My daughter went out the door to catch the school bus this morning. She was back five minutes later because she couldn’t walk up the hill. She kept sliding back down the sidewalk. My wife couldn’t drive her to school because the road in front of our house is also a sheet of ice. There are reports of accidents up and down route 128 and apparently a section of Route 495 is closed due to the ice.
Tell us your stories while we wait for the temperature to rise a bit
I wads supposed to go to three events today and the two early ones have already been cancelled because of the ice. One of the things that makes winter here such a barrel of laughs and so much fun. A lot more exciting than waiting for the late afternoon early bird special in Florida. Actually I’ve had a phobia about driving in icy conditions since I was part of a 6 car pile up on Route 2 just after I got my first driving license in 1955. This is not something you fool around with.
Got out early to go to the Y- nearly slid all the way into Galen St from the side road. Everything was slick. Retraced the route later on the way to work, and there was a minor accident in the same spot. Also noted a pedestrian in the middle of the road on Richardson, oblivious to cars (the sidewalks there were clear, but perhaps were slippery, but she showed absolutely no awareness of me behind her, so I bided my time).
Not long after (7:45 or so), slid again- at Newtonville and Walnut- beeped at a pedestrian who was not paying attention to my helpless, slow slide in her direction just so she could see me coming and maybe stop and wait to see if I could prevent sliding into her (thankfully I stopped short).
What I’m saying there is that while the drivers are responsible to yield (always), the ability to do so- even when driving at a crawl- may be compromised, so keep your eyes open folks.
As I made my way to Auburndale and the pike, saw multiple first responders presumable on their way to sliding accidents. Happy Wednesday everyone, stay safe.
Clearly we were all focused on the 50s this afternoon and missed the need for road treatment this morning.
I tried my bike commute this morning and didn’t make it past the first turn. Laying on the asphalt, I reached over and felt the roadway. It was not wet, but black ice.
From Neal P (I’m reposting this from another thread) ..
Sorry for hijacking this… What is going on w schools today? There is NO communication from school and website has no updates. Buses are running 1 hr late. IS the school open? delayed? Whats the word?
Anyone???
No Neal. I haven’t heard a word from the school either. From the look of it, this seemed to catch the entire metro area by surprise and everyone’s scrambling. I was totally unaware of any issue until my daughter walked back in the door this morning.
You’re right though, by now I would have expected a robo-call from the school dept to let us know what’s what this morning.
Doug C- the forecast I saw was for upper 30s throughout the night- I woke up, and it was 26 degrees, but as soon as I saw that knew what to expect. So I was certainly surprised, but yes perhaps the city should have had an eye on the Mercury just in case.
The school dept just sent an email to all parents.
Very difficult navigating my way to the car with my daughter about 7:30 this morning. Pitched driveway made it worse. Thought I would land on my toochis…. if I was lucky.
The older I get, the more often I ask myself: “Why do we stay here? Why? Why?”
Oh well, once we get past the next few weeks, spring will be on the horizon.
This morning was a bit crazy. I drove my kids to school and luckily did it safely. Then I played shuttle driver to a few groups of people I saw trying to walk to the T but slipping all over the place. The first woman was walking in 3 inch heels. luckily I know the roads than minimize the hills.
This was insane! At 6:45 AM I left Newton Highlands for Waltham. . . . major crash at Boylston Street off ramp to Chestnut (4-5 cars), and then a major crash on route 9 E in Wellesley with a light pole down and 5 car crash.
My son (high school) spent 45 minutes on the bus going no where (and arrived home), after I had called the high school to see if the bus arrived. Secretary was alone in the office and overwhelmed. . . .
My daughter’s elementary bus never arrived nor did we get the email from the principal that it was not going to show up.
Clearly a last minute weather change, and the Governor called a two hour delay for MA state workers at 8:30 AM. Clearly too late since many were on the road by then.
It was a tough commute! Newton to Waltham took 50 mintues.
I am hoping that the snow storm blows out to sea.
the first two southbound 59’s never showed up. I woke up at 6:30 to find my wife still at home! She had gone out front to start the walk to the bus stop and promptly turned around to get the yaktrax on. Found another woman waiting at the bus stop and no bus in sight. She managed to call a teacher colleague who lived nearby and managed to get into Needham ok. I biked home from a meeting ~9pm last night and bet that things were going to freeze overnight, it was still so slushy and wet.
I had planned to take the bus in today because of that. Northbound bus came by around 7, but I was not ready for that one. The next 2 or 3 didn’t show up! The walk to the stop was treacherous but the Chinese church was out with a sand and salt mix and their lot and driveway (shortcut from Central to Walnut) was actually pretty good! I took the next one at 8:30 to watertown square and it was pretty packed. Watertown square was more of a mess than usual due to the backup on the pike so route 70’s were just getting all bunched up. Made it into work by 9:30. Whew! I called the MBTA around 6:30 to see what was up with the buses, a lot of their drivers just couldn’t make it in or were stuck in traffic, or the buses were stuck in the yard. I also spoke with the service rep and asked to make sure the commuter rail stairs at Newtonville were salted because they are bad without having to deal with life threatening ice! (presumably they ended up being ok…) Rough morning for sure.
Guess I picked the right week to visit family in NY!
@Doug Haslam: You’re a better man than me. You at least made it to the Y. I was supposed to be there at 6 AM, but I heard a car skidding on the ice in front of the house, determined it was icy underfoot, rolled over and slept for another two hours.