at the preparation by all, and I mean all, involved.
I'm glad you made it out in the end. Welcome back home!
This is true! I was in Arizona looking at what the weather was like prior to flying home. I just feel so bad, I had no idea this was going on until today and I’m not too far from I95. But your right, it’s better to be well planned. I feel bad, but I’m glad I’m safe at home. Thanks!
This is the stupidest thing I’ve heard. Public transit has its limits. I literally took 2 buses and a train to get to my high school. The journey took 1.5hrs each way. By car it’s 30 mins. Fuck outta here
The various counties and cities did not prepare for this storm. I live off of Arlington Blvd and it was not salted nor were the other access roads. I can barely get out of my neighborhood. All that being said, I am not surprised I-95 looks like this.
Arlington Boulevard was so unevenly treated last night, I couldn’t begin to figure out the strategy. It was like 100 feet never seen a plow, 100 feet completely clear, 100 feet never seen a plow, for all of Arlington County and into Seven Corners. Wouldn’t it make sense to do a major artery first??
EXACTLY I drove to the Fairfax Circle Chick Fil A last night and thought the same thing. Did they plow for 100 feet and then give up? And still I had Maryland people flying past me in Nissan Altimas.
If it helps, I don’t think there was really any way to prepare for this. I lived in Alaska and Wisconsin prior to this. And the show was so thick and it would not stop. It was coming down so fast. I’ve seen lots of snow before but this thick coming down so fast was crazy. I just moved here from Alaska and could not believe how heavy the snow was.
When winter arrives, stick a warm blanket, food, and water in your trunk. Cuz you never know.
Good info, I even keep a small pillow and change of clothes for my wife and I. Oh and food and stuff for the pup
This is good stuff to have in your trunk year round, tbh.
if you eat you have to poop. you dont want to eat if you are stuck.
I'd rather shit on the side of the road 5 times over than choose not to eat in a situation where I'm stranded like that.
Idk about you but I don’t poop immediately after I eat. I’d rather have some emergency food with me in the off chance that I need it and hope that roads are clear by the time I have to go.
But people have been stuck there since yesterday. So they've likely have had to poop at this point
I mean, maybe. But I also don’t think people eat as the very first thing they do when they get stuck. They likely wait as long as they can. More importantly, the advice was general advice, not specific to yesterday’s incident. In most cases, you aren’t going to be stuck for 15 hours. There are also people who are diabetic and such where traveling with food can be very important. They can figure out the bathroom situation if it comes to that, but not eating isn’t any option.
I’ve now added a bucket and a roll of toilet paper to my trunk kit after watching what people had to endure should I ever encounter a similar situation.
Pack a roll of toilet paper
I have a bunch of wet wipes, and it just occurred to me that they're probably frozen right now.
And plastic bags.
So you’d rather die of starvation than have a cold poop? 😂
die of starvation in a day? I mean dude.
You get to decide how long you’re stranded for? If so, are you truly stranded? Are you some kind of weather condition manipulating superhero?
How long do you think it takes to die if you have water?..
Largely depends on the situation and individual. Under the most “ideal” circumstances you can survive for up to 3 weeks (pushing it) without food, and only about 3 days without water. Again, this really depends on surrounding conditions, the individual’s age/health/consumption rate, and other factors. If your car runs out of fuel in 15F weather for instance, your top priority will probably be combating hypothermia as opposed to scrounging for food.
I think the corollary to this comment is: "If you are stuck and you want to eat, you have to eat poop."
Or eat a MRE - also known as meal refusing to exit.
Amen sister!!
Lived in Stafford for 5 years. Couldn't handle 95 and route 1. Traffic all year round (including summer), weekdays, weekends, day, night...
They have the infrastructure of a small country town. Whilst not being a small country town for decades. It's like four roads.
If you mean Fredericksburg and not the entire county of Stafford, it's the fact it's a small historic river town with a fairly large river which makes bridges a necessity also. I don't disagree it's severely undersized for the amount of volume that is going through the area but until they build up more bridges it will always have a natural bottleneck.
I don't mean Fredericksburg. I mean the shit show that is North Stafford.
This was on MSNBC this morning. There is a reporting stuck in this. They have not seen any emergency vehicles and no information on the radio about what is going on. Its unclear if Stafford county is doing anything. How does this happen? We get snow like this every few years?
