Weather

Discussion
1

What is the worst, WORST, WORST scary weather experience you have ever had? Hurricane? Blizzard? Floods? How about a storm when you were out at sea? Anyone ever been there?

It’s torrential rain here at the moment but I think the house will hold up…hope it doesn’t get much worse though.

2

While living in So Cal we don’t really have any of that kind of severe weather.

but the scariest thing I’ve been in was driving up a super steep hill with lots of traffic (Gunnar is familiar with the landscape) It’s called Cajon pass. This was about 10 years ago. The rain was coming down so hard it was sheeting. I was in a little ford aspire going up this hill when the sheeting water started to carry my little car back down the hill. Luckily I somehow got traction and made it up the hill but we slid backward for about 10 feet into on coming freeway traffic. how I didn’t get smashed I have no idea.

ended up hydroplaning several times on the rest of the trip even going as slow as 40 miles per hour.
Late,
grmpysmrf

3

For the WORST weather I’ve experienced, that would be during my travels in the Middle East. I often route through in the summer and it can be absolutely devastating. Just as an example . . .

Doha, Qatar: I was there 2 years ago in mid-August (probably the stupidest time to go) and the temp was 54C (that’s 130F to us yanks). But that’s not the bad part. The humidity is so high that as soon as I step out of a taxi or hotel door my glasses are fogged. You become a dripping sweaty mess INSTANTLY. But wait, there’s more . . . to add to the fun there is constant dust and dust storms. The dust is really fine and gets everywhere. And since you will be wet and sticky you become a dirt magnet.

When I do summers in the middle east (Cairo, Dubai, or Doha) I take cold showers every time I get to my hotel trying to get cooled and clean.

I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t bad one morning and went out on my balcony to do some emails on my laptop. The monitor started dripping into my keyboard and it started shorting stuff.

But that was just miserable, not really scary.

My scary weather would also be on the Cajon Pass that Grumpy mentioned, about 1993, I think. I was driving from Ridgecrest to Orange County with my homie (we’d sometimes head back to OC to buy records and crash at my granny’s house). We were in my dad’s 1970 Chevy Pickup truck which had a horrible heater which barely kept us alive. The rain was so hard we could barely see out the windshield so we’d be driving and not knowing what was in front of us half the time. We had a crappy flashlight and we would occasionally roll down a window and shine it ahead like a searchlight to make sure we weren’t going to plant into a jacknifed semi or something.

4

Ice storm up here in 98. Whatever year it was. No power for a week during the middle of the winter. All roads covered in ice. Good times.

Edit: it was so bad it has it’s own wikipedia entry. Look under Ice Storm of 1998.

Memories.

5

Ice storm up here in 98. Whatever year it was. No power for a week during the middle of the winter. All roads covered in ice. Good times.

Edit: it was so bad it has it’s own wikipedia entry. Look under Ice Storm of 1998.

Memories.

The “no power” part just registered with me. Did you guys have a stove or something? Or a fireplace? Sounds creepy, actually. I’m a California pussy, so I haven’t had any real experience with truly cold weather.

6

Right now in Scotland is the worst weather I’ve experienced. It’s Hoth here and unfortunately I don’t have a Ton Ton.

The Sunday before last I missed the Shrinebuilder gig in Glasgow as all transport was cancelled. Not only did I lose out on my £15 ticket but I missed the chance to finally see Dale Crover drum by himself again!

The other day I had to walk home from work due to all traffic being gridlocked.

When you have this much snow the magic wears off pretty damn quick.

Before moving here to Edinburgh I lived in Cairns for a few years…that place is the most beautiful place on earth with the Barrier Reef and Rainforest etc…but man the humid weather is brutal.

7

Before moving here to Edinburgh I lived in Cairns for a few years…that place is the most beautiful place on earth with the Barrier Reef and Rainforest etc…but man the humid weather is brutal.

Ah you’re a pussy, Cairns isn’t that bad.

