Ice. We live in north Missouri, and the winter of 2018-2019 has been absolutely horrible in terms of ice, and dealing with ice has been a daily chore for us since October.
I’m not talking “an ice storm here or there,” but rather layer upon layer of the stuff that has turned our secondary roads into ice skating rinks. Sound like an exaggeration? Here’s a photo I shot yesterday:
Imagine living down that road and trying to get out to town. Fun stuff, right?
Everybody knows
We all suffer from our individual biases. I’ve thought about writing an article on ice several times but I’ve always pulled back thinking “everybody knows about ice already”.
But then I was reminded of those signs we see everywhere in the south, those “Bridges Ice Before Road” signs that cause Spice and I to roll our eyes every time we see one.
Everybody knows that. Right?
Well, apparently not since many states spend a lot of money putting those signs up.
To somebody who lives where we get 3-5 ice storms a winter on average, and a lot more snow than that, we know full well that bridges are the first things to ice up.
We also know (although sometimes we don’t pay attention) that steps with open spaces under them are the first things to ice up around the house. Sometimes we ignore this, fall down and break or fibula so bad we have to get a plate and screws surgically implanted to put it all back together. But that’s another story.
Prepping for ice storms
Most (not all but most) parts of the US can face at least the occasional ice storm, and while these storms generally don’t last very long, they can cause huge disruptions in our lives.
Every year some part of the USA is hit by a big storm that knocks out power to customers for a week or more. All too often, this is followed by a cold snap of weather.
Expect massive regional power outages, and be ready for them.
Here are a few ice storm preps (Many of which are just great general preps)
- If you live where it gets below freezing, it is critical to have some way to either heat your house in a way that doesn’t require electricity, or to have a backup generator powerful enough to run your heating system and enough fuel to run it for two weeks.
- Have a chain saw and know how to use it. Have a chain saw face shield and chaps.
- Make sure, obviously, that you have plenty of food and water stored.
Bridge ices before road – driving on ice
Let’s start with the bottom line. If you can possibly stay home, just don’t drive on ice. Cancel everything if you can.
If you can’t stay home (or are caught out somewhere) then by all means do the following:
- GO SLOW. Like REALLY slow… the slower you go, the higher your chances of making it home are. Those cars that are passing you? Don’t worry, you will be seeing them again soon in a ditch nearby.
- Double check that everybody in the car is wearing seat belts and that they are firmly attached.
- Have your seat belt cutting tool readily available and within easy reach, but not placed where it could fly in the event of an accident.
- Don’t make sudden moves. Accelerate slowly, feather your breaks with your foot if you don’t have anti-slip brakes.
- DO NOT USE CRUISE CONTROL. I don’t know how many people cruise control has sent into the ditches over the years, but it’s a really high number.
- Avoid stop and go situations if at all possible.
- Don’t stop while you are driving up a hill, unless your goal is to amuse bystanders as they watch your car sliding out of control backwards down the hill.
- If you have chains, stop and put them on before driving.
If the car does go out of control on ice
- When you feel that sickening lack of connection to the road, do two things… first sit back and place your head against the headrest, this will help prevent neck injury. Second, relax your body, this will help avoid soft tissue injury. Once you’ve lost control on the ice, you are going for the ride no matter what you do, so it’s best to do what you can to avoid being hurt. Since you aren’t going fast (remember point one) unless you go into oncoming traffic you should be OK
- Steer into a skid. If the rear end of the car is trying to pass the front end to the right, turn the wheel to aim the front end of the car right. Don’t over-correct. Sometimes you get lucky and this works. Sometimes it doesn’t so stay relaxed with your head back.
If you listened to the vaccine podcast from yesterday, this is the road I stopped to take a picture of. It’s just like every other secondary road in NEMO… well it was, before it got a new layer of snow on it last night.
Be ready to use your vehicle preps
Rather than re-invent the wheel, I’m just going to put a link here to a recent 3BY story about the prepared car.
https://beansbulletsbandagesandyou.com/bullets/2017/05/21/the-prepared-car-some-tips-advice-about-automobile-preps/
Ice prepping adds a couple of necessities. Some are for you: You might be stuck in that car for awhile. You might have to walk in really nasty weather. Boots that will stay warm in the snow are a must. Removable ice cleats for them are great too. Have a spare pair of gloves. One pair almost always gets wet while you’re cleaning off the car or trying to extract it. A blanket in case you’re stuck for awhile is also important. C’mon, at least stick one of those tiny silver ‘space blanket’ things in the glove compartment.