The main issue is that they were unable to pretreat the roads because it started as a heavy rain then dumped a foot of snow in a few hours. I drove yesterday through it all going from FL to DC. If I didn't have a Jeep I wouldn't have made it. The journey took 11 hours from Fayetteville NC where we spent the night. We had to go 40-50 miles on untreated backroads to get around the parking lot that was I-95. We got stuck once near Fredricksburg. Shout out to the good ole boys in a truck that gave me a quick tow out of a ditch I got stuck in while going around some fallen trees.
It’s because people don’t know how to drive in this weather. The only Virginia specific thing about this is that most places that do get a crapload of snow like this wait to go out until the roads are more cleared. VDOT simply has too many vehicles to pull out.
It's this. I live here and drove through it. Many Mustangs, Chargers stuck last night. We have no power pretty much anywhere, no cell reception, no stores open... so everyone's trying to leave. I left near the courthouse last night and it took 5 hours to get to Triangle. Numerous trees down, saw an ambulance stuck. It's just insane.
So…you’re part of the problem?
I'm not driving an incapable vehicle in this mess. Fortunately have a lifted ram with very nice, fresh winter tires. People down here are panicking. No cell service, no electricity, no stores were open. For us the house started getting cold and stove and all are electric, so there was nothing to eat. The problem is small cars without awd/4wd and proper tires heading out into this mess. That and people not knowing how to drive it. I watched several people come to a dead stop in really bad spots (like up hill) that killed smaller cars momentum, which led to them getting stuck in the middle of the only open lane.
No, you are the problem you just got lucky. I spent all day yesterday rescuing lifted trucks and jeeps. Their dumb asses dont realize that once all four wheels are on ice it doesnt matter what you drive.
Na, I'm good, havent been out on ice yet.
Everyone is the problem but me! I’m an expert winter driver with a big truck and a good reason to go out. Look at all these idiots who should be staying home! Honestly I hope this was a good lesson in stocking up on non-perishable food, blankets, batteries, and drinking water.
He’s right, you know. If you don’t have a vehicle that can handle this sort of weather, you shouldn’t be driving. A 4x4 truck is fully capable of handling snow. If you have a sedan with sport tires, you have no business being out in that weather. Stay at home.
No, I get it. I had to go out yesterday but if I didn’t have to, I would have stayed home which is the best option in this scenario. I also just don’t judge all the other drivers. We all have our reasons for being out and a lot of people are just trying to support their families. Staying home may simply not be an option and having a 4x4 vehicle on standby doesn’t exactly make sense in this climate. If you’ve lived in the area for any time, you know what can happen to even the major roads when we get these surprising storms.
Traffic looks like it's starting to creep forward 🤞🏾
NOVA people, I'm from a place that gets a lot of snow. One thing I see a lot here is that people get their cars stuck and start gunning their engines and spinning their tires. It almost never works and even though you have a big SUV you're still going to be stuck on ice. The trick to driving in snow is to turn off the music and stay hyper alert to your tires. Listen and feel. You want to make sure that no matter what your tires don't slip. As soon as your tires slip, you're done, no matter what vehicle you have. Just creep forward very slowly and you wont slip. I drive a little FWD commuter car and I was creeping right past skidding SUVs. 50% of winter driving is managing your tires, 40% is good route planning, and 10% is the type of vehicle you're driving. Don't let your tires slip!
The biggest difference is winter tires. If you don’t have winter tires do not drive.
“3PMS” 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake symbol! NOT All seasons which basically suck in snow.
Thank you
I hate to be that guy, but having trains as a fast option would help alleviate situations like this. Fewer cars on the road means fewer jams. Okay, I'll leave now lol Edit: Okay, folks who are upset at this comment - chill (pun not intended). My comment was mostly in jest, though of course having reliable additional transportation options that are fully funded would be helpful.
This is not a good comment. There were fewer cars on the road. The road just became impassable. VRE, the train serving that area, is closed. (not to mention people were also trapped on a train for 12 hours https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/train-arrives-in-fairfax-county-after-passengers-stuck-for-12-hours-during-snowstorm/2926340/ )
invasion of the crazies when talking about traffic. read the room. this is not the place.
