FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

Taken from the FRC Blog, 2/8/13: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...o-feet-of-snow

No extension to build time. Plain and simple.

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

This is about the only time in FRC, Hawaii teams have an advantage.

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

Of course, if you had planned ahead you could have gotten yourself snowed in at the same location of your robot, materials, tools, and not missed anytime. :P

Now, back in our rookie season of 2003 there was a blizzard and some of us were snowed in during build season.
It wasn't planned per say, but it was a deliberate choice by some of us.

Thought, I'd share.:D

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

But... in the real world, it is not illegal to go into work to finish a project when everyone else is at home because they are snowed in.

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

Our team in the Northwest lost a week last year from snow as well.

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

And Cali :D

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

Actually you can be arrested for being on the road if a snow emergency is declared here in Indiana.

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

Never heard of Minnesota closing roads for snow, at least not near the cities where my team is. Last year, we had about 2 ft of snow on Sunday and we dutifully showed up for school the next day.

I feel bad for anyone who loses a week to the snow though; I doubt my team could make it through losing a week.

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

Right!?! Down in south eastern Minnesota, we experienced three snow days this year alone. But we still communicated and found out if a mentor could sneak us into the school, because our school like most doesn't like having students in the school when they close school down to prevent travel. But anyway, if you get the snow, work around it, be safe, and if there is snow on the road, don't got barreling down the road like it was a nice hot summer day in the July.

May the wrath of Mother Nature be with you!

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

I actually love this blog post. In essence: "Suck it up, find a way!". If that isn't the mantra of life for so many people in the world, I dont know what is. Some people will find a way to sneak into the school (make sure you shut the security alarms off!!!), some will find a way to sneak the robot out of the school, some will be staying up until 2am every day for the next week and a half to make up for the loss. EVERYONE will learn a lesson.

Just don't get arrested if you are in Mass...you aren't allowed to drive right now. :)

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

That's cute 2 feet of snow. Let me guess you guys aren't going to have school. This happens in Minnesota and we still have school the next day.

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

Our cars are actually frozen here in Cali last night and this morning. But nothing like snowed in.

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

Uh, sounds like there's a fun (or not so fun) story behind this here. :D

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

Anyone else still unable to get back to work because of snow? We haven't had access to our robot since Thursday night, and tomorrow looks iffy too (We don't have school tomorrow). I'm just curious as to how far behind we're getting.

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

That kind of snow is not unusual here in Alberta. I find geographic cultural differences amusing.

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

Well, maybe it's not unusual in Banff or even Canmore... but in Calgary? C'mon... you guys actually have to build to a lower snow load than we do in Vancouver. (Speaking of which, the flowers are coming up nicely, thank you for asking. ;) )

Look down this page for Calgary's record snowfalls... 48cm fell in one day, once... back in 1981.

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/sta...31093/caab0049

Those teams back east get walloped every couple of years. But at least they have FRC regionals within 1,000km of their home school without having to start their own!

Jason

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

While our team in the NorthWEsT got extra build time due to the snow last year They did not close the High School even though there were no classesl. So people came in and worked and worked and worked. Many of us were w/o power at home so going to school with power and heat was preferred to staying at home in the dark and cold. That was the reason that we were able to have more build time since some of the schools in the district were w/o power the district chose to not have classes at any school until the roads to all the schools were open and all had power.

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

As do I. I distinctly remember a time in college in Tucson, AZ where it snowed for about 20 minutes in January; the school district called an emergency meeting and was going to cancel classes if any of the snow didn't melt (it did, to the dismay of all the desert kids who have never seen a snow day). Of course I had never heard of classes being canceled for heat until I moved out of state either, and I've seen it happen multiple times here in Iowa. Something about buildings not having air conditioning or passive cooling systems, I didn't know they made buildings like that :p

I hope all the teams snowed in stay safe and can finish build season without problems. Losing close to a week is a killer to some I'm sure.

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

Still no access to school? We got hammered here on Friday like most of the northeastern US, but our roads are clear and its business as usual here now. Heck, by saturday afternoon it wasn't too bad... my driveway does have a ~4ft wall of snow at the edges though... ;)

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

This was my favorite part of the blog. Applicable to build season, competition season, offseason, life.

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

North-easterners: We're might be getting more snow this weekend... http://www.accuweather.com/en/weathe...ential/5997763

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

This is a huge worry right now, for both build time as well as Week 0 events.

Fingers Crossed it doesn't put us back any further.

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

And it looks like this won't be the end of it. Quoting the article,
Emphasis mine.

Here are the two paths it may take. Everyone better cross their fingers for the better scenario...

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

Team 23 hasn't been able to work on our robot since Thursday night. Plymouth happened to be one of the hardest hit areas (just our luck this year) and our schools didn't even have power until I believe yesterday. It looks like we will finally be allowed back in tomorrow though!

Re: FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?
 

It wasn't the quantity of the snow that is still causing problems, but the rate at which it accumulated. Most places in the northeast US can easily handle 2ft blizzards and have all roads passable within a day, so long as the snowfall rate stays under 1-2" per hour (normally in the northeast 2" per hour is considered exceptionally heavy snowfall rate). The problem this storm caused is that at the peak, it was snowing more than 6" per hour.

So instead of the plow trucks being able to continuously plow a few inches of snow off the roads throughout the storm, they were overwhelmed quickly to the point where the snow is literally too deep to plow. At that point you need rotary plows (basically massive snow blowers) or construction equipment (such as backhoes) to clear roads, both of which are significantly slower than plowing.

I too once laughed at how the southern US handles snow, until I witnessed it firsthand in Texas. With no snowplows, when it actually does snow a few inches, it will soon melt into slush, then refreezes into ice the next night. Then all roads for the next few days will have smooth tire ruts with several inches of jagged, solid ice in between. Changing lanes on the highway wasn't fun.