For an inexpensive yet effective approach, these ‘slipper cleats’ slip right over boots. Buy bigger than you’d guess.
The biggest car prep is a good scraper. Some people will tell you you can use a credit card. If it’s an inch of snow or some frost, sure. If it’s half an inch of ice a credit card is only useful for paying somebody to loan you a scraper. I’m usually not a ‘run the car for half an hour to clear the windshield’ person. A layer of thaw under an ice sheet makes removing it So much easier; consider pre-heating.
I carry our reserve bag of ice melt in the back of my car. Even on sheet ice, it’ll usually cause enough melt to roughen the surface and give you a bit more traction. A shovel can help get you out of that snowbank you slid into. If you’re going through forested, narrow roads especially, put the chainsaw in the car. Ice often brings deadfall down so road blockages are common.
Secondary heating is a big deal if you lose power
It’s such a big deal we gave it its own post, found here.
Watch what lies beneath
An ice sheet from freezing rain or a melt/refreeze is very slick. What’s slicker? Half an inch of snow on top of an ice sheet. The snow also conveniently hides where the not-that-slick just snow is and the forgeddaboutit-you’re-going-for-a-ride snow over ice begins. Walk like it’s All greased glass and you’ll be prepared.
Not all information is particularly helpful
On our social media feeds this morning, a mutual friend responded to a request for road information (it’s snowing at the moment) in the south part of our county. His reply: “The roads are mostly flat asphalt or gravel with several twists and turns… and it’s possible you will find hills and bridges depending on which way you head.”
Gee, thanks for that useful report.
You do need (1) a long garden shovel in your trunk any time you go off the road in snow/ice winter (I’ve carried and used when gone off roadS on ice in WI). (2) You also need many buckets or plastic lined boxes of street salt (it breaks up ice), sand and/or dirt (for traction) stored in your trunk. The weight helps your tires grip the road (and ice) for staying on road, and especially in strong wind that can blow your vehicle off the road on ice. Use your shovel to remove snow+ice chunks right under your tires, along the track you need your tires to follow, and wherever others may be standing to push you out—who need traction under your feet. I prefer to carry six buckets – boxes because of rules of them (general truths). (3) Rule of Thumb (= a general truth), bagged sand is always damp-wet (because it is stored outside before sold). Open it, put on board or driveway (dry it), repackage in 5 gal. buckets or boxes lined with plastic, store out of rain till winter, then put in trunk or over rear wheels. If you don’t do that, it could be frozen solid when you need it (and to break it up you need a hammer and gloves and container to carry it where it is needed.) (4) Rule of Thumb (general truth), you need 2-4 times the amount of salt and sand than you think is enough to be prepared. (5) Rule of Thumb (general truth) nobody gets out the first attempt, which is why you need lots of salt and sand/dirt in your trunk. (6) Some in WI carry strips of carpeting. It has never worked for me, it can get wrapped around your tire, ice and snow stick to it making it useless; or it may fly off rearward and swat someone trying to help you.
(7) It is easier to get out of snow and ice with a manual transmission “clutch” car or truck, than with an automatic transmission. With manual transmissions (I’ve driven for 30 years) as you slowly let out the clutch, the vehicle rolls wheels very-very slowly (needed to travel ice). Automatic transmissions roll the wheels too fast (you will need 5 times the grit under tires to get back onto road from snow/ice). Also if your tires are spinning too fast, too soon, the heat will create “wet ice” and you will be “more stuck” than when you started. It is easier to “rock” a vehicle with a manual transmission than automatic. I have no experience with 4 or all wheel drives.
(8) YOU ARE DEAD IF YOU DO THIS: Don’t ever pass a semi-truck to get ahead of it before a stop light in very slippery or icy conditions. Semi-trucks cannot stop fast like cars can, they will unintentionally rear-end you and push you into an intersection into oncoming traffic; or they may jack-knife with their trailer swatting many cars driving close to it. Trucks don’t want to go off the road for dummies, because it could be fatal to them, unless they see it is a young driver who doesn’t know any better (and they are thinking about their own kid at home).
(9) On ice you must come to a complete stop about 10-feet before your stop or turn-corner (to prevent sliding through an intersection. Also, if you can avoid a downhill stop on ice, do that and drive around that danger zone.