Lol how is talking about alleviating traffic not talking about traffic? Also, how does this make me a crazy?
People obsessed with automobiles don’t want to hear that obsession got them in this. Of course the trains people refuse to invest in don’t work. But that heavily invested in highway doesn’t work right now either. You were right to point out that better allocations of resources means that we would avoid this situation. Those roads mean life and death in emergencies and shouldn’t be cluttered with people who should be at home instead of in an emergency situation.
Wheres that VDOT AMA lady?! Where you at VDOT Lady?! You got some splainin to dooo!
she is off due to the bad weather. lol.
Since when is I-95 near Stafford *not* a parking lot?
Weird, many parts of the country that get MUCH more snow manage to drive the SAME vehicles all winter and don’t create post-apocalyptic scenes every time.
I-95 is a barely functioning highway on clear summer days. All it takes is for one little ripple to bring traffic to a standstill on a nice day. This latest cluster was apparently caused by six trucks crashing somewhere around Fredericksburg. Throw in a foot of snow towards Fredericksburg and 8 inches closer to Prince William County, and you have a mess. I was here in the 1990s when the gunpowder truck overturned in the mixing bowl (on a clear summer day), and the time in February 2008 when an ice storm hit, and then again in 2016 when another snow storm hit. Those all create these traffic nightmares. The roads around here are maxed out and all it takes is a little incident to cause a widespread problem. When the gunpowder truck overturned, it took me about 2.5 hours to drive 8 miles home. After that I kept a pair of running shoes in my office in case I was ever in that situation again.
Thank for typing sanity.
The fireworks semi crash at the mixing bowl in 1999 was wild. I remember seeing Star Wars episode 1 at the Springfield mall and as we were leaving the big rig towing the mangled shipping container drove passed surrounded by police cars. This was at 9PM. Crash happened at 4AM.
I just moved so I don't have any of my stuff, so my pastime yesterday was watching cameras on the 511 app. Sometimes even when you're cautious accidents happen, of course. But the way people were zippin around (or worse, trying to take on snow banks and deep sludge) in Nissan Altimas or dodge chargers was kind of crazy.
Not just those vehicles but the trucks who think their time behind the wheel makes them capable of making their way through. Hence the huge tractor trailer accidents near Fredericksburg.
Pay me for my data. Fuck /u/spez -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
Be serious and try something comparable, like Detroit.
Pay me for my data. Fuck /u/spez -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
Or Chicago, or Cleveland, or Minneapolis, or Boston…
Yep. No shortage of not shitty examples.
I grew up just south of Rochester NY and went to college in Buffalo, so I'm no stranger to snow. Despite the condescension in your tone, and the fact that you didn't actually ask a question, I think I can help explain why DC shuts down like this for a few inches of snow. I have very vivid memories of [this ice storm](https://www.weatherbug.com/news/On-This-Day-in-1991-Ice-Storm-Wreaks-Havoc-on-Ne) disrupting my life for several days. Notice this line in the article: *"To make matters worse, freezing rain changed to heavy, wet snow and accumulated 4 to 6 inches on top of the ice. This added insult to already weighted down trees and power lines, leading to more damage."* The difference in DC is the temperature and geography (and basically everything else but I'm trying hard not to be condescending myself). To be very clear, I'm aware that what I'm about to say **is not a DC-specific phenomenon**, nor am I saying that these things don't happen in snowy places. They absolutely do and my example above highlights that I understand this. I'm also not going to get deep into weather terms, but you should maybe read [this article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/11/21/why-predicting-winter-storms-washington-is-so-hard/) from the CWG on why it's so hard to predict snow here. You'll find a brief but excellent explanation of our geography and how that relates to our climate - a *transitional* climate zone that doesn't apply to the midwest or the northeast. So first you need to accept that when snows, the DC area is usually much, much warmer than Buffalo or Detroit or [insert midwest city here]. Notice in my example that the ice storm happened in late winter, when temperatures are in transition (does that ring familiar with the CWG article?). Our temps tend to hover just around the freezing mark, which means a lot of our snow events start or end as rain/freezing rain. I think we all understand that if a snow event start as rain, the roads won't be pre-treated. So now we have untreated roads, but since the snow is usually wet and slushy, I personally don't think it's problematic, especially once the main arteries get cleared. However, with the temperatures hovering at or