Ice Storm headed to the Ozarks

[Faulkner]

As a rule, southerners don't handle snow well. In our area we get it so seldom and it is usually a short stay anyway, that we don't have the equipment for it. Ice storms are even worse.

The Sunday night forecast for all of the Arkansas Ozarks (northwest Arkansas) is a covering of ice up to a quarter of an inch, which is actually quite a bit. A quarter inch will start stripping trees of limbs and are tough on power lines.

It's still cold here, 29 degree high today, and we have just a little snow left over from last week so I'm out today restocking the dry firewood box in the garage and on the front porch so I don't have to go slipping across the ice to get to the wood pile during the next few days. The generator and emergency kerosene heaters are all topped off. Nothing to do but hunker down.

 

[Doug M.]

You hit on one of the reasons I avoided going south during the winter. when I was trucking. Most of the south is not even close to equipped for it. Roads end up really crummy, driving skills for crud weather are poor, and parking gets to be a problem when the urge to keep going is overcome by better judgment.
Freezing rain and ice are really unpleasant and other than finishing up getting to a place of relative safety, I gave up early. A foot or two of snow never bothered me, and the NE is far better set up to address it.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

K-1 stockpile, Firewood stockpile, Dog chow stockpile, & Beverage stockpile.

All good, bring on the excuse for going nowhere!

Ivan

 

[Onomea]

Probably too late to get, but strap-on cleats for ice are just the ticket when you have to walk on that stuff. I've got a pair in the garage for the aftermath of ice storms.

(Just don't wear 'em in the house!)

Good luck!

 

[Rustyt1953]

Living in the northern climes we are well versed in ice. However, no matter how well we plan and prepare it can still turn and bite us.

Just ask Wayne and Lisa.

 

[lihpster]

Probably too late to get, but strap-on cleats for ice are just the ticket when you have to walk on that stuff. I've got a pair in the garage for the aftermath of ice storms.

(Just don't wear 'em in the house!)

Good luck!

This. Went out to get the mail in my slippers the other day. Did a vertical to horizontal transition midair. Luckily the ice was on top of a couple inches of snow, so it was a little bit softer. No new hurts but it sure didn't help the old ones any.

 

[Bald1]

The metal cleats are nice. I wear them Ice fishing. Also FAULKNER I have Kubota envy. Mine is just a little BX. It does everything good enough but nothing great. What do you use that size (L series I assume) tractor for ?

 

[WardenRoss]

Back in October 2019, I had to travel across northern Alabama thru Georgia. We had about a foot of snow.

The roads were passable, but the back roads were covered by downed trees and power poles. You needed a 4x4 to drive over/around all the debris. There was so much down, the county road crews couldn't get to all of it. Big mess!

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Probably too late to get, but strap-on cleats for ice are just the ticket when you have to walk on that stuff. I've got a pair in the garage for the aftermath of ice storms.

(Just don't wear 'em in the house!)

Good luck!

Quick temporary fix: about 10- 1/4" long hex headed sheet metal screws in the lugs of outdoor boots. I've put them in snow tires also, I removed them at 100 miles of use, with over half the head left.

Ivan

 

[SMSgt]

So many love to make fun of the winter driving in the south, but I have to ask" Where are all the major highway pileups at the beginning of each winter? Up north, that's where. And it ain't because all the AL and GA drivers are up north for vacation. Seems northerners forget how bad their driving is each winter.

 

[Rustyt1953]

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ltcu5Cx8A7I[/ame]

 

[pawngal]

As a rule, southerners don't handle snow well. In our area we get it so seldom and it is usually a short stay anyway, that we don't have the equipment for it. Ice storms are even worse.

The Sunday night forecast for all of the Arkansas Ozarks (northwest Arkansas) is a covering of ice up to a quarter of an inch, which is actually quite a bit. A quarter inch will start stripping trees of limbs and are tough on power lines.

It's still cold here, 29 degree high today, and we have just a little snow left over from last week so I'm out today restocking the dry firewood box in the garage and on the front porch so I don't have to go slipping across the ice to get to the wood pile during the next few days. The generator and emergency kerosene heaters are all topped off. Nothing to do but hunker down.

My son lives in Branson so the ice is in his forecast too. The hills, curves and tourists don't mix well there. When he still lived here in NW Iowa, he commuted 25 miles each way to work. Said that was easier in a sub-zero snowstorm than his current 2 miles in ice/snow.

