FRC Blogged - Two Feet of Snow?

FIRST General Forum
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Taken from the FRC Blog, 2/8/13: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/blog-two-feet-of-snow

Two Feet of Snow?

**Blog Date: **Friday, February 8, 2013 - 13:11

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I don’t know how many of you have ever seen a winter storm deliver two feet of snow, but in the Northeast, it looks like that’s what we’re in for over the next few days. Right now, predicted snow totals for Boston are 24 to 30 inches. If you‘ve never experienced a big snowstorm, they can be a little fun, at least if you are safe at home. You get a day off from school, everything turns white, it gets strangely quiet outside, and the world seems to be put on ‘pause’ – at least for a short time.

One thing big snow storms are not good for is helping FRC Teams stick to their build schedules. I expect teams in the affected area will be missing build time over the weekend, possibly even in to next week depending on the size of the storm and power availability at build sites. Every time there is a storm affecting a significant number of teams, we get asked the question - can we have an extension to our build time? The answer to this question is – no.

Every team faces crises. A mentor may become ill. An important sponsor may suddenly decide to stop funding the team. You may even be kicked out of your build site mid-season. This is just like what adults face in the real world. You may be working on an important project at your company when, unexpectedly, the team leader resigns, the delivery date for your project gets bumped up, or a key component goes out of stock.

The real issue is how you, and your team, respond to adversity. Do you focus your energy on the person you think caused the trouble? Shake your fist at the weather? Curse your fate? Or do you sit down, roll up your sleeves, assess where you are, and come up with a plan to keep moving toward the goal despite the setback?

When we get a big snowstorm up here in New Hampshire, we buckle down for the blizzard and wait it out. We make sure our friends and families are safe, and offer support to those who aren’t. And when the snow stops, we take out our shovels and get to work. Whether it’s two inches or two feet of snow, it’s amazing how quickly a few friends working together can clear a big path.

Every team, at some point, is going to face their ‘Two Feet of Snow’. How are you planning to respond when it happens to you?

I’ll blog again soon.

No extension to build time. Plain and simple.

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

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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. :stuck_out_tongue:

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.:smiley:

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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.

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

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And Cali :smiley:

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

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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.

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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!

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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. :slight_smile:

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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.

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

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

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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.

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

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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. :wink: )

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

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/statistics/CL3031093/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

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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.

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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 :stuck_out_tongue:

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.

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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… :wink:

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When we get a big snowstorm up here in New Hampshire, we buckle down for the blizzard and wait it out. We make sure our friends and families are safe, and offer support to those who aren’t. And when the snow stops, we take out our shovels and get to work. Whether it’s two inches or two feet of snow, it’s amazing how quickly a few friends working together can clear a big path.

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