{"id":2675,"date":"2006-02-15T03:04:00","date_gmt":"2006-02-15T08:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/2006\/02\/blizzard\/"},"modified":"2010-12-30T12:02:04","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T17:02:04","slug":"blizzard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/2006\/02\/blizzard\/","title":{"rendered":"Blizzard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"picright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_Blizzard2Web-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_Blizzard2Web-Feature.jpg\" width=\"220\" height=\"151\" alt=\"Blizzard in Gales Ferry\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The weather forecasters promised us a blizzard this past Sunday, and a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_Blizzard1Web-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of blizzard\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\nblizzard<\/a>, of a sort, is what we got. &#8220;Blizzard&#8221; is defined as &#8220;a violent windstorm with dry, driving snow and intense cold.&#8221; The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nws.noaa.gov\/\">National Weather Service<\/a> quantifies this as 35 mph winds and quarter mile visibility or less (there is no specific temperature requirement). Most people had hunkered down at home for the storm, so there was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_Blizzard3Web-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of snowy street\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\nlittle traffic<\/a> nor need for frantic <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_Blizzard4Web-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of snow plow\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\nsnow plowing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Although this was nothing like the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.infoplease.com\/spot\/blizzard1.html\">Blizzard of 1888<\/a>, the gold standard for storms in my youth when a few living folk could still remember it, or the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hurricanes-blizzards-noreasters.com\/78blizzard.html\">Blizzard of 1978<\/a>, which shut Connecticut down for three days, it was enough to jog my memories of snow removal. I grew up in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epodunk.com\/cgi-bin\/genInfo.php?locIndex=9152\">northwestern Connecticut<\/a> where it snows more seriously than in this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.town.ledyard.ct.us\/\">southern corner<\/a> of the state. Ordinary snow plowing was handled by dump trucks, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_ChevSnowPlowWeb-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of Chevrolet plow truck\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\nChevys<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_DodgeSnowPlowWeb-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of Dodge plow truck\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\nDodges<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_InternationalSnowPlowWeb-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of International plow truck\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\nInternationals<\/a>, for example, fitted with snow plows. Some towns had <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_WalterSnowFighterWeb-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of Walter Snow Fighter\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\nWalter Snow Fighters<\/a>, at least one of which was equipped with a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_WalterSnowBlowerWeb-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of Walter with rotary wing plow\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\nrotary wing plow<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For really serious snow drifts there was the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_SnoGoLFWeb-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of Klauer SnoGo\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\nKlauer SnoGo<\/a>, which had a front-mounted two- or three-bank auger ahead of a rotary blower. The thing consumed so much power that a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_SnoGoLRWeb-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of SnoGo - rear\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\ndedicated engine<\/a>, mounted on the rear, was required to drive it. Klauer also built smaller SnoGos, for mounting on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gwim2.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk\/mhf.htm\">standard truck chassis<\/a>. You can still buy a SnoGo; they&#8217;re now made by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wausau-everest.com\/model.php?id=38\">Wausau-Everest<\/a> of New Berlin, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<p>My driveway measures some 240 feet from street to garage, too long for a geezer like me to shovel. My venerable <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_GravelywPlowWeb-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of Gravely with plow\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\nGravely<\/a>, about which you&#8217;ve <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/archive\/2005_04_01_archive.html\">read before<\/a>, sprang to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_GravelyPlowingWeb-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of Gravely plowing\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\naction<\/a> and had it <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_Blizzard7Web-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of plowed driveway\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\ncleaned up<\/a> in about two hours. One day I must re-activate the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2005-6-1_Jeep001Web-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of Willys Jeep\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\nJeep<\/a> left to me by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/2005\/06\/ingenious-yankee.html\">my father<\/a>. With a little work on the brakes, exhaust and generator, it would do much more than occupy a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-1-4_GarageInsideSEWeb-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of Jeep in garage\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\ncorner of the garage<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>By  Monday morning, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_Blizzard8Web-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of clear driveway\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\ndriveway<\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/images\/2006-2-15_Blizzard6Web-Large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"illustration of clear street\" target=\"_blank\"class=\"imglink\"><br \/>\nstreet<\/a> were both clear, the sun was out and the temperature was rising. Life was back to normal, which includes not working on the Jeep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The weather forecasters promised us a blizzard this past Sunday, and a blizzard, of a sort, is what we got. &#8220;Blizzard&#8221; is defined as &#8220;a violent windstorm with dry, driving snow and intense cold.&#8221; The National Weather Service quantifies this as 35 mph winds and quarter mile visibility or less (there is no specific temperature<span style=\"color:#aaa\">&#8230;.<\/span> <br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/2006\/02\/blizzard\/\">Read full article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2675"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3399,"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2675\/revisions\/3399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}