(9) Ice Cleat boot wear HAZARD. If you have never worn ice-cleats you must practice with them and re-think what you are walking upon. A coworker Class B (short truck) home delivery driver dropped a box off to back door and upon a wooden deck. Getting up three steps was fine, getting down was not! Deck was old. Deck boards were dry-rotted (porous), but also covered with ice and snow. Cleats got stuck in dry-rot step board, halfway down steps. Driver fell forward down a step, broke both ankles and severely wounded shoulder and face. He was in that Winter “down” position for 30 minutes before someone heard him call for help. Out of work for 8 months healing. Lifelong arthritis follows.
(10) At home in WI is now ½” hard ice. I use salt to break up ice and a 6 foot long, 2-inch wide heavy steel pipe to break up ice on walkways for crippled and arthritic family members. Only vertical pounding of pipe breaks up the ice, once water beads up under the ice. Sometimes a narrow blade shovel will work, Pipe always works. Plus pipe is strong enough to be a heavy-duty pry-bar. (11) A “come along” (winch) can also help on ice, if another vehicle or a tree is close by to help get the front of vehicle lined up with the path it needs to take to get off of downhill ice or out of snow bank (remember you cannot turn in a snow bank and you cannot get out unless your front wheels are perfectly parallel to your rear tires, and even then it is difficult. (12) I never knew how I got out of some snow-drifts. Was it prayer? Was it past experience? Was it preparedness?. Most times it involved someone stopping to help (= prayer). When I did it on my own it was all three (prayer, experience, preparedness). (13) Yes I carry another box of “sleep in snowdrift” gear, including ½ gallon wide opening “pee bottles”, and plenty of small plastic “poop” bags, and TP; and food, water, lots of blankets and tools for ice/snow: long shovels, hatchets, axe, buckets of dry salt and sand and dirt, and emergency warning lights for oncoming traffic, Elzetta Flashlights (potted lenses instead of bulbs and change lens heads for flood light or narrow light. Go to web site and read the deceits many other companies do to consumers), and (14) a Garmin map program (it is mounted and leaves my hands free) for seeing how roads curve (before I arrive at the curve) in dense fog that can accompany blizzard and ice conditions. Lastly (15) having slid off roads about six times, and the work of carrying everything I carry (preparedness), I do everything in my power to avoid accidents, including stopping in parking lots over-night. One time I was stuck off road in rural WI and a farmer got his tractor to pull me out. Cool!
Good stuff in this reply, thanks!
Thank you for taking the time to get folks thinking ahead.
Also remember to keep ice melt in the house or in a covered area just outside your doors. I keep a bucket under cover at each door so if I need to go outside soon after an ice storm I have plenty of calcium chloride pellets ready to make the ice a bit safer to walk on. Since I have a detached garage this is a must have even with ice grippers on some of the worst icy mornings.
And don’t forget that when temperatures plunge that your choice of ice melt is critical. Rock salt isn’t effective below 20F which is why I keep calcium chloride pellets (good down to -25F) for abnormally cold days. Although with the polar vortex temps in the upper midwest last week, even calcium chloride wouldn’t work well…don’t think anything other than a flamethrower would work in those temps! 😛
Here in Pennsylvania we too, have ice storms. PENDOT and our local townships thoughtfully purchase and maintain thousands of Mack trucks that plow, salt and sand our roads. In twenty years here, I have never missed my morning drive.
What’s wrong with your State & local roadmasters?
There in Pennsylvania you also have a high tax base. Out here with counties that literally have more deer than humans, that’s a great number of road miles for the available tax base.
A large part of determining available resources is population density. For example, Pennsylvania has a population density of 286 people per square mile, a top-10 state, whereas Missouri has a population density of 88 per square mile. Lewis County, where this picture was taken, has a population density of 21.
There are three counties in Pennsylvania that are under 10,000 people in population, and five under 20,000 in population. Missouri has 23 counties. under 10,000 and 44 under 20,000. One Missouri county, Worth, has a population density of 8.9 and 2,383 people in the entire county. Scott County has a population density of 8.3, Reynolds has a density of 8.2, Mercer 8.3, and Knox slots in at 8.6 people per square mile.
With those kind of populations, there’s a whole lot of roads with not many people driving on them. It’s a hard sell to get people in St. Louis and Kansas City to pay for road maintenance in some remote rural area a hundred and fifty miles away.
