I use a roll a day. Don’t judge.
We are predicted to get 9 inches.
Wichita area here. Right now it’s 3 degrees with light snow falling. Forecast at one time was 9-12" of snow; now it’s 4-6".
Two days ago it was sixty degrees.
For the last two winters, during extreme weather events we’ve had days of being under a “boil water advisory”. Which is fine unless you have an electric stove and no power. I’ve got two cases of bottled. I’ve also filled three gallon pitchers and have a bucket of water that I’ll use for the cats if those start to run out. But…deep breath…everything is going to be fine.
Decades ago Buffalo, NY got a snowfall that was heavy for even them and they ran out of places to put plowed snow. Somebody came up with the idea to put it into the empty coal hoppers that were returning to the mines down south with the idea that by the time they arrived there the warmer weather had melted it. Problem was the weather was cold enough the cars still had five or six tons in them, now compacted to ice. They had to be run down to Florida and back up to be emptied. The railroads were not happy.
They think we’ll get six to twelv inches, last I looked, and temps not much over 0F. Storm forecasts this winter so far have fizzled so much that I don’t know if we will get all that snow, but we might; it used to be normal, a decade or so ago. All snow expected here, which does a lot less damage than significant ice, but NYSEG’s infrastructure ain’t great. I wouldn’t be surprised if the power goes out for a while, and I wouldn’t be surprised to be snowed in for a while, and I’m not planning on going anywhere Sunday or Monday. Though tomorrow I am going to get — wait for it — eggs; from the next door neighbors’, their chickens are laying well and I was about due to get more anyway.
I also want tomorrow to get some more wood moved and split from the Heap to Work On to the back hall stack. Storm’s not supposed to get here till early Sunday.
I’m well set up for winter shelter in place. Food and meds for me, cats, and dog all well in stock; wood stove I can also do some minimal cooking on; hand pump for water, though I’ll fill a batch of containers so I don’t have to go out in it and pump; assorted battery lighting devices. This location is going to be low priority for both snowplow and electric wire repair if it’s bad all over, so I like to be set up for it.
Unbelievable! But hilarious…
Twelve to eighteen inches predicted for NY’s Hudson Valley (up to two feet in some places, but that won’t be me). No icing or freezing rain called for. We canceled church on Sunday for the first time I can remember—my small city put out a snow emergency beginning midnight Sat/Sun. Supposed to be cold but not in the negatives. Guess we’ll see!
Well, Fern is ferning her ferny way allover over us.
It’s pelletized ice crystals. But it’s white and cold.
The kids are gonna lose their marbles in the morning.
Upstate South Carolina. My power was out for 8 days in Helene. The weather mix estimates keep fluctuating, but it involves up to a couple of inches of sleet with up to an inch of freezing rain on top of that. Things may get very bad.
We (southern Ontario) currently have two weather alerts. One is for extreme cold, but it looks like only tonight. The other is a snow alert that appears to be part of this same massive storm system hitting much of the US. Looks like we’ll get most of it on Sunday. No mention of freezing rain or anything like that which can wreak havoc with power, just snow, which is manageable.
You’re much better prepared than most!
A power outage here would be bad. The furnace is gas but can’t run without electricity. The stove is electric. Even the gas water heater needs electricity because of the fan-driven exhaust system. Fortunately, there’s nothing in the forecast that should cause a power outage – just snow.
In all the years I’ve lived here we only had an extensive power outage once. It was due to damage to a power substation from a huge wind storm and lasted about two days. Fortunately it was during the summer.
I’ve been out for 15 days once. With small children.
We put a generator top priority that year.
It has been used many times thru the years we’ve been out here.
I’m on a Co-op electric company. Who hate me anyway. Only one on the transformer. So power is a mere suggestion on a good day. One too many birds on the line, or Tina at the office is out of sorts; no power, half a day.
One thing I’ll say to those who may experience a lengthy power outage. That one time that power was out for around two days, I was worried about the contents of the fridge. I need not have been. It will be fine as long as it’s not opened frequently, or preferably not at all, especially if it’s well loaded with lots of stuff. After two days of no power, the stuff in the freezer was still mostly well frozen. Don’t take chances on perishables in the fridge section, though – it’s probably fine, but check the appearance and do the sniff test to be sure.
ETA: It would also be very helpful to have a thermometer in there, which I always do as a matter of routine. The temperature in the fridge section when the power comes back will tell you a lot about the likely condition of the perishables in there.
