"Yes, it's snowing. No, we don't plow."
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We're in our first actual winter here in Boise. Snow is pretty light actually (about a foot or less of standing snow). But the city barely plows the main roads. Side streets? Forget it. So I figure "No worries, I'll just call and pay a landscaping company since they usually do snow and ice in the winter." Nope, not in Boise. "Ok, I'll rent a plow. We have TONS of rental places."
Rental place says they don't rent snow equipment because it doesn't really snow in Boise. When I asked him to look outside, he said "Well I mean normally... This is an off year." So I ask, "Ok, what about a wheel tractor with a front bucket and back blade?... Oh, you don't have those. Weird. Ok, what about a skid steer? Only on contract... ok, so nothing? Great."
So now I just watch cars get pulled around on the side roads instead of driving on a plowed road. One more reason I love Boise.
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Sounds like you have discovered a great thing to invest in.
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@scottalanmiller said in "Yes, it's snowing. No, we don't plow.":
Sounds like you have discovered a great thing to invest in.
Haha seriously. Wish I had my pickup instead of getting rid of it for a freeway car. Snow isn't bad here so I figured I'd save on fuel. A Boss plow is like $2k for one brand new, I know of a few I can get for like $1200 used (articulating and suuuuper nice. Used them before). Maybe $300 in attachments and a front hitch. Another plowing vehicle would run about $5k with 4wd, plus about $800 for good 6-ply tires. Another $100 for chains. A permit from the city is around $100 and that's it.
Apparently our Idaho Transportation Department just spent $3M in snow removal, and our county wants to spend another $500k. I don't know where the money is going because our roads are NOT clear... It could be worse, we could be the State of Washington. Now there is a shit show.
This sucks cause north Idaho is awesome with plowing and snow removal. South Idaho? Forget it. lol
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Here in Texas we have opted for a more efficient "snow avoidance" algorithm.
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@scottalanmiller said in "Yes, it's snowing. No, we don't plow.":
Here in Texas we have opted for a more efficient "snow avoidance" algorithm.
Haha maybe if there would just be more global warming we'd all be living life like we're in Texas.
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@scottalanmiller said in "Yes, it's snowing. No, we don't plow.":
Here in Texas we have opted for a more efficient "snow avoidance" algorithm.
In GA, we just panic and have a temporary collapse of society. And they have predicted some snow for this weekend.
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@RojoLoco said in "Yes, it's snowing. No, we don't plow.":
@scottalanmiller said in "Yes, it's snowing. No, we don't plow.":
Here in Texas we have opted for a more efficient "snow avoidance" algorithm.
I GA, we just panic and have a temporary collapse of society. And they have predicted some snow for this weekend.
We have a few more days of cold then 70s predicted soon.
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The weather is starting to get cold up here in NY again.
Supposed to get some snow this week, after last weeks complete thaw.
But ya @BBigford you should definitely start a plowing rental company..
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@RojoLoco said in "Yes, it's snowing. No, we don't plow.":
@scottalanmiller said in "Yes, it's snowing. No, we don't plow.":
Here in Texas we have opted for a more efficient "snow avoidance" algorithm.
I GA, we just panic and have a temporary collapse of society. And they have predicted some snow for this weekend.
Yeah... I guess I should probably do like everybody else and go buy 10 gallons of water, 5 loaves of bread, and all the canned food I can carry.
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It doesn't snow in Boise?? I didn't know that.
Here in NH we have had over 20" so far this winter. We got about 9" last Thursday, so I have a nice blanket of snow in the yard. One of my dogs LOVES it!
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Just looked it up....Boise averages 19" per year.
We average 63" a year.
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@RojoLoco said in "Yes, it's snowing. No, we don't plow.":
@scottalanmiller said in "Yes, it's snowing. No, we don't plow.":
Here in Texas we have opted for a more efficient "snow avoidance" algorithm.
In GA, we just panic and have a temporary collapse of society. And they have predicted some snow for this weekend.
Same system we operate on here.
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What is snow?
It's been 18 years(?) since I last saw snow and that was on a cross country school trip. -
Good luck with it all
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Down the street from my house. In the corner you can see a couple of people ice fishing.
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@Son-of-Jor-El said in "Yes, it's snowing. No, we don't plow.":
Just looked it up....Boise averages 19" per year.
We average 63" a year.
19"? That is more than average for most years... they are being far too generous.
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My sister has lived in Boise / Meridian for about 10 years. This was her patio the other day:
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You were lucky enough to move there in an interesting year. Boise saw record snowfall last week, and it is true that a city only plans for 'the norm'. When planning for the norm proves ineffective, only then will they invest in new plows. Every city has posted evacuation routes in case of emergencies. Those evacuation routes (often residential side-streets that are otherwise not often used) are always the first to be plowed. Then they move to main arteries, then busy residential arteries. In a bad storm, most other residential streets are ignored entirely.
I'm in Montana. Our past 5 winters have been some of the worst on record. The first one was a nightmare; nothing was plowed. The plows the city did have were being run 24 hours a day on shifts, they were breaking down, etc... the breaking point was that they couldn't keep up with clearing evac routes. Over the next few years, our city has gotten VERY good at plowing. We have some seriously behemoth machines. Plows travel in pairs so they can clear an entire street in one pass, they usually run from 9 PM to 6 AM to not interrupt traffic and only spot check during the day. You almost never see them and the streets are always clear. It's amazing how far they've come. This winter has been nuts so far. Shovel 12" off the drive, shovel 10" the next day, then the wind picks up and drifts, so you shovel another 12" of wind packed ice. Rinse repeat for 3 weeks. My brother has been running his 4-wheeler up and down streets charging people to clear driveways.
tl;dr: They're right. If Boise rarely sees over 4", it's hard to justify new equipment in the budget. Buy yourself a 4-wheeler with a plow and charge $50 to clear driveways. It'll pay for itself in a week.