Peligro, I don’t think these storms are as bad as the one we had earlier this year. A friend of mine said driving towards the Ranges was apocalyptic but I don’t think it hit the southern suburbs that bad.

8

I think gunnars experience wins, 130 degree weather is freaking INSANE.

Weather here in Texas is pretty calm for the most part. I’ve been in a few crazy hail storms while driving on the freeway but nothing that tops your experiences.

9

[reply]Before moving here to Edinburgh I lived in Cairns for a few years…that place is the most beautiful place on earth with the Barrier Reef and Rainforest etc…but man the humid weather is brutal.

Ah you’re a pussy, Cairns isn’t that bad.
[/reply]

Actually you’re kind of right…when I stayed in Singapore for a few days it was even worse than Cairns at it’s worst.

10

I’ve been through a few hurricanes. Nothing like Katrina, though.

11

Singapore cracks me up. It’ll be really hot and humid outside (nothing even close to the Middle East, though) so you get all sweaty and wet . . . But then when you get into a taxi or go to someone’s office they have the AC set on insta-freeze and it’s like 0 deg. So your sweat becomes your enemy once more as you become a human popsicle.

12

Ice storm 2 years ago dropped a tree through my bedroom, and knocked out our power for 6 days. Most of the city was without power.

13

A few highlights:

I think it was 1986 or 1987: My parent’s house flooded due to a horrible straight line wind storm that went through in the middle of the night. It cracked off the tree in front of the house and it fell on the neighbor’s car. It also bent the parents tv antenna in half.

  • 1987: A super storm hit MSP and dumped huge amounts of rain. We were sitting in a restaurant around 5 pm and it was as dark as midnight outside. I was watching a stop sign flex back and forth on its stake. The sky then became green with hail. The tornado warning sirens went off and the restaurant manager brought us all into the kitchen to protect us.
  • 1989: The tip of my nose turned white due to the extended duration exposure to very cold air temperature.
  • 1990: It snowed so much one night that we could not see the road. We drove down the middle and followed the red taillights of the truck in front of us.
  • 1992: I moved to FL and 5 days later, Hurricane Andrew hit Miami. I was standing outside but under the shelter of the balcony above me during an afternoon thunderstorm. I was so incredibly close to a cloud to ground lightning strike that I saw the dirt chunks fly up and sound was deafening.
  • 1993: Storm of the Century, the cold front passed through as I was standing in the exterior doorway. My ears popped due to the pressure change. The storm caused extensive damage from South America to Canada.
  • 1994: Tropical Storm Gordon, I was at work with two other people. We were responsible for many other people as well as keeping our workplace safe. It was like the building was breathing and the rain was blowing sideways. Crisis Management.
  • 1994: My sister had her learner’s permit and was driving while I was in the passenger seat. We hit black ice just after the second bend in the S turn where the cliff is that goes into the lake and before the guardrail starts on a 2-lane highway. We ended up doing a 180 and going into the ditch on the opposite side of the road without hitting the guardrail - so lucky we did not hit an oncoming car! We would have died if she hit the ice on the second curve of the S by going right over the cliff into the lake.
  • 1997: I was working in a room with no windows inside a second room with no windows when lightning hit the building and knocked out the power. I couldn’t even get up to go to the door to get out because it was like being blindfolded, and I could have fallen in the pit.
  • 2001: Tropical Storm Allison hit Houston, TX at 5 pm on a Friday evening during rush hour. It is the only tropical storm to have its name retired because it caused 41 people to lose their lives and massive flood damage that was in the multi-billions. My car sat in 8-9 inches of water all night long and narrowly missed getting flood damaged. Had it been parked three parking spots in either direction, it would have been totaled.
  • 2004: Hurricanes Charlie, Francis, and Jeanne; simply devastating. I went through the eye of Jeanne and I can tell you that going straight through the eye is one freaky experience.
  • I was driving south on I-45 through Houston when the warning beeps went off on the radio. The tornado was to my left, off in the distance.
  • We have seen tornadoes at work several times.
  • When it rains here in FL during the summer, it rains so hard that a driver cannot see. Most people stop under the overpasses until it clears.
  • The road at work is real crap and holds standing water. I’ve hydroplaned in the car several times.
14

Everything Gunnar said about Doha makes me even more staggered they got the World Cup.

