One exception: lamps fueled with lamp oil. My ex-wife loved antiques, so we had a couple of such lamps. They looked straight out of “Little House on the Prairie,” but in the 2003 blackout, they sure came in handy. Brightness could be adjusted by how much of the wick was showing, and they could be walked around the house, so you could go to the bathroom, say. To turn them off, you turned the wick below the edge, or you lifted the chimney, and blew them out.
Fragile, though. They were all glass and porcelain. If you carried a lit one to the bathroom, you dared not drop it, lest it shatter, spill its fuel, and cause a fire. Keep a fire extinguisher nearby with these things.
But gosh! Could they throw light! I’ve still got them, just in case.
A valid exception. We had those at our country cottage, and nobody died. I’m reminded of them every time I’m at an airport, because of the smell of jet fuel which is basically kerosene. You obviously have to be super careful with kerosene lamps because of the risk of dropping them and causing a fire, but otherwise I think they pose no hazard. Our country cottage was way out in the boonies so I’m sure we had many power outages, and I have fond memories of those lovely kerosene lamps. The cottage had a wood-burning stove which was our source of heat and cooking and baking, so ironically, a power outage there affected us much less that it would affect me here. Plus we got to hear the sound of whip-poor-wills and owls in the night.
I know what you are talking about, but the typical model you might get if shopping for a “storm lantern” is made of steel (except for the glass window; steel is not so transparent).
That front is something else! Much of my family are wearing parkas and getting ready to eventually deice their front walks and roofs. They’re certainly not doing that yet as I understand it’s still off-putting.
I was born in Buffalo. We moved away when I was 7 years old though, we being my parents and I. We moved to Arizona where I remained for a good 30 to 35 years.
I used to see these threads all the time on here but I could never participate, because…well … I will see constant talk of snow and really low degrees and all that, meanwhile I would be looking at our thermostat and weather report and it would be sunny all day long with no snow obviously and no rain, and temperatures up to 80 and 90° even in the winter.
At first I kind of counted my lucky stars, but after 20 or 25 years I started getting bored of it and feeling left out surprisingly.
10 years later I finally said screw it and moved back to New York which I did last October. So I’m back in Buffalo now, easily waiting the first really bad storm of the year if only so I could come into this thread and be like “it’s snowing, guys!!” and join in the fun.
Mostly kidding, it’s already snowed here a good amount. If I had been updating the snow thread every time I got snow I’d be updating it every other day. But I don’t think we’ve had a really bad storm yet. Not sure this one will hit us very badly either, I guess we’ll see. It is supposed to give us anywhere from 6 to 14 inches, but according to my cousin that is nothing for Buffalo.
I hear stories all the time of the past, by the way,..both my parents and most of my family were here during both the blizzards in 1977 and 1978, when they were snowbound, and my cousin and my aunt still tell stories of the one that happened just a couple years in 2022.
At least I can participate in these threads now. Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.
About refrigerators in cold weather power outages: take some containers (almost anything waterproof will do; empty plastic milk or juice or water jugs are great), fill them most but not all the way with water (not all the way because ice expands and will break the container if it’s too full), and put them outside to freeze. (This presumes, of course, that you’re not in an upstairs apartment with no balcony or even a windowbox; but a lot of people aren’t.)
When you need to get something out of the fridge, put some of those containers in. Now your fridge is an old fashioned ice box. In a long outage, rotate as necessary.
About rarely used fireplaces etc.: make sure that a functional chimney is attached! People have lit fires in stoves/fireplaces with damaged, clogged, or even missing chimneys. The clogged ones will smoke you out if they don’t catch fire, which they might. The other two conditions will burn the house down.
If using a kerosene lantern or indoor designed heater or stove: fill it outside. And absolutely don’t fill it near a source of flame. Spills happen. I knew some people who burned their house down that way, once. (They did all get out in time.)
All these things can be used safely. But you need to know how.
I have the feeling that this snowstorm might “politically kill” DJT and his administration - I have no doubt fed. help will be hugely lacking (covid, anybody?).
I already hear the grievances of his, blaming emergency services of blue states …
Same for me, in New England. I think we’ll want to shovel a few times, to keep up with it. But it’s supposed to stay cold enough to be light fluffy snow, and that rarely causes problems.
It’s the folks south of the “stay completely frozen” line, who will get sleet and freezing rain, who will likely have the worst problems.
I expect my town to basically shut down for a day as everyone focuses on snow removal, but i also expect everyone to have great, lights, and working appliances. I’m thinking we’ll do some shoveling, and then enjoy got cocoa.
I grew up with kerosene lamps on vacation, and have since discovered lamp oil. It barely smells at all! So much nicer.
I’m not expecting to lose power, but maybe i should pull out my oil lamps just in case.
Around 4 in the morning, with the temperature around 10, the dog started experiencing the consequences of eating part of a blanket Thursday night. First he went into the yard and deposited a cow-sized pile, followed an hour later by explosive diarrhea, followed by puking. I’m glad this didn’t happen during a blizzard. He is now resting comfortably in his favorite chair.
I’m not sure they got any revenue. It’s not like Buffalo contracted with them to remove their snow. I’m not even sure there’s an ICC rate for snow haulage.
So true! I did our standard Friday evening shopping run yesterday. There was not a single carton of regular white or brown, medium, large or extra large egg in the case! (Didn’t matter to me, I didn’t have them on my list, but I couldn’t help noticing ten foot stretch of totally empty shelves.
There was plenty of milk, but only in helf-gallon or larger sizes so I’ll be repackaging and freezing milk a bit later today.
The bread aisle looked…picked over. Fortunately we’re not too choosy over bread (wheat/whole wheat/oatmeal/whatever or brand so we’ll be fine.
The guy ahead of me snagged the last head of ice berg lettuce, damn.
The waiting in dread is numbing. I keep mentioning Helene, but our area was traumatized psychologically and physically by that storm. Now they are calling for catastrophic icing. So many trees down during Helene and here we go again. And the bitter cold following will make the massive power outages more dangerous for everyone.
Our house is not built well for an event like this. When the power goes out I plan to turn off the water to the house and empty pipes. We have a bathtub full of water for toilet flushing. My wife and I are hanging blankets and towels over all but southern facing windows.
People complained about FEMA response after Helene, but I thought they did an admirable job in tough conditions. I have zero faith that the current federal response will be anything better than awful. It will probably be non-existent.
The ice storm of ‘98 knocked out power out for several days. We were also trapped at home because the same trees that took out the lines were blocking the roads. Fortunately we had plenty of wood for the stove, which kept us warm and allowed us to cook. Now I don’t have any of that, but I also live in the suburbs instead of on a mountain in the middle of the woods, so we’d at least be able to get somewhere warm.
Anyway, we have maybe an inch of snow so far in what they’re telling us is the first light wave. Still expecting heavy snow to start this evening and continue into tomorrow afternoon. All snow for us, so unlikely we’ll lose power.
The winter storm warning has just been elevated from yellow to orange, with predicted snowfall between 20 to 40 cm (8 to 16 in) and possibly more in some areas.