Western Railroad Discussion > Donner snow - UP response?

I-80 shut in both directions with all sort of problems. Has UP rolled anything out of Roseville? Are the spreaders in Truckee? Flangers?

Dont know about rail conditions, but the reason for the I-80 closure was due to multiple accidents & spin-outs. Snow depth wont become an issue for at least several more hours, if at all. Although this system is more than a light drizzle, most first storm of the season "forecasts" seem to be over exaggerated somewhat. We'll see what happens.

Desmond Praetzel, "4451 Puff"

You can monitor Truckee conditions with the Truckee Cam:

http://tahoetopia.com/webcam/downtown-truckee

and RR Radio has a radio feed for Truckee, one of the Audio programs needs to be available:

http://railroadradio.net/

Both are pretty effective, some folks monitor Amtrak's arrival times as the Flangers seem to usually run ahead of them. A previous post suggested that snow equipment had been seen travelling to Truckee.

4451Puff Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "forecasts" seem to be
> over exaggerated somewhat. We'll see what
> happens.
>
> Desmond Praetzel, "4451 Puff"

Well there is 18inches in my driveway and im at 2000 feet. So its moving in and not exaggerated. Redding has a few inches on the valley floor. All predicted last week.

The Washington Post had an article on why the "American model" and the "European model" and the various other forecasting processes sometimes converge, and sometimes differ.  There are 15-20 major weather forecasting models in use.  And 20 years of detailed history on jet stream steering winds, barometer changes, weather fronts, moisture levels, etc. Thirty four different major inputs, times 20 years.

Put these inputs into the system, set the desired weights on each, and you'll get a probability curve. Or "cone of uncertainty" for a hurricane, snow storm, etc

Here in south Florida, the half degree temperature increase in the ocean waters east of the Bahamas and north of Hispaniola / Puerto Rico seems to be generating higher convection in hurricanes compared to previous five year periods...

The UP has been running the flangers as of about 6:30 PM ot of Truckee.
 

Well, all  I had to do was watch the Truckee Webcam for 30 seconds, to know that nothing has been exaggerated. 

Hey guys, I departed Martinez about 11 AM this morning heading to Reno for a few days. I actually planned to leave on Wednesday, but I'm glad that I changed my departure to today with the holiday traffic in mind. It was clear sailing to Sac and up until about Gold Run. It was snowing lightly from there on up the hill and traffic was moving well. Once we hit the Blue Canyon grade things started to get a little slippery. And of course, drivers that aren't used to such conditions don't make driving any easier. Approaching Nyak a CHP vehicle passed me along with a CAL Fire truck with lights flashing. From that point on, it was slow going with numerous overturns, big rigs stopped, and vehicles into the banks or wrecked. I was driving my 2015 Toyota Highlander AWD and it has selective gear shifting that works great instead of hitting the breaks. I did stop briefly in Truckee, but still had sliding issues with using the brakes. Need to go slow and be carefu. I made it to Reno safely by 3:30 toay.