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..extremely Dangerous Winter Weather Conditions This Morning For The Baltimore-washington Region...the Eastern Panhandle Of West Virginia...

Do Not Attempt To Drive This Morning And Early Afternoon. Life Threatening Blizzard Conditions Have Developed Rapidly Across The Baltimore-washington Region This Morning.

At 7:27 Am This Morning...a Wind Gust Was Recorded To 60 Mph At Manassas Virginia. Numerous Wind Gusts Over 40 Mph Have Observed Around The Region Along With White-out Conditions.

If You Get Stranded In Your Vehicle...do Not Leave Your Car To Try To Walk For Assistance...you Can Quickly Become Disoriented In Wind Driven Snow And Cold. This Storm Will Subside Early This Evening...so Wait In Your Car For Emergency Help To Arrive. Periodically Run Your Engine For About 10 Minutes Each Hour For Heat. Ensure Your Exhaust Pipe Is Cleared Of Snow And Ice. Crack Your Windows To Avoid Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. Tie A Colored Cloth To Your Cars Antenna To Be Visible To Rescuers. From Time- To-time...move Your Arms...legs...fingers...and Toes To Keep Blood Circulating.

Re: current weather
 

With idiotic drivers out in the D.C. snow, observers are driven to distraction


GO HOME AND STAY THERE: There's something about all this snow that brings out the worst in D.C.-area drivers. (Ricky Carioti/the Washington Post)
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By Monica Hesse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Some idiot was sliding around near Arlington's Court House Metro station in a tiny BMW with pathetic rear-wheel drive, spinning his tires uselessly as he tried again and again to climb an unplowed street. "He kept trying to get up the hill, and I kept encouraging him to park," says a dumbfounded Brandon Tudor, who observed the mess. "At least 10 times -- locking up his brakes, sliding back down the hill. I almost yanked him out of the car."
Some other location, some other idiot. This one pulled into the parking lot of the Montgomery Village Shopping Center in Gaithersburg, where he was spotted by Dan Wasyluk blithely driving around with three feet of snow piled on top of his SUV. "How can he not realize," Wasyluk wondered, awestruck, "that a 60-pound chunk of snow on top of your car is going to fly off and hit someone else's windshield?"
(Why is this particular infraction -- yes, it's illegal -- so common? After digging the rest of a vehicle out of an avalanche of snow, what makes a person suddenly stop and say, "I'm liking this snow-pompadour look on top"?)
These past few days, the sane people of the region have been dedicating themselves to making sure you do not have to drive anywhere. The federal government has been shut down. Employers have offered telecommuting options. But as roads are plowed and cupboards are bare and cabin fever sets in, cars have begun to appear on the roads again, and many witnesses agree: The idiots are on the loose.
"So this Chevy Suburban," Rudi Reik says. "This Chevy Suburban was driving behind a firetruck," down a narrow Dupont Circle street in the middle of blizzard conditions. Apparently, the driver decided that the official vehicle was not moving fast enough. "He pulled out into the opposing lane of traffic and tried to pass," beaten back only when the fire engine honked wildly. Idiot.
"The road hadn't been plowed or even salted." Kathryn Hedrick describes a midnight scene outside her College Park apartment. "But there was a group of people pushing a sedan." Over and over again, they would send it skidding dangerously close to a row of parked cars, before disappearing onto another road, with other opportunities for damage.
We are agreed, yes, that the biggest trouble with the incompetent snow boob in Washington is that he never recognizes that he is the boob? That he tootles into the gas station in his Mini Cooper, then complains that the entryway hasn't been shoveled properly? That he endlessly spins his wheels in the middle of an intersection, then looks baffled when he has produced a tractionless patch that will later become ice?
Some idiot appeared driving a Miata in the District's Mount Pleasant neighborhood, where he tried, for reasons unknown to God or man, to park on an unplowed street. Jason Kowal and friends spent much time and muscle helping him, only to have the idiot demand to be moved out again: He was afraid of getting a ticket and wanted a better parking space. That might be the last time Kowal offers assistance. "I think we're all at the stage," Kowal says, "of shaking our heads and moving on."
Washington idiots cannot be taught, in the course of one snowstorm, advanced snow behavior. These skills must be acquired through lifetimes of bad weather driving.
Kevin McCann left his Southwest Washington townhouse complex on a recent morning to discover that his neighbor, wearing dress pants, was trying to dig his car out using the oar from a rubber dinghy. When he finished, he began inexplicably breaking up the ice under his car with a claw hammer. McCann is from Canada, and as he watched this bizarre routine, he felt mostly sympathy. It would have been idiotic, if it weren't so sad.

