Pittsburgh in the Winter (Erie, Dallas: area, average, drivers)

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Hopes

True. But it's a lot easier to drive in the blizzards when there aren't other vehicles on the road. Furthermore, health care professionals basically stay at the hospital once they get there. The ones who were onshift at the time don't get to leave. That's why sleeping facilities are available for employees in the event of a disaster.

Not all hospitals have such facilities. Most community hospitals, in fact, do not, though they will usually let you stay there if you absolutely can't get home. And not all health care personnel work in hospitals. I haven't worked IN one in almost 30 yrs. Yet we are usually still expected to show up except in the most dire of straits. The office where I work did close down for a day this winter. Interestingly, the next day, almost all the patients were able to get in, however, some nurses claimed to be snowed in and unable to show up!

[Pitt Chick]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

Not all hospitals have such facilities. Most community hospitals, in fact, do not, though they will usually let you stay there if you absolutely can't get home.

I agree. My husband has worked in five area hospitals over the years, and he has never seen employee sleeping facilities. He was stuck once, and claimed a gurney in the hall....

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

almost all the patients were able to get in, however, some nurses claimed to be snowed in and unable to show up!

This made me chuckle. It has been our experience that radiation therapy patients show up no matter WHAT the weather... and they ignore government warnings to STAY HOME!

[Katarina Witt]

This made me chuckle. It has been our experience that radiation therapy patients show up no matter WHAT the weather... and they ignore government warnings to STAY HOME!

I work in a pediatricians' office. I guess a screaming kid would be enough to put you over the edge and into your 4WD heading to the dr's office!

[Hopes]

I used to work in administration for a smaller community hospital. The disaster plans had sleeping facilities in place for medical staff. It's not something that's there on a regular basis. You wouldn't even know they were available. For this particular hospital, the sleeping facilities were located in various houses in the immediate neighborhood of the hospital. These houses weren't used for anything but the event of a disaster. The average hospital employee wouldn't be aware of these accomodations since they are merely part of an overall disaster plan.

[CaptainObvious]

A lot of people think it snows a bunch in Pittsburgh, and I have not found that to be true when comparing it to other parts of the northeast. What I do find to be true is that it snows OFTEN. Lots of little 1" and 2" snows all winter long. It stays cold for so long here that it isn't unusual to see snow on the ground for months at time come late December right on through to March. Heck, it snowed on Easter here this year!

Cap

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by CaptainObvious

Heck, it snowed on Easter here this year!

Heck, it snowed before Thanksgiving last winter!

It's mostly just flurries most of the time. Even though I don't like cold weather, I'm complaining less and less about Pittsburgh winters lately.

Summer was great until two weeks ago. Now it's miserable. August and September are usually the hottest months.

My basement flooded twice this week from the thunderstorm downpours. I have a 7" tall lemonade glass sitting on my patio table. Twice this week it filled to the top in just an hour. This morning being one of those times. That's 7" or more in one hour! Twice in one week! My tomatos are splitting on the vine from all of the rain! It could be worse though----it's better than when we have droughts.

[Katarina Witt]

As a kid, I looked forward to winter in Beaver County eagerly. Of course, it never quite lived up to my expectations. We rarely had a snow day. Brady's Run Lake rarely froze solid enough to skate on (this was before they had an indoor rink there). But there were always a few days of sledding on 4th St. HIll in Patterson Hts.

As a Pitt student, walking everywhere, I didn't mind it much. As a visitig nurse on the South Side and up the slopes to Arlington Hts and Mt. Oliver, I didn't much like driving there, but felt it was tolerable.

I did not feel the winter was excessively long there. It may snow a little in October, but Halloween was almost always mild and sometimes rainy. I've seen some Easter snows, but I've also been in "shirtsleeves" at Easter. It seems like it rains more than it snows in winter there.

[barneyg]

Originally Posted by TheReturn

Prepare for Hell on earth. Stockpile ammunition, a terrible towel, and sixty two thousands cans of baked beans. You will need them. Winter lasts 9 months in Pittsburgh. If you are elderly or weak of mind, you may not survive. Even young children have been known to go completely insane in the winter here. You can usually tell when someone has hit rock bottom. They gain 40lbs, wear the same crusty steeler jersey for days on end, and take on the appearance of a fat, numbered bumblebee.

This one is actually much better than some of your other disinformation attempts

[goodgirl49]

Pittsburgh winters are much easier than up by Lake Erie. I went to Edinboro University and it seemed as if there was always snow on the ground there, sometimes so much that it was difficult to walk. Also in the spring, we got terrible mud conditions. I don't remember that around Pittsburgh.

[vwscottie]

Originally Posted by Elder18

I may be getting ahead of myself, but I loathe winter and every day it gets closer to being cold out my soul shrivels.

So...how bad is it?

My wife is specifally concerned about driving on all of the hills with the ice and such.

We used to live in Northwest Ohio, so we're used to pretty frigid weather, but I thought that since the weather was so weird here maybe it's different.

Bundle up!

I just moved down from Erie, and a number of times I'd be talking to my mother and she would ask how the weather is, and I'd tell her cold but sunny, and Erie was getting blasted with snow. There was really only one or two snow events last year in Pittsburgh, and I have to say they seem to keep the roads up pretty well.