[JoelJohnson]

I got stuck in the blizzard of '78 on I195. I did find a hotel but didn't get home for a week. I didn't get my car back for a week after that. Fun times.

[jimdecastro]

I was there. 🤬

[shut the front door]

Originally Posted by HIgolfers

Any Villagers stuck on I95 in the massive traffic jam? News saying folks stuck for 14+ hours due to disabled trucks and snow. What a nightmare.

If they are, I hope they aren't depleting their cell phone batteries by looking at internet message boards!

[Gunny2403]

Glad I got rid of my Tesla

[nn0wheremann]

Originally Posted by HIgolfers

Any Villagers stuck on I95 in the massive traffic jam? News saying folks stuck for 14+ hours due to disabled trucks and snow. What a nightmare.

Not in VA, but after 35 years driving in the upper Midwest an living in Chicago I got caught in my first blizzard. Goofy thing was, this happened In Mississippi. Whiteout after dark between Corinth and Tupelo. Worse than lake effect snow in northern Indiana. Steady speed, light traffic, and good luck, and we drove out of it in about an hour and a half.

[Moderator]

All references even remotely referring to anything political have been removed, with actual offenders given infractions. Any further political references will cause the thread to be closed.

[Finchs]

Originally Posted by Driver8

I was curious to find out if there were any people with electric vehicles who were stuck in this incident. Searched online for stories, but nothing.

I was wondering the same thing. If you were unfortunate enough to be snarled in this traffic jam in the snow... I think you are not only stuck in place on the highway after the gas cars have moved on, but you have probably frozen in your car with no heat. And the "geniuses" in some legislatures think mandating that we all drive electric cars in the years to come is a good idea. We elected these dopes, so we are to blame.

[Cmpwillard]

My family and I live five miles west of I-95 off of Fredericksburg exit for almost 21 years. We were without power for almost 24 hours. It was a few hours of heavy and windy snow storm that dumped 15 inches of snow at my end starting around 6 AM and then the sky cleared up with sun around 3 pm and it becomes like winter wonderland scenery. Never seen anything like this with I-95 incident before. We are planning to move to The Villages this spring time after selling our house on the market here. Been to The Villages couple of times since our first visit there on Memorial Day weekend of 2019 visiting our friends who just move there few months prior. My hubby recently retired from DOD this past Dec 2021 and I retired also three years ago from DOD. Looking forward to our new adventure permanently to The Villages in few months. Will be down to The Villages for a week or so in mid-February to start opening the bank account, etc there.

[DaleDivine]

Glad We moved out of Virginia to Flordah permanently. What a mess.

[Gunny2403]

Not sure I understand. An inaccurate statement was made by a partisan and a correction was offered. Had the statement been removed in real time, no responses would have occurred.

[Gulfcoast]

Originally Posted by BigSteph

I am from that area. I lived there for 54 years. I've never saw anything like that happen before. We've had Ice and we've had snow, but never anything that shut down a federal highway.

Folks back home report that the spray they use on the roads couldn't be applied because of the rain preceding the dumping of snow. Therefore, there was no chemical to melt the snow and ice.

Folks also report that due to Covid, Flu, and Cold symptoms, almost half of VDOT was sick and out of work right before the storm. Perfect Storm of events, pardon the pun.

The governor and his ilk are a part of why I don't live there anymore.

Last thing, I checked Dominion Power this morning and the house I left in 2021 is without power today due to the storm.

Florida and TV ain't nowhere near perfect, but today, I'm really really glad I'm here!!!

We lived in Northern Virginia for a good many years, too. I agree that I never saw anything like that mess on 95. The weird thing is that in pictures of the people stranded in that mess the pavement actually did not look all that bad or at least no worse than most storms. I'm not sure what went wrong but I can recall many times when things started off as rain, changing to sleet and then to snow, yet, they still somehow managed to treat the roads.

It does make me more glad than ever to be in Florida now that is for darned sure.

[Hape2Bhr]

Prior to becoming a permanent resident, we always found I95 in the Fredricksburg area to be a pain even in nice weather!

[Altavia]

Seeing the story on the news about the people stranded on the highway for a day in the snow got me wondering how long a car will idle on a tank of gas.

Turns our there is an easy way to estimate this for your car. You only need to know the displacement of your engine in L and the volume of you tank in gal. and the number .16.

Multiply your displacement by .16 to find out how many gallons your engine uses in an hour.

A 2L engine will use .32 gal/hr. Your 5.3L will use .85 gal/hr.

Divide the size of your tank by the rate to find the total run time for a full tank.

Multiply that by the percent your tank is full to find out how long.

My 1.5L car with a 14.8 gal tank will idle for over 60 hrs.

[montagnard1969]

This type of incident show how ill prepared the general populous are. Those who live in a winter environment SHOULD KNOW how to keep a emergency kit in their car. Some dry clothes [socks, slacks] dry non-perishible food for energy and to keep up your body heat, compact emergency blanket, water, aspirin, medical supplies, foldable over shoe boots for getting out in the snow with dress shoes on, tire chains, rock salt, pail of sand and the list goes on if you want to ACTUALLY WANT TO BE PREPARED.
Not like the weenies on the "news" who are crying about being cold and hungry. What a bunch of ill prepared morons!!! Oh it can't happen to me!!! Duhhhhhhhhh,

[DoggyStargazer]

YES, We were in the thick of it as we drove on Monday from The Villages to NoVa. We sat for hours on 95 packed between semi trucks, small cars, SUVs, and just watched 95 turn into an ice rink as the sun went down, and temps in the 20s. Luckily we were stuck near an exit ramp and noticed the ramp reopened after a few snow trucks plowed it from the overpass so we inched our way off 95 (took another hour just to get off the ramp). Then we drove side roads and found semi trucks jack-knifed, cars in ditches, and any gas station parking lot was packed with people sleeping in their cars. We turned around several times to find a clear passage until we discovered a little country road that would take us to Centreville, VA. We swerved around ditched cars, trucks, fallen trees on the roadway at 15 mph and 18 degrees F but made it home safely thanks to an expertly trained driver and good set of wheels. We left TV at 6am and got home at 4am here in VA. Usually it takes us 12 hours, this time it took us 22hours to make it home! More time was spent in the last 70 miles than in the previous 780 miles. It was exhausting, but we were lucky as most people couldn’t get off 95 and watched the sun rise and their gas tanks hit Empty in sub-zero temps. The whole scenario was out of an apocalyptic movie, except it wasn’t.