As a general rule, you can figure water content in snow at about one inch of water for every ten inches of snow. Really light, fluffy snow might come in at 1:12.
That means that five feet of snow will equate to 5-6" of water. Not an insignificant amount, and there may be more if the snow is packed.
Snowfall that continues over time is usually measured periodically - say, every 6 hours. That helps reduce the effect of compression in the total snowfall measurement. I have heard of measurements being disqualified for being take too often.
That settling is what is important here. Just as we pack snow to make snowballs, the weight of the snow will serve to compact that below it. Add to that the early factor - the ground is not yet frozen in most places, so the warmth of the earth will somewhat melt the snow on the bottom, making it even more dense.
Back on the weight - a cubic foot of water is about 7.5 gallons, which will weigh over 60 pounds. Thus a cubic foot of snow will come in at about 6 pounds. Stacking six feet of snow means there's about 36 pounds pushing down on that square foot of ground. That'll help pack the snow...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
blue streak 1 New customer service advisory from CSX. Check out the picture below. Almost up to signal heads. http://www.csx.com/index.cfm/customers/news/service-bulletins/customer-service-advisory-more-snow-hitting-buffalo-area/?keywords=customer service advisory Although snows in the east are fluffieer than the west heard unconfirmed reports that this is a heavy now. Any one know ?
New customer service advisory from CSX. Check out the picture below. Almost up to signal heads.
http://www.csx.com/index.cfm/customers/news/service-bulletins/customer-service-advisory-more-snow-hitting-buffalo-area/?keywords=customer service advisory
Although snows in the east are fluffieer than the west heard unconfirmed reports that this is a heavy now. Any one know ?
Character of the snow is dependent upon two things - the available moisture in forming the snow and the temperature at which it forms.
Lake Effect snow at this time of year with the Great Lakes not yet frozen and with the 'first snow' of the season - I suspect the snow, when it started was rather wet and heavy as the temperatures were just begining to move through the freezing point. As the temperature continued to fall the snow would have gotten lighter as the lower temperature has less available moisture in the air. Cold air cannot hold the moisture that Warm air can.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Johnny
carnej1CSX also inherited from Conrail a German built rotary plow,it is somewhat smaller and of a different design than the UP/BNSF Jordan rotaries but it seems to get the job done even in "snowmageddon" situations like the one right now:
Word on local forums is that it's headed west from Selkirk. Probably already at work.
In reply to the question about RR Museum plows being recalled to service:
CSX and NS both have Jordan Spreader type plows that handle Eastern snow (which tends to be lighter and fluffier than what falls out West) well, even enormous banks of it..
CSX also inherited from Conrail a German built rotary plow,it is somewhat smaller and of a different design than the UP/BNSF Jordan rotaries but it seems to get the job done even in "snowmageddon" situations like the one right now:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=92757
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
BaltACD Touchdown!
Touchdown!
Employment opportunity - shovel the snow out of the stadium. Ten dollars an hour and a ticket to the game. They're working 24 hours a day trying to get the place ready for a game this weekend.
I know that NS has run at least one intermodal off of Pan Am Southern south from Binghamton, NY to Harrisburg, PA to go west on the Pennsy instead of west to Buffalo out of Binghamton.
Running errands yesterday I saw an eastbound intermodal that had arrived from Buffalo sitting in Binghamton for a recrew. I didn't see any snow on the lead unit, so I have to assume they got out of town before the heavy snow started.
Looking to see if any additional detours have taken place today.
Any one know if some trains except high priority from the west to the snow area are embargoed until NS & CSX can open the tracks ?
That might protect Chicago from melting down ?.
Chat on a regional forum indicates that trains are being held in the Buffalo area, but no specifics were given.
blue streak 1 Is this going to be a time when all the RR museum pices of snow plows will be called out ?
Is this going to be a time when all the RR museum pices of snow plows will be called out ?
I recently watched several YouTube videos of railroad snow plows in operation. One of them, which was shot in New Zealand, is spectactular. It shows two locomotives pushing a wall of snow at a good clip.
Is it possible for a plow to be derailed by the snow?
Is this going to be a time when all the RR museum pieces of snow plows will be called out ?
Wonder if FRA gave a blanket exemption to HOS so no crew members stranded away from a terminal ? Also Amtrak to prevent endangering passengers ?
Yikes! Good luck in keeping 'em rolling, CSX and NS!
Reportedly snow is falling at 5-6 inches per hour.
