Snow Days in Nashville 01/31/10

Biking news out of Nashville is going to be slow for the next day or two, due to Snowpocalypse 2010. Friday morning, snow started falling and continued for the rest of the day, ending with an accumulation of (gasp!) about four inches (I can hear Dot laughing all the way from Chicago).

My office was closed on Friday, as were all the schools, and many businesses were shut over the weekend.

Snowy day in Nashville

Snow!!

Before you hardier New England and Midwestern souls start laughing too loudly, I should explain that this sort of weather strikes us, oh, only every 10 years or so, so the city has no proper snow plows. This means that streets stay icy/slushy/snowy for days following a snowfall–especially side streets, which are what I take to work. And of course, none of my bikes are set up to cope with this amount of slush, snow or ice.

icicles

icicles

It’s supposed to be sunny tomorrow, with a high of 4o, so fingers crossed some of this snow will be melted away and I can be back on two wheels come Tuesday or Wednesday! I’ve missed my bikes.

Minnie

My car stayed at home this weekend too

Luckily, my neighborhood is walkable. I spent most of the weekend tromping around, trying out the new Thai restaurant that’s just blocks away and having a beer at my local pub — at least, when I wasn’t at home drinking hot chocolate, working on a long-neglected craft project or two, or catching up on “Gossip Girl.”

snowy me

Snowy me

Anyone else dealing with unexpected wintry weather?

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  • G.E.

    I bet you’re missing San Diego right about now. :( I’m sure you’ll be all cleared up and ready to ride in no time at all.

  • http://girlsandbicycles.blogspot.com Miss Sarah

    Dealing with the snow… every day, my love. Is it wet? Have you made a snow angel yet?

  • http://cyclingisgoodforyou.blogspot.com anna

    Wow, lovely. Sounds strange though that so many places are closed because of that (offices, schools etc.). But I do see that if people and the authorities are not prepared, it’s safer. People might not even have winter tires on their cars, I suppose. So driving on unplought streets could end in some disaster…

  • philippe

    Awesome eyewear !

  • dukiebiddle

    @anna – Snow preparedness is a matter of experience and huge tax expense. When you live in a more southerly area that only experiences significant snowfall every 4 to 10 years, the most practical and cost effective way to cope it to accept the community’s limitations.

    We unexpectedly got the northern tip of that storm with about 4 inches in the city (Baltimore). I’ve gotten a couple of really awesome rides in (with the exception of the woman who drove up on my tail and leaned on her horn). Around here we’re mildly snowtarded, but we can handle 4 inches.

  • http://2whls3spds.blogspot.com/ 2whls3spds

    Yup we be “snowed in” too, here in the Sandhills of NC. We got maybe 3″ of snow 1″ of sleet and 1/4″ of ice, fortunately less than they were predicting! Unfortunately some people never learn and according to the NC Highway Patrol they responded to over 1600 incidents yesterday (Sunday). Being older, wiser and lazier I just stayed home and worked on my bicycles. :-D

    Aaron

  • http://letsgorideabike.com Dottie

    Cool, snow days are fun when work actually closes down. You definitely have an advantage by choosing to live in an area where you can walk to the pub :)

  • Ashley

    Did you get your milk and bread?

  • http://amidnightrider.blogspot.com John

    Ironic how weather and other things become problems or even disasters when people are added to the equation. Otherwise they are simply nature.

    Enjoy the open roads, we don’t get to see that much.

  • http://lovelybike.blogspot.com Lovely Bicycle!

    The snow looks so beautiful! I do understand what you’re saying though, about cities that do not usually get snow suffering due to lack of plows. Hope the snow is cleared and the roads are passable by the time your office re-opens.

  • http://idreamofbicycling.blogspot.com/ Step-Through

    Milk and bread – the essential purchases when inclement weather threatens the southeast!

    Atlanta has warmed up a bit, but still below freezing this morning. I had to replace my rear brake cable. It follows the contours of my step-through frame, using a bit of cable housing to guide it through the curves. The one at the bottom had gotten full of water! So it would freeze within a few minutes of leaving the house. I replaced it and oiled it, but I don’t know how to prevent it from doing the same thing each time it rains.

  • http://2whls3spds.blogspot.com 2whls3spds

    @ Step-Through,
    Couple of ways to keep water out of the brake cable on a step through. One…don’t park or ride it outdoors. ;-)

    I typically pack the ones one mine full of a waterproof grease then pull the cable through, Phil Wood or a marine grease works well. In very, very cold weather it may make it a bit stiff but at least is isn’t frozen solid.

    Aaron

  • http://2whls3spds.blogspot.com 2whls3spds

    Oops forgot, I use a large syringe to push the grease down the tube, IIRC it started out life as a marinade injector, works great in the shop for putting grease in where I want it.

    Aaron

  • Amy

    I’m just east of you in Johnson City, TN. We got about 4-6 inches here and it looks like most of the roads had been cleared and salted by Saturday evening and Sunday morning. I managed to get out for a quick ride through my neighborhood on Sunday, just to get out of the house. :)

  • http://suburbanbikemama.blogspot.com/ Vee

    pretty snow! We get it! And are jealous that work closes. sadly we don’t get those treats up here!

    hopefully it is melting away. ( I personally like a good snowfall and then a good sunny warm day to take it all away the next day

  • http://honkingintraffic.wordpress.com Jeremy

    Hey Nashville! Your storm kept traveling east and we got in the middle of NC. Roads remained trecherous, so after playing all weekend in the snow, we were sadly forced to take a snow day on Monday!

  • http://freckleddiaries.typepad.com Catherine

    We got another 4-8 inches (depending where in the DC area you are), but it wasn’t really unexpected and it’s isn’t all that unusual for DC.