JFC, the cold warning is certainly justified, though as I said it’s only for tonight and extending to early Saturday morning. A low of -22C is expected (-8F) with a wind chill factor making it feel much worse. I’m certainly not going anywhere, and I hope all the neighbourhood bunny rabbits are safe and warm in their burrows.
The southern Ontario and Quebec and parts of the US blackout in August 2003? I was still in Ontario then, and remember that one. I also remember the owner of the local pub calling all the regulars and begging them to get to the pub—he’d rather see all his perishables eaten (and paid for), and ice used. His gas-powered grill was fine, so it was a candlelit (I don’t know where he got all those candles; the place looked like Venus Flytrap’s studio) evening of burgers, salads, and warm beer. Until we started putting the ice in the beer, and it was diluted but cold. The cash register wasn’t working, so tabs were paid by an old credit card “ka-chunk” machine. Weirdly, it was actually a fun evening, with a “we’re all in this together” attitude among everybody.
I got sidetracked, but @wolfpup 's advice is spot-on. The less you open the fridge, the better. Look at all perishables like fruits, vegetables, and dairy carefully when the power comes on—if they appear to be in doubt, toss them. Keep the freezer closed; it is well-insulated so the frozen food should be fine for a few days, and without power, you couldn’t cook most of it anyway, unless you have a gas grill for certain things.
One thing we did learn from that experience was to have flashlights, candles, and a working battery-powered radio. The latter because radio stations have backup generators and will still broadcast news about the blackout. We had few to none of the former, and no radio at all. The next day, I had to go down to the car to get any radio news about when the power might come back on.
No, I was thinking of a more recent outage a few years ago in my current location, a more local outage caused by wind damage to a power substation.
But I certainly remember the great blackout of 2003. What I mainly remember about it was stopping for gas at a station that was very close to my house, and arriving home minutes later to find that the power was out. Little did I know how widespread it was or how long it would last. Just by pure luck and by a matter of minutes I had a full tank of gas while many people were stranded and unable to travel due to lack of fuel. Even after power was eventually restored it was a nuisance for many because there were long lineups at gas stations.
Amother useful gadget to have for a prolonged power outage is a Li-ion battery pack with USB ports. Best little gadget ever. The USB ports were great for recharging both my cell phone and Kindle, and it also comes with a cable that allows it to jump-start a car or even a medium-size truck with a diesel engine! And to my amazement, the jump-start actually worked on my previous car when it had a failing battery.
And that’s another good point: if winter threatens, gas up, and gas up often. The last place you want to run out of gas, is anywhere in winter. A full tank means that you won’t be stranded anywhere; and if you run into trouble (say, running off the road into the ditch), you’ve got the gas, that powers the engine, that provides heat until you can get help.
A “winter kit” for the car would take this thread way offtrack, but it is worth looking into, especially if you’ll be driving in rural areas.
and
Anyone on the SDMB is obviously going to be of above average intelligence, and probably not need any warnings about carbon monoxide. Nonetheless winter storms are infamous for producing many cases of CO poisoning.
In the 2006 Hanukkah Eve Windstorm in the Pacific Northwest, for example, many of the 18 fatalities were from carbon monoxide. In Maine after a 1998 ice storm, 100 victims of carbon monoxide were identified. Kentucky 2009, 144 cases (10 deaths). People with no heat sometimes turn to alternative heat sources that end up being unsafe.
Please, everyone, be aware of the possibility. CO is sneaky - odorless, invisible and nearly the same density as air, so it mixes well. In my EMS days, anytime more than one person in the same house was sick (especially with headache ! ) alarm bells rang in my head, and I asked myself if CO was a possibility.
Please, please, dopers, if you lose your heat, don’t end up losing your life as well.
Agreed. The idea of burning anything inside the house should be approached with caution. A wood stove or fireplace in good condition and using dry wood is fine, and candles. I’d avoid anything else.
I recently replaced all my smoke detectors just due to age. The new ones all have CO detection in addition to smoke, so there’s now CO detection at every level. There was hardly any extra cost to getting this protection and I think it’s a great idea. They’re all wired together so that if one goes off, they all go off.
The downside is that they’re wired and don’t have battery backup, so they’re useless in a power outage. But I do have two other CO detectors, one in the basement and one on the main level, that have battery backup.
Good point about the CO detectors, Wolfpup. Maybe the people running out to buy eggs should instead be getting new CO detectors, or batteries for their current ones.