To Wiseman,
I don’t have any specific answer to your question about Wisconsin. Interstate highways get the best treatment, but drifting snows results in one main “safer” lane of travel. Semi-trucks help, their weight (up to 80,000 lbs) and extra tires keeps them on the road. In city/towns main roads are beet-juiced before the storm hits. During the storm main roads are plowed and salted; and special care is provided to stops at the bottom of hills. Residential roads must wait (often till the next day); and rural county roads are the last ones to get treatment of any sort (and it can be days later, usually because of the difficulty of drifting snow in flat “prairie” farming areas). Every bad snow year I hear reports about township snow removal budgets being $100,000 over budget. That is probably one factor.
There are lots of “snow fences” in farmer fields in WI to catch snow that drifts to keep it off roads. Most WI residents know to stay off roads until big storms pass. I worked home delivery in N WI and three times went off the road during one winter driving during the storms in rural areas unfamiliar to me. My routes varied and in general I was out 50+ miles from home base, so when a storm came up, I had to keep driving. One time wind blew my truck, moving slowly, off at the top of a hill covered with ice that I couldn’t see because it had about 1/2 to 1 inch snow on it (extra slippery). That road had been plowed but the storm drifting quickly overcame the plowing. That was the one where the farmer’s tractor got me out. Another time, I was making a right turn on a rural road onto another and the truck slid off the road into a snow bank, right in the middle of the turn, on snow covered ice. That one I got out of by bringing my own shovels, salt-sand, etc. (onto my Company truck, and just in case).
By the way I lived 3 years in Syracuse, NY and would drive northbound to a part-time job and would see the Great Lakes snow effect “line” in the snow, where all the sudden the snow was 3 feet deep from Lake effect, but the highway roads were in good shape. I also lived in S PA on a mountain with a 1/2 mile gravel road (that I plowed with tractor and blade) for 3 years, about halfway betweem Camp David MD towards Gettysburg. Roads were always good. But the snow in both Syracuse and S PA is different than in much of WI. The snow was wetter and damper and provided better traction and melting qualities, plus the areas I drove near PA had more woods/forests and trees, so there was less drifting. In much of Wisconsin there are tens of thousands of acres of flat-land “prairie” converted to farm land, that leaves very little to block blizzards and snow drifts. The snow tends to be drier that I consider to be far more dangerous on roads than wetter snows, which we also get. I’ve also driven on 2 inch “dirty” ice in Arkansas, where (by stereotype) nobody (but transplants from up north) knows how to drive on snow and ice. Dirty ice is wonderful–good traction along straight roads. I love t he NE USA and PA. But it is located downstream from the Great Lakes and near the Chesapeak. Snow tends to be wetter. WI is downstream from a lot of prairie land east of the Rockies. Our snow is different than yours. Its drier, and often finer (tiny small pellets and flakes). It is more often hazardous to drivers than what I experienced in NY, PA/MD…in my opinion.
Where I live, it is common for people to carry 10-20 lbs of (clean) clay cat litter in the trunk or rear of their vehicles from October until mid April. The cat litter serves two purposes: it weighs down the rear of the car to help prevent sliding on ice 2) The litter can be poured under tires to provide traction if the vehicle gets stuck on the ice or in snow.
Emergency power. Fuel storage. We live in Eastern MO. it’s snowing now. If you don’t keep a lot of generator fuel, Just run the generator 15-20 minutes per hour. Long enough to keep gas furnace (you do not have electric heat, do you?) running to bring heat up enough to remain comfortable and pipes warm. I usually have 50-100+ gal on hand.
Time to be thinking about ice again. Lots of good info from Salty and Spice as well as the comments. I didn’t see black ice and patchy ice addressed. Black ice is a thin layer of ice on the highway. The road looks dry, but if you get out and walk on the road, it is a sheet of ice. Patchy ice gets a lot of people into trouble. You may drive a good distance with dry roads, then hit a low spot on the road with ice. If your vehicle is equipped with a temp. gauge, keep a watch on it. It can help with black ice
. 4WD or AWD vehicles can get people into trouble. Often people drive faster than they should, and don’t allow enough time to stop.
In ’07 rural Kansas, we had an ice storm that put 6″ of ice on everything. The freezing drizzle lasted for days. Our local utility company had thousands of broken power poles to replace. Farmers had to pull the utility trucks with 4WD tractors. We were without power for 10 days. Some neighbors went 3 weeks without power. It took about 6 months to restore power in some non-residential areas. Our local town was without electricity or natural gas. People were driving 6 hrs. away to buy generators. Some towns had electricity to gas stations, some didn’t.
Those that were ready got along much better than those that weren’t.
The time to Prep is NOW!