Brutally Cold

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Brutally Cold

The ice storm that hit Utah yesterday was crazy. I had to walk down a hill in order to catch a train to see the Rev. Jesse Jackson speak at the University of Utah and it was the best core body workout I’ve had in a couple of years. Nobody had put down ice melter, so I was skating down the hill, trying to be limber and flexible, while trying not to fall and crack my skull. I walked at a substantially reduced pace. It was scary. I can’t imagine somebody with a disability trying to get around in this kind of cold.

Utah isn’t used to ice storms.

This page at KSL-TV has a bunch of video links and a story:

Some stats from the linked page:

  • Since 1940, there have been only nine measurable freezing rain events (0.01 inches or greater) at the Salt Lake City International Airport
  • None of those events occurred with temperatures lower than 26ºF. Thursday’s began at 20ºF.
  • The latest accumulation (0.08 inches as of 11 am) is the largest freezing rain accumulation since Dec. 31 1983.
  • There are only three events that top this one in terms of freezing rain accumulation:
  • 0.13 inches that fell at 32ºF on Feb. 9, 1976
  • 0.16 inches that fell at 29–32ºF from Dec. 26-27, 1983
  • 0.21 inches that fell at 30–32ºF from Dec. 30-31, 1983 (.11″ of this fell as heavy sleet)

It rained on and off all day and never warmed. Here’s a collection of crash data from the local Fox affiliate:

Crazy.

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Affirmation: Seriously, dude. Stay with it.