 

[arjay]

We don’t handle ice well here either,thankfully it’s rare.Hunkering down is good!

 

[biku324]

The '72 ice storm in SW MO left us with only our fireplace for heating, cooking, and melting snow for water, for more than a week.

 

[Faulkner]

Probably too late to get, but strap-on cleats for ice are just the ticket when you have to walk on that stuff. I've got a pair in the garage for the aftermath of ice storms.

(Just don't wear 'em in the house!)

Good luck!

I came across those gems a few years ago and keep a couple of pair of those in my patrol unit.

The metal cleats are nice. I wear them Ice fishing. Also FAULKNER I have Kubota envy. Mine is just a little BX. It does everything good enough but nothing great. What do you use that size (L series I assume) tractor for ?

I'm a fan of Kubotas and have been running them for about 30 years. My first one was a 1992 B7100 17HP 4WD with hydrostat. I really liked it but eventually outgrew it and sold it 15 years later for what I paid for it new.

My second one is a 2001 B2710 27HP 4WD with hydrostat. It's a very good mowing and bush hogging machine and I've been pleased with it too. I run a finish mower or a 5 foot bush hog behind it, and used to grade my 1/4 mile driveway with it until I eventually got it paved.

A few years ago I bought Mrs. Faulkner a new Z27G 27 HP gasoline zero turn mower with 54 inch deck. It's a mowing machine and with it I find I do less mowing with the B2710 unless the ground is damp. The tractor does better on damp ground or any kind of incline, but on flat ground the zero turn is at least three times faster than the tractor.

A couple of years ago I decided I needed a front end loader and I caught a sales deal at the Kubota dealer on a new L3901 39 HP 4WD with hydrostat and quick disconnect bucket. I'm a big fan of the hydrostat transmission. I take the bucket off in the summer (unless I specifically need it) and mainly bush hog with it and do my mowing with the zero turn, although the L3901 did come with a 72 inch finish mower that use on occasion, but the zero turn is just so much faster to mow with. In the winter I keep the bucket on and use it to haul hay and firewood and such around the place. This spring I have some dirt work around the place I'll be doing with it.

I hadn't planned on selling my smaller B2710 because I like it so much, but a buddy of mine kept nagging at me about wanting to buy it. All my equipment is well maintained and parked in the shop. I wash and wax 'em with the same stuff I do with my Harley so they stay clean and shiny. I recently sold my 20 year old B2710 to my buddy for a little more than what I paid new for it and he was glad to get it.

 

[pawngal]

I prefer my ice with about 2 oz. of good bourbon, just sayin'

 

[Rustyt1953]

47 years ago yesterday, the Ohio River froze over in a brutal blizzard. Dad was an hour late for work. It was the first time in 11 years.

 

[llowry61]

Sounds like you have everything under control. Stay warm and safe.

With that 1/4 inch of ice scenario the transformers will be blowing and the tree branches will be cracking and falling. Amazing how much damage ice can do. I have seen evergreens bent completely over and touching the ground with that much ice.

 

[Golddollar]

When either Hurricane Sandy or an ice storm left people around Baltimore (only 45 miles away) without power for a week I got my whole house Generac generator.

 

[snowman]

All but 3 years of my life have been spent here in Northwest Ohio, around 3 hours north of Rustyt1953, and so I have plenty of experience wih snow(and ice to a lesser degree). The other three years I lived in South Carolina to attend graduate school. From time to time I tell the following story about wintertime in the south to friends and acquaintances here, and it almost never fails to bring down the house.(probably will fall flat here).

I was in the seminary at school(there is also an undergraduate school there) working on an M.Div. degree, and one of the requirements was to engage in some kind of ministry to the community for a few hours each week. One semester I was responsible for leading the worship service and speaking at a nursing home/assisted living facility some distance away, which required us to take the car. There were several of us assigned to the home; the others helped wheel the residents to and from the service as I recall, and afterward we would stay and visit them for awhile.

One of the helpers was an undergraduate fellow from Savannah, with whom I would walk each Sunday across the campus to get to the car. One day, in January very likely, it was cold enough to snow, and as we walked an occasional flake or two would hit the walk/ground in front of us(here we would say it was "spitting snow"). Maybe halfway to the car the Savannah native turned to me with a sober look and said, "Man, it's really puttin' it down, isn't it?"

Regards,
Andy