Posted on 02/09/2013 5:12:55 AM PST by CharlesThe Hammer
BOSTON (CBS) – Gov. Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts Friday afternoon for the blizzard that could bring up to 3 feet of snow.
He also announced he has signed an executive order to ban all travel on all roads in the state starting at 4 p.m. Friday.
There are some exceptions to the ban, including emergency workers, those who work in hospitals and media, and others required to be at their jobs.
The governor said rapid snowfall of 2-3 inches per hour will make for, “extremely dangerous conditions,” and will “make safe travel nearly impossible.”
This is the first time that a Massachusetts governor has issued an executive order like this since the Blizzard of 1978.
But back then it was put in place after the storm.
Patrick did not say when this ban would be lifted.
If you don’t have an exemption and you’re caught on the road, the penalty could be as steep as a $500 fine or, at worst, a year in jail.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.cbslocal.com ...
BUT ITS THE WORST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!
If a storm, like this, were to hit Alberta, the collectivecresponse would be, “eh, meh”
Hundreds of Cars Stuck on Long Island Expressway
Police in New York say hundreds of cars have gotten stuck on the Long Island Expressway during a massive snowstorm and dozens of disabled motorists are still on the road.
Suffolk County police say cars began getting stuck Friday afternoon because weather conditions have been so bad. Authorities say vehicles are backed up and can't pass one another, and mounds of snow from plows have made it difficult for them to exit the highway.
Police say disabled motorists remain on the road early Saturday, and officers are working to get them off the road and make sure they're safe.
The Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway are both shut down in Suffolk County except for emergency vehicles.
Authorities say no injuries have been reported.
Lame comment. Looking at Edmonton Albert's weather record, they never got much snow as we some people got in Mass., Conn and LI last night.
Another lame comment.
It is news when major populated areas get 2' to 3' of snow.
Disabled motorists? Are they in motorized wheelchairs?
I'm sure the idiot governor would have but he's too busy telling the cops to take our guns away.
It is not safe or practical to drive in this weather. Regardless of the deep contempt with which I regard mini-me Coupe d’Val, the ban is probably a good idea. It irks my libertarian instincts, but these are public roads, paid for and maintained by “the public”, i.e., taxpayers. I recognize the right of fools to act recklessly, but the taxpayers will have to pay to rescue them and clean up the mess. Hunker down and enjoy the down time.
I agree. I dare anyone to try and drive in a storm dumping, at some points, up to four inches an hour.
Yep, I just looked at the Edmonton records; the most snow they’ve ever gotten in one day is a piddly 10 inches, many locations in New England will have double that amount from this storm in a 24 hour period, with a lot of the snow that fell early being heavy and wet - I bet all the snow in Edmonton is fluffy powder.
Of course, mocking the East Coast is a cottage industry on FR.
What, no disabled mediots huddled and shivering, broadcasting from beneath a lump in the middle of I-95?
If not, the media were kindly equipped with Snowcats and Humvees courtesy Il Duce Deval, I presume?
What, they weren’t? My goodness, how did they manage not to impede other Important People, then?
It’s a miracle, I tell you!
The east coast ends just below DC, I guess.
I used to live in Mammoth, been there done that. One Thanksgiving weekend about 20 years ago it SNOWED 6 feet in 12 hours, YES WE DROVE and WENT SKIING. Sounds to me like the Northeast is filled full of WUSSES.
Many Albertans, even when living in the city, has those neat rural toys like skidoos, and tractors. We’re a lot better prepared to handle that sort of weather, on an individual basis, than a state like Massecheutts.
Just call us Northern Kentucky. Yee-haw.
I live on a side cul-de-sac. It has been plowed all night, currently about 4” on the road. All this despite the state of CT taking plows off the road and forcing my town and the neighboring town to take over to keep the main roads to a hospital open.
Yes, an isolated ski resort in the mountains of 8,000 people with routine massive snows is directly comparable to a densely urbanized region of 15 million plus people that receives a snow like this once a decade.
So you think it is safer to travel on winding mountain roads in heavy snow than mostly FLAT ROADS in a City?? Little early to be drinking aint it?
Outside of the mountains, Alberta never sees this sort of weather. The single day snowfall record for Calgary is a pathetic 10 inches; that's just sad, and anyone in New England or on the Mid-Atlantic would laugh at that as a single-day snowfall record.
And in looking up the Edmonton and Calgary snowfall records, its clear that on both occasions there was massive disruption, numerous traffic accidents, etc.
What you've got to brag about being prepared for is cold, not snow - you simply don't get the moisture the Northeast gets.
Looking at 31 inches here in Conn. My backdeck is well protected, so I don't think it is from drifting, a fairly accurate snowfall total, though not official. Most we've ever gotten in one storm. Still snowing...
I really hope there are a few people left in Massachusetts with brain cells who will challenge this assclown over this “edict”.
Imagine if Rick Perry were to issue such a rule for any part of his state...or Rick Scott...or Bobby Jindal......
Given that Mammoth’s entire economy depends on getting people there in the middle of heavy snows, I suspect the ratio of snowplows to population is astronomically higher than that in the Northeast, a ratio that would be financially impossible for a state like Massachusetts.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
State-run liquor stores were slated to close at 6 p.m. Friday to encourage people to get off the roads by 7 p.m., when the storm is supposed to intensify.
A plebian Tacoma 4wd truck can manage two feet of unplowed wet snow. Been there, done that myself. Bought one for fun in January 2000, which was the last big snow in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. We got 18 inches overnight, and the further east you went, the deeper it got, three feet in some coastal areas, one of those crazy nor’easters that spin up and stall off Hatteras every decade or so.
