Author Topic: Ice storm (Read 4189 times)

RogerAS · « **on:** January 28, 2009, 10:54:09 PM »

Greetings All,

Well we have had an interesting 48+ hours here in north central Arkansas. Late Monday afternoon it began to rain, and it was 26° F. This rain ended in the wee hours of this morning. Trees are snapping all over the woods and it sounds like a war zone. Nobody within 60 miles has grid power.

Yes this is the same place where it can, and does, get to 105° in the summer.

We lost our BRAND NEW $80 TV antenna. The pole bent over under the load, and now it's destined for recycling. Luckily it bent away from the house and did no collateral damage.

We have a '95 Thunderbird, no dents or scratches but 200+K miles, we recently retired it after replacing it with a new '08 4WD Escape. I hope to restore the bird someday to better than factory. Before this weather event started I had a feeling it wasn't parked in a safe place so I moved it about 20 feet. Shown here is the hickory tree that would have landed squarely on across the windshield had it remained where it was. Under the blue trap is my '38 Allis Chalmers "B" tractor which was also spared any damage.

The following is a few picts of the forest we live in. Before we can get a car in or out I will have to spend at least one full day with the chain saw cutting downed trees.

Typo fixed. TW

RogerAS · « **Reply #1 on:** January 28, 2009, 03:57:17 PM »

EDIT

Before we can get a car in or out I will have to spend at least one full day with the cahin saw cutting downed trees.

(somehow the software deleted a portion of the above text from my posting).

ghurd · « **Reply #2 on:** January 28, 2009, 04:24:06 PM »

Dang.

We got ice, on the snow, then snow on top of the ice on the snow.

But nothing broke like that!

"Nobody within 60 miles has grid power."

Except YOU, from your own grid! Gotta love that.

G-

FishbonzWV · « **Reply #3 on:** January 28, 2009, 04:39:49 PM »

Hey Roger,

We are getting some of that too, but not as bad. I guess you won't be seeing and line repairmen out your way. :-)

Glad the tractor didn't get hit, and where's the pix of the garbogen?

Come on spring time

Bonz

RogerAS · « **Reply #4 on:** January 28, 2009, 04:57:41 PM »

Fish,

The garbogen is sitting as still as a rock and not all that interesting. The blades have long stalactites hanging off, but not as impressive as the bent and broken trees. Besides, I want to dress it up with a cover/nacell and a nice tail before I show it off. However if there is a demand for such an image I will add it to my files and let viewers look it up. The ice didn't melt even a little bit today so I can get such an image in the morning.

Ghurd,

Heh, yep.

All,

4 or 5 years ago this same type of event came through right after Thanksgiving. At that time my wife and I were living in a 1972 POS travel trailer while building our house. When the ice melted off we went on a tree cutting spree to eliminate the chance of a 8 ton red oak from crashing through our house and squashing us (a very real possibility). I may repeat that effort for our parking area. Sure insurance would cover such damage, but I become attached to my driving machines (thus the retired but saved bird) and the deductible cash would just go out the window.

I would have loved some snow as opposed to this "stuff" but I don't remember anyone asking.

I hear San Diego is a nice place!

:-)

dnix71 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 28, 2009, 05:04:01 PM »

Well at least you have a lot of firewood, once it thaws out a little. Nothing breaks things like ice. I hope you have enough food for a while.

RandomJoe · « **Reply #6 on:** January 28, 2009, 07:18:55 PM »

shudder Flashbacks to last winter here in OKC! :-( And why I found this website in the first place...!

Fortunately, we were more on the back end of this system, so while driving has been a mess the past couple of days, there were few outages and little ice damage. I was ready this time, though - I wouldn't have been sitting in the cold and dark a second time!

Hope things get back to normal quickly for everyone...

Ungrounded Lightning Rod · « **Reply #7 on:** January 28, 2009, 08:24:45 PM »

Trick for getting a frozen mill to spin:

Get some headlamps and put 'em across the diodes: Two from two AC phases to negative, one from the third phase to positive. (Switch 'em around after a few minutes if it hasn't come free yet, so different sets of coils get the doubled current.)