Looked it up with Andrew Freeman, and lo and behold, it was actually what it said it was -- an electrical element inside a head bolt replacement (!)
See US patents 2487326 and 2611066.
Part of the original design appears to involve a design of head stud that goes all the way through the block into a water passage, with the element actually in the part of the stud in the passage. Optimized for inline flathead engines, I think. And yes, it's exactly what I said I didn't think it would be. Enlightenment has followed.
In my view this is similar to the kind of block heater that goes through a core plug opening with a resistance element in the coolant.
Mentioned several places just in my brief checking as the first electric block heater in the world.
OK the first blast has hit the eastern norther tier. Any one with reports on how NS & CSX are doing. CSX reported areas of 6 feet of snow around Buffalo. Here is link to CSX bulletin.
http://www.csx.com/index.cfm/customers/news/service-bulletins/customer-service-advisory-snow-impacting-the-buffalo-area/?keywords=service advisory
Did CSX have enough traffic that the locomotives could keep the tracks some what cleared ?
I'd guess that the the term "head-bolt hater" dates back to the days of the flathead engines where a head-bolt would extend well into the block. Same thing with floor boards, at one time car floors would be wood boards - my uncle's 1950 GMC pickup had wood boards held in place by metal strips.
Block heaters can do some extra good if the engine is equipped with an oil cooler. On a similar note, my uncle said that it was common in eastern Montanato cover the hood with a blanket to keep the whle enine warm. He also said that it was common practice to leave the car/truck in the gear that he'd drive out on as it would take a few hunder feet of driving for the tranny oil to warm up enough to allow the gears to be shifted.
Overmod dakotafred He had never heard of head-bolt heaters. I haven't heard of them either -- and I've been a block- and pan-heater man for decades. Tell me more. I don't care much for the usual sort of light-truck coolant heaters, especially the kind that go through a freeze-plug hole and prematurely spot-cook the coolant rather than keep the important stuff (the lube oil!) warm in all the places it needs to be. If it's warm in the pan, it MIGHT get to the upper works of the engine in time as cranking is done... on the other hand, I'd be happier with a good preluber that provides operating-temperature (or at least good-lubricosity) oil to all the critical moving parts up top, as well as the cam, crank, and rod bearings. But none of this speaks to head bolts, or would involve special heated head bolts, so I await enlightenment.
dakotafred He had never heard of head-bolt heaters.
I haven't heard of them either -- and I've been a block- and pan-heater man for decades. Tell me more.
I don't care much for the usual sort of light-truck coolant heaters, especially the kind that go through a freeze-plug hole and prematurely spot-cook the coolant rather than keep the important stuff (the lube oil!) warm in all the places it needs to be. If it's warm in the pan, it MIGHT get to the upper works of the engine in time as cranking is done... on the other hand, I'd be happier with a good preluber that provides operating-temperature (or at least good-lubricosity) oil to all the critical moving parts up top, as well as the cam, crank, and rod bearings. But none of this speaks to head bolts, or would involve special heated head bolts, so I await enlightenment.
Sorry, Overmod, I'm so little a mechanic that it's just a name to me. I do know the inventor, the late Andrew Freeman, went on to head up Minnkota Power Cooperative, one of the outfits we depend on to keep the chill off up here.
I wonder if what I knew as a head-bolt heater isn't the same thing as a block heater.
Back in the '60s our Volkswagen bus had what I believe was a heater for the oil (there being no other precious bodily fluids to warm).
dakotafredHe had never heard of head-bolt heaters.
dakotafred My position has always been that, as much as possible, we should try to take a child-like attitude toward winter and snow, enjoying the beauty and the play possibilities. Remember those? Granted, this is sometimes a hard thought to hang onto when one has to fight to go to work every day and attend to other duties associated with winter. Nevertheless ... As long as we've chosen or are fated to live in the North ... we might as well be good-humored about it. Let those more favorably situated think we enjoy it, even when we don't ... and worry that they might be missing out!
My position has always been that, as much as possible, we should try to take a child-like attitude toward winter and snow, enjoying the beauty and the play possibilities. Remember those?
Granted, this is sometimes a hard thought to hang onto when one has to fight to go to work every day and attend to other duties associated with winter.
Nevertheless ...
As long as we've chosen or are fated to live in the North ... we might as well be good-humored about it. Let those more favorably situated think we enjoy it, even when we don't ... and worry that they might be missing out!
