Trailer Snow Clearing | Trucbrush.com

Who got it right?

Posted by | Trailer Snow Clearing, Transportation, weather forecast | No Comments

Back in 2019, I wrote a blog called Crystal Ball (https://trucbrush.com/crystal-ball/) about winter weather forecasting and the accuracy of those who predict winter forecasts.  Now that February 2021 is behind us,  I thought we would look at this season’s actual snowfall and ice events compared to predictions.  How did the forecasters do? What impact did it have on the transportation industry and demand for the TrucBrush solution, a fast, effective attachment to clear snow from the tops of trailer, truck and bus rooftops?

While the publishers of the Farmers’ Almanac have historically boosted an 80 to 85% accuracy level in weather predictions, scientific studies of the much loved publication support a 50% accuracy rating, I told our readers back in 2019.  This year, the Farmers’ Almanac all but nailed their winter forecast.  Expect “cold and snowy in the North, drought in the West and everything crazy in between!,” the publishers said of the upcoming 2020-2021 winter season they dumbed, “the Snowy Comeback.”  They predicted considerable snow from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast for February and that the Great Lakes region would get their share of snow. “Expect above-normal snowfall if you live in the western Dakotas, northern portions of Colorado and Utah, as well as, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and eastern sections of Washington and Oregon,” they said. Roger that.  When we look back on actual events to date, by February 17th2021, the U.S. National Weather Service reported that 71.3 percent of our country was blanketed in snow, up 31.2 percent from the previous month.  [see map from NOAA

Sleet mix and ice proved a major nuisance this winter season too.  Those in Kentucky saw one system dump up to a half-inch of ice over parts of the state and an overnight storm on February 15th brought even more ice and several inches of snow across most of the state. 

“Ice is not nice,” says Mike Mason, a Certified Snow Professional with the national association SIMA and President of The LawnPro, a Kentucky based landscape and snow management company.  “The challenge this year with Kentucky’s February storm was the onset of ice followed by several inches of snow.  This was increasingly difficult because of the duration.  The systems kept coming and coming over a two week period where temps never got above freezing.  In a market where we normally get a system followed by a warm period and a break, our crews were tested in a way they haven’t been tested in several years.  In fact, we saw an entire season’s worth of snow in just this two week period, however, thanks to the multiple resources we had available to us through our Snow and Ice Management Association involvement, our crews performed like champions.”  

Meteorologist Dustin Jordan of the National Weather Service in Jackson, KY, describes the Kentucky storms as “mixed precipitation” events causing both ice and snow because of a “warm nose”, which is a wedge of above freezing air that settles above subfreezing temperatures at the surface.  “This air corrupts any snow that falls through it, changing it to rain. We’re looking at more ice than snow in a lot of places, and the reason that is because it’s just so cold at the surface, but aloft, you’re actually keeping it in a liquid form,” he adds.

Sleet and ice events occurred in other parts of the country besides Kentucky.  Pennsylvania based Evercor Facility Management who services large distribution centers for both ground snow clearing as well as fleet snow removal faced this challenge head on. “While snow was a constant this season, there were also several significant ice events,” says CEO Patrick Kane, “At Evercor, we encourage our clients’ to inspect their fleets for snow and ice from top to bottom prior to hitting the road.”  The company utilizes TrucBrush to clear snow and ice in seconds from fleet rooftops while his crews remove any ice and snow on the ground level. 

The Almanac also predicted a particularly harsh winter for the Midwest and east to the Ohio Valley and Appalachians. Chicago actually saw more snow in a few weeks than they see in an entire snow season. The city on average experiences about 36 inches of snow in a winter, but in just the 22 days preceding February 16, 2021, the city had seen 36.2 inches of snowfall.