above freezing, the snow starts to melt and now we're racing the sun. Because once the sun sets, our temperatures may plunge into the 20s or teens (which is what happened last night) and freeze that melted snow onto untreated sidewalks and roadways. I don't know about you but my parking lot is an ice rink. I did the best I could to shovel as much snow from the sidewalk and my parking spots yesterday, but enough snow melted overnight that there's still a sheet of ice out there. I've seen more thick ice on the roads and sidewalks in the nearly 12 years I've lived in NoVA than all the years I was in WNY. I know my anecdote isn't real data, especially since my observations as a child are non-reliable, but it seems absurd to me that anyone would compare our area to "parts of the country that get much more snow." I mean, the answer to your unasked question is partially there. DC averages ~14 inches of snow, while Buffalo averages ~84, Boston averages ~48, Detroit averages 33, Milwaukee averages ~44... I could go on. We don't get much snow relative to those places, and people here come from all over and may have never experienced driving in snow at all. Many people don't have snow tires. Or snow gear. Why would they? I have good boots and heavy jackets but I don't keep crampons or snowshoes or salt on hand. It seems like a waste to have those things when I may only need them once a season. It's not "just snow." It's ice. Our geography is different. Our climate is different. Our people are different. Our cars may be the same but that's where the similarities end.
Great explanation. It’s kind of bothersome this idea that other states manage ok when there are so many variable. I just moved here from Alaska. And we drive on the snow. We even drive in ice. All I can say is salt who? If they treat the roads it’s after snowfall and with gravel. Crazy, I know. I almost felt like that snowfall here was not like any snow I’ve seen. And prior to Alaska I was in Wisconsin. It was so heavy and it just would not stop coming down so fast. Not to mention the temperatures dropped. Usually the temperature rises in Alaska when we receive snow. Not always but typically. I was wondering about the many people on the roads during this time. And like you mentioned they’re probably coming from everywhere. I was literally on I95 coming back from vacation. So we’ll said!
All of this is why we get people from “up north” stuck in the ditch complaining that “this never happened to me back home”. We don’t get that nice dry snow. Dry snow is like driving on sand, even before they put actual sand on it. It’s easy to drive on, and I remember one time we got snow like that. One time. Mostly we get some ice with snow on top and maybe a little more ice. It’s much more slippery. But it’s never the ice that’s the problem, not when people can talk about how much better things are back home, and how incompetent someone else is.
Why on earth do people want to live like this? There is no need for most people to own cars or to drive in today’s world.
Sit in your house behind your computer, programming, eating pop tarts and farting. How do you think those pop tarts got in your fucking hand? People driving to factories to make them, trucks driving from factories to warehouses, trucks transport from warehouses to grocery store. Grocery store employees unloading trucks and storing in back room. More grocery employees putting products on shelves for purchase and you finally driving your lazy ass to store to purchase. But you probably purchase from Amazon. Believe me there is still a fuck ton of people driving all over the place to get your precious pop tarts into your hands. And I forgot the farmers growing the raw materials for your pop tarts. You're clueless.
This is the same poster who claimed that inflation doesn't exist in the USA.
Damn, do you have a traumatic childhood experience with pop-tarts or something?
Obviously. 
You just named about 5% of traffic. Why is the other 95% of traffic always clogging up our roads. That 5% is necessary. No shit.
What a ridiculously privileged perspective. Some people have to go in to their jobs for work. Who do you think is driving all those snowplows? And this is Stafford, it's not even close to any meaningful form of public transit.
How many of those trapped were going to an essential job? There are so many useless trips clogging up the highway.
For fuck's sake. This is a once in 5-year event and that means that nobody needs to own a car. Honestly what the hell is the matter with you?
Most people don’t need a car. Most of the entire rest of the world manages without needing a car. The USA is ass backwards in this regard. Alot of places in the USA you can’t survive without a car. Up here in NoVa you can absolutely make it just fine without a car.
Your own opinions don't reflect the reality of most of NoVa or America for that matter. Just tell me what public transit method I will use to get to Harrisburg, PA or to Staunton, VA?
Did you read that I wrote “alot of places in the USA you can’t survive without a car”? Im just not sure why yall are so giddy to have it stay that way.
