NOLA VS MONTANA and NORTH DAKOTA

12/14/2005 | unknown

[Leatherneck_MT]

For those of you who are not aware, North Dakota and southwestern Montana got hit with their first blizzard of the season a couple of weeks ago)

This text is from county emergency manager out in the western part of North Dakota state after the storm.

Amusing...

WEATHER BULLETIN

Up here in the Northern Plains we just recovered from a Historic event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 24" inches of snow and winds to 50 MPH that broke trees in half, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed all roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

George Bush did not come.... FEMA staged nothing.... No one howled for the government... No one even uttered an expletive on TV... Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards..... No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.... No news anchors moved in. No looting No killing Jessie did not show up We just melted snow for water, sent out caravans to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars, fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Aladdin lamps and put on an extra layer of clothes.

Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early...we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

Everybody is fine

[BigSkyFreeper]

It's usually behind the on-camera meteorologist.

[Petronski]

It "could flood this year" is still not the same as it "does flood every year."

Montanans get a blizzard virtually every year.

[Leatherneck_MT]

I've experienced Typhoons (Karen on Guam), Hurricanes (in North Carolina), Tornadoes (in Texas), Earthquakes (in California) and blizzards (both in Montana and in North Dakota).

None are pleasant and all have the same degree of stress involved with them.

[MineralMan]

"Heehee. I went thru there once on a train. We stopped for a break and I had a chance to go to a local grocery store near the station. I don't know what Minot is like now, but back in '76...well, I was glad I was getting back on that train."

You'd find it little changed. Small city. Small problems. A bit nippy in the Winter, though.

[DuncanWaring]

"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 42 degrees North Latitude and west of 95 degrees West Longitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate."

It also helps to stay east of about 120 degrees West Longitude.

[Petronski]

Floods v. blizzards is still a comparison of two vastly different phenomena. Surely you can see that the New Orleans flood was far more severe than the blizzard that just hit Montana.

[BlueStateDepression]

A blizzard doesn't seep inside all structures in a given area.

No but the cold that accompanies it does. The inability to travel does, the power outages do too. It brinbg acres and acres of stranded folks just the same. Difference here is that people prone to snowfall ( not unlike prone to hurricanes) PLAN and PROTECT for the onset of such natural occurances.

Blizzard: a storm with widespread snowfall accompanied by strong winds ,A violent snowstorm with winds blowing at a minimum speed of 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour and visibility of less than one-quarter mile (400 meters) for three hours.

Hurricane: A wind with a speed greater than 74 miles (119 kilometers) per hour,A severe tropical cyclone originating in the equatorial regions of the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea or eastern regions of the Pacific Ocean, traveling north, northwest, or northeast from its point of origin, and usually involving heavy rains

Are they really all that different after all?

What is the deepest snow you have experienced in your life and how many days were you snowed in at that time?

Would you rather be wet or frozen and buried?

[DuncanWaring]

Montanans get a blizzard virtually every year.

So if New Orleans got flooded every year it would no longer be a big deal?

[Myrddin]

"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 42 degrees North Latitude and west of 95 degrees West Longitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate."

The environment is inhospitable for the urban outdoorsman. Still, Idaho has over 50% of the population collecting a check from the government either as a state employee or some kind of welfare. The "social problems" exist, but they get no attention from the media.

[lugsoul]

Nor did it kill 1000+ and render the homes of thousands more uninhabitable.

Not only a silly comparison, but downright mean.

[GunnyHartman]

I kept the receipts for the hair dryer I shorted out to heat up my pipes and the snake I had to rent to bust out some frozen water from my washing machine drain. I'll submit them to FEMA and see if I can get reimbursed. I could also use that $2000 debit card to pay for my propane and I need a couple of more cords of wood too. (Currently turning blue as I hold my breath)

In a related story, algore said there was a global warming calamity headed our way. It was -17 last week in the Mission Valley and now it's a scorching +19 today. Maybe he's right. (/sarcasm)

[BigSkyFreeper]

It's not the same thing. Very few people, if any, will be left homeless by this blizzard.

Maybe not, but I can remember one particular blizzard 3 years ago, about this time of year, where 99% of the state of Montana was shut down for nearly 2 months, the MHP didn't even allow "emergency travel only", so if you had a medical condition, you were on your own. You couldn't get from point A to point B even in a 4WD vehicle, and snowplows in most areas gave up as they couldn't keep up with the intensity of snowfall, and many snowplow drivers had been working 18 hour shifts to begin with. It happend to hit right around Christmas time, and I was in Wisconsin, and wasn't sure I'd make it home.

[ErnBatavia]

Wonder how he likes it ND?

I'll bet he has the numbers for every Pizza delivery place quite handy about now...

[BlueStateDepression]

So if New Orleans got flooded every year it would no longer be a big deal?

That is how I read it too.

[NC28203]

Did more than a quarter million folks in NODAK and MT evacuate their homes in preparation for the blizzard. Are there tens of thousands currently homeless as a result of the blizzard?

[Fierce Allegiance]

I'll take a blizzard over an ice storm, tiornado, hurricane or earthquake any day (in the winter)!

[Petronski]

This isn't about the hurricane, it's about the flood, with the sewage and the mold.

[BigSkyFreeper]

So if New Orleans got flooded every year it would no longer be a big deal?

If they didn't b!tch about it, or hold Congressional Hearings over it when a Republican administration was in the White House, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

[ErnBatavia]

I have to admit though, the highlight of the NOLA coverage was when Shep interviewed the guy walking his dog, and Shep asks him "Why?" and the guy simply dropped the F-Bomb on live TV.

Yep..IIRC, that was when he was reporting by phone before the storm hit and he axed the guy "Why are you still here?" and the guy told him "Go F-bomb yourself!"

[BlueStateDepression]

If people had LISTENED to the warnings to get out of NOLA there wouldnot have been so many dead.....and OH YEAH i thought it was going to be TEN thousand!.


I didn't see people walking out of NOLA and that means they didn't REALLY think they needed to leave

Those that will say a blizzard is no big deal have never experienced one themselves IMHO.