History of Snow Plowing in Northern Maine

[mwilson]

My town road was not plowed but Hoopty came through for me again.

 

[mwilson]

Out of Statah in the median...

 

[Wayne M.]

Wow it's black n runnin there.

 

[mwilson]

Wow it's black n runnin there.

About 30 miles below the house, whole different climate there.

Road chemicals at work. That road will be bare by this afternoon. Too bad the crap is so hard on vehicles because it does dry the roads up quickly.

 

[mwilson]

Thanks for the pictures. We have a balmy 0 degrees for my commute this a.m. with a high of 23 today. 40's here for Thursday and Friday with rain. Like we say "If you don't like the weather in Indiana, stick around it'll change". So, How much snow did you get in Bangor MWilson?

About 4" here in Bangor from what I see, 63 miles North at the house....about 12" or more. Was running in the top of my LL Bean boots when i went out to the car.

 

[Sleeper1]

When I moved to Maine I was 11 yrs old, everyone talked about Bean Boots. Being from Indiana, I just assumed they were boots wore when working with Soy Beans. I was shocked when I never saw one Soy Bean Field:-laf L.L. Bean, Great Boots and Rugged Apparel!

 

[Jim W]

Mike,
Will the cold air is on the way towards Maine. We had a low of -3F this morning in Oswego IL. and the high will be in the mid 20's today. So by the time this reaches Maine the high for the day may only be in the teens for the day. Good luck this weekend.
The front cover is on truck has two flaps closed and plugged in.

Jim W

 

[DonFitzwater]

Makes me happy to see you girls getting some manly weather!!! :-laf

 

[JR]

Mike I'm surprised you never have problems commuting that far in a car. I've got about a 30 mile commute that is all rural and there are times a car would be dicey, especially at the hour I'm on the roads. (Pretty dang early!).
Just the other night we got a good lake effect blast that dumped 12" over night and I came across a lady in an Accord that was literally stuck in the middle of the road. I ended up having to pull her a couple hundred yards before she could drive on her own power again. Its always the worst spot on the road, a HUGE open field and the drifts blow over the road from ditch to ditch.

Alot of it may have to do with the road departments, I'm sure yours are much better equipped than ours.

 

[TFucili]

Hoopty has road-hugging, snow-digging, Big Ol' 'Merican weight...

 

[mwilson]

Hoopty has road-hugging, snow-digging, Big Ol' 'Merican weight...

Exactly! Two tons of it with front wheel drive.

 

[JR]

That helps as long as the snow isn't over the bumper

Which probably goes back to the road crews keeping up with the weather which doesn't always happen here.

 

[mwilson]

That helps as long as the snow isn't over the bumper

Which probably goes back to the road crews keeping up with the weather which doesn't always happen here.

You are right, we have a pretty good approach to keeping the roads clear......however you still need a vehicle that is good in the snow.

What happened yesterday morning was a combination of school being closed for the day (snow plows not out hammering early as a result) AND a very rapid accumulation of snow in a 2 hour period. It dumped a good 6-8" in those 2 hours.

The DOT will slack off on plowing if the storm is intense until it calms down, they are just wasting fuel otherwise. So there are times that I am pushing snow going up the Interstate. You can usually find a set of truck ruts to run in which helps a lot if the car is wide enough to run in them. I can tell you from experience that Hoopty is wide enough, Honda Accords and VW Jettas are not wide enough and will hop side to side. That crap makes for a very loooong ride home....

 

[mwilson]

Exactly! Two tons of it with front wheel drive.

The worse side effect is wet brakes, you can't stop until you dry them out. Then the snow packs into the rims and puts the wheels out of balance as it melts and slides to the bottom of the rim once I get to work. Left last night, started pounding and shimmying at any speed above 50 mph so I had to swing into a car wash in 15 degree temps to get the wheels blasted out.

Wintah is a trip........

 

[Wayne M.]

How about Subarus. Anytime I've been in New England, they were all over the place. I've never been that far up east though.

 

[JR]

The DOT will slack off on plowing if the storm is intense until it calms down, they are just wasting fuel otherwise.

Our road crew often uses this approach as well, except sometimes I swear they wait until its complety done snowing :-laf

In all fairness they do a fairly decent job, our county by far averages the most snow in the state yet our schools rarely close down. The times I'm on the road generally make for a poor commute as ODOT pretty much runs a skeleton crew at night. The township roads (which make up about 50% of my commute) do not get plowed at all at night. They'll hit them late afternoon/early evening and they're done until the next morning. So by 3-4am when I'm hitting the streets they're pretty well fubared.

 

[mwilson]

How about Subarus. Anytime I've been in New England, they were all over the place. I've never been that far up east though.

Oh there is a bunch of them up here, covered in Rainbow stickers and Tree Hugger decals........I don't care for the head gasket issues, small size and they always seem to be rusty in one spot or another......

They are also not a hell of a lot better on fuel than Hoopty is. Plus I am really into the heated / cooled seats, heated steering wheel, advanced climate control, HID headlights (just incredible in the snow BTW) and just plain drive ability that Hoopty offers....

I drove to work this morning in a short sleeved shirt and it was 3 degrees outside. I was as comfortable as I am in my den at home. That right there is motivation enough for me...

 

[mwilson]

And I forgot to mention the trunk, I have stated in the past that it would hold two dead bodies and a spade.

I have managed to transport Freightliner M2 Charge Air Coolers in there with the trunk lid latched down.

 

[mwilson]

Well Jim, the cold air has arrived.....

 

[Wayne M.]

Yea. The subies have that green rap. Can't beat your claims. My Dad was a GM at a SAAB/ Triumph dealer when I was young, so I was kinda keen to the FWD thing. There was always a SAAB 96 around when bad weather hit.