Re: current weather
 

quote:
"If You Get Stranded In Your Vehicle...do Not Leave Your Car To Try To Walk For Assistance...you Can Quickly Become Disoriented In Wind Driven Snow And Cold. This Storm Will Subside Early This Evening...so Wait In Your Car For Emergency Help To Arrive. Periodically Run Your Engine For About 10 Minutes Each Hour For Heat. Ensure Your Exhaust Pipe Is Cleared Of Snow And Ice. Crack Your Windows To Avoid Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. Tie A Colored Cloth To Your Cars Antenna To Be Visible To Rescuers. From Time- To-time...move Your Arms...legs...fingers...and Toes To Keep Blood Circulating."
Excellent advice! I was also told to keep a candle in the car. 1 lit candle can provide some heat - I never had to try it. Then in summer, I forgot about it & it melted in my glove box LOL.
There were a couple years when we got bombarded w/snow, stores were selling5-6ft plastic poles with orange flags at top to put on your car. Snowbanks were so big that at intersections you could not see if a car was coming, but you could see their flag & they could see yours.

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No one liked my map? Trying for a tad bit of humor here.

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If I'm stranded in a vehicle in bad weather then the windows are shut. How long would it take for a candle flame to consume a major portion of the oxygen and replace it with unhelpful gases?

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Basic chemistry says 12 g of candle (not very much) would consume about 44 liters of pure oxygen (about 50 gallons worth of air). So if you do not have an exchange of air with the outside--the answer would be --not long.

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I didn't see a map (?)
When windows are closed, it doesn't cut off all oxygen.

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With the windows closed and snow/water piling up on the intake vents a candle in the car is a quick way to die, albeit a painless sleep.

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The Red X Map ?

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Where are the "unhelpful" gases coming from?
I meant with the car not running or out of gas. I either read in paper or saw on tv to keep a candle in car for a little heat. I'm going to try this as experiment LOL. Gonna put a thermometer in car when in 20's F, lite a candle & see how long it burns & then check temp. (without me in it) Maybe w/ my luck, the candle will fall over & blow the car up LOL.

Wow John, that's quite the winter wonderland you have there! That's the heavy wet stuff that sticks to everything...sure looks pretty.

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What were you eating prior?:ha:

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Pain in the butt,.......but it sure makes for pretty pictures! :)

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Oxygen combusted with Candle Wax yields unhelpful gases, some of which are toxic and the rest not useful for human respiration.

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What about all those scented candles that we burn? I know ppl that burn candles all the time in their houses & if they are giving out harmful gases, shouldn't they be made aware? Esp in winter when our houses are sealed up. I never heard of harmful or "unhelpful" gases in candles. Is it a certain ingredient in some that are harmful, &
what is it?
I know candles eat oxygen but with all windows closed in a car, it is still not sealed airtight where one would suffocate (like inside of a fridge). And, it seems safer than breathing cig smoke in a small room.
All I know is what I read, or heard, is that if you are stuck in your car in xtreme cold (no engine running), lite a candle - it said "you'd be surprised at how much heat you can get from a candle in this situation". Seems logical & better than freezing to death. And then think of how long can 1 candle burn for. I s'pose if you had candles burning for 2-3 days strait, well.... that would be different I guess.
Hopefully, you didn't eat beans that day, right Bob LOL.

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If we are talking about a small sedan, I would guess you'd start feeling sleepy in about 5 minutes. A house of course has an enormous volume of air compared to a car. Most cars don't have chimneys either -- although Bob's car might smoke like a chimney!

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I've had regular candle burning in a snow cave on several occasions to stay warm but I sure wouldn't do that in a car. I like my air with as lil co2 as possible. Maybe I can make a snowman tomorrow evening :^) 4" of white crap coming our way... lol
Now maybe granny from the beverly hillbillies has a wood burning stove in the backseat of some hoopdy... lol rollin' down the road looking like an ole fashioned locomotive. :^)

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Weather for Miami Beach, FL - at 6:30am
39°F | °C
Current: Clear
Wind: NW at 20 mph
Humidity: 62%

LIVE CAM

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Can U refresh that link?
:woohoonaner:

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Welcome to the USDA zone 10, SoBe Musa. You're officially not tropical. :ha: