Snow-like hail in the San Francisco Bay Area

bcla

On our rugged Eastern foothills.....
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
Apparently it was so heavy that it looked like snow. I saw several news reports of people's cars sliding down hills and colliding with other parked cars. It seemed to be a specific area around Oakland and Alameda that got the hail. I didn't see any at all in my neighborhood, although it rained really hard for an hour.

It wasn't snow, but apparently it was cold enough that the hail refroze and created icy streets. Some kids were sledding down streets on cardboard. This is a street in Oakland:

1024x1024.jpg


https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/Oakland-hail-sledding-storms-Bay-Area-weather-12837627.php

Some people got stuck. I've driven in snow/ice before, but I suppose a lot of people haven't. There are also some cars that have summer tires that would be dreadful in the snow.


 
Apparently it was so heavy that it looked like snow. I saw several news reports of people's cars sliding down hills and colliding with other parked cars. It seemed to be a specific area around Oakland and Alameda that got the hail. I didn't see any at all in my neighborhood, although it rained really hard for an hour.

It wasn't snow, but apparently it was cold enough that the hail refroze and created icy streets. Some kids were sledding down streets on cardboard. This is a street in Oakland:

1024x1024.jpg


https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/Oakland-hail-sledding-storms-Bay-Area-weather-12837627.php

Some people got stuck. I've driven in snow/ice before, but I suppose a lot of people haven't. There are also some cars that have summer tires that would be dreadful in the snow.


Yeah.....those people in the Bay Area have no clue as to how to drive in that!
 
Yeah.....those people in the Bay Area have no clue as to how to drive in that!


And, given the hills the area is so famous for, I would not want to! When I worked in San Francisco, we had hail one time. I was on a bus and people said "look it's snowing!" I looked and saw hail, and remember thinking "damn these people can't tell snow and hail apart." Being from Minnesota, I guarantee you, I know the difference. LOL.
 


And, given the hills the area is so famous for, I would not want to! When I worked in San Francisco, we had hail one time. I was on a bus and people said "look it's snowing!" I looked and saw hail, and remember thinking "damn these people can't tell snow and hail apart." Being from Minnesota, I guarantee you, I know the difference. LOL.

It would have been a real disaster if it hailed like that in San Francisco this morning. I think the perpendicular parking on certain steep streets would have resulted in cars sliding sideways.
 
And, given the hills the area is so famous for, I would not want to! When I worked in San Francisco, we had hail one time. I was on a bus and people said "look it's snowing!" I looked and saw hail, and remember thinking "damn these people can't tell snow and hail apart." Being from Minnesota, I guarantee you, I know the difference. LOL.
Many years ago, I was working in San Francisco. And it snowed. There were a couple of hills that I had to negotiate to get to my office. Let's just say, I didn't take the normal route to work, I figured out the "flattest" (if not shortest or straightest) route there.
 
Many years ago, I was working in San Francisco. And it snowed. There were a couple of hills that I had to negotiate to get to my office. Let's just say, I didn't take the normal route to work, I figured out the "flattest" (if not shortest or straightest) route there.

I have tire chains that I bring on Sierra Nevada vacations. I don't know how legal it would be to use them without declared chain conditions though. I used to just keep them in my trunk even when I didn't need them. I've never driven with them on, but I've practiced installing them in my driveway. That might have come in handy with a sudden freak snowstorm.

The strangest thing I've seen was a car in the Bay Area with winter tires. It had a ski rack on the roof, but I've heard that driving them on dry pavement will just wear them out quickly.
 


My cousin posted pics of snow in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Growing up in the south bay we never really knew what snow was, so it wasn't until I moved to the sierra's that I got to experience the joys of tire chains. Although having spent almost 10 years living in WA I can say that we rarely used them thanks to decent plowing. Instead we just shook our heads at those who lacked common sense about driving in it.

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The strangest thing I've seen was a car in the Bay Area with winter tires. It had a ski rack on the roof, but I've heard that driving them on dry pavement will just wear them out quickly.

Some snow tires will certainly wear down faster than regular tires as they are designed for the cold weather. We would change ours out at the end of the season and put our standard mud/snow tires on for the rest of the year.

Studded tires are a different thing though, many states have regulations as to when you can start/stop driving with them on your vehicle because they damage the roadways.
 
It would have been a real disaster if it hailed like that in San Francisco this morning. I think the perpendicular parking on certain steep streets would have resulted in cars sliding sideways.
:scared1: Wow, that’s almost eerie. I was just discussing snow in San Francisco in another thread, as we’d visited there very recently and had laughed about it to ourselves. Seems like the weather all across North America has gone crazy this winter.
 
Yeah.....those people in the Bay Area have no clue as to how to drive in that!
You only learn how to do something when you need to. Not much need in the Bay Area. Heck I live 2 hours north and schools will close if we get more than an inch of snow.
 
Some snow tires will certainly wear down faster than regular tires as they are designed for the cold weather. We would change ours out at the end of the season and put our standard mud/snow tires on for the rest of the year.

Studded tires are a different thing though, many states have regulations as to when you can start/stop driving with them on your vehicle because they damage the roadways.

What I saw on that car were “performance winters”. Obviously the driver was taking it to skiing areas. But it was being driven around in an area where some people joke that “there is no weather” since snow that stays around for days is like a 30 year event. I was visiting my brother in law in the Seattle area when it snowed on Christmas Eve with about three inches on Christmas. Driving wasn’t bad at all. We got to the airport on time, but someone was joking with me that they were lucky it wasn’t a typical work day since that kind of traffic would have meant a lot of collisions.

I’m most familiar with California laws, which don’t differentiate between all-season and dedicated winter tires. The “M+S” on any tire with enough tread depth on a 4WD/AWD vehicle is enough to bypass most chain conditions. The most extreme conditions will just shut down the roads. I’ve driven through blizzards at Donner Pass or US-50 near Tahoe. It was a little bit scary on US-50 since it’s undivided and one can’t see the lines. It got better once rumble strips were installed to mark the shoulder and center line. Even in thick snow they alert the driver if off course, and I’ve even heard they can be driven on to provide better traction.

Studs are legal anywhere in California from November to April, and the CHP can extend that with an emergency declaration. However, they don’t bypass state chain requirements.
 

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