1. I78
This is not far at all from where I live, these folks were stuck in the area of Cabela's. Sounds miserable.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WEATHER/02/16/cold.weather.ap/index.html
"The work continued a day after Guardsmen in Humvees ferried food, fuel and baby supplies to hundreds of motorists stranded on a 50-mile stretch of highway for nearly a day.

2. JFK
I was listening to ATC while JFK froze up - metaphorically and literally. But the Jetblue situation was beyond all rational explanations:
"Hundreds of passengers who were stranded on parked JetBlue planes for up to 10 1/2 hours Wednesday could have been evacuated much sooner if the airline hadn't waited so long to ask airport officials for help.

The airline acknowledged yesterday that it hesitated nearly five hours before calling in shuttle buses to unload 10 jets that spent the day sitting on runways at John F. Kennedy International Airport because of icy weather and gate congestion."
http://www.nj.com/business/ledger/index.ssf?/base/business-5/1171604932205920.xml&coll=1

I happen to know someone who was out there and is STILL (this is from a storm on Wednesday) at the airport this morning with her 5 year old son. Oh, and she's 7 months pregnant. Sounds like fun, huh?

I've read a bit about the situation in passing and I imagine it's much different in person. But that is exactly the reason I keep blankets, food and water (and other kit equipment) in the truck at all times. I could go on about officials not acting to block the on-ramps, people not keeping up with current events and overall situation awareness, but what's the point. Anytime you venture out in serious winter conditions it's a potential survival situation in the making.

that stretch of 78 has been a mess for a while since they shut lanes down. i already had an 11 hr drive across the state (it should have been 5.5 hrs) because it was flooded.

I'd much rather be stuck in my truck on the highway than stranded at an airport. On the road anything less than 3 days would be nothing more than an inconvenience, albeit a major one. The airport would be a true nightmare due to the crowded conditions.

Bad as airports can be, I would rather be there than sitting on the plane half way between the terminal and the runway. Airplanes are not fun to sit in when they are flying, but sitting still for eight or ten hours (or more) would be hell, nothing less.

Re the police blocking on ramps to the frwy, there are usually more ramps than there are officers, so that is out from the start. If all of the officers are on traffic control, there are none to respond to the really big problems. Been there done that, on I-5 in central CA, huge dust storm, hundreds of cars involved in three separate collisions within about a mile stretch, dead and injured all over the place, EVERY office assigned to that office was called in, along with highway department workers, and it still took HOURS to get everything under control, and days to get the freeway re-opened. And that was after the dust had abated. In this case, the snow and ice are still there. You just can't win with Mother Nature some times...

This happened very close to where I live, hence my post about the ICE. I heard about the i-78 mixup and have been following it on wgal.com (a local news station). The thing to bear in mind here is that it wasn't necessarily severe winter weather. Actually, it was pretty run of the mill. That is, until the intense freezing rain came out of left field and froze us all solid. This whole situation has been pretty crazy and I've never seen anything like it before; and I lived in this part of PA my whole life. I've seen 2+ft of snow overnight, small icestorms, etc... nothing like this though.

That being said, I always keep an emergency kit, spare change of clothing, an extra coat, extra gloves, and a wool blanket in my car (plus other stuff). It looks messy but if I ever need it, it's there.
Maybe DR will notice some survival kit sales spikes out of PA soon <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

My Best Friend's Wife and Son were stuck on I-81 just outside of Hazelton PA from about 3pm Wed until almost noon Thursday. Luckily they had enough Gas, plenty of food and water, extra clothes, blankets, and supplies. No sign of PENDOT snowplows, law enforcement, National Guard the entire time they were stopped. I-81 was a big parking lot.
He and I were in cell communication with her often.
I'll write more about what they went through, the supplies and gear they had, their thoughts, and such when I get time.

This one has got me rethinking my (family) car kit again. No uncharted BLM roads around here, but we could easily have been cruising down that very stretch of I-78.

Funny that nothing I've read so far has said anything about anyone being evacuated. I would imagine that many people would stick it out, if only to be around to move their car when things started to clear, but one story mentioned a five year old with a 103 fever from strep throat...

Norad,

If the stranding went long enough though one would eventually run out of supplies.

Being stuck in an airport would have more available "guests" around for a "Donner Party".

(everybody taste better with Coke).

<img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

"...more available "guests" around for a "Donner Party"..."

Yeah, but with no knives around, you would probably have to fashion a blade from a TP dispenser or something before you could slice off a steak...