This will put a bit of DC current through the coils and warm up the stator with a few watts of dissipation, which may melt off the ice between it and the rotors after a bit.

If the rotors are freed from the stator the remaining ice near the axle should break off. Once it starts spinning again (or rocking) it's time to remove the lamps - and you may have to unhook 'em occasionally to see if it's come free yet: The current will produce some cogging. If it starts rocking but won't spin yet you can try switching which phase is + to run it back-and-forth as a stepper motor and try to knock more ice loose.

With continued rotation (or other motion such as rocking with gusts) it will tend to shed the stuff on the blades. Vibration from the imbalance once it spins will shake more loose. Even without the yaw tracking you should be limping along enough to pass cutin.

The leverage should break the ice free on the tail pivot and the vibes and tail torque eventually break the ice free on the yaw bearing and you're back in full production.

At least that's how I hear it works. I trust others with experience will confirm or correct this. (Especially if it's dangerously wrong. B-) )

If it doesn't work all you're really out is the precious battery power you used to light the inefficient lamps and heat the stator.

Sly · « **Reply #8 on:** January 29, 2009, 04:55:23 AM »

Reminds me of 1998 when we had the ice storm in eastern Canada and part of the States. Even now if you go for a walk in the bush you still see trees bent over that have never returned to their original shape. Main thing is that you and your family are ok.

sly

RogerAS · « **Reply #9 on:** January 29, 2009, 05:12:55 AM »

UGLR et al,

The last thing I need right now is enough wind to start the gennies. Every slight breeze brings down more trees. Hopefully it will warm up some today, but right now, at 5:48AM, it's 14° F. I have plenty of diesel for the Kubota, my backup generator (DC only) and I ain't afraid to use it. Actually it's running right now helping my batteries warm up some as well as bring them up in charge.

We have plenty of food, and the bottle of propane in the T-bird pict is full and waiting should the current one run dry.

Right on about the firewood, but it is very hard on a chain to cut through that ice. It tends to wash away the bar oil and the wood is frozen so hard it is like cutting iron. Still, I'm in for a long day of clearing the road.

Yep ice storms suck! The forest had just began to recover from the the previous storm, and now the trees have to start over and limbs that are broken but hanging will be coming down for months. The sad part is the wildlife cannot reach the acorns that are now locked under this stupid ice. I am feeding corn for my deer, and the game cam picts show everything is getting in on that. Also my wife is feeding the little tweety birds.

Take care all,

MattM · « **Reply #10 on:** January 29, 2009, 06:40:17 AM »

My condolences on the storm damage.

I merely had a 144x44 lot at the time of a similar storm about 6-7 years back and from five (admittedly very large) trees had 21 truck loads of wood to haul away. And that was with leaving behind an overly large stack of wood for my outdoor chimnea! Took months to get through all that wood. Unless you live through these things it is hard to fathom the truly destructive nature of heavy ice on everything.

Be sure to get your house roof in ship shape before the thawing and freezing cycles tear it up any worse than it already did. Initially it insulates real nice, but as it freezes and thaws you end up with moisture backing up in the attic. You might just end up with the gift that won't stop giving.

Bruce S · « **Reply #11 on:** January 29, 2009, 07:24:16 AM »

RogerAS;

The pics are pretty though :-).

St. Louis got, ice , snow, ice then more cold, then the real snow came down totaling only around 7 inches. Sure is pretty to look at.

One item of notice, the RainX trick worked to a point, the 1st round of ice slid off and I was so pround, then came the snow/ice/snow with no sun :-(. Panels out put currently at Zero to none at this time.

Glad to read the 'bird is safe

rolling brown out last night, I'll trade some Bio-D for some of that to-be fire wood :_), sure is nice to have battery backup for the coffee pot.

Stay Safe

Bruce S

Airstream · « **Reply #12 on:** January 29, 2009, 08:10:50 AM »

If you travel across I-64 note the Will Rodgers Natural Forest Area was hit two years running by major ice storms, maybe three storms... the last time I crossed it seemed there was more splintered heart wood visible than normal barked tree trunks. I think it is now known as the Will Rodgers Natural Shrubberies Area...

