Forts win wars!
Posted on 01/23/2016 4:02:34 PM PST by tcrlaf
A messy portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike has been shut down do to snowy conditions, and several groups are rushing in to help.
The Turnpike is closed in both directions between the Breezewood exit and the New Stanton exit so that crews can clear the roads. Additionally, all commercial vehicles are banned between the New Stanton exit and the Delaware River Bridge, and on the Northeastern Extension between the Mid County exit and the Pocono exit.
There are a number of vehicles stuck on the closed section of the Turnpike, and the National Guard has been called in to help.
According to a release from the governor’s office, multiple trucks and tractor trailers had trouble making it up a hill in the westbound lane of the Turnpike, causing traffic to back up and preventing emergency crews from reaching the disabled vehicles and clearing snow.
Turnpike officials say crews have taken fuel and rations to travelers who have been stuck since Friday evening, and the Western Pennsylvania Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services was working to send 4,000 meals as of 3 p.m. Saturday.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburgh.cbslocal.com ...
I grew up 65 mi from Pittsburgh and never got a snow day off in mylife there LOL, and brother I have seen some snow!
I have seen 168 inches in southern Az in a season.
Forts win wars!
Yuppers
This morning a young female weekend shift reporter (Melanie something) from WPXI (channel 11) in Pittsburgh ventured to the Bedford TPike exit—she had a bunch of teens, from Nebraska, on air with her. The teens were inspiring—they were already 17 hours on the bus back from DC from the Right to Life March, but they were so upbeat and one young girl said to the affect that she “offered up” her inconvenience of the storm “for the babies to be born.” She was just a faithfilled young woman speaking eloquently. I was impressed that the station and reporter LET them speak in several segments.
And the Duquesne Dukes men’s bball team was stuck too...I was told they were sheltering a couple stranded families on their bus (they had room).
What a mess...the TPike, by Allegheny Tunnels is really an engineering feat when you consider the topography.
Their parents and your parish should be very proud! They were so upbeat when interviewed. #WellDone!
That’s totally awesome. Those kids will remember this trip forever. I’m sure they enjoyed that mass more than any they have had in church.
I was the original Calvin when it came to show art.
Amen
The PA Turnpike is ripe for this kind of chaos. For one thing, it runs through higher elevations in the Allegheny Mountains where it snows a lot. To make matter worse, much of the highway was built on a former railroad right-of-way so it is very narrow. I think the longest distance between interchanges is 36 miles, and when you drive along that stretch you have a concrete barrier on your left and lots of hills and ridges on your right.
When reality hits the fan..
Here’s hoping they can minimize casualties. Thank goodness a Siberian express was not attached.
The problem is, this blizzard was forecast to miss most of PA, affecting mostly areas west of Harrisburg. The Weather Channel's terrible forecast was typical: On Thursday night, when they were predicting "snowmaggedon" for New York and DC, they told us we would get <1 inch, probably a "dusting" sometime on Saturday. Yesterday afternoon, they predicted <1 inch after 10 PM Friday night, and 1-3 inches in the early hours of Saturday AM.
I came back from the Y at 9 PM last night in a complete white-out. This morning, I looked out my windows to see a "dusting" 10 inches deep.
ABC7 Chicago News
More than two dozen students from Griffith, Ind., are stuck Saturday afternoon on a bus in a blizzard on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, just south of Pittsburgh.
Per the scanner, they have finally gotten 3 school buses up to the tunnel, and are loading them now.
Answer: your premise is false. The "big snow event" was not predicted to ONLY skim PA in the far north and far east. My experience [post #32] was very typical.
The most mountainous areas of PA -- described in the article -- were not predicted to have ANY snow AT ALL.
Indeed! We were supposed to get 1-3 TOTAL...and have about 14 inches (snow stopped around 2pm).
Prayers offered up.
NOAA/NWS screwed these people over. You're right about the PA turnpike, but this has nothing to do with narrow roads or bad grades.
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