The weather report calls for below normal temperatures reaching into the low teens with a freezing rain snow mixture. The stores are packed and everyone is scrambling to buy supplies. Every gas station is out of bread, milk and fire wood. A bag of side walk salt cannot be found anywhere. This may be something that you deal with every winter. This type of weather may not be a big deal, or anything to cause panic where you live. But, where I live, this type of weather is a huge deal. We very rarely have to cope with bad weather. We like it that way!
In Round Rock, Texas, the average high temperature during the winter is sixty-one degrees while the average low is thirty-seven degrees (Monthly Weather, 2014). It is not uncommon even in the cold season for the temperatures to reach almost eighty degrees. I enjoy this weather pattern because we get to experience winter in short bursts.
This year, has been very different from the normal. The high temperatures are in the low teens accompanied with sleet and ice. To say that we are unaccustomed to this weather is an understatement. We do not know how to prepare for it. We panic and head to the store to buy anything we can, even if it is something silly like eighty cans of Spam. Our road crews seem unprepared and don’t know exactly how to handle the situation. The crews that are in charge of maintaining a safe road way can make things worse, if they do not diligently do their jobs.
This was very evident last week. The weather report was calling for overnight temperatures to be in the low twenties accompanied by rain. The low temperatures and rain were going to become a big headache for the Texas Department of Public Safety, otherwise known as DPS. Many of our highways are elevat...
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...have seen in Austin and Seattle. When inexperienced workers use a deicer inappropriately, the deicer becomes just as dangerous as the ice it is supposed to stop.
Works Cited
Grisales, C. (2014, January 23). De-icing Liquid Not Confirmed as Cause of Wrecks, TxDOT Official Says. Retrieved January 25, 2014, from Statesman.com: www.statesman.com
KVUE. (2014, January 23). De-icing material may have caused collisions around Austin . Retrieved January 26, 2014, from Austin Local News: www.kvue.com
KVUE. (2014, January 24). Icy Weather Causes More than 200 Crashes in Austin Area. Retrieved January 26, 2014, from KHOU11: www.khou.com
Monthly Weather. (2014). Retrieved January 25, 2014, from The Weather Channel: www.weather.com
Press, A. (2013, December 11). Seattle Deicer Error Made Bridge Roadway Slick. Retrieved January 26, 2014, from My NorthWest: www.mynorthwest.com
“It was 8 a.m. in the morning last March when it happened. [The driver] wasn’t drunk or anything and it didn’t have anything to do with the weather conditions,” said Carole Ferguson Page, a Massachusetts resident.
The 1953 Waco Tornado was the deadliest tornado in Texas since 1900. The violent and deadly twister ripped through the downtown area killing and injuring hundreds. 600 homes were destroyed and 5 people were hit and killed in cars.Injured people were 597 and 114 killed.
Point release avalanches, or loose snow slides, begin at one point on a slope and get progressively wider as they proceed down the slope. A fundamental characteristic that must be present for this type of avalanche to occur is a surface layer of cohesionless, or nearly cohesionless, snow (University of Colorado IBS 1975; Fredston and Fesler 1994). An initially small amount of snow begins to move downward when the force of gravity is greater than the forces of cohesion at a particular angle or when debris from above starts the s...
So, no matter where you live in Texas, the affects of climate change can be felt in one if not more ways. With changes already occurring to our cities, urban areas, and water resources, it is obvious that climate change has already started to affect Texas. Yet it is hard to predict with certainty what impact these changes will have on the life of the everyday Texan. One thing is for certain, and that is that in the coming years a solution to the decrease of greenhouse gases will need to be found and acted upon quickly.
"NHTSA Data Confirms Traffic Fatalities Increased In 2012 ." NHTSA Data Confirms Traffic Fatalities Increased In 2012. NHTSA, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. .
Texas climate is challenging to categorize because of its great size and varying topographic characteristics. Geological factors such as the North American Cordillera hinder air travel west to east and vice versa, while also preventing cold air masses from the Arctic Circle travel southward to into the state. The Gulf of Mexico, supplies the air with moisture and buffers fluctuating temperatures [larkin and Bomar, 1983]. These factors form a range of climates in the state from subtropical-arid to subtropical-humid. [larkin and Bonmar, 1983]. A trend can be seen in relation to average temperature and precipitation. Temperature increases north to south (figure 1) and precipitation increases east to west (figure 2).
When we think of Christmas weather, “snow” comes to mind. From making snow angels, building snowmen, throwing snowballs, and catching snowflakes on our tongues, we anticipate living in every single moment of this Winter Wonderland. However, at any time, this perfect depiction of a Winter Wonderland could unravel unexpectedly to becoming a Winter Disaster, known as a snow blizzard. In accordance to the National Weather Service that the LIVESCIENCE website quotes of, a blizzard is a “storm with considerable falling or blowing snow and winds in excess of 35 mph and visibilities of less than ¼ mile for at least 3 hours.” The Great Blizzard of 1888 overshadowed New York City to become a city that was fully covered in snow ruins as it took its toll
... weather, forcing those who are greatly affected by it to move to regions that have lower barometric pressure.
January 12, 1888, a blizzard covered the northwest part of North America that claimed many lives. This blizzard was considered to be the worst blizzard of all time, and was dubbed the “the Schoolchildren’s Blizzard”, for claiming the lives of so many school children on their way home. The death toll of this murderous blizzard rose, because of lack of preparation and being uninformed. During this time, many farmers and families were unprepared to survive a blizzard of this magnitude, by the lack of clothing they wore. Forecasters were not as accurate enough to inform people on the weather conditions. Also, shelter was a major factor in protecting themselves from the winter storms, but the shelter was not stable
With the weather so terrible cold, and heavy rain falling in the darkness. There seem to be no let up for one to gather themselves for their travel home.
There is a serious problem with our nation's roads and highways. I find myself repeatedly avoiding trips to the city for this very reason, as I'm sure many others do as well. This nerve-wracking congestion is even beginning to find its way into the suburbs and surrounding areas of large cities. It is a serious problem that affects everyone who owns an automobile, as well as, businesses that are dependent on reliable and convenient transportation. To top it all off, this problem is getting worse every year. The population of this nation is growing, which translates to an increase in cars on the road. More people are moving to cities and the suburbs that surround them, creating gridlocks everywhere.
Fatal truck crashes are on the rise in Louisiana and across the United States, according to a new report from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The report, which finalizes preliminary data released by the agency a year ago, shows that fatal large truck accidents increased by 3 percent between 2015 and 2016.
Of course, the slickness of the roads is the main reason why crashes are so common in the winter time, but in almost every case in which collisions
“At 12:42 p.m. the air was perfectly calm for about one minute; the next minute the sky was completely overcast by heavy black clouds which, for a few minutes previous, had hung along the western and northwestern horizon, and the wind veered to the west and blew with such violence as to render the position of the observer on the roof unsafe. The air was immediately filled with snow as fine as sifted flour” (Potter). No one expected the blizzard that would soon come rolling over to create some of the unfortunate deaths. Now, the questions are what exactly happened during the storm, how are snowstorms created, and what damages it caused.
"Will Cold Weather or Changing Temps Make You Sick?" The Weather Channel. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2014. .