DakotaFred,
I still remember as a child in the UK the excitement of some snow around Christmas time. I know it's hard for some people to battle the elements but I was part of the Blizzerd of 96 in NJ were we got 3 feet of snow. No work for about 2 weeks but what a memory.
Opened the Garage and the snow was from the floor to the top of the garage door. How can we let there memories pass us by?
Chris.
Loco Guy - is a state of mind - not an affinity to locomotives.
Sit back and enjoy your track...
dakotafred Deggesty Katie and I are going to have to buy a new snowblower this fall; mine has an electric starter, but it clogs up quickly if the snow is wet; hers did not clog up, but was very hard to start, and it was uneconomical to repair. His and her snowblowers? Man, that's too much winter even for me!
Deggesty Katie and I are going to have to buy a new snowblower this fall; mine has an electric starter, but it clogs up quickly if the snow is wet; hers did not clog up, but was very hard to start, and it was uneconomical to repair.
His and her snowblowers? Man, that's too much winter even for me!
dakotafred Years ago I wrote a friend in Ohio that the serious cold weather had arrived and I was going to have to start plugging in my car overnight. "You have an electric car?" he wrote back. He had never heard of head-bolt heaters. We had a funny local radio guy who fielded a call from a listener who had also never heard of plugging in your car at night. "Listen," said the jock. "Up here, we plug in the trees."
Years ago I wrote a friend in Ohio that the serious cold weather had arrived and I was going to have to start plugging in my car overnight.
"You have an electric car?" he wrote back. He had never heard of head-bolt heaters.
We had a funny local radio guy who fielded a call from a listener who had also never heard of plugging in your car at night.
"Listen," said the jock. "Up here, we plug in the trees."
I made a similar mistake way back in May 1976. I had arrived at my duty station with INS in Grand Portage MN and noted the electrical outlets in front of the parking spaces. I went in to report for duty and asked about those outlets, promptly being advised of the need for block heaters during the winter.
gardendanceI would have no more tries at the Columbus award, Sat about 4pm, less than an hour after high tide, and in full view of my club, I ran aground sailing somebody else's boat.
Sounds to me as if you need new lyrics: I'm marching inland TO the shore...
dakotafred My position has always been that, as much as possible, we should try to take a child-like attitude toward winter and snow, enjoying the beauty and the play possibilities. Remember those?
Child-like attitudes depend on location. And thank you for the opportunity to make this rail related. I was on Buffalo New York's light rail line. When I went into the underground station it was not snowing. When the train came out of the subway onto the street snow was falling. A school kid on board said to his companion "Is it snowing again" in a tone that was completely foreign to my memories from my school days in sun drenched Philadelphia.
google is your friend, 1st link from "i'm marching inland from the shore". I remember it as "a sure fire way" instead of "the perfect way". And I thought this late in the season, and since my sailboat's in the yacht club yard now, I would have no more tries at the Columbus award, Sat about 4pm, less than an hour after high tide, and in full view of my club, I ran aground sailing somebody else's boat. We hung out at the club in relative comfort, except for everybody giving me a hard time, till the next high tide, went back out about 2:30 am and got the boat free around 4am.
http://www.tomlewis.net/lyrics/marching_inland.htm
Words & Music by Tom Lewis (Recorded by Tom Lewis on Surfacing! and Poles Apart) Lord Nelson knew the perfect way to cure your 'mal-de-mer', So if you pay attention, his secret I will share, To any sea-sick sailor he'd give this advice for free: "If you're feeling sea-sick, sit underneath a tree!" Chorus: I'm marching inland from the shore, over m' shoulder I'm carrying an oar, When someone asks me: "What - is that funny thing you've got?" Then I know I'll never go to sea no more, no more, Then I know I'll never go to sea no more! Columbus he set-sail to find out if the world was round, He kept on sailing to the West until he ran aground, He thought he'd found The Indies but he'd found the U.S.A., I know some navigators who can still do that today. Drake he's in his hammock and a thousand miles away, Grenville's REVENGE is at the bottom of the bay, Many's the famous sailor never came home from the sea, Just take my advice, Jack, come and follow me. Sailors take a warning from these men of high renown, When you leave the ocean and it's time to settle down, Never cast your anchor less than ninety miles from shore, There'd always be temptation to be off to sea once more.
Patrick Boylan
Free yacht rides, 27' sailboat, zip code 19114 Delaware River, get great Delair bridge photos from the river. Send me a private message
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