Bad Weather Affecting Teams

[Tonya Scott 476]

Greetings Teams,

We have had some very severe winter weather since kickoff--totally affecting our time to work on the robot. Many Oklahoma teams are without electricity. Our state has been declared a disaster by the President.

I was wondering how all other teams were being affected in Oklahoma or other states. Please share your stories.

Good luck, and stay warm and safe! Get those robots built!

[EricH]

Other than freezing (literally--it was at 26 degrees Farenheit on Saturday night/Sunday morning), no real problems yet. The rainy season is more wind than rain this year. Of course, this is Southern California I'm talking about...

[qwv123]

I live in Washington and my team missed 3 days in the past week due to snow and ice. I think it's starting to clear up though. Good luck working around your weather troubles.

[newton418]

In Texas we don't know what to make of it, it's been so long since I've seen ice in my front lawn.

As far as FIRST goes, our team hasn't been able to meet at all this week, but we've tried to make the best of it. We've been reading over the rules, talking through AIM and email, and CADDing what we can. It's also provided us with a good opportunity to make a schedule for each sub team, so when we get back to the shop we should be working at full speed. I know we've also been encouraged by our coach to get ahead with school, but I somewhat doubt anybody has actually done that.

Sorry to hear about the severe conditions you guys are facing, the only thing I can think of that you could do is plan out everything. Make painfully detailed agendas so when you do get back into the shop everybody has something to do, and everybody realizes how much has to be done. It's also a good time to work on the Chairman's Award.

A lack of time isn't exactly unfamiliar to FIRST teams, but I wish the best of luck to all the teams suffering from these weather conditions.

[Matt Krass]

Originally Posted by EricH

Other than freezing (literally--it was at 26 degrees Farenheit on Saturday night/Sunday morning), no real problems yet. The rainy season is more wind than rain this year. Of course, this is Southern California I'm talking about...

That's nothing, we had 23 degrees fahrenheit today....negative 23...my headphone wires actually froze.

A few years ago some freak blizzards made FIRST extend the deadline for all teams in the affected area, maybe they'll do it again?

[Manoel]

The weather is just great, the problem is no Brazilian team got their kits yet...

[Ethulin]

Up here in Washington we have been having comparatively crappy weather. I say comparatively as it is really not that bad if you are a mid-west/New England team. But over here, just about any snow shuts down schools. We have lost more then half our build days so far because if the school is closed for snow they forbid access.

A know a lot of teams are hurting, but I really do not see FIRST doing anything about it.

[EStokely]

Pacific North West, specifically Tacoma.
4 days of school missed , finals pushed out, days we had scheduled as off (like the day before the last weekend) are now scheduled school days.

It is a drag, before I was reminded by administration that when school is cancelled no activities could occur we met for some of those days.
Where else will you get students calling teachers at 9AM to ask when they can go to school and work on the robot? FIRST has something going right :-)

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by EStokely

It is a drag, before I was reminded by administration that when school is cancelled no activities could occur we met for some of those days.
Where else will you get students calling teachers at 9AM to ask when they can go to school and work on the robot? FIRST has something going right :-)

We always wanted a Snow Day, because we could generally manage to get through by 10:00 or so, and have a full build-day rather than just after school.

Was it two or 3 years ago that many areas were closed down on Ship Day because of weather? Quite a few anxiety attacks!

[dtape]

In Ma, the weather has been behaving strangly. Last weeknd, it was about 50. This weekend, there is snow that is predicted. Plus we have midterms so that reduses our hours as well.

[Brandon Holley]

the part of the country that is supposed to be having bad winters and such (the northeast, more specifically boston) is just plain old cold. We have been praying for snow and NOTHING yet!!

I do recall an event probably like 3-4 years ago at my old team (11) where we had to shovel through 8 feet of snow to get into our lab !! I think it was like a day or 2 before ship so we HAD to be there.

[Pat Fairbank]

So far this week, we've had freezing rain and snow. Plus, I've had to crawl into my car through the trunk for three days now, because all the other locks are frozen.

But no, it hasn't slowed down our build at all.

[RichardJames]

Montreal is the pitts, but not because of bad weather so much as eerily good weather. The streets were generally dry until last week, and the temperature was above 0C (32F)!!! This is weird because normally we have snow here as of the beginning of December. I`m sure it`s just a strange weather phenomenon, but a lot of people are concerned about it. The temperature has been a full 7C (13F) above the average for Montreal!!!

Some people consider this nice, but it basically means it`s been raining on us every day instead of beautiful fluffy snow.

[mathking]

Well, all of the precipitation that fell as ice in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois just fell as rain in Ohio. It is now getting colder which is nicely meshing with all of the flooding. It's killing all of the wheat crops here in central Ohio. Flooded fields are now freezing over. Fortunately we haven't missed any build days yet. I don't think there are any FIRST teams in the areas affected by flood (down near the Ohio river). It affecting my basement, however.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by Matt Krass

That's nothing, we had 23 degrees fahrenheit today....negative 23...my headphone wires actually froze.

A few years ago some freak blizzards made FIRST extend the deadline for all teams in the affected area, maybe they'll do it again?

Yeah... but we are here in southern california. I can see the beach from my house and it has been up to 80 within the last few weeks.... There was ice at our shop over the weekend. ICE!!!!!! that is crazy..... it barely even rains....