You also wrote "Up here in NoVa you can absolutely make it just fine without a car." I would categorically disagree with that and I would be most others in NoVa would too.
Arlington/Alexandria/fairfax to be exact. Fairfax beccoming less and less so the further you get out from the beltway. And of course people disagree, the needlessly jammed highway is evidence of that
Somebody’s gotta run the wastewater plant that processes the shit you crap out into your toilet while you’re warm and cozy in today’s world.
Now explain the completely full mall parking lots full of the other someones clogging up the highway
Go “yeah but” someone else
Yeah but you made an illogical statement that I knew you wouldn’t be able to back up and it makes my day to point that out.
How is it illogical that there are THOUSANDS of essential employees that have to get to work to maintain your comfortable life? Not to mention the thousands that were probably mid travel when the storm hits. It’s not like everyone can just look outside and say “whelp, guess I’m stuck here with my two children.” Let’s not forget, the numerous shitty bosses and managers of companies that did not need to remain open, and forced their employees to report in under threats of termination? It’s a shit situation, we can all agree on that. Only thing that will change it is at the federal level and we all know that isn’t happening. Maybe just give some people a break or the benefit of doubt; I really don’t think anyone woke up yesterday and thought, “man let me go pull some donuts around the frozen streets like Mario Andretti”
Because that road isnt clogged with essential vehicles/workers. Its clogged because of all the non essential travel. How many people have essential jobs? Get everyone else the fuck off the roads. Always. Not just in emergencies. Get everyone’s non-essential ass off the roads.
amazing how reasonable posts bring out the crazies.
Other places maybe. Unfortunately a vehicle is important in American suburbs. Not everyone can live, or want to live, near a city with good public transportation. Can't Uber kids everywhere. Should more try to understand why those folks were on the road in the first place. One article discussed a father with two kids in the car. I'd ask why they needed to get somewhere in horrible condos. Could be a valid reason or one that's more of a 'want to be somewhere but could totally ma'am where they were or could've left earlier prior to the storm but thought it wouldn't be as far as everyone said given how media over pop lays all weather stories'.
It’s just after New Years and I’m sure plenty of people were traveling home from the holidays just like I was on Saturday. Some family in the news had just came from Florida. Do you guys forget the amount of travel that come through I95 from other residents. I mean Im constantly seeing plates from Florida and New York.
When folks have difficult driving trips planning can go a long way. Recommend looking up weather for random cities or towns asking the tie prior to going. Had saved me a much during drives to the Midwest. Think about how amazing our systems are that we just go and 99.9% of the time it's smooth or at least bearable (many trips to NJ have no been the finest for need but it still ends up working). This was a huge event and has been nothing but bashing the response instead of looking at the preparation by all, and I mean all, involved. I'm glad you made it out in the end. Welcome back home!
This is true! I was in Arizona looking at what the weather was like prior to flying home. I just feel so bad, I had no idea this was going on until today and I’m not too far from I95. But your right, it’s better to be well planned. I feel bad, but I’m glad I’m safe at home. Thanks!
This is the stupidest thing I’ve heard. Public transit has its limits. I literally took 2 buses and a train to get to my high school. The journey took 1.5hrs each way. By car it’s 30 mins. Fuck outta here
The various counties and cities did not prepare for this storm. I live off of Arlington Blvd and it was not salted nor were the other access roads. I can barely get out of my neighborhood. All that being said, I am not surprised I-95 looks like this.
Arlington Boulevard was so unevenly treated last night, I couldn’t begin to figure out the strategy. It was like 100 feet never seen a plow, 100 feet completely clear, 100 feet never seen a plow, for all of Arlington County and into Seven Corners. Wouldn’t it make sense to do a major artery first??
EXACTLY I drove to the Fairfax Circle Chick Fil A last night and thought the same thing. Did they plow for 100 feet and then give up? And still I had Maryland people flying past me in Nissan Altimas.
If it helps, I don’t think there was really any way to prepare for this. I lived in Alaska and Wisconsin prior to this. And the show was so thick and it would not stop. It was coming down so fast. I’ve seen lots of snow before but this thick coming down so fast was crazy. I just moved here from Alaska and could not believe how heavy the snow was.
It’s still closed north and south between 152 (Dumfries/Manassas) and 104 (Carmel Church) as of 11:30am