“With so much snow falling in such a short amount of time, we had clients contacting us to perform emergency services with our TrucBrush to clear the snow off trailer rooftops,” says Laura Ingram, Director of Operations for Ingram Enterprises, Inc. based in Lincolnshire, IL.  “For one of these clients, a very large distributor in the region, this was also precipitated by the fact that their carriers were refusing to leave with their loads unless their trailers were cleared off,” she explains.  Now this client is looking to integrate TrucBrush as part of their regular snow plowing operations next year.  “They see the value in having TrucBrush there for the entire snow season to address the removal of snow and icy debris from their carriers’ trailers quickly and safely so there is no delay in shipping their products,” she adds.

I should note that the Almanac isn’t the only forecaster whose predictions I follow.   My go to resource, Weatherworks, did describe the upcoming season back in October 2020 as: “Frequent clippers and a few larger systems lead to snowier than normal conditions across the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes.”  They were a little more conservative on their predictions for the southern states than what actually panned out there, however.  “Due to La Niña, the sub-tropical jet stream is expected to be less active, leading to generally drier than normal weather across the southern U.S.,” they said in October of 2020.  Who could have seen in their crystal ball what Winter Storm Uri would bring to the state of Texas with its treacherous ice conditions that left 9.9 million people in the U.S. and northern Mexico in total darkness? It was the largest blackout in the U.S. since the 2003 Northeast blackout.   Damages from these ice driven blackouts are already predicted to be 19 Billion dollars.   

For the transportation industry, this year’s snow fall that blanketed most of the United States. became a nightmare for many.  After Storm Uri, one head of transportation said it created a 10-day back log for freight for much of the United States. The storm delayed the shipments of about 6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. leaving UPS, FedEx and Moderna to work through Sunday to package and transport backlogged orders, reported the Wall Street Journal.

“For TrucBrush Corporation, the adverse weather led to significant last minute sales of our product,” says CEO Jim Burns.   The company tries to keep a continuous supply of TrucBrush attachments in stock at all times in order to offer a solution that is effective, fast and much safer than manually clearing the roofs of trucks, trailers and buses.  “Of course, the best approach is for companies to plan ahead and order their TrucBrush in the summer to be prepared for their winter season, but we still have companies who wait until the last minute to address the issue,” he adds.

What’s on the horizon? Farmer’s Almanac predicts that “for those living in the eastern half of the country, you may get clobbered during the final week of March 2021, but what falls from the sky will depend on where you live—this storm will track from the nation’s midsection to central New England and bring a significant late-season snowfall to the north of its track.”  Let’s see if they are right.

Crystal Ball

Posted by | snow removal, Trailer Snow Clearing, weather forecast | No Comments

Every year, readers from across the country look forward to the release of the Farmers’ Almanac’s winter weather prediction.  I’ve been known to grab a copy, or two, at my local grocer. This year, I decided to do some digging on the history behind this much loved publication and its weather forecasting abilities.  

The Farmers’ Almanac was first published in 1792 during President George Washington’s first term as President of the United States. It’s our country’s oldest continuously published periodical and is currently published by Peter Geiger, son of Ray Geiger who was the longest running editor.  What makes the Farmers’ Almanac special, beyond its history, witty prose and fun facts, is its weather predictions, which are created as far back as two year and cover a 16 month period.  

The Farmers’ Almanac’s forecaster is the well-recognized name but unknown individual Caleb Weatherbee (since Caleb is, of course, a pseudonym).  In this way, the publishers can keep secret the true forecaster’s identity to prevent her or him from being “badgered.”  Also kept on the low down is the publication’s weather model.  The Farmers’ Almanac states only that their forecasting method is an “exclusive mathematical and astronomical formula that relies on sunspot activity, tidal action, planetary position and many other factors.”  Leaving me to wonder, do they also own a crystal ball? 

While the publishers of the Farmers’ Almanac have historically boosted an 80 to 85% accuracy level in weather predictions, scientific studies of the much loved publication support a 50% accuracy rating.  I, however, recall many winters in which the Almanac nailed the forecast for my geographical area.  We are already experiencing some of its 2019-2020 season prediction as it unfolds in North America with early snowstorms in the mid-west and significant cold temperatures.  How many posted pictures did we see this Halloween of Chicago covered in a blanket of snow?  

