9 Things I Learned From Friday's Snowstorm

For those of you in the Detroit area, you got a chance to experience the first major storm of the snow season on Friday. Most of the schools were out for the day and it seemed like half of the workforce was home as well. According to the National Weather Service, the area received between seven and 12 inches, most of it coming down during the morning period.

This led to a long commute for myself (I drive 30 miles one way each day from Westland to Troy) and it also provided some lessons for me to learn. I thought I would share some things I learned from this unordinary day.

1. Good Samaritan's still exist.
I witnessed 3 acts of kindness on this day. 3 different people helped stuck cars right outside my window at work. Each time, a car got stuck in the snow coming out of a parking lot or going in. Another person ended up stopping within 5 minutes, got a shovel out of their trunk, shoveled the snow away and then helped rock and push them on their way. It made me proud to see fellow Detroiter's help each other out. It was pretty cool to witness 5 stories up.

2. Yes, you can get stuck in 10 inches of snow
These weren't really snow drifts, it was just snow from the day that these cars were getting stuck in.

3. And yes, your bumper can get ripped off trying to get your car unstuck.
Yep, I saw it happen. One of those good samaritan's ended up connecting it back on so the person could drive away with some diginity.

4. If you don't feel comfortable driving faster than 10 mph on the highway, you probably shouldn't be driving during a snow storm.
I passed at least 4 vehicles that were on 3 and 4 lane highways driving around 10 mph. The average speed of everyone else was 30 mph. What's even worse, each of them had their hazards on. It just seemed that driving way to slow was just as unsafe as driving too fast. I would suggest you stay at home or maybe you should consider spending the night in the office so you don't have to drive in during the storm.

5. Just because their are 3 lanes on the road, doesn't mean you should go 3 wide on the road.
You can't see the lanes, so why not follow everyone else. Most people were taking a safe approach and staying away from other vehicles. The closer everyone is to each other, the better chance a spinout will take out more vehicles. Is it really worth it?

6. Your SUV/truck obeys the same laws of physics that my car does.
Really, it does. No, seriously. I'm not kidding. If you drive 55 mph and you expect to stop in the same distance as a car moving at half that speed, it's not going to happen.

7. Sometimes it's worth it to pay the neighborhood kid to snowblow your sidewalks and driveway.
My wife worked from home during the day and a neighborhood kid stopped by to ask if he could snowblow our walk ways and driveway (for a donation of course). I'm sure glad she said yes. It saved us a ton of time since we were going to have to shovel the 8 inches of snow. And, it rewarded a kid who's actually out doing work and helping people in the community, instead of a kid who's out throwing eggs at parked cars (see #9)

8. You will feel bad for your dog if the snow is up to their chest.
I feel really bad for our dog. She hates the cold. She goes outside, shivers, goes the bathroom and comes back. The only problem is, the snow is too high to even do that. We cleared out a path for her, but it's still pretty sad.

9. Teenagers in Milford have nothing to do on a Friday night other than throw eggs at parked cars.
We were at a Christmas Party and when we were ready to leave, we found a nice frozen omelette on the side of our vehicle. Needless to say, we had to stop at a self-serve car wash at 1:30AM in the morning.