There's a heavy rain falling here in Puyallup today, and it's about 40f. It's not supposed to let up until mid-afternoon and won't get much warmer.
It's snowing pretty good, North of here. My daughter needs to go up to Western Washington University, in Bellingham, this afternoon, to pick up her Daughter. The temperature is in the teens up there.
Do all y'all take the day off if the weather is nasty? How do you define nasty weather?
We didn't work in the rain, in Nebraska. Just because the equipment wasn't water proof. But we worked in the snow.
Folks in western Washington don't like to work in the snow; but we work in the rain, even if it's a cold, hard rain.
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I'm all about being safe; A lot of people in this region don't know how to drive in the snow, so I'd rather not risk wreaking the Suburban, or getting hit, working in the road.
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what is your threshold?
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Dougie
Temp doesn't matter to me as much as the wind; wind makes everything 100x more miserable.?ÿ The older I get the more fairweather I become, so if there's office work to do I'll use that to dodge the wind, cold, and rain as much as possible. ?????ÿ
I'm north of you in Vancouver at the moment, We got 9.5" overnight with more on the way. The site survey I have to do this afternoon should be productive...
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We will never take time off due to rain and its extremely rare to take days off due to snow. That being said I don't agree with that mentality as the quality of our work and the productivity take a nose dive in weather like this.
Next year I'm hoping to take January to March off and make it up in the summer months.
Here in Iowa the forecast is for several inches of snow, significant wind, and some sub-zero F temperatures by the end of the week.
People are talking about canceling meetings. That's probably a good idea because we haven't had much of a winter driving 101 refresher yet. People here do get used to driving in snow, but it takes a reminder to re-adapt everybody.
I am a FAIR weather surveyor.
Last weekend brought 18" at my house in Vermont.?ÿ Luckily, I'm working in lower elevations, which currently have less than a foot on the ground.
It just makes it harder to get some detail, and you don't stumble across any monuments you're not actually looking for
The Fairbanks/North Pole area has crappy driving conditions all winter. ?ÿThey like to use a grader to remove the hard pack leaving a clear ice surface to drive on.?ÿ
nothing warms my heart as much as waving at the fool off the road who passed me a few minutes earlier.
I??ve worked in inclement weather conditions my entire life. Just part of it.
Really dislike surveying in the snow.?ÿ Not only is it generally cold and miserable, but you also miss things, take longer to do routine things, it's less safe, and just an all-around waste of time, imo.?ÿ Snow months should be for training, updating templates, maintaining equipment, vacations, etc.
We got hit with three back to back storms that dumped 3-5?? of snow. My first rule of thumb is to avoid driving until the weather has stabilized and plows have done their work. Road accidents are my biggest concern. As long as it??s not blowing and temps stay above -20F, I??ll breakout the 6?? snowshoes and cruise around like a snowshoe hair. I??m geared up for it and it??s actually pretty fun. Best part is nobody comes out to ask what I??m doing!
My general rule of thumb is that if I am working anywhere near roadways, I can work with two out of the below three:
-temps below ~35F
-enough active rain/snow to limit visibility
-before or after daylight hours
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That's mainly a safety thing though, and it really does depend on where you are. I spent five years working in AK, and always worked through the winter. Gotta be able to work in the dark and snow because otherwise it's not going to get done. Usually boundary (fun times digging mons under lots of snow or chipping out compacted ice on pavement) and rural-type topo (minimal utilities, but still a pain punching the rod down through snow to tag CL of ditch or culvert flowlines).
I don't mind working in anything short of a blizzard as long as there's a warm vehicle to hop into occasionally, and I'm not having to constantly worry about traffic. Aside from that the only complaints I ever had were battery life and just having to learn to punch the physical keypad on the DC for everything.
Don't worry, I just bought a snow blower today, so I'm sure it will dissipate.?ÿ ?ÿYou're welcome.?ÿ
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They are talking of snow like the blizzard of 79 here in northern Illinois.?ÿ Oh to be 10 again!?ÿ ?ÿthat was a great storm.?ÿ ?ÿ
Wishing you guys up north the best with the storm coming - be safe out there!
There is really no point to work in the snow in the PNW. It will only be a day or so. Too many people are neither prepared for nor experienced with driving in the stuff. And the heavy wet snow we get is a bit nastier than the average. Productivity will be low. Just stand down a day, maybe two, and it will be gone.?ÿ
I do work in the rain, but since I do both office and field I exercise my perogative to schedule office things on the really heavy days.?ÿ ?ÿ?ÿ
My threshold is 62?ø.?ÿ I'm a wuss.?ÿ I live in Southern California.?ÿ You will never see me working out in the rain.?ÿ Snow??ÿ What's that??ÿ But, then I don't have to work anymore.?ÿ I'm so close to being an octagenerian that I should never have to go outside if the temperature drops below 72?ø.?ÿ So I don't.
Work will cancel if the weather is bad enough. I don't know the definition other than if I deem it unsafe to travel. I don't have to take time off if i brought my computer home. We won't do field work if it is heavy rain or lightning. The temps hardly ever get low enough to stop fieldwork (-10f). I would rather survey at 0f than 100f.?ÿ
