deadly snow storm happening as we talk

[donsu]

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?flok=FF-APO-1110&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20060321%2F0219420415.htm&sc=1110&photoid=20060320CODZ107&floc=NW_1-T


Five Deaths Blamed on Midwest Snowstorm

-snip-

Hundreds of schools were closed in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and South Dakota, and at least five deaths were blamed on the storm. Spring officially began at 1:26 p.m. EST.

Myron Williams, who raises livestock near Wall, was busy shoveling a foot of snow from gates and feedlots on his property. The rancher said the work was hard but the precipitation was welcome.

``We're glad to have the moisture,'' Williams said. ``Nothing's free, so you've got to pay for everything.''

Twenty-five inches of snow was reported in central Nebraska, parts of South Dakota had up to 18 inches, northeast Colorado had at least a foot, northwest Kansas had up to 10 inches and parts of the Oklahoma Panhandle got half a foot.

Several stretches of Interstate 80 were closed in Nebraska, the State Patrol said. Parts of Interstate 70 were closed in western Kansas, and in Colorado more than 150 miles of the highway were shut down.

In South Dakota, a stretch of about 200 miles of I-90 was reopened Monday. The highway had been closed from Rapid City to Chamberlain because of the heavy snow and tractor-trailers that had gotten stuck.

The storm postponed the final day of the South Dakota Legislature's 2006 session, and forced Nebraska's Legislature to cancel its Tuesday meeting.

Also Monday, at least two tornadoes touched down in rural Oklahoma as a wave of thunderstorms moved across the state.
-snip-
-----------------------------------------

wishing them well

[acmavm]

1. Old Myron can afford to have a cavalier attitude. I doubt that

anyone in his family died. Guys like that gripe my ass. He's a repub through and through. The price is always worth it, as long as it's someone else who has to pay the bill.

[tularetom]

3. Yeah but he said it's hard work

Who else have you heard say that.

[acmavm]

4. This whacked out farmers think that life is supposed to be hard.

All around. It's a BIZARRE mentality. One that allows no pity. And a general feeliing of male white Christian (?) supremacy.

[rinsd]

10. self delete - unecessarily snarky

[High Plains]

5. Huh?

What's your problem with this guy?

Is he not supposed to go to work because somebody died in a snow storm?

[politicat]

7. Um... lack of water HAS been killing us.

The suicide rate among farmers and ranchers in Colorado, western Kansas and western Nebraska has been triple the average for farmers (and farmers are up there with psychologists, ATControllers and social workers) for the last few years due to drought. It's very likely that someone in his family or one of his friends has died, or been forced into bankruptcy, or had his land taken by the county or state to pay taxes. That water is very precious to us - it means the difference between being able to survive and not.

No, no one in his family probably died on the roads because when it blizzards out here, we stay home and don't make a run for milk. If you had read the article, you would have read that four of the five people who were killed died in traffic accidents - one entered a flash flooded wash, two were in motorcycle accidents on the icy roads, and one lost control of the vehicle on slushy roads. (In other words, driving too fast for conditions or overconfident or not paying attention or a combination.) The last one was a woman with Alzheimer's who wandered away from home - and that can happen at any time of year.

Besides, the rancher was probably referring to the shovelling he was doing - it's not likely that he was even aware of four motor accidents and an Alzeheimer's patient. That was what he was paying for, not with lives.

[rinsd]

9. Reading comprehension is good.

Myron was referring to having to shovel snow, not people dying.

You owe him an apology.

[greenbriar]

2. yea, some spring frikking break

it is colder now than it was at Christmas

[Rainscents]

6. Jon Stewart had sig about this last night

It was funny. He was referring to how crazy the world weather had been... Warm winter and cold (winter) spring. I hope everyone stay safe and keep warm!

[Arugula Latte]

8. Ugh.

I always feel so sorry for the poor animals out in the fields. (And I'm sorry the people died too, of course.)

[longship]

11. The Alberta Clippers

No, that's not a hockey team. It's a name given to a storm cell that swoops down out of Northern Canada to dump snow on the lower 48. In my thirty-some years as a Michigan resident--from the late 40's through 1980, I cannot count the times that a promising warmer March was ruined by one of these guys.

One Friday in 1967, while I was at Michigan State University, an Alberta Clipper dumped 38 inches on central Michigan. Whole buildings on campus were swallowed by the drifts. I do not now recall the month, but I remember that it was late in the season. Campus was closed for one whole day, then classes resumed, students trudging to class through the waist deep snow everywhere on campus. Those of us who had cross-country skis on campus had it better. It took days and days to clear the snow. They piled all of the snow on the west side of campus. The pile didn't all melt until weeks later, long after the more balmy April rains.

Largest snow storm I've ever witnessed.

<on eidt:>
On Googling this blizzard, I found that it was Jan 27, 1967, nearly forty years ago. Memory plays tricks on you after that period of time.

Here's an article from the Lansing State Journal

Apparently this was not an Alberta Clipper, but a cell of high moisture that came up from New Mexico and slammed into cold air from the north.