Snowpanic...dot...cz

So apparently there's a Czech snowboard shop trading on the Snowpanic name. As long as no lawyers get involved, I will choose to be entertained by this.

Let's be careful out there

My unofficial count has three traffic fatalities already in Maryland. Two in Landover (accident pictured), and one near Emmitsburg. So even though we joke about how people in Maryland can't drive in the snow...people in Maryland really can't drive in the snow. You probably don't want to be on the road with them unless you absolutely have to.

It's On Again!

The Washington Post reports that the traditional DuPont Circle snowball fight is scheduled for 6:30 pm. So grab your scarf and leave your gun at home.

Dr. Snowpanic Greets the Morning

So far we've seen less "snow panic" and more "snow lull us into a false sense of security." Dr. Snowpanic greeted the dawn with a sense that the snowfall so far had been underwhelming. Looking at the forecasts, I see that the real impact is supposed to be in the coming hours, but so far, all we have is a dusting, and a bit of slush on the deck.

As you can see below, the mean streets of Bowie are pretty much clear. Note the Snowpanicmobile (four-wheel drive, of course) parked at a jaunty angle in the driveway so that the streets can be cleared -- in compliance with City of Bowie snow regulations regarding an event producing two or more inches of snow.

 

More updates to come later in the day, although once the Snowflakes (no two exactly alike!) wake up, coverage may be unpredictable.

"Mild winters gobble up snow budgets"

This story makes my head hurt. It explains that despite the fact that we haven't gotten so much as an inch of a snow on any given day this winter, the States of Maryland and Virginia have somehow used up a majority (Virginia) or all (Maryland) of their snow budgets for the season.

We've Forgotten How to Drive!

Snowpanic.com has been somewhat dormant since its heyday in the 2009/2010 season of superstorms. One of the reasons for that is that after Snowpocalypse and Snowmaggedon, everything else seemed anticlimactic. How much time would have to pass before we could get scared by a little snow again? We have an answer!

The Washington Post captions this picture, "Remember snow like this? Many drivers don’t, and that’s likely to be a problem on Wednesday." Can we really have forgotten how bad it was just a couple of years ago? Have enough people moved to the area in the past 3 years? Stay tuned!

Dear Dr. Snowpanic: Rain Panic Edition

A reader writes,

Can we have Rain Panic too?

(and then some other stuff).

Sorry it has taken two days to answer this e-mail. The Snowpanic household had been overtaken by stomach bug panic. Dr. Snowpanic's Seinfeldian streak ended at a respectable two years, three months and seventeen days.

This is a two-part answer. The first is, yes, for $10/year, the domain rainpanic.com is available. Feel free to have at it.

The second is, sure! Pack up your car for the great state of West Virginia and wait for their steely Mountaineer determination to crumble as Sandy dumps foot after foot of snow on them.

Dr. and Mrs. Snowpanic, however, will restrict themselves to the Twinpanic side of the family business as we try to figure out how to entertain two two-year-olds during the inevitable power outage.

Dumb Criminal Bulletin

Last week's snowstorm left many people across the DC area without power. Cell phones are great, but how do you charge your phone if your home is without power? Many people might bring their phone to work and plug it in. This is not a problem, unless your boss is a jerk, or you are a burglar who is startled and leaves your phone in the house, so that police can use it to track you down.

How dare they tow abandoned cars?

The Washington Post has an article today about the bad luck of the people whose cars were towed after being abandoned during the recent snowstorm.  The article's editorial perspective, however, seemed to me a bit odd.

Look...you may have good reasons for leaving your car on the side of the road (or in the middle of an intersection, in the case of one person interviewed for the article). But trying to make villains of the towing companies is a little bit difficult in this case, since they were helping clear the roads so that other people could get around. So the article seems to demonize those who refused to stop.

"I helped push seven cars out of trouble, but then when I looked back, I couldn't get no one to help me," he said. So he left his Oldsmobile Alero on the side of the ramp, and started the long walk to a Giant to get a ride from a friend.

Well, can you blame them?  Look what happened to you when you stopped to help other people.

In the tale of the woman who left her car in the middle of an intersection, the article writer tries to introduce a little class warfare:

For almost 15 minutes, she tried to wave down every passing car. A string of BMWs and Audis passed by, but the drivers wouldn't make eye contact, as though even a look would oblige them to help.

(Disclaimer: Dr. Snowpanic gets around town in a 2001 Honda -- with four-wheel drive, of course.) So who stops to help her? "A short man driving one of the oldest, most beaten-up cars she'd ever seen." Of course -- I also picture him as balding, with a potbelly.

