The "Holy %$%# It's Cold Out There" Winter 2017 Thread

[Gusington]

^I was glad too since the car was 3 days old, replacing another car that got totalled a month before :/

[Sir Slash]

Just the opposite here in Fla. With Yankees on the road, you have to drive with your foot on the brake everywhere you go. Even in your own driveway.  :o

[Gusington]

I know here in the northeast weather dorks like me are preoccupied with the big warm up for tomorrow and the rain to wash the filthy week old snow away BUT...there appears to be a potentially large snow storm approaching for next Tuesday + Wednesday. I know we are still 5 days out but right now they are calling for 1 foot plus in my area. Beware.

[OJsDad]

We're getting some rain today and over night, switching over to ice tomorrow morning, then followed by 2-4" of snow

[Gusington]

Where are you?

[Sir Slash]

Up S--t Creek most likely.

[Gusington]

Ha!

[OJsDad]

NW Ohio.  About 50 miles south of Toledo.

[JasonPratt]

Esmeraldis, regarding automatics: it's perfectly possible to drop manually into lower gears in typical automatics and use that as the 'brake' on ice. Just downshift into the "L" gears (no clutch needed).

The new CVT drives or whatever they're called.... eh, I dunno. I've got one in my RAV4 hybrid, but I haven't had to try it on ice or snow yet. Technically the shift column allows for the equivalent of L gears, which (as often common for automatics nowadays) are set up to pretend it's a manual transmission (which makes my teeth grit -- I much prefer manuals with a true clutch). But how the continuous variable trans actually performs in ice/snow, I won't know from experience until tomorrow probably.


Relatedly, the muggy high sixties here in West TN today will be dropping to the mid teens tonight along with the sorts of storms that a 50 degree F drop would expect. All the water on the ground from the misty mess today and yesterday will freeze to frozen slop, then freezing rain and maybe sleet on top. If we're lucky we'll pick up 3 to 5 inches of snow on top of that to give us some traction. (The forecast gets worse every time I check on it.)

The good news is that Mom and I run the factory and we can just give the guys a day off tomorrow, or have them come in late (depending on yard conditions).

The other good news is that while the cold will hang a little while the sun should be out quickly and temps will occasionally break above freezing. So between estivation and evaporation, roads should be good by Monday (though the yard may still be sloppy).

The bad news is that with so much water on the roads right now, the state / county isn't even bothering to saline. So I'm unsure how overly optimistic my judgment about the road improvement is. Past experience, after all, has been somewhat salted.

[Emeraldlis]

Esmeraldis, regarding automatics: it's perfectly possible to drop manually into lower gears in typical automatics and use that as the 'brake' on ice. Just downshift into the "L" gears (no clutch needed).

The new CVT drives or whatever they're called.... eh, I dunno. I've got one in my RAV4 hybrid, but I haven't had to try it on ice or snow yet. Technically the shift column allows for the equivalent of L gears, which (as often common for automatics nowadays) are set up to pretend it's a manual transmission (which makes my teeth grit -- I much prefer manuals with a true clutch). But how the continuous variable trans actually performs in ice/snow, I won't know from experience until tomorrow probably.

Thanks for that info Jay  O0 I've never driven an automatic, so I wouldn't really know what to do. But if I ever find myself in one.. And skidding over ice, I now know, slam it into "L" :)  Be safe when you test out your RAV4 on ice or snow tomorrow!

^I was glad too since the car was 3 days old, replacing another car that got totalled a month before :/

I hope your new car lasts more than a month then, lol  O0 happy motering!

[JasonPratt]

(Note to self: Emeraldlis, like emerald eLISabeth, not Esmeraldis, which is a variant of Esmeralda from somewhere.... {noted}  :-[ )

My apologies for constantly misreading your name; a neuron blazed a wrong path once and now is JUST SURE THAT MUST BE RIGHT.  O:-)


Meanwhile, Winter Storm Warning now declared for West TN until 6pm tomorrow. Rain is supposed to start in about an hour (4pm) and to continue until it starts freezing, then continues on through to 2pm (but apparently now until 6pm) tomorrow. Freezing supposedly starts no later than 3 am tomorrow morning but might be as early as 11pm.

Unknown amount of water on the ground freezing with freezing rain on top and sleet. How much snow on top unknown.

In my experience, these winterpocalypse warnings tend to overshoot around here.

[Gusington]

I've heard all kinds of complaints from a lot of people about CVT but the one I had (in the car that got totaled) never gave me one bit of trouble.

[Barthheart]

The CVT in our new Outlander works great in the snow.  O0

[mirth]

https://twitter.com/RyanMaue/status/951706437297852416

[MetalDog]

Martok made it safely to Wisconsin.  Now he's just looking for warmth.