I Can Not Seem to Catch a Break!

[n4gix]

Beginning last evening, it began snowing here in Hot Springs, AR. By bedtime, we got about 5 inches of heavy snow. I got up around 3:30 am. After visiting nature, I happened to glance out the window in my front door and was devastated to discover...

...that the additional 8 inches of heavy snow collapsed my car canopy, trapped my car and broke one of my trunk mount antennas and may have caused other damage I haven't had the heart to even venture outdoors to check!

What I can see however is that the aluminum frame has been torqued like a pretzel and is likely to have broken some of the joints. 🤑

Edited January 10 by n4gix
corrected grammar and punctuation.

[spilok]

I am truly sorry for this experience.  In a few years, you will hopefully laugh at this.

[LHookins]

Ouch, Fr Bill.

We only got 5 inches total in Bonham Tx. The dogs seemed to like it. The cats, not so much. 🙂 

I looked out the back door last night and discovered my son and his wife had made a one foot tall snowman on the back porch. It's still there. It's sometimes the little things that make life worth living.  😄 There were also 3 on the doghouse. I'm assuming it was the kids, and not the dogs, cats and chickens, but you never know for sure. (OK, my son admitted it was him later.)

A few years ago we got our first snowfall on Christmas day. That was special and the only time I remember that ever happening.

I remember many years ago, living in Dallas, making snow angels and uncovering green grass underneath. Seems weird, now.

Hook

[Paul Deluca]

Sorry to hear that Fr. Bill  I wish the weather would warm up  and give me a break.  I'm getting breaks in other ways. No longer blind when i wake up [1st cataract surgery done] Taking in a stray cat that was very clingy outside. The cat goes back out when it warms up. Hang in there. 

[charliearon]

Amazing how the world looks after cataract surgery!  Had 'em both done this last October!  Sorry about the
 big snowfall, Bill!  Saw it on the news and Hot Springs was my first thought!  Didn't you leave Hammond
because of the cold winters there?

[Paul Deluca]

Thanks Charlie  Surgery #2 is scheduled for the 20th   you are right  what a difference.

[Bob Scott]

I grieve for your trunk-mount antennas, Bill. 

And what's up with snow in "Hot" Springs, anyway??!!

We had the biggest snowfall of my 16 years in Colorado a few months ago--26 inches over three straight days.  I had bought a snow rake on a telescoping 18' pole when I first moved here and never had occasion to use it until that storm.  I estimated that I pulled over 2000 lbs of wet snow down off the roof to take some of the load off the roof structure.  That stuff truly is heavy.

[dave2013]

Well, that sucks.  You'd think a metal car canopy could handle 8in of snow.

On a related note, we have a lot of people from up north that have moved here to Tennessee over the years, especially since the plague started in 2020.  Heck, we're even getting people from Florida and California.  Anyway, I find it amusing that many of them are surprised that we get snow here and that it can get quite cold in the Winter.  While our Winters are shorter than, say, New York State, for example, we do have them, and the temperature even gets down into the single digits sometimes.

When I was growing up in the 1970s and early 80s we had enough snow every Winter to go sledding.  My parents said that back in the 1940s-1960s it was the same.  While the climate here did warm up starting in the mid-80s, it is looking more and more like the weather is returning to its norm as we're getting snow again and colder Winters.

Snow in the southern half of Arkansas is more rare than it is here, so I sympathize with those folks as they're not used to it.

Dave

[charliearon]

@dave2013 The first and only time I walked on an ice covered sidewalk was back in early February 1969
at the NATTC Millington, Tenn.  It was 6 am and was walking to the chow hall for breakfast.  Growing up in
East Los Angeles, Ca.  I never knew what it was like! ⛸

[birdguy]

Well, here in Alienville we got about four inches.  But the flakes were tiny and light and just seemed to float to the ground.  I filled a water glass tumbler with about 4 inches and let it melt.  There was less than a sixteenth inch of water on the bottom.  So we cannot count on a dent in the drought from it.

While it is inconvenient for me I think about a friend who lives in Southern California and what he might be seeing.  A climatologist in Southern California said, "Thinl of the Santa Ana winds as a hair dryer for the forests."

I know climate change is a verboten subject here so I will not comment on that.  I will just say, "Look around."

And to Fr. Bill I will say send me a PM and let me know if I can help.

Noel

[Matthew Kane]

I remember you had someone help you with that car in the past when it had problems, so yeah this is just more problems to deal with. Hopefully when it clears its not so bad, cars are a pain

[n4gix]

I dressed as warmly as possible about an hour ago and managed to first of all measure the snow that accumulated on the new deck for the wheelchair ramp my landlady is having built as a precaution for the ever nearer future. This was not "drifted snow," but an actual depth of 11.5"!

For visual reference, this is a picture taken from my front door. The frame is a total loss. The collapse is so severe that one of the braces appears to have dented the roof just above the driver's door. I planned to start the car and let the engine warm up, but alas can't even open the door! Worst of all, the HF ATAS antenna has been broken at the base. That is one very expensive ($389.99) bit of an antenna. The dual-band antenna survived by simply folding at the base of the trunk lid mount. The third antenna is a UHF mono-band and may be recoverable when the snow finally melts.

Edited January 11 by n4gix
Added more information

[n4gix]

2 hours ago, dave2013 said:

Well, that sucks.  You'd think a metal car canopy could handle 8in of snow.

Unfortunately, this was a fairly inexpensive canvas over steel frame "carport" style, that in what usually passes for "winter" here in deep south Arkansas that it likely would have been just fine:

Outsunny 10 ft. x 20 ft. Heavy-Duty Carport Canopy with Water/UV Fighting Material and A Simple Open Design 84C-159 - The Home Depot ($149.82)

[charliearon]

No longer called Hot Springs but now called Snowy Springs!  Is that a glacier forming in the distance??  Wait,
I see a polar bear behind that tree!

[n4gix]

1 minute ago, charliearon said:

No longer called Hot Springs but now called Snowy Springs!  Is that a glacier forming in the distance??  Wait,
I see a polar bear behind that tree!

My pond is frozen solid. I don't know if the fish and turtles will survive this winter!

I hope I can get that collapsed canopy down before the 16th, as I have an appointment with my podiatrist for diabetes foot care at the HS VA Clinic, which includes nail trimming.

I wonder if I should take my hair dryer and try to melt the snow on the collapsed canvas?