There is plenty to criticize in the response to the storm -- towing should be more systematic, so drivers know where to retrieve their cars.  Maybe the local governments should pay tow-truck drivers to pull cars into nearby parking lots, rather than to their impound lots.  But you have to pay them somehow to go out in the middle of a snowstorm, and I didn't see anyone in the article volunteering to have their taxes raised to get that to happen.

Bringing a box cutter to a snowball fight...

Last winter, we reported on the case of the cop who brought a gun to a snowball fight.

This winter, Tyree Merle Alexander (pictured) was arrested for responding to a snowball in his direction with a box cutter.  Ick.

power lines

power lines
Originally uploaded by JosephLeonardo

In case you were wondering why so many people's power is out.

Every Car for Itself

The nexus of snow and rush hour turned out to be a really bad thing, as predicted here.  Anarchy prevailed in Montgomery County

By 1:30 a.m., gridlock had turned into traffic anarchy on Colesville Road in Silver Spring. Just past Sligo, before Four Corners, frustrated bumper-to-bumper northbound drivers decided to take over the southbound lane as they attempted to climb the hill.

Except cars were still coming southbound, and snow removal trucks, too. On both sides, vehicles were stuck, including an 18-wheeler flatbed truck.

-- The Washington Post

Also, any time a post contains the phrases "rush hour" and "1:30 am", you know there's trouble.

Panic panic

Posting will be a little lighter here than last year, when we had little to do but monitor news sources for examples of panic.  If you're wondering why, see Twinpanic.com.

I am trying to do some snow-related retweets at twitter.com/snowpanic, but even that's going to be intermittent.

For now, we're lucky enough to have power on, though the lights have flickered.  If they go, expect the first snowpanic/twinpanic crosspost...in about 3 weeks when we'd recover...

Actual reasons to panic...

According to the Post, 2 inches snow/hour + rush hour=bad news.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Panic...

The Post says "at least a moderate snowstorm".  A little bit out of context?  Yep, but that's how we roll here at the 'panic.  Stay tuned to see if we have the first serious milk and toilet paper run of the '10-'11 season.

Boxing Day Snowgnarök

OK, after "Snowpocalypse" and "Snowmaggedon", we're kind of running out of ideas here...

I don't mean to alarm you (who am I kidding, this is snowpanic.com, of course I do), but there is a Winter Storm Watch for tomorrow.  Quoth the meteorologists:

ACCUMULATIONS...POSSIBILITY OF 5 OR MORE INCHES.

Let me just emphasize: I am not using all-caps to scare you. THE WEATHER PEOPLE ARE.

They Said "Crippling"

According to the Washington Post,

The latest GFS model simulates a major to crippling East Coast snowstorm for Sunday.

(And then a bunch of caveats, but why should those concern us?)

It's Not Too Soon to Start Panicking about the Next Storm!

The Washington Post reports on people spending fistfuls of money to stave off snow-related disaster.  How can you spend your money with winter still a month and a half away?

• "Installing heat tape in a W or Y pattern along the roof at the gutter's edge and into downspouts costs between $500 and $1,000..."
• "Ice and water shield installation costs about $500 to $750 for an entire roof." 
• "To stop the escape of heat, homeowners may want to install new fiberglass insulation ($500 to $1,000) in the attic or blow-in foam insulation, which is more permeating ($2,000 to $5,000), Burgess said."
• "You can pay as little as $250 for a small electric plug-in snowblower, $400 to $500 for a decent gasoline-powered blower that can easily clear most sidewalks and smaller residential driveways, and up to $1,500 for a ride-on machine than can blow the snow some 50 feet."
• "Lower-priced gasoline-powered rollaway units that can be stored in a garage or shed until needed cost between $600 and $2,500." 
• "[A] whole-house stand-alone generator...can be installed in a permanent location for a total price of $7,000 to $8,000."

This is DC: We Need to Know Where to Place Blame

In regard to the snowstorms that affected the D.C. metro region and other mid-Atlantic and northeast coastal regions, a new study by a team of scientists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory argues that global warming was not involved.

Instead, the Washington Post reports,

the anomalous winter was primarily the result of convergence of an exceptionally strong El Nino and unusually strong negative phase of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).

Just so we're clear.

Mind the Snow Emergency Route

Just heard on Channel 4 News: According to Police Chief Cathy Lanier, DC Police handed out 4,000 parking tickets during the blizzard to cars parked along emergency routes. At $250 a pop, that's ... $1 MILLION.

Perhaps that will replace some of that pitiful $6.2 million they had set aside for plowing.

DC also quickly ticketed cars legally parked but whose owners could not wade through the masses of plowed snow to reach the meters.