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Weather
Full disclosure: I grew up in Chicago, and therefore have an innate and unfortunately unpreventable sense of superiority in all things winter. I'm a perennial a-hole on the matter, and I can't help it.
But still: Is 6 inches really a snow "emergency?"
The city says yes, and has declared a snow emergency beginning at 7 p.m. tonight.
But is it really so terrible to have 6 inches of snow that schools need to be closed, press conferences held, and what seems like a not-so-small mountain of salt poured over the city, as if we were trying to make Philly into sauerkraut?
(A press release from the mayor's office said that city crews have been "applying a brine solution" to the streets since Tuesday morning.)
I mean, it's winter. It snows. It's 6 inches. Big deal, right?
Why, I remember back in Chicago ... OK. Enough.
[...] More Atomic Bomb Explosion Products Related to this you can read: http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2011/01/26/nooooooo-wait-six-inches/ [...]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Philly City Paper, Philly News Now. Philly News Now said: NOOOOOOO â wait, six inches?: Full disclosure: I grew up in Chicago, and therefore have an innate and unfortunat... http://bit.ly/fwPB5Z [...]
I'm so sick of the "where i come from" line about the snow. Chicago is equipped for the kind of snow we're getting. Philadelphia is not. It's little things like budget and equipment that affect how cities deal with snow. And today, you can look outside at the snow emergency routes, esp. Washington Avenue covered in 4 inches of packed ice, as you enjoy your crow sandwich.
I'm from Chicago, too. I actually think the "Where I come from" argument is valid because it offers a unique perspective as to how other cities deal with snow. Yes, a typical winter day in Chicago is a 4-6" snowfall, so we are better equipped to deal with such weather. Philadelphia just isn't. However, since the Eastern seaboard often sees patterns of no snow or a foot or more storm, you'd think by now the city would be able to accommodate for the forecast. Just another typical winter day, if you ask me.
BURRRR
I come from a place that's snowier too but I don't think that those arguments do anything to advance the problem of big east coast cities' poor response to snow. While not every winter in Philly is as snowy as some winters, I would argue that snowy, icy winters are NOT abnormal and therefore, there is no reason for Philadelphia and New York to fail to plan. If they end up not needing money for snowfall, then use it to pay off debts. For every year that I spent in Philly without a snow day, I spent two winters with multiple snow days. Snow and ice are the norm in Philadelphia. Get to planning the response and the budget. And don't stop storm preps just because Chicago doesn't think anything about 6 inches.
[...] boosted last night and this morning, when yours truly was forced to acknowledge the stupidity of making fun of a snowstorm before it hit â and turned out be be roughly double the size it was supposed to [...]
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| Jaime Block |
| Before. |
Snowmageddon: February 10th. Today: February 18th.
The streets are finally pretty much clear. (Think the specter of the next storm helped at all?)
Perhaps everything is best gauged by the final words of the venerable Vernon Odom's previous piece on Philly's Phase 2 snow removal: $12 million. Twelve Million Dollars. That's what Philadelphia's snow removal tab for this winter is reaching. That definitely paints a picture of the sheer scope of this situation/dilemma.
Is it possible, though, that the cost could have been kept down with better prevention?
I don't know. All I know is I have no place left to shovel the snow from my sidewalk. Please make it stop.
Personally I didn't see the full scope of some of today's efforts until I saw some shots from a friend. Here are some pictures of the snow removal effort at Webster Street. I had no idea backhoes were involved in the clearing of the small streets. Makes sense though.
More pics after the jump.
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| Shane Carr |
h/t Shane
Yes, we're snow-bound and going a little stir crazy and channeling Arlo Guthrie when we tell you that, as per the Inky's Angela Couloumbis and Paul Nussbaum, the state is shutting down 76, 676 and 476.
SEPTA stopped running most of its bus routes starting at 1 p.m. and the state is closing the Schuylkill Expressway, the Vine Street Expressway and the Blue Route at 2 p.m.
Gov. Rendell said I-95 and the Pennslvania Turnpike will remain open with restrictions for some vehicles on the Turnpike.
In other words, hunker down, there is no escape!
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| cover illustration | Thomas Pitilli |
Back in January, when City Paper published its annual writing contest issue featuring the fiction of Jessica Penzias ("Death by Oboe") and poetry of Sean Webb ("The Bridge"), we set Feb. 10 as the date for our winners reading, figuring blizzard season was over. How silly we were.
It should come as no surprise that this evening's scheduled reading with Penzias, Webb, fiction judge Elise Juska, poetry judge Thomas Devaney and CP senior editor Patrick Rapa at the Tin Angel in Old City, has been POSTPONED.
City Paper, Tin Angel and the readers are working to reschedule for an upcoming Tuesday evening, so please stay tuned here and to the event's Facebook page for updates.
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| Taylor Swift is a friend of CP Honor boxes. Now you can be, too! |
Hey City Paper readers,
We up here at the 123 are hunkering down — as are you, likely — for Snowpocalypse III: The Re-Re-Reckoning. But before we do, we're putting a paper out so you've got something hot and fresh to read over your snow-day French Toast.
Of course, Mark Burkert and our team of incredibly intrepid drivers, can only get the papers into your local honor box if they can get to the honor boxes. To this end, we're equipping them with shovels, but we ask that, if you have the time and elbow grease to spare, you help them and us as you dig out and rescue your local honor box. We're calling it our "adopt-a-box" program and it essentially goes like this: If you can find it in your heart to dig out a City Paper orange box, take a picture of it, e-mail it with your name and the box location to bhoward (at) citypaper (dot) net, and we'll post it on The Clog with your name and a digital gold star, and we'll invite you to the next CP happy hour (or, y 'know, show up at the Khyber at 5:30 on a Friday).
So doing this.
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| Courtesy of Accuweather |
Snowpocalypse III may now bring up to 20 inches!!!
Meanwhile, blizzard metaphors become more and more awesome.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Philly News Now, Yancey @YanceyG. Yancey @YanceyG said: From our favorite melodramatic forecasters â¦: Courtesy of Accuweather Snowpocalypse II may now bring up to ... http://bit.ly/9iDefb [...]
Check this list of Philadelphia's record high and low temperatures by day of the year:
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| Source | Stormfax.com |
Back in 1967 it got all the way up to 66 degrees (and in 1963 it plummeted to -2) on Jan. 25.
Askadelphia question of the Day:
Was your street plowed? If so, when? If not, how many cars have you had to dig out this weekend?
Askadelphia runs on Facebook Connect.
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| photo by Patrick Rapa |
| corner of Passyunk and Fifth |
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