PNW update

[Pete Judd]

9 inches of snow on Tuesday, then another bunch to bring it to over 22 inches on the ground here. Now we have freezing rain, and it is taking down the forest around us. Just like the 4th July, as all the tree tops gave way from the weight of the freezing rain. Some times it sounds like guns going off. Have power back on, but don't know for how long, so thought I would get this on the board.

found out that aig tires on the ice don't work. and will have to work on getting the chains set up as well.

 

[Furu]

Are you the Peter Judd who built a log home off 320th along Coal Creek back in the 90's?

 

[TripleR]

Sorry to hear that, we had an ice storm like that a couple of years ago and it ruined millions of trees, it was really sad to see. Dead pines are still falling on our paths and we are afraid to go in some areas when it is windy. We were without power in some places for about two weeks.

 

[Pete Judd]

T.F. Not the coal creek one.

 

[Pilot]

Pete, you got it a lot worse then we did. 30 mi. SE of Portland at 1,200 ft elevation, we got 9+ inches of snow and Portland and the rest of the valley got a couple. We usually lose power 2 or 3 times a year but this year Asplund did a good job trimming the trees and the worst we had was a couple scares with the lights going off for a couple seconds. Lights flickered all evening, however. Then a warm rain with wind hit and there's flooding all over the central and northern Willamette Valley.

1200 ft long driveway was drivable the day it rained except we got plowed in and a tree snapped off by the mailbox, falling into the street. I'm recovering from an unsuccessful medical procedure and am really glad I could clear the snow by the street with the tractor. Tried to cut up the tree so I could move it out of the way of the mail gal and the chain came off with the first cut. I got the tree moved, though.

Rain and wind forecast for tonight.

 

[Pete Judd]

Trees still coming down, power on, but not for 300,000 others here but not in my area. Still a mess, rain now, flood will follow. Spent 5 hours out on the tractor today with the back blade and got the car out so the wife could go to work.

 

[LarryD]

We got around 10.5" on a higher hill here on Whidbey but none of the freezing rain. All the trees are clear of snow at this time so no damage there. The wind is supposed to increase though so I wouldn't be surprised if a few don't blow down with saturated soils.

I see they closed the Tacoma Narrows bridge today for about 8 hours due to ice falling and that had to leave a whole bunch of people stranded and not very happy!

 

[Pete Judd]

Rain has taken almost all the snow away now. Took Moon road out of Oakville to day to go to Olympia via Little Rock. Looked like a war zone. One lane because of all the trees down. At least a mile of power line down in spots. Tops of power poles broken off. It will keep the line men in overtime for some time to come.

Everything back to normal here at the homestead.

 

[ultrarunner]

Rain has taken almost all the snow away now. Took Moon road out of Oakville to day to go to Olympia via Little Rock. Looked like a war zone. One lane because of all the trees down. At least a mile of power line down in spots. Tops of power poles broken off. It will keep the line men in overtime for some time to come.

Everything back to normal here at the homestead.

One thing that has puzzled me for a long time and that is why more power lines are not underground?

My Grandparents farm is not in Washington... I remember they were always loosing power in the summer from lightening and in winter from sleet.

About 25 years ago the grid was updated and everything went underground... the power problems have all but disappeared.

My neighbors and myself almost all have our power underground in Olympia... doesn't seem to help because the main line running along the road is always getting taken out by trees.

 

[hawkeye08]

Cheaper to put them overhead, easier to fix when there is a problem. Also, it seemed like they were putting alot underground about the time aluminum wire was becoming popular and it did not take long to start having problems (connections corroding if I recall correctly)...

 

[ultrarunner]

I was thinking it was a trade off between cost and reliability... didn't realize reliability was also an issue.

Maybe the overriding factor where my Grandparents had their farm was lightning strikes...

 

[Pilot]

Burying isn't necessarily more expensive.

Back in the 1970's when I was a new forester on the Flathead NF I was assigned a project to do an environmental analysis for a powerline to serve a little community on private land in the middle of the national forest. Probably about 8 miles though the forest, mostly lodgepole pine which is always looking for an excuse to fall over.

I talked to the power company about poles vs. underground and their plan was to go on poles. I asked about the cost difference for going underground. Cost per foot was about equal, but it would cost a couple hundred dollars to take it from the pole on the highway down to underground. A couple hundred dollars! They would burn that cost just fixing the down line once or twice, which would likely happen every year. We insisted on burying.

At our own place, 1,200 ft. from the road, the phone company had a plow and buried both lines for about $1,000 less than the total cost of going on poles.

Check around. The plow was fast, buried the line in less than 4 hours start to finish.

 

[Johndeere3720]

We had over 20" of snow on Wednesday. It started to slowly melt Thursday. Friday we went up to Sumner and picked up my new used Deere 317 skid steer. Now i am more prepared for the snow, now that it's almost gone. i have to say, I-5 was kinda a mess on Friday, I cant tell you how many trees were down, between each mile post there was anywhere from 5-30 down. No lanes were blocked though. Freezing rain once you got through Olympia but luckily the roads were just wet.

 

[ultrarunner]

Thought I had made it through unscathed this time as compared the lion of a storm a few years ago that drop trees everywhere after a month of rain.

The snow broke records going back 30 or 40 years... even being it was no more than 12 to 14 inches near sea level.

The problem is just about every single tree suffered damage... the weight of the wet snow snapped branches with such force that it sounded like gun fire.

A single smallish branch on a VERY tall fir took out the glass skylight at around 3 am... not sure what that will cost trying to get it repaired from 800 miles away...

My renter says they are moving back to Tacoma to be in a big city where it is safe... just navigating the more rural roads was close to impossible because of the carpet of tree branches...

My tree guy has a different take... he says the snow did a good job thinning out the weaker limbs... if anything... the surviving limbs have been tested and should present less of a danger...