Cunts.

15

Everything Gunnar said about Doha makes me even more staggered they got the World Cup.

Cunts.

when your used to practicing in hell every other local is paradise. surprised they weren’t undefeated in league or what ever it is they play before the cup tourny.

I wish we got thunderstorms on a regular basis. we get one really decent one every 3 or 4 years that lasts maybe 20 minutes! other than that we’ll get maybe one or two thunder claps once a season.
Late,
grmpysmrf

16

Ice storm up here in 98. Whatever year it was. No power for a week during the middle of the winter. All roads covered in ice. Good times.

Edit: it was so bad it has it’s own wikipedia entry. Look under Ice Storm of 1998.

Memories.

I survived that one, too. Was living in Central Maine and was almost crushed by mu roof.

17

Try being on a fishing boat 5 miles off the coast in the tropics, with only one life jacket between three guys and wearing nothing but a pair of speedos 'cos it was so disgustingly humid and hot and then from out of nowhere you are hit by a torrential rain / hail storm and bucketed by gale force winds?!?

Could barely see more than two metres in front of my face, I’m freezing and my (basically) nude body was being pelted by hailstones the size of marbles until I was numb and crying out in agony. All the while trying desperately to refrain from falling out of the boat while stumbling around in blind panic.

We were so certain we were going to die, that we embraced and said our good byes. After about half an hour, when the storm began to abate, we realised that the current had taken us to within a mile or so from where we set out from.

Another time I was visiting Maine with the same two friends and we got snowed in at the hotel we were staying at. There was the three of us and a grand total of about 5 other guests in a hotel the size of the one in The Shining. And wouldn’t you know, it was haunted to boot. Two of the other guest (a woman from Canada and her Italian toy boy) came banging on our door at about 1am (when we were about as stoned as is humanly possible), in hysterics because they had supposedly been followed by a ‘ghost girl’ while walking back to their room. They were freaked out completely and ended up sleeping on our couch.

I would have thought they were imagining things, but the concierge confirmed the next day that the hotel had at least three or four ghosts that had been spotted in the hotel throughout the years.

I don’t think I left my room for the next three days. That shit freaks me out!

18

but the scariest thing I’ve been in was driving up a super steep hill with lots of traffic (Gunnar is familiar with the landscape) It’s called Cajon pass. This was about 10 years ago. The rain was coming down so hard it was sheeting. I was in a little ford aspire going up this hill when the sheeting water started to carry my little car back down the hill. Luckily I somehow got traction and made it up the hill but we slid backward for about 10 feet into on coming freeway traffic. how I didn’t get smashed I have no idea.

I don’t know which is scarier in terms of extreme weather: being out in the wilderness or trying to drive a car.

Actually Olsen’s boat story is probably the scariest so far.

19

When I was living in the US, I was visiting some friends in Portland Oregon who owned one of just about the biggest mansions I have ever seen. One night we were foolin’ around playing pool and listening to music and we decided to go for a drive through some nearby woods that I jokingly referred to as ‘Twin Peaks’ country.

About 45 minutes into the drive, not long after we had entered the woods, the rain started coming down in sheets making visibility almost impossible. The girl who was driving started to get really freaked out and kept squealing but there was nowhere to pull over and change drivers so she had to keep going.

Pretty soon it got worse and mud starts sliding down the mountainside and washing over the car. We all thought we were going to drown in mud. The car got stuck and everybody panicked and started screaming. Luckily though a passing mechanic in a pickup saw were in trouble and managed to tow us to safety.

I think I kissed that guy’s feet about 20 times after I got out of the car.

20

I was driving from Wisconsin to Washington and hit a big blizzard in Minnesota. No visibility. I hit a patch of ice, spun in circles and crashed into the rear end of a police car. That one changed my life.