SVC status report

[Steve Cole]

We made it in this morning. It took an hour instead of the usual 20 minutes. We saw 10 cars in the ditch between mile markers 111 (my house) and 117 (city limits). Because the highways are closed, the intersection of I27 and the loop was awash in 18 wheelers (that location, on the south edge of town, has hotels, truckstops, and fast food franchises was was sort of designed to be a safe harbor for stranded trucks with very wide streets where the trucks could park).

The highway south of town had two inches of packed glare ice on it. Inside town, it was mostly clear. The highway department more or less gave up trying to clear highways and shut them down, but the county and city are hard at work. I saw ten city trucks, motor graders, and scoop loaders in a five mile stretch from the south city limit to the office.

Snow was officially 12 or 19 inches depending on who you asked and where they measured. Because of wind, the actual deposit of snow varied from two inches to five feet (drifting). Most of the biggest drifts were not in critical areas. Most main streets are plowed and passable at 20mph.

[DNordeen]

Wow...that's a lot of snow for TX.

[djdood]

Drifts are a pain in the butt, especially when they block your doors. My folks had to throw me over a drift in front of ours to shovel out our front door, when I was a kid (in Montana).

[DNordeen]

I had to shovel off the roof of my RV. 4 ft of snow on top of it was just too much. But that's the Mts for you.