Love that Minnesota weather....

the_experience03 · 02-27-2007, 08:57 PM

So....think a person could affix a plow to the front of a bus?

Feb 27, 2007 - A new winter storm is due to arrive in the Northland Wednesday afternoon, and this time it could give us two full days of heavy snow. Forecasters say 16 to as much as 24 inches are possible for the entire storm, especially on the North Shore.

GoneCamping · 02-27-2007, 09:56 PM

Why not, the put them on dump trucks....

CVanDamme · 02-28-2007, 02:05 AM

Seen lots of pictures of farmers putting them on Old combines. pretty silly looking, but probably works well, A bus would likely work good, aslong as turning wasn't crucial.

the_experience03 · 02-28-2007, 04:12 AM

I have an ATV for plowing, a two stage snowblower for taking down banks, and a shovel for getting my car out since both the bus and my truck are currently plowed in.

lapeer20m · 02-28-2007, 08:00 AM

a conventional skoolie would push a lot of snow, i'm certian of that. My skoolie, especially with a few thousand pounds of water inside goes through snow like mad crazy. Drove the bus to work in a bad storm once, snow plow guy plowed the bus in when he did the parking lot. Snow was several feet high and i drove through it with no problem. Air brakes are much more difficult to stop with on slippery roads than hydraulic. "pumping" the air brakes is much more challenging than hydro's.

the bigger problem, and the thing that really keeps me from putting a plow on mine is that you could not use the plow to make money or you would forfieght your skoolies RV status. It would become a commercial vehicle requiring a cdl if it's over the magic number 26,001? pounds.

Both of my conventional skoolies had excellent traction in the snow. However, i would bet that a foward control flat front end bus wouldn't be as good. I know a particular BB flat front end bus that gets terrible traction on sand (i assume snow would be equally or even more difficult)

Steve · 02-28-2007, 09:28 AM

Here is what my bus looks like after that storm we had during the weekend. They the storm that is going to hit tonight will be a blizzard and add another foot of snow to the foot or more we already have.

One nice thing about the bus is that if the power goes out I can disconnect my house from the utility line, then run a cord from the bus to a garage outlet and power the house off it until I see my neighbors have power.

the_experience03 · 03-02-2007, 06:12 AM

Well...how about this for a rundown?

16.5 inches of snow over 24 hours with winds gusting to 65 mph for about 12 hours.

All schools and businesses are closed as well as the clinics in town

The plows have been off the highway until now. Currently they are out with road graders rigged up with V-plows and chains to break the drifts. The fleet of FL80 dumps with reversible blades still cannot get out.

Park Point is closed. Drifts are 10 feet high. They can't plow because they aren't sure if there are cars under the drifts or not so they're going to bring in a big blower following men on snowshoes with probing rods.

The firetrucks and ambulances are all chained up and have v-plows at the ready to lead the way. The police have some 4wd Expeditions, but they aren't going anywhere.

And this...the very best part IMHO...while out walking to the gas station at 9:30 last night to get some adult beverages, I witnessed snowmobiles drag racing down I-35. This is a huge transportation corridor (the interstate starts in this town) that winds through a maze of on ramps, off ramps, tunnels, etc. You can't imagine what it was like to see snowmobiles racing down the driving lanes. The interstate is closed and driving on streets is illegal, but they're doing it all over town. Why? Because they can....who is going to stop them? Needless to say I'm a little jealous. The worst part of it is that my snowmobile and my truck (which is well designed to deal with this weather) are 60 miles from here. Damn my frugal Honda and it's 3 inches of ground clearance.....

*edit*

I failed to mention the approximately 4 hours of thundersnow we had last night. For those of you who are unfamiliar, it is the extremely rare instance in which you have severe snow, winds, and THUNDER and LIGHTNING. Very cool, very cool indeed! You really have to witness it first hand to appreciate it.

lapeer20m · 03-02-2007, 07:55 AM

i'm jealous. we're having a heat wave in michigan, it was just above freezing the past couple days and rainy. I much prefer snow...

I saw an interesting program on tv about snow removal on donner pass the other day. They have magnets implanted in the center of each lane that allows the plow trucks to operate on "auto pilot" mode. Even in zero visibility the trucks can still get out and plow. The trucks are also equipped with radar so they can "see" if there any cars buried in the snow in front of them. Just thought that was a nifty use of technology.

lapeer20m · 03-02-2007, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve

One nice thing about the bus is that if the power goes out I can disconnect my house from the utility line, then run a cord from the bus to a garage outlet and power the house off it until I see my neighbors have power.

i've actually done that before. A few years ago when i first got my bus. It was pre-jacuzzi. I still lived at home with my parents and they were none too happy about having a bus in the driveway.....The power went out for a couple days and i was able to run the critical items ie: furnace (it was chilly out) fridge, and of coarse the tv/sat dish from the 2000 watt inverter in my bus. I only have a pair of golf cart batteries so i had to let the bus idle most of the time. After that day, having the bus in the driveway didn't seem like such an inconvienence to my parents.

Steve probably has enough battery power in his bus that he could run stuff in his house for days without ever starting his buses engine.

oldog12 · 03-02-2007, 11:49 AM

Hey.... When is this "Global Warming" thing supposed to kick in anyway???

Steve · 03-02-2007, 11:59 AM

The I-35 is still closed down from my town all the way up to Minnesota. Been closed for over 24 hours now.

oldog12 · 03-02-2007, 12:27 PM

Quote:

It did down here "Global Warming killed Frosty"in the 70s today

Is the 70s unusual for the 2nd of March in Austin?

oldog12 · 03-02-2007, 01:34 PM

I was afraid I'd have to plan on going "hybrid"

wmah · 03-02-2007, 05:11 PM

Kinda wish I was in duluth right now. I could be riding the sled on I35. I did just get back from riding for the last 5 hours and only managed to rack up about 95 miles on it. I did get stuck in some tall grass but not because I couldn't go through the tall grass, it was all the snow on top of the grass the fell on top of the front of the sled that stopped me dead. Sure am glad I put the reverse kit on it a couple years ago, it made turning around easier. It is also sure nice I have a plow on the truck cause the four wheeler never would have touched this stuff.

the_experience03 · 03-03-2007, 01:18 AM

No...no you don't wish you were in Duluth. Some pictures from The Duluth News Tribune. Dial up Beware.

View the rest at The Duluth News Tribune

phillbus914 · 03-03-2007, 09:34 AM

I would love to have that much snow sometime. We get some deep snow once and a while. The most at one time I remember was in the winter of 98-99 there was about 36" on the ground.

That looks like fun.... I'm sure that the "fun" wears off after a few days of being snowed in.

oldog12 · 03-03-2007, 10:29 AM

Quote:

... I'm sure that the "fun" wears off after a few days of being snowed in.

...I'm sure it wears off after the first few shovel fulls...

.

the_experience03 · 03-03-2007, 08:05 PM

My car is still buried under a snowdrift at the end of my driveway and to this point the city has only made a single pass on the residential roadways. They have spent the majority of their time getting the ambulance runs and main thruways cleaned up nice so you can see oncoming traffic when you are waiting to turn on. We don't have a snowmelter here, real estate is expensive, and the enviromentalists would go apeshit if they dumped the snow in the lake even though the water will eventually flow there anyway.

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