Blizzard 2015 Boston

[Garandman]

Lakes region. Here's another shot of my driveway that hasn't been plowed since Christmas. It appears to be like 2' judging by the reflectors.

I guess I'll find out Friday.

Snow depth in Bangor was 48". O

 

[Garandman]

Lakes region. Here's another shot of my driveway that hasn't been plowed since Christmas. It appears to be like 2' judging by the reflectors.

I guess I'll find out Friday.

Snow depth in Bangor was 48". O

 

[Pixguy]

Snow depth in Bangor was 48". O

Thanks G man. Friends tell me it's been bad so I'll see for myself and just enjoy the trails and avoid the weekend nuts.

 

[DFB]

Wow intense...the search and rescue of Kate Matrosova

The young woman and the mountain - Metro - The Boston Globe

 

[DFB]

Wow intense...the search and rescue of Kate Matrosova

The young woman and the mountain - Metro - The Boston Globe

 

[Garandman]

It appears she was headed for the tree line but the wind was so strong it blew her off the trail.

Current conditions on Mt Washington are -31 with winds at 72mph. The one time I set out with two friends to do a similar route in winter, we never left our base camp. When the wind gusts sound like cannon shots and the trees are whistling and it's 25 below, I'm not going up there.....My buddy made six attempts at Mt Washington before he made it.

The Back Bay area of Boston is a filled-in area taken from the Charles River Basin. As a result the streets are street and the terrain is pretty flat. This big Oshkosh was at work there over the weekend.

There is an article in the Boston Herald contrasting Boston's response with Montreal. Montreal has about 4X the population and land area of Boston, but budgets $153 million compared to Boston's $18.5 million (actual spending this year is north of $30 million). It is 3.2% of their municipal budget, 4 1/2 times higher. Quebec also has a 9.9% sales tax on top of the national GST of 5%. One of the big challenges for Boston is that the state won't let the city add their own sales or other taxes. So that additional budget would come out of property owners as real estate tax. Personally I'm not interested in giving the city $30 million in extra revenue so commuters can park their Audis, so I hope there's a regional plan in place for next year.

https://www.bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2015/02/montreal_knows_where_to_stick_snow

 

[IslandTractor]

It appears she was headed for the tree line but the wind was so strong it blew her off the trail.

Current conditions on Mt Washington are -31 with winds at 72mph. The one time I set out with two friends to do a similar route in winter, we never left our base camp. When the wind gusts sound like cannon shots and the trees are whistling and it's 25 below, I'm not going up there.....My buddy made six attempts at Mt Washington before he made it.

The Back Bay area of Boston is a filled-in area taken from the Charles River Basin. As a result the streets are street and the terrain is pretty flat. This big Oshkosh was at work there over the weekend.

There is an article in the Boston Herald contrasting Boston's response with Montreal. Montreal has about 4X the population and land area of Boston, but budgets $153 million compared to Boston's $18.5 million (actual spending this year is north of $30 million). It is 3.2% of their municipal budget, 4 1/2 times higher. Quebec also has a 9.9% sales tax on top of the national GST of 5%. One of the big challenges for Boston is that the state won't let the city add their own sales or other taxes. So that additional budget would come out of property owners as real estate tax. Personally I'm not interested in giving the city $30 million in extra revenue so commuters can park their Audis, so I hope there's a regional plan in place for next year.

https://www.bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2015/02/montreal_knows_where_to_stick_snow

1) the woman was out of her mind to attempt that hike alone at this time of year. I'm glad none of the rescue folks was injured. Her husband was just as stupid and he'll have to live with the consequences. It somehow doesn't surprise me that they were both Wall Street bankers. Ever wonder what the mindset was of the jerks who caused the 2008 debacle? This mountaineering episode gives some insight into their tunnel vision and selfishness.

2) the Audis that drive into Boston every day virtually all park inside parking garages for $500+/month. It is the folks who live in Boston who don't have any place to put their cars during bad snow events. I personally don't think Boston does a bad job at all with snow. This year is wildly atypical and it would be stupid to budget (or collect taxes) to manage atypical snow events. What they do need is some flexibility to cost average over 5-10 years or so and smooth out the peaks. Our town (leafy suburb north of Boston) has excellent snow removal because they choose to prioritize that over some other city services. We take our own trash to the dump/transfer station for example. The town also doesn't allow any overnight street parking between Nov1 and May1 just to make the plows work easier and more efficient. Neither of those choices would be reasonable for a major city like Boston however.

 

[Garandman]

The center of a tennis net is three feet so that's what we have for snow pack.

 

[IslandTractor]

Just drove past a big parking lot on Soldiers Field Rd next to Harvard stadium. They are using it as a snow farm. The parking lot is bigger than a football field and is completely filled up to about 15 feet with trucked in snow. It probably won't melt until July but they may need to retruck it before melting as it is full of salt and the parking lot is right on the Charles River. Interesting environmental issues.

 

[Garandman]

Not really snow related but, what the ****. Boston drivers are terrible (and sadly, the rest of the country seems to be following suit) but this is a noteworthy accomplishment. This happened in Brookline, where wealthy Liberals live so they can opine about how to make Boston better without having to associate with people of color.

A woman had a "driving mishap" while backing up, adding a new sculpture to the local library.