SNOW!

[Terrierman]

Ducks seemed to want to work better when it was snowing too.  

Rain, not so much.

[netboy]

We had around 6" here in Flippin/Cotter area. It was a very wet, heavy snow so lots of trees and limbs down. Power went out around midnight, and it just came back on a few minutes ago (6:45 pm). We have a wood stove so no problem keeping the house warm.

[fishinwrench]

I'm not sure if this "sign" means anything, but yesterday on the way home from JC we saw a line of starlings 100 yards wide, that had to have been 15-20+miles long, heading N-NE.   Unbelievable number of birds all being driven by SOMETHING.   

[jdmidwest]

I saw a string of snow geese moving back north up the Mississippi River Flyway yesterday a mile or more long.  Riding that South Wind with a south to north pushing storm.  They use what they have.

[Gavin]

It melted off my drive before I went to work. Had to turn on the windshield wipers to take a 1/2 in off my windshield.

[Maverickpro201]

11 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

I'm not sure if this "sign" means anything, but yesterday on the way home from JC we saw a line of starlings 100 yards wide, that had to have been 15-20+miles long, heading N-NE.   Unbelievable number of birds all being driven by SOMETHING.   

Na, They were just heading to St. Louis for all the free stuff from Tax Payers Hard Earnings, that the mayor is giving away up there.

[MarkG52]

We had 4-5" in Cave Springs, a little bit south of Quillback but same county.

[Jerry Rapp]

Right at 8 inches in Arcadia Valley.  Lots of trees and big limbs down all over. Transformers blowing lit up the night.  Lost power at 3:30 am Wednesday, and got it back at 1:30 pm today.

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, Jerry Rapp said:

Right at 8 inches in Arcadia Valley.  Lots of trees and big limbs down all over. Transformers blowing lit up the night.  Lost power at 3:30 am Wednesday, and got it back at 1:30 pm today.

What causes transformers to blow like that ?  

Can't they put a fuse/circuit breaker in those things to prevent that from happening?     I have one so close to my house that I can spit on it from my front deck.    The stupid thing makes me nervous every time it storms.   

[netboy]

1 hour ago, Jerry Rapp said:

Right at 8 inches in Arcadia Valley.  Lots of trees and big limbs down all over. Transformers blowing lit up the night.  Lost power at 3:30 am Wednesday, and got it back at 1:30 pm today.

This might help explain the transformer issue. It seems to be more of a problem with the wet, heavy snow we had that night. I saw many crews still working today and most were using a long pole to reach up and reset the fuses. I didn't see any of them with equipment capable of replacing a transformer.

Snow load and high voltage transformers do not mix well. Often a heavy snow load will cause arcing between the energized lines/connections and grounding mechanisms installed for safety. Of course what you might be observing in some cases is nothing more than resettable fusible links designed to protect equipment during such events. You might recognize these as something resembling a short handlebar type mechanism, insulated at both ends and a ring capable of being hooked with a pole similar to a gaff, and used from the ground to re-engage the link. With enough snow load, many things happen to electrical systems. Arcing caused by melting snow and water running into the circuitry. Insulator to insulator arcing. Heating and breakdown of some transformers will often cause fires, and associated explosion and arcing.