Harry Potter Fans With No Life

PH - Yup, in a valley. To amp it up, on the south end there's a toe of mountain in the middle, which makes a pass on each side - double wind tunnel (unless you're in the middle close to that mountain).
There's a cute little "Christmas card" of a church that has had its steeple & bell sitting on the ground of the leeward side since the 1880s, 'cause the wind kept taking it off. When it was being built, just framed in, the wind turned all the nice 90% angles of the beams and uprights trapezoidal. They had to push it back to square and then brace it like crazy to finish. (Personally, I would have taken that as a sign to build elsewhere, but what do I know.)

Moo - How did I manage to share with you but skip over PH? Seems like one of those trick pool shots where the ball jumps up in the air to miss the one in between.

We have a similar forget-how-to-drive-in-snow dynamic here, but also get all sorts of out-world-ers who don't know how in the first place. Every big storm they rush to the high country to ski with thousands of their friends... they have 4WD and don't understand that they don't have 4-wheel-stopping-power.
The scariest part is the Big Rig drivers from Alabama or Texas that don't know how to drive in mountains, or winter, get their brakes hot and are many tons of all over the place, though that happens any time of the year. (I got to watch one burn its trailer to a collapsed shell last Summer. I noticed it was stopped on the bridge just past the off ramp of I-70, which is a weird spot to stop when there's much more room to pull off a hundred yards ahead. The driver was out of the cab looking concernedly at his drive wheels, then there was a tendril of smoke that got bigger and bigger. Suddenly little licks of flame began streaking up the front corners of his trailer, and kept going. Great huge clouds of black smoke roiled off. The interstate was shut down. Our fire department was doing what it could, but. The most intense part only took 15-20 minutes, and was fascinating to watch. The roof of the trailer fell in, leaving half-as-tall uprights on each corner and a stringy black frame-edge. All because the driver didn't know about Jake-braking and rode his regular brakes for a few miles (I bet the trailer brakes weren't set to grab first, too). Ah the aroma of Eau de Brake Linings and smoke wafting across the valley.

Somewhat similar for train braking. When it's really cold and snowy, ice can form a thin layer between the wheels and shoes. When you know you are coming up to a location that requires braking, the brakes are applied far in advance. That way the brakes are able to warm up enough to allow for slowing/stopping. Similar (actually nothing like) to the Jake-Brake, the locomotives are able to supply a considerable braking force.


Semi fires present a challenge, in that the cargo is very tightly packed, and the trailers often carry things one really doesn't want to get close to. Then there's the thing about it never happening anywhere close to a sustainable water source.



A few flurries here this evening, but nothing more.

A lot of truck drivers here go warp speed when the weather is crap and become Sunday drivers when the weather is good. Haven't seen any catch fire but they make the news a lot in the southern part of the state sliding off the interstate.

Many drivers here also figure just because they have AWD or 4WD that they're not going to fishtail or slide all over the place. And heaven forbid they give themselves enough stopping distance between them and the car in front of them because there will be at least one inexperienced driver that will brake in crappy weather. Freaking tailgaters are sometimes scarier than the 18-wheelers. I have AWD in my vehicle but at least I have the sense to drive according to road conditions.

As society in general has declined, so have driving skills.

Luckily had a snow day yesterday! Yea! Started out with sleet then snow then more sleet then snow then more sleet and finally all snow. Kept the snow total down to about 5 inches.

The roads weren't too bad this morning as long as you slowed down. The usual slick spots. My new car did pretty good in that mess this morning; "blazed the trail" for the person behind me. Poor person's car was doing a little sliding if I got too far ahead of them so I slowed down to let them catch up and get moving again. We both got off at the same exit; I went one way, they went another. All's well that ends well.

There seems no end to this woman's super powers.

lol, Paint! I have to admit I'm a whimp driving in crappy weather. I'll slow down just to make sure I get where I'm going. Rain tomorrow, rain Tuesday, snow Wednesday before clearing, then the temps are supposed to drop like a 2 ton boulder. Just hoping we don't wind up with a flash freeze on the interstate. Fingers crossed.

Tuesday is when the temps are supposed to drop around here.

Temps plummeting over the next few days here as well. Ugh!
I really don't like -30 C temps!

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Drizzle began last evening. Still very warm 47°F (9°C) but by evening things will begin to be more seasonal.