“Get ready for shivers, snowflakes, and slush,” the publisher says of the 2019-2020 winter season. “Big chills and strong storms will bring heavy rain and sleet, not to mention piles of snow!”  

 “This could feel like the never-ending winter, particularly in the Midwest and east to the Ohio Valley and Appalachians, where wintery weather will last well into March and even through the first days of spring,” says Almanac editor Janice Stillman.  

The Farmers’ Almanac is not the only weather forecaster to believe Mother Natures has lots in store for us in North America this winter.  Frank Lombardo, CEO of WeatherWorks, a forecasting company I do follow closely, has similar predictions in his final report.  [For another interesting article by WeatherWorks on the earliest snowfalls in the Northeast see https://weatherworksinc.com/news/first-measurable-snow-in-the-northeast-11-5]

Mother Nature is certainly unpredictable and maybe that is why there is such an allure for the Farmers’ Almanac’s weather predictions.  In 1936, its editor Roger Scaife learned the hard way when he dropped the weather forecast from the publication.  Sales declined, readers revolted and the weather forecast was quickly reinstated the following year at the Almanac.  Perhaps Roger could have used a crystal ball that year to avoid his blunder.  

Mother Nature Roulette: Are you willing to take a gamble on fleet snow management?

Posted by | fleet maintenance, Snow and Ice, snow removal, Trailer Snow Clearing | No Comments

For Bostonians, the ‘Big Dig’ is a distant memory; replaced by discussions of the ‘Big Haul’ due to a record breaking 113.7 inches of snowfall this winter. Even as I write this, New England is experiencing snow squalls and Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory has reported 150.8 inches of total snow accumulation. It’s been the snowiest winter on record for Massachusetts since reporting began in 1881.

Before we let this winter of discontent melt away, however, it’s important to consider the challenges that snow accumulation has on your business. For fleet and facility management, what better time is there to evaluate the options for clearing snow from your fleets’ rooftops than while the ‘pain’ is still fresh in your mind? For snow contractors, this is an opportunity to review the season with your clients—the good, the bad, and perhaps even the ugly—and make recommendations that might include secondary services such as TrucBrush. It’s a time for snow contractors to approach potential clients and offer them a total snow service solution. Adding a secondary service such as TrucBrush to clear snow from the tops of trailers and trucks increases operational efficiencies, both for snow management and fleet logistics. Many companies are now seeking such solutions to address the issue at their terminals after this historic winter.

TrucBrush service is easily implemented into a company’s snow management protocol with either the snow contractor providing the service, a TrucBrush Preferred Vendor offering it in conjunction with a facility’s overall snow management or the facility itself implementing the TrucBrush method. TrucBrush improves deployment time during a period when a facility needs it the most. It increases operational efficiencies by allowing the same equipment that operates TrucBrush for clearing snow off the fleet’s rooftops to be utilized for terminal and parking lot clearing of snow if desired. When TrucBrush is coordinated with a facility’s overall snow management, bay areas can also be cleared of snow before melting and refreeze occurs that is so common at docks. This adds to your overall safety initiatives.

TrucBrush Corporation is available 24/7 to answer your questions and show your team how this innovative method can be implemented into your overall safety and operational planning for next winter season—since you never know where Mother Nature’s roulette wheel will land.

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Reach us at: info@TrucBrush.com or call 877-783-0237
Watch the latest video: http://www.trucbrush.com/TrucBrushWinter.mp4
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[1] WeatherWorks Snow Accumulation Report, Zip Code: 02127 reported 113.7 inches
[2] Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, Milton, Massachusetts report, March 29, 2015.

Winter 2015, will it ever end?

Posted by | fleet maintenance, Snow and Ice, Trailer Snow Clearing | No Comments

Weather professionals may find themselves stealing the NCAA’s catchphrase “March Madness” to describe this month’s record setting snowfall and low temperatures. Today, Winter Storm Thor tracks across the Mid-west, South and East with significant snowfall and ice. Some drivers on Interstate 65 in Kentucky have been stranded for hours due to Thor’s heavy snowfall. In Memphis and in other parts of the South people are experiencing icy conditions and folks in Dallas woke up to 2 to 5 inches of new snow, with Grapevine Texas actually reporting 7 inches. In Dallas, the storm has broken records dating back to the 1940s. Philadelphia and D.C. are expected to receive 5 to 8 inches today and the New Jersey State Trucking Association just sent out an alert to its members letting them know of a declared State of Emergency in that state.

