Austin traffic is paralyzed by a very light ice storm. Drizzle and high 20 degree temps have bridges and overpasses covered by a thin sheet of ice. Accidents all over the central Texas counties with EMS and DPS stretched to the max. THESE IDIOTS DOWN HERE PANIC AT THE SIGHT OF RAIN. ICE IS EVEN WORSE!
Snow Report in Houston!! <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/QhHr7LCVQRw" frameborder="0"></iframe>
20 degrees!?! That's spring weather. Up here in the midwest, we are waking up to below zero and single-digit highs. :shock: Oh yeah. Don't forget to wrap your pipes. :lol:
T - I heard from my sister-in-law that Houston was paralyzed this morning due to frozen roads. What a mess.
I was driving from Detroit to Milwaukee in the early evening last night and got caught in a massive traffic jam near Michigan City, Indiana caused by a lake effect snow storm which caused whiteout conditions and a traffic accident that involved well over 20 semis resulting in several fatalities. Normally, I can do Detroit to Milwaukee in 7 hours. This time it was 12 with me pulling into MKE at 1:30 am. I94 in that area runs parallel to Lake Michigan and is a snow belt area with heavy truck traffic. That combination combined with speeding asshole drivers from Illinois creates a recipe for traffic carnage and last night was certainly carnage. Can't ever recall seeing an accident site with so many trucks crumbled against one another before. Even 5 hours after the crash ambulances were leaving the scene no doubt carrying people who were finally extracted from cars hours after the accident. Plus, my favorite Hoosier discount cigarette store was closed by the time traffic started moving again. God, I am really starting to hate Winter...
Bobda, thank goodness you're OK. We had thorough coverage of the massive pileup on Indy TV and were aware of the tragic loss of lives and the many injuries. Wow! I'll bet you were glad to be home safe and sound. Take care.
Whenever I see folks in the South freak out over 'winter weather', it reminds me of coming down South to play baseball with UMD. We pulled into play North Georgia. They had a cold spell push through and it was just above freezing the night before. Their players had parkas and hoodies. Their coach repeatedly tried to cancel/postpone the double header. We were on a tight schedule to jam as much baseball into a 2 week period as possible, so that didn't work for us. When their guys arrived to find our players taking BP, fly balls and stretches in shorts with no shirts, they thought we were insane! Our guys were so excited that the sun was actually out and you could see grass. Like it does all over the South, life had come to a grinding halt because of a little cold wind. The wind finally stopped, so we were able to play. One thing that didn't stop, was this barrage of gunfire that came from the other side of this ridge beyond the outfield wall. At first, it was just a hand full of single shot hand guns. By the time we were in the 5th inning of the 1st game, there was full blown automatic gunfire blazing. The top of the ridge was lined with smoke. It sounded like there was a battle going on over that hill. We kept asking them what the hell that was, but they just chuckled. We never did find out. Somewhere in the middle of the 2nd game, I had this thought. Across the way, they were looking at us like we were some insane pack of Nordic raiders unaffected by the cold. Our guys were looking out at them like they were some crazy, religious/paramilitary gun compound. Then there's me, not from either place, but totally convinced that they are both bat **** nuts. Perspective is everything, I suppose. Here's that field so you can see what I meant by the ridge.
:idea: That place reminds me of Fiscalini Field...home of the Mighty Cal State San Bernardino Howling Friggen Coyotes. Owoowooo! The gun range is behind the hill in rightfield... http://blog.pe.com/college-sports/2012/05/05/cal-state-how-do-you-hit-with-all-that-racket/
Reminds me of the first international "American style " football game played years ago featuring the teams representing Poland and Italy. The game was scoreless in the 4th neither team having much luck moving the ball against the other. All of the sudden a train passed behind the stadium and blew its whistle. The Italian team thought that was the end of the game and left the field. Seven plays lets the Pollacks scored. 8)