Black Ice in Maine (Lincoln, Hope: home, dangerous, vs.)

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Be careful out there tonight. There was black ice yesterday morning and at least two vehicles had crashes on Route 6 in Lincoln. Tonight there is a rollover right now at nearly the same sot by "painted rock". People are traveling on unfamiliar roads. Caution your guests as they head for home.

Update: They smacked the pole hard enough to snap it off and move the pole base four feet. I hope they were right side up when they hit it, had seat belts on etc.

Proceed with caution folks.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

... Update: They smacked the pole hard enough to snap it off and move the pole base four feet.

That is pretty hard.

Hope everyone is okay.

[Maine Writer]

We didn't go far to hunt this morning because of the black ice. We had freezing fog yesterday morning that made Rt 1 by E.Musquash a dangerous spot until DOT put salt down. Tis the season. There's no place like home when the roads are bad.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Another rollover tonight, this time in Prentiss. Guy or guys walked away, but the vehicle was on its top. High humidity and cold roads makes for black ice.

[slyfox2]

While winter tires are no total protection against ice, its pretty clear that the all seasons are totally worthless.

This is not a studded tire, and both the ice and the tire tread were cooled to the same temperature:


Winter Tire vs. All-Season - YouTube

The ice simply slides down the all season tire strip; but using the Blizzak(and other like the General Altimax Arctic are even better) the strip has to get way past 45 degrees before the ice slides down. Anyone with winter tires will be able to maneuver and stop on ice way way better than 3 season tires.

[roadrat]

Be prepared to drive with extra caution this winter the Maine DOT is being kept 6% under staffed, We have some crews with 11 plow routes and only 11 plow drivers, they are scrambling to train mechanics and Bridge workers and new hires to take up the slack.
Slow down, if you don't have to go out in the storm, don't!


bill

[Northern Maine Land Man]

I remember a Volkswagen TV ad from about 50 years ago. It showed a big garage during a snowstorm at first light in the morning. Then headlights swept across the lot and a VW Bug pulled through about 8 inches of snow to a large garage that had not been plowed out. The driver got out and the next thing you see is the snow plow pulling out of the garage. The only spoken words in the ad were, "The man who drives the plow truck drives a Volkswagen." It sold a lot of cars. My 1958 VW had 36 horsepower, With snow treads it was like a tank. I traded it in on an Austin Healy 100-6. The Healy was treacherous on snow, but it sure was a cool car.

[fxtrader]

I love blizzak's and will never do another winter witbout them.

[retiredtinbender]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

I remember a Volkswagen TV ad from about 50 years ago. It showed a big garage during a snowstorm at first light in the morning. Then headlights swept across the lot and a VW Bug pulled through about 8 inches of snow to a large garage that had not been plowed out. The driver got out and the next thing you see is the snow plow pulling out of the garage. The only spoken words in the ad were, "The man who drives the plow truck drives a Volkswagen." It sold a lot of cars. My 1958 VW had 36 horsepower, With snow treads it was like a tank. I traded it in on an Austin Healy 100-6. The Healy was treacherous on snow, but it sure was a cool car.

Loved that commercial.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

We have from one inch to five inches of ice on the lakes. Shallow lakes freeze first. Many big lakes have not frozen yet. With tomorrow's storm the big lakes will likely freeze over. 8 to 12 inches of snow will chill the surface nicely.

All the lakes will "wet up" after tomorrow night's snow. The ice will crack, water will come up through and be absorbed by the new snow. When it refreezes it will make a thin layer of ice on top and be slush down to the the ice layer below. With next week's forecast that entire surface will freeze into about a foot of ice. During the time of slush, stay off the lakes or at least confine your riding to one path. Do us all a favor and don't rut up the whole lake.