Snowdrift; hankook snow tires

Posted on March 31st, 2008 in Uncategorized by admin

A snowdrift is a deposit of snow created by wind into a mound during snowstorms. They resemble sand dunes and are formed in a similar manner, namely, wind moving light snow and depositing it when the wind is slowed, usually against a stationary object.

Their impact on transportation is often as significant as heavy snowfall, such as during the Blizzard of 1977. Snowdrifts are many times found along or on roads, as the crest of the roadbed or the furrows along the road create the disruption to the wind needed to shed its carried snow. In high mountain passes, a snow fence may be employed on the windward side of the road to intentionally create a drift before the snow-laden wind reaches the roadway.

Jeremy Triefenbach, one of the nineteenth century’s great explorers, is reputed to have become trapped in a snowdrift; surviving solely on melted snow for 13 days. His version of the story can be found in his autobiography “It’s a good deal”.

Snowdrifts commonly form on high ground, such as a plateau or hills.

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Siping; consumer reports snow tires

Posted on March 31st, 2008 in Uncategorized by admin
For the Chinese city, see Siping (city)

Siping is a process of cutting thin slits across a rubber surface to improve traction in wet or icy conditions.

Siping was invented and patented by John Sipe in the 1920s. Sipe worked in a slaughterhouse and grew tired of slipping on the wet floors. He found that cutting slits in the tread on the bottoms of his shoes provided better traction than the uncut tread.

The process was not applied to vehicle tires on a large scale until the 1950s, when superior tread compounds were developed that could stand up to the siping process. On roads covered with snow, ice, mud, and water, sipes usually increase traction. A US patent to Goodyear claimed sipes improve tire traction as well, and tend to close completely in the tire “footprint” on the road. A 1978 study by the US National Safety Council found siping improved stopping distances by 22 percent, breakaway traction by 65 percent, and rolling traction by 28 percent on glare ice[1].

Tire tread block shapes, groove configurations, and sipes affect tire noise pattern and traction characteristics. Typically, wide, straight grooves have a low noise level and good water removal. More lateral grooves usually increase traction. Sipes are small grooves that are cut across larger tread elements. Up to a point, more sipes give more traction in snow or mud.

As is often the case, there are compromises. Winter tires, and “mud and snow” tires, may have thousands of sipes and give good traction. But, they may feel “squirmy” on a warm, dry road. Treadless racing “slicks” on dry roads give maximum traction. These have no sipes, no grooves, and no tread blocks. They also have very poor traction on wet surfaces. Tire manufacturers use different tread rubber compounds and tread designs for different tires’ usages.

Large sipes are usually built into the tread during manufacturing. Sipes may also be cut into the tread at a later date, called “microsiping”. Bandag developed a machine for microsiping which places a curved knife blade at a slight angle on a rotating drum. The drum is placed so when it is pressed against the tread the tire is pressed into an exaggerated hollow, as if driving down a rail. The drum is lubricated and rotated and the knife makes a series of diagonal cuts across the tread. For improved traction, the tire may be siped twice, leaving diamond-shaped blocks. A significant problem with field siping is that the tread picks up rocks, glass, and other hard road debris in use, and even with thorough cleaning the knife service life is often poor.

Microsiping can dramatically improve tire traction in rain and snow. However, microsiped tires may also have increased road noise and tire wear when operated on dry surfaces.

In Massachusetts in the 1970’s, it was legal to operate a school bus with bald tires, provided they were double microsiped.

Both Bridgestone and Michelin sell snow tires that are siped at the factory, while Saf-Tee Siping and Grooving sells machines that can sipe most standard vehicle tires. Siping can also be done by hand. Be aware that siping the tires can void the manufacturer’s warranty.

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Snow cream; snow tires comparison

Posted on March 30th, 2008 in Uncategorized by admin

Snow cream is made by slowly pouring a small amount of sweetened dairy-based liquid (similar to ice cream ingredients) into clean snow. The liquid partially melts the snow and congeals into an easily made ice cream substitute. To make Snow Ice Cream try mixing 5 cups of fresh snow, 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup of Half and Half or milk and a dash of salt. Also good with other extracts such as mint, almond, orange or lemon. To make it creamier, try adding a 1/2 a mashed banana.

Another recipe uses sweetened condensed milk instead of sugar and milk. Adding chocolate syrup makes a tasty variation to vanilla snow cream.

Some traditional recipes add a raw egg. The Centers for Disease Control recommends that people avoid eating raw eggs because of the risk of Salmonella.

Snow cream is sometimes improved with the addition of powdered sugar and food coloring.

Snow angel; snow blower tire chains

Posted on March 30th, 2008 in Uncategorized by admin

A snow angel is a human-made depression formed in an area of snow in the shape of an angel. Making snow angels is a common childhood game, though older people also make snow angels.

Technique

The creation of the snow angel is a simple process. The first step is to find an undisturbed plane of snow. The next step is to lie supine, spread-eagled in the center of the snow. The limbs are then swept back and forth, creating a trough through the snow. When it is finished, the snow angel should have the appearance of an angel, the movement of the arms having formed wings, and that of the legs having formed a gown.

Current world record

On March 28, 2007, Guinness World Records confirmed that North Dakota holds the world record for the most snow angels made simultaneously in one place. The record breaking event occurred February 17, 2007 when 8,962 snow angels were created by people waving their arms while lying in the snow covering the state Capitol grounds in Bismarck.Bismarck world record information

Previously, the record was held by Michigan Tech University with 3,784 students, locals, and alumni making snow angels on the school football field.Michigan Tech world record information

M416B1; firestone snow tires

Posted on March 30th, 2008 in Uncategorized by admin

The M416, the last of the military 1/4 ton trailers, can be distinguished from earlier 1/4 ton trailers by its squared fenders. There were two later versions, the M416A1 and the M416B1. The M416B1 used the smaller 6.00 X 16 tires on M422 wheels because it was designed to be towed by the USMC M422 ‘Mighty Mite’ instead of the M151 MUTT that towed the M416’s and M416A1’s[1].

In addition to the smaller tires, the M416B1 also had lifting rings for airborne operations and jerry can mounts on each side. Approximately 2000 M416B1 trailers were built.

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Tire, Turkey; snow blower tire chains

Posted on March 30th, 2008 in Uncategorized by admin

Tire is a district of İzmir Province of Turkey.

It is one of the largest towns in the area and is situated 82 km. southeast of İzmir. It at the foot of the Aydin Mountains. Its long cultural heritage includes periods under the Hittites, Phrygians, Lydians, Persians, Romans and Byzantines, and it developed its strong links with the economy during the Ottoman period. The town has an attractive old quarter with many impressive examples of Islamic architecture, and a lively Tuesday market influenced by the Roma population in the surrounding villages. Also famous is Tire kebab, one of the most delicious food in town.

Tire-pressure gauge; winter tire and wheel packages

Posted on March 30th, 2008 in Uncategorized by admin

A tire-pressure gauge is a pressure gauge used to measure the pressure of tires on a vehicle.

Most owner’s manuals recommend checking tire “gauge” pressure (cold inflation pressure) at least once a week at vehicle start but most owners only check their tire pressure when they realize that their tire is nearly flat, which can negatively affect ride quality, fuel consumption and car safety.

Environmental conditions can introduce a 13% to 15% variability in pressure due to temperature (0 °C to 40 °C), and additional changes can result due to altitude. Most car owner manuals do not state rated pressure as a function of temperature or altitude and leave it to the user to make appropriate measurements.

Since tires are rated for specific loads at certain pressure, it is important to keep the pressure of the tire at the optimal amount. Tires are rated for their optimal pressure when cold, meaning before the tire has been driven on for the day and allowed to heat up, which ultimately changes the internal pressure of the tire due to the expansion of gasses. The accuracy of a typical mechanical gauge as shown is +/- 3 PSI. Higher accuracy gauges with +/- 1 PSI accuracy can also be obtained.

Built in tire pressure sensors

Many modern cars such as the Cadillac SRX and Jeep Liberty now come with built in tire pressure sensors that allow all four tire pressures to be read simultaneously from inside the car.

As of 2005, most on-board TPMS utilized indirect pressure monitoring. The anti-lock brake sensors detect one tire pulling more than the rest and indicate a low tire pressure to the driver.

Regulations on tire pressure

By September 2007 all new automobiles below 10,000 pounds sold in the United States will be required to incorporate a direct pressure measurement for each tire. The driver must be notified if any tire is underflated by 25% or more than the rated placard[1] tire pressure.

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STD; winter tire

Posted on March 30th, 2008 in Uncategorized by admin

STD is a three letter acronym which may refer to:

  • Sexually transmitted disease, or sexually transmissible disease
  • Doctor of Sacred Theology, (Sacrae Theologiae Doctor)
  • São Tomé and Príncipe dobra, the ISO 4217 code for the currency of São Tomé and Príncipe
  • Standards or Standardization
  • Standard deviation, a statistical measure
  • Internet standard, a subset of the Request for Comments
  • State transition diagram, a graphical representation for a finite state machine
  • Subscriber trunk dialling, or subscriber toll dialling, the standard codes for telephone dialing in India, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland
  • The Scottish Football League Third Division
  • , the commonly abbreviated subtitle of the second Kim Possible movie
  • Scheduled Time of Departure
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Red Snow; mustang snow tires

Posted on March 30th, 2008 in Uncategorized by admin
This article is about the nuclear weapon Red Snow. Red snow is also a type of snow algae.

Red Snow was a British thermonuclear weapon. Its physics package was apparently similar, if not identical, to that of the United States W28 nuclear warhead used in the B28 nuclear bomb and AGM-28 Hound Dog missile, with an explosive yield of approximately 1 megaton.

The Red Snow warhead was developed after a September 1958 decision to adopt the US warhead for British use, following the 1958 US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement. It entered service in 1961, remaining in use until 1972, when it was replaced by the WE.177 bomb. Perhaps 150 were produced.

Red Snow was used as both a free-fall bomb and as the warhead of the Blue Steel missile. In the gravity bomb role, it was fitted into the casing of the Yellow Sun weapon, even though the Red Snow warhead was considerably smaller than that of the original Yellow Sun bomb.

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Snow Advisory; run flat snow tires

Posted on March 30th, 2008 in Uncategorized by admin

See Severe weather terminology for a comprehensive article on this term and related weather terms.


A Snow Advisory is issued by the National Weather Service of the United States when a low pressure system produces snow that may cause a significant pain in the ass, but does not meet warning criteria. The advisory criteria varies from area to area. Snow advisories are typically issued only when a storm system is expected to only produce snow in the advised area. Depending on the amount of snow that is expected, a Heavy Snow Warning can be issued for similar times, but when larger amounts of snow are expected. The exact border between a snow advisory and heavy snow warning varies throughout the country. If other forms of wintry precipitation are expected, then a Winter Weather Advisory or winter storm warning can be issued, also depending on the amount of precipitation that is expected.

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