The bad weather brings more awareness of the importance of removing snow from the tops of all vehicles before heading out on roadways. Some states, including Connecticut and New Jersey, already require this, not just for buses, trucks and trailers, but also for passenger vehicles. More states are passing accumulated snow removal legislation and those that already have it are citing drivers more frequently. I was reminded of this recently when a freight company told me that one of their drivers was stopped in Connecticut for having accumulated snow on the top of the trailer. They were fined $1,000 and the driver was detained until he climbed up on to the trailer and manually removed the snow—expensive and unsafe for the truck driver.
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For trucks, buses and trailers, TrucBrush® is a mobile, fast and effective method to remove snow from vehicle’s rooftop. “The TrucBrush has been a pivotal component to our fleet when dealing with a New England winter,” said TrucBrush customer Jarod Warsofsky, General Manager of Boston Trailer. “The savings we have gained from significantly reducing down time has made this investment well worth it… Now we can effectively clear 20 to 30 trailers with TrucBrush in the amount of time that it would take us to shovel one manually,” he said.

Keeping roadways safe for all vehicle traffic continues to be a top priority for many in the trucking industry. Our company works with companies to help them successfully implement TrucBrush, whether they are performing the service themselves or working with their snow management vendor to provide this additional winter service.

Today’s storm may bring enough snow to set a new record for Boston. As of Monday, the National Weather Service had reported 104.1 inches of snowfall at Logan Airport this winter, making it the second snowiest since weather records started being recorded in 1891. Will today’s snowfall break the Boston record of 107.6 inches that was set in the winter of 1995-96? If not today, certainly before the real March Madness begins. Watch the latest video from TrucBrush

Winter Storm Marcus Lingers from Great Lakes to Northeast–The Potential Hazards of Continued Snow Accumulation

Posted by | Snow and Ice, Trailer Snow Clearing | No Comments

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The fourth named winter storm in the United States in the last two weeks, Marcus moved from Minnesota to the northern Great Lakes last Friday then traveled through Upstate New York and New England Saturday into Sunday. The storm is predicted to last well into Tuesday. Some in Massachusetts woke up this Monday morning to over 10 inches of accumulation.   “This is now the snowiest 30-day period on record in Beantown (61.6 inches through 7 a.m. EST Monday), topping the previous record stretch from Jan. 9 – Feb.7, 1978 (58.8″),” reported The Weather Channel.

Preceding storm Marcus, the New Hampshire Motor Transport Association sent out a notice from the NH State Police reminding all motor carriers, bus companies and truck drivers “of the hazards of snow and ice accumulation on their vehicles. Snow and ice falling from a moving truck can create hazardous driving conditions for vehicles traveling around them and possibly result in fines and/or civil liability for failing to take reasonable steps to remove the snow or ice accumulations,” they said. “Under New Hampshire State law a driver can be cited for driving a vehicle in a manner that ‘endangers’ or ‘is likely to endanger any person or property. Large amounts of snow accumulating on a vehicle or trailer often melts and refreezes over time causing buildup of ice that can damage vehicles when falling from a vehicle. Early removal of the snow after a snowstorm is the best way to prevent such ice from accumulating,” they added. NH State Police also advised drivers of all vehicles not to follow trucks closely but allow ‘sufficient space’ in order to have enough time to react in the event that something does fall from a large truck or trailer.

TrucBrush® is an innovative method for companies to effectively and quickly clear snow from their trucks and trailers to avoid this issue of melt and refreeze over time of accumulated snow that creates a buildup of ice on the truck or trailer rooftop.  For more information contact us at: http://trucbrush.com/contact/ or call 877-783-0237.

 

 

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