The typical approach during one of those here is to warn motorists not to attempt to drive without 4wd or chains because police and emergency vehicles likely won’t get to you for some time. Volunteers with 4wd are sought by hospitals and other medical treatment facilities, to get patients and personnel to and from their locations. And, get this, they’re not government employees or newsmedia, imagine that.
We’re off the edge of the known world though. So, it doesn’t count.
You drove through 6 feet of snow? In what, a snowcat?
I don’t understand the media obsession with bad weather. Is it really necessary for a tv station to send some more shlub with a microphone outside in a blizzard to tell us how bad the weather is?
I guess it’s a distraction from those minor issues like Benghazi and the bad economy.
You mean like 200 miles of interstate in West Texas that was closed a month ago?
Did the good people of Texas march on Austin?
Not really, the Snowplows are Privately Operated businesses, the residents PAY to Have their Streets cleared, If you don’t sign up for this PRIVATE SERVICE, your access to YOUR STREET from your driveway WILL NOT BE CLEARED. only the Main Highway is plowed by Government. Doesn’t it SNOW in MA every year??
What has happened to the Spirit of ‘76 Massachusetts? Is the individual sovereignty to make one’s own decisions lost forever? Good lord, how much snow has fallen on us since then without the paternalistic dictates of self-important, tin-horn usurpers crimping our Liberty? Freedom of movement is a fundamental right.
We have the same idiotic ruling by our own autocratic governor here in CT. It demonstrates the condescension and disdain that ruling elites have for citizens. The assumption is that they know better than we just is in our interest. Note in the article the edict exempts employees of grocery stores, hardware stores, and the media. So some bureaucrat in a cubicle at the capitol decides who will move and who won’t. Did it occur to them that, if no one may travel, then there is no need to man retail businesses? DUH!
We’re smart enough to vote and choose those in the governor’s mansion and the state house, but too infantile to decide about our own lives: No driving for you! No salt for you! No “Big Gulps” for you! No incandescent lightbulbs for you! No hip replacement for you! No guns for you! Keep off the grass! Fasten your seatbelt! No smoking! Watch what you say! Lower that thermostat!
I remember, very well, the blizzard of 1978...arguably worse than this one....AND PEOPLE DIDN’T PANIC.
Basically, in the past 35 years, the nation has become sissified.
4 wheel drive yukon with Chains on the front wheels, Nobody in Mammoth stops what they are doing because of a little snow. They Plow the Main road, and Private Businesses plow the other streets and Parking Lots, and Private Businesses IF YOU SIGN UP FOR THEIR SERVICE, which almost everyone does.
I recall a 32 inch snowfall on Halloween when we lived in Minnesota. I rolled out early, fired up the big 8 horse snow blower and cleared my drive in about half an hour.
Of course I still couldn’t get farther than the mailbox; there was still three feet of snow in our street.
So did you drive through 6 feet of snow, or did you drive on plowed roads that had previously seen 6 feet of snow, but which now have maybe a few inches?
The first is what you claimed. The second is completely different.
Was every single road in West Texas closed under penalty of fine and a year in prison, or was only the interstate closed?
You’re taking all this rather hard, it seems. So defensive of excessive governmental edict.
Is this some sort of petty provincialism thing for you? You’re from Mass? Sounds like it.
My sis-in-law from north of Minneapolis told me about that storm. I have a pretty nice 2-stage Toro, but I think it is going to take a while to clear my very long driveway.
I’m just assuming the plow guy is not going to be able to clear the driveway.
You should be thankful that there are still dozens of patriots in New York who are willing to fight for our cherished constitutional rights!
When I lived in Northern Michigan I spent a few winter nights in the shop I worked at due to the roads being impassable. The factory kept a couple dozen cots for such events. A few of my coworkers had snowmobiles that they kept parked under tarps behind the shop so they could go home during storms.
Having people stay at the shop was ideal because most would choose to keep working. It helped make up for lost man hours of those who couldn’t make it in for 1st shift.
I want a 4wd Hoveround with a lift kit too, sounds kinda cool.
Wow, 44 inches and those kinds of winds. Scary.
I don’t quite understand the national media attention to this area either, I mean it is mostly a local problem, we’ll make it through. I guess because a large number of people are impacted? CNN covering it doesn’t really help me any. I still have 300+ feet of driveway to clear with 30+ inches of snow.
“I really hope there are a few people left in Massachusetts with brain cells who will challenge this assclown over this “edict”.”
Actually most people had ALREADY decided to call it a day before the emergency order was declared - it wasn’t really required - they are already talking about lifting it as the storm ends - just when people come out of there homes anyway.
No big deal.
Howdy from off the edge of the known world There-They-Be-Dragons-Land.
It wasn’t on ABCBSMSNBC, no mediots deigned to record themselves in it, no Urgent Edicts only applicable to the little people were issued.
Didn’t happen, therefore.
Seriously though, that’s some rough weather. However have Yoopers survived all these years without media and government telling them what to do?
I don’t really see it any different than gun issues. Our constitutional rights are all equal and no event justifies taking them.
The Sandy Hook Shooting no more justifies withholding rights from gun owners than a snowstorm justifies impeding a right to travel. Both require self responsibility and an acceptance of consequences.
Dood.
That’s a TEOTWAWKI-mobile if I ever saw one, especially with a wet bar.
I’ve been through both. This has twice as much snow.
Who is panicking now? No one I know.
I think I see clear sky peeking through. Snow seems to have stopped, about 28 hours after it started.
It actually is a big deal. Acquiesce to a total travel ban due to a snowstorm now, don’t be surprised when the precedent is extended. We’re talking about the bureaucratic mindset, here. It’s a promotion for them.
This deserves all the catcalls and hooting down that can be mustered.
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