WXYZCIENCE · « **Reply #13 on:** January 29, 2009, 01:18:49 PM »

Roger, looks like my new place up here in BC. I am in a library in Burns Lake and want to tell the board that I am still alive. Off grid is a little more of a task than most people think. I hope to be back on line by the end February. Have a good day. Joseph

Ungrounded Lightning Rod · « **Reply #14 on:** January 29, 2009, 07:01:59 PM »

Taper the deer off on the corn when the ice is gone.

Feeding deer something they aren't getting in the wild, then stopping suddenly, can kill them. Their gut bacteria populations shift to digest what they're eating. A sudden shift from grain or hay to some forage can leave them without enough of the right bacteria to digest the forage. So they starve with full bellies.

If you're just feeding them for a couple days they should be OK.

oztules · « **Reply #15 on:** January 30, 2009, 04:14:15 AM »

Nice to see your still alive and active Joseph.

.........oztules

bj · « **Reply #16 on:** January 30, 2009, 06:08:12 AM »

Roger--I almost put in a comment yesterday, saying that although it

is a pretty sight where you are, it makes me glad that I live where I do.

It rained here last nite. Too early to see how things are.

The weather can and does humble us all sometimes.

bj

P.S. It was nice to see a comment from Joseph.

adaml · « **Reply #17 on:** January 30, 2009, 07:59:04 AM »

All I can say is.......Wow, spectacular but scary as well. Never seen anything like that.

RogerAS · « **Reply #18 on:** January 30, 2009, 10:18:57 AM »

UGLR,

I feed my deer and turkey year 'round a small portion of whole corn, about 1.5 quarts per day. In the spring, when things start to green up they (deer) naturally taper off the corn and I slack off to about a pint a day. The larger birds such as the turkey, dove and crows still come by for a snack, as do the squirrels, foxes, raccoons and coyotes which get their share too. Judging by the game cam picts of the same deer coming by for over a year and the shiny fur they have I'd say the herd is doing OK. The only ones to die, that I know of, are the ones I shoot. :-) I have one buck that has been hit by a car or truck some time ago and has a very badly deformed right front leg. I've a record of him going from no antlers to velvet and back to no antlers I feel that if it were not for the extra energy obtained by the corn he would have been coyote turds long ago.

I am careful about the corn not getting wet and laying there fermenting and growing bad bacteria or fungus. Rarely have I found any corn left over from one day to the next.

I also have a white oak stump that has had a red mineral block parked atop it for over 10 years now (NOT THE SAME ONE) and a set of 1/2 55 gal barrels I keep filled with clean water. When these become filled with leaves or start to look nasty I clean and refill them, always with a small limb inserted to allow small critters to escape should they fall in. I am very careful about the wildlife and the environment on my land.

I appreciate the advice, but I'm the careful type when it comes to this sort of thing.

pepa · « **Reply #19 on:** January 30, 2009, 12:16:51 PM »

hi RodgerAS, just for looks, those are very pretty pictures of a winter wonder land, thanks for shareing, but i would not like to be there at the time. the good part is the extra firewood you will have after cleanup. BTW i just watched conair again and they didn't put his bunny back in the box eather. having fun, your friend pepa

brokengun · « **Reply #20 on:** January 30, 2009, 09:37:12 PM »

Reminds me of the ice storm of 1998 in Maine where I live. We lost power all over the place. I think my house was out of power for at least two weeks.

FishbonzWV · « **Reply #21 on:** January 31, 2009, 07:18:35 AM »

I also feed the deer in the back yard but a few years ago I switched to Deer Chow.

It's a soy based mixture and the coons and squirrels don't like it. I was going through a hundred pound bag of corn a week before the switch. The coons were keeping me awake at night with their fighting and courting, the squirrels had a path worn out to the feeder.

I had to 'relocate' about a half dozen coons every couple of years to be able to sleep.

I also use mineral blocks to make poplar stumps disappear. :-)