Black Thursday Q&A

[CharlotteC]

Polar correct aside, I would think yes because I doubt ice would be that thick.

In the Northridge earthquake here, the streets in some places can be 5"-6" thick and it broke it up like tissue paper. And the freeway over passes... I can't even guess how thick or strong those are and they crumbled like a dry cookie.

[Alexandrea]

ETA

Yesh, I WAS living there then and vividly remember it... >.<

The blizzard was the worst in Ohio history where 51 people died as a result of the storm. Over 5000 members of the Ohio National Guard were called in to make numerous rescues. Police asked citizens who had four-wheel-drive vehicles or snowmobiles to transport doctors to the hospital. From January 26 to 27, the entire Ohio Turnpike was shut down for the first time ever.[6] The total effect on transportation in Ohio was described by Major General James C. Clem of the Ohio National Guard as comparable to a nuclear attack.[7] Michigan Governor William Milliken declared a state of emergency and called out the Michigan National Guard to aid stranded motorists and road crews. The Michigan State Police pronounced Traverse City, Michigan "unofficially closed" and warned area residents to stay home. WTCM radio staffer Marty Spaulding, who closed the bayfront location station the previous night at 11 pm was called to re-open it the next day at 6am as regular staffers could not get there due to impassable roads. Upon arriving after a 45-minute walk in waist deep snow from his home a mere 10 city blocks distant, he had to dig down "a foot" to put the key in the front door.[citation needed]

In Indiana on day two, just a half-hour after the arctic front blasted through, the Indianapolis International Airport was closed due to whiteout conditions. At 3 am, the blizzard produced peak winds of 55 mph. Temperatures dropped to zero that morning. Wind chills remained a bone-chilling 40 to 50 below zero nearly all day. The governor Otis R. (Doc) Bowen declared a snow emergency for the entire state the morning of the 26th. Snow drifts of 10 to 20 feet made travel virtually impossible, stranding an Amtrak train and thousands of vehicles and weary travelers. During the afternoon of the 26th, the Indiana State Police considered all Indiana roads closed.[8]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blizzard_of_1978

[Isabeau Valachi]

It wasn't pretty that's for sure. One condo I used to live in (way before the earthquake) pancaked on itself into its underground parking. A 7 story building reduced to 20 feet of rubble with a flooded underground parking

[Cassandra]

Ice along the Lake Superior coastline is currently up to three and a half feet thick, and it's not actually that cold out.

I'm willing to believe that we from less seismically-active areas are underestimating the power of an earthquake, but I feel like people from places where it doesn't get too cold on a regular basis are vastly underestimating how quickly and thoroughly things can freeze in a Canadian winter storm. It's not an uncommon occurrence for water mains to require repairs because the water froze solid while it was still in the pipe. And that's just on cold nights, not during storms.

[Phoenix]

^ We never got snow days, we got the-water-at-school-is-frozen days or the-water-on-the-road-froze-so-driving=death days. Occasionally, we got an its-just-too-*******-cold-and-the-heating-system-can't-keep-up day.

[Isabeau Valachi]

I'll admit, I've never known a winter that went below 10°F nor how ice 3 feet thick would handle a 7.0 earthquake. That said... Here's who knows how many tons of solid concrete and steel rebar against a 6.9. https://www.superstock.com/stock-photos ... /1599-2622

[Alexandrea]

Anyone ever see an out of control fire in a blizzard? O.O I sh*t you not, the water was frozen in the fire-hoses and there wasn't anything anyone could do. That was also the '78 blizzard. The local hospital burned down to the ground because the back up generator caught fire.

[Cassandra]

I'll admit, I've never known a winter that went below 10°F nor how ice 3 feet thick would handle a 7.0 earthquake. That said... Here's who knows how many tons of solid concrete and steel rebar against a 6.9. https://www.superstock.com/stock-photos ... /1599-2622

It would crack to hell, and then immediately re-freeze. There's a reason icebreakers look so funny.

[Isabeau Valachi]

I think the images here might be useful... Granted this was a 9.0 but earthquake + cold weather climate = http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Ear ... 00&PC=APPL

I know, no storm... But that particular earthquake also triggered a tsunami that did damage as well.

[Cassandra]

I don't really get what we're arguing here anymore. The original point seemed to be that a flood during a winter storm wouldn't actually be a flood, it'd be a spontaneous coating of six-inch-thick ice, and that with hurricane-force winds, even with just a foot or two of snowfall, you'd have entire buildings obscured by snowdrifts.