    The only trouble is that that people THINK it’s unusual and freak out accordingly. Being a huge fan of the snow and having spent many of my formative years in Western Massachusetts (snow central), I find the whole thing really very highly amusing. Especially since the mental image that comes to mind is that of “fainting goats” (just search YouTube if you’re not familar)–a sort of instant and hysterical paralysis the moment a flake of snow hits the ground :)

  • dukiebiddle

    @Catherine – Due to the huge number of transients in D.C., hands down the worst city in the world to be in during a snow storm. Funny thing is you yankee transplants are a bigger problem than the southerners that have no experience with the snow. So self satisfied with your snow driving experience (;-)) you’ll all insist on completely disregarding the local ability to cope and you clog the streets and the highways with your hubris, which just exasperates a bad situation. Worst of all, everyone has to listen to you. LOL I mock affectionately; my parents were both northern transplants, but OH.MY.GOD they were annoying every time it snowed.

  • http://technoearthmama.com Kathleen McDade

    That’s exactly what happens when it snows in Portland. :-) We got hit with the Snowpocalypse last winter. There are some people here who actually have snow tires, or who don’t care about a little snow. And some people use bus+bike to get around. But I didn’t chance it.

  • http://letsgorideabike.com Trisha

    @Kathleen McDade — Yes. As others have mentioned, when it’s a once-a-decade occurrence (this was our biggest snowfall in 7 years!), why not make it a holiday and enjoy it!

  • http://letsgorideabike.com Trisha

    @Vee — it’s still not melted, but oh well — I kind of like seeing it on the ground, as long as it’s not on the road/in the bike lane. :)

  • http://www.bike-bliss.com/ Cherilyn

    Having grown up in the Midwest and now living in Montana, it is hard not to laugh when people trip out over 4 in. However, I do understand how that much (little?) snow can shut down a city without snow removal.

    What I didn’t understand was the rush on grocery stores every time a snowstorm, major or minor, storm was predicted when we lived in Connecticut. The U.S. started on that end of the continent. You’d think folks would have gotten used to the weather!

    Hope you’re enjoying the beautiful, slower days!

  • http://freckleddiaries.typepad.com Catherine

    @dukiebiddle –

    Lol, dukie! That is close to the status quo, but the locals/southern transplants aren’t completely off the hook here. I personally just avoid the whole mess and refuse to drive until at least the main streets are plowed. I’ve always lived in very easily walkable/transit oriented areas of town, though, (the Rosslyn/Clarendon section of Arlington for a year and Old Town for nearly 5), so I guess that’s easy enough for me to say :)

    You have to admit, though, people just fly into a panic, driving or not. It never ceases to amaze me–people taking flex time to leave by 3pm when it’s not supposed to start snowing until after midnight, the runs on supermarkets, the wall-to-wall local news coverage of The Event, with every single last reporter on the payroll wearing parkas worthy of polar exploration, standing in various parking lots across the viewing area, instructing their cameramen to get footage of the dusting that is juuuust starting to stick on this here blade of grass (I have seen this, I will DVR it next time!). All for 4 inches of snow! (Now, in fairness, there was often so little of note to report in Western Mass that the lead stories for our local stations were comical. More than once it was “residents angered over potholes, full coverage at 11″. No joke.)

  • dukiebiddle

    @Catherine – Heh, I’ll definitely give you the local news coverage, but stocking up and freeing yourself of the need to drive is just common sense. I think all local news exposés are a hoot (Germs in gas station bathrooms! Are your children safe? Are you getting the right change at the grocery store? We’ve gone undercover to find out! More at 11.) I will say that my news market failed to freak out over this one. They barely bothered to mention the snow at all, but they were convinced that north of Annapolis would only get an inch. They completely squandered a freak out.

  • http://www.wheredorootsbelong.wordpress.com Lorenza

    Exactly the same here at the beginning of Jan!! The city… well the country… went into complete chaos… and that’s why for the first time in my life I was happy for the return of the rain!! lol ;-) xxx

  • http://thecitycyclist.blogspot.com Ryan

    When Vancouver, BC gets an inch of snow it’s best to avoid the roads.
    They have probably the worst drivers in the world when it comes to driving in the snow.

  • nowhere

    @Ryan –

    I spent several years working as a delivery driver here in Vancouver (no days off work for me when it snowed!). While I have to admit that we’re not wonderful in the snow I never saw anything as bad as some of the antics that occur in Seattle or Portland when they get the big vanilla slurpee dumped on them. P.S. Watch out for shiny new 4X4′s during the first snowfall. Sometimes they’re driven by people who haven’t learned that just because 4 wheel drive lets them ACCELERATE faster, it doesn’t mean they can STOP better. Every year I saw a few new SUV’s pirouette through the intersections…

  • Sungsu

    @Ryan – I think one the major problems is that not too many people in Vancouver bother to invest in real winter tires and drive in “all-season” tires year round. Most of the time, that’s fine, but when it snows, they should just keep their car parked.

  • dukiebiddle

    @Sungsu – I would presume that in an environment like Vancouver nobody would have winter tires.

    I’ve lived my entire life in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S., with 20 inches of average annual snowfall, and I have to admit that I’ve never seen a winter tire before. I have no idea what they look like.

  • Sungsu

    @dukiebiddle – There are a lot of transplants from rest of Canada, plus the regular skiers, who put on winter tires every year. Heck, some of them even carry chains.

  • Gary Daniels

    I live in Colorado and after 40 years of cycling no matter what the weather I’ve grown use to unexpected weather. This year I finally decided to buy some Nokian 296 snow tires which have 296 studs and knobbies on each tire. For anyone who has to deal with a lot of snow and ice I highly recommend these tires. They run a little slow on dry pavement but my bike flies right over the ice and snow with no problem, plus it’s fun!