I looked out the front window at 3:30 AM and snow was coming down heavily in large flakes. The driveway didn't look bad, though, and our porch looked like only 3" or so had fallen. The side driveway hadn't been plowed, but I drove slowly up it. The roads were really slippery. Leaving the complex, it was a big challenge to get up a short, steep hill to a main road. I slipped and slid to Columbia. The driveway there hadn't been plowed, but it was downhill. It was still snowing steadily.
Work was normal, no problems, but I was afraid that there would be enough snow to strand me at the lab. When I left the building, I was surprised to see no snow on my car. Then I realized - ice storm! It was raining rain that was maybe 80% frozen. Everything was ice. I had to scrape my windows. I was able to get out without trouble, though. The commute home wasn't as hairy, and people were driving cautiously. Now (1 PM) it's raining/sleeting/ugly/cold, but not a full-blown ice storm.
Which reminds me. I learned to drive in Syracuse, which means I was driving on snow and ice from my very first year. I even spent one winter commuting from Syracuse to Watertown on Interstate 81 on the east edge of Lake Ontario - a rough drive in the winter, especially before dawn. (I won't say why I did that commute, but try to imagine what a 20-year-old guy's motive might be.) That commute ended in an accident, but that's another story.
My memory was that people in NY know how to drive in the snow. There really isn't a big secret. Just do everything more slowly. Accelerate more slowly, decelerate more slowly, turn more slowly. I never had to use chains when I was a youngster, although I did finally accede to studded snow tires on my VW bug - the same one that eventually got caught in a crosswind on 81 and slid into a guardrail, a great learning experience that unfortunately got me sued bogusly by the same reason I was going to Watertown in the first place, which is yet another story, or maybe part of the first other story, but no matter.
Nowadays I often see a driver trying to get up a slippery slope, his pedal down way too far and the rear of his car futilely sliding back and forth and going nowhere. Did NY drivers forget how to drive in the snow? I don't think so. I think a lot of people who never learned to drive in the snow became New Yorkers, but that's just a guess.
3 comments:
Hmmmmm, let's see. I don't recall being in Watertown in 1966, so for the life of me, I can't imagine why you would have been driving up there.
I remember that...'nuf said. I agree Durf, you never forget how to drive in the snow and ice. I was one of few on the road in Atlanta last week. The other folks are scary, though. One thing you learn in NY is if you don't have to go anywhere, don't. :)
So glad that your'e continuing the blog - five out of seven of my students showed up today!
Helene
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