13 replies to this topic

[gamera]

When you drive your car in any snowy place and if suddenly strong wind blows, nothing is visible and you never know which side of the road you are driving! - almost no control at all.
I had a scary experience the other day on my way back home from Omachi city.
It was really windy but visibility was okay.
But then strong wind suddenly blew and I saw nothing - just white all over.
I found my car almost at the center of the road though I was confident that I kept driving left.

What if a big truck did the same at the opposite lane!

Be careful, everyone!

[sock_monkey]

 Quote:

then strong wind suddenly blew and I saw nothing >- just white all over

we call that, appropriately enough, a whiteout.

make sure to turn on your headlights so people can see you from in front and behind.

[gamera]

A whiteout, today's new word for me. Thanks
If there's a word 'white-OUT', is there a word 'white-IN' and if yes, what does it mean?
My dictionaries don't have both.


It was all of sudden, so while you see some snow walls at both side of the road you are driving on, you need to know it may come out suddenly.

Though I have lived in Hakuba over 16 years I have never had this scary experience before. Maybe because we got so much snow this season which has made bigger snow walls at both side of roads. Snow at the top of the walls gets in the air when strong wind blows.

[Kintaro]

Same thing happened to me the other night on the way to night board session, gamera. It was a complete whiteout and my crazy French friend was driving and seemed to enjoy the challenge. And to make matters worse, I was sitting in the back of the van with a Cuban, Hungarian, and British friends. The British guy continiously shouted French slurs which only made the driver try harder to scare us. It was horrifying!

[sock_monkey]

Gamera,

to my knowledge there is no such thing as a white-in, but we do have black-outs.

whiteouts usually occur in open areas where the wind is free to blow dry loose snow around. you often get whiteouts in the high alpine since there are no trees, winds are strong and the temperature is lower.

[Fattwins]

Gams the olympic road drive between happo and 47 can get some bad whiteouts.

Just drive near lights or trees, dont stop either.

[fjef]

I've was in a whiteout (fog and blowing snow) in Austria when the visability was so bad, I had to open the car door and look down to follow the edge of the road or tire tracks until I could find a safe place to pull over - my passenger kept an eye out ahead for oncoming traffic/tail lights to avoid accidents. Took about 30 minutes to go a few hundred meters- as soon as I found a safe place to get off the road, it cleared - it was not a fun experience, but the adrenaline sure was pumping...

The next day, I learned there were 37 cars damaged in accidents on a 10km stretch where the whiteout occurred - all of them behind us.

[SnowConnection]

Yah, I got it here in Hakuba on Jan.18 morning.
http://map.yahoo.co.jp/pl?nl=36.41.10.48....x=254&CE.y=249
Also, my car skidded when going out from a narrow road (Hakuba 47) to Hakuba Olympic road on Jan.18 early mornig, even it was a 4WD with studless tires.

[muikabochi]

It is very dangerous, I had my first complete white out experience yesterday driving - I really could not see anything, the road, the side of the roads, any lights, signs... just white/grey. A bit hairy it was.

[Fattwins]

Snowconnection your map shows prefectly where most of the white-out problems occur on that road. I sometimes avoid that section when its snowing hard and go through town.

[smiler]

I only just avoided a bad crash the other day in one of those blizzards. The guy in front - about 10 meters but could not be seen - didn't come out of it as well.... he had to be taken to hospital (broken something or other). Very nearly me.

I'm not going to drive unless its absolutely necessary next time it is like that.

[Ausbc]

In Australia, white out is used to correct hand writing errors.

[sock_monkey]

In Canada too

[Hokkaidough]

Sounds like "liquid paper" that.