That’s what the Weather Channel is calling it. Here in Memphis I’m afraid it might live up to that. We had an ice storm on Wednesday night (with a thunderstorm!). The temps haven’t been above freezing since and won’t be again until next Saturday. It’s been snowing today, maybe an inch or two. The snow forecast for tomorrow is 8 - 12 inches! We haven’t seen that here in decades. More snow is expected on Wednesday.
I wouldn’t mind so much if the temps weren’t in the teens and single digits for the next couple days. But hopefully that will keep it to just snow and no more ice since the ice from Wednesday is still on everything.
The other reason I’m worried about the next few days is that I feed three neighborhood cats. They have two shelters on my porch but I don’t think that will be enough for them with temps near zero. I plan on bringing them in tonight and keep them in until at least Tuesday. I have my spare room set up for them. But I don’t think they will be very happy. And my two cats won’t like knowing they are in there. (Cats, can’t reason with them.) It should be interesting.
It hasn’t been that cold, but my pipes are frozen nonetheless. I’ve been putting out extra hay for the horses.
Yesterday I did a rescue dog transport that was supposed to start here in Nashville and go to Connecticut. The dogs got to Bristol and the transport was halted, fortunately there was a person willing to take the dogs in until things are moving again.
It’s been cold and snowy up here in Chicago for two full weeks now, but at least we know how to deal with it, and have the snow removal equipment. I hope all of you in the south are staying safe and warm!
According to Weather.com, it’s supposed to be 41 on Wednesday, but whether that will be warm enough I can’t say. Then back below freezing until they weekend. As I live in the sticks, it’s often about 4 degrees cooler here than in the forecast. Hopefully it’ll warm the roads enough to go out.
I can go to the neighbor’s for buckets of water for the toilet, to wash up with, for the dogs, but that’s a pain in the butt as they live about 1/4 mile away and down a long and icy driveway. And poor them - their sheep are lambing right now.
I’m in Dallas right now. They’ve been making noises about Snow-mageddon for days.
Today it snowed about 3". It’ll probably get another inch overnight. Temps were below freezing for a couple days before, so all that fell stuck. At least it’s cold enough aloft that the snow is dry and mostly fine-grained, not wet and slushy.
It will be single-digit overnights and teens during the day for another couple of days.
This should not be hard to deal with, but apparently TX thinks only August weather is real and the other 11 months of their year just don’t actually happen. Maybe they think “February” is fake news.
Well, here in Colorado, it’s -12F, with an expected overnight low of -20F. With 76% humidity and 5-8mph winds. Our ‘high’ temperature for the day was -3F. So very darn cold. Thankfully, while this is colder than it’s been in the last 4-5 years, it’s not totally out of the question, so we all have the tools to deal with it. My housecats are upset because even during cold weather, we normally let them out onto the fenced in catio for a few moments but not today.
We’ll be back up to 22F tomorrow afternoon though, and no more sub-zero lows listed as upcoming. And while we’ve had snow, it’s been less than 2 inches and is so damn fine you can move it with a broom. Which I’m not doing until Tuesday probably, because it’s going to be lung burningly cold.
Stay warm and safe all.
They have been inside for six hours now and all is quiet. Two of them have been in here once each in the past but one has never been in a house. She was upset but calmed down pretty quickly. I hope they are just sleeping, happy to be warm. From the looks of the forecast, I can’t let them back out until at least Wednesday. Hopefully, they will figure out the litter boxes. The two who have been inside were only in overnight and never used the box. / (Cat tangent)
The only fake news around here is that you will be able to find bread and milk if you go to the grocery the day before the snow is predicted.
It won’t last long. The volume of hot air from the local news scolds will melt it. They’ve all driven in to work just for the joy of lecturing the rest of us to not drive to work. They live for this stuff.
It has stopped snowing now and we did get several inches. We had heavy sleet during the night which knocked off a lot of the ice on wires so that’s good. It looks beautiful and I would love to go out and take some pictures. But it feels like -5 so there is no way I’m going outside today. The snow is not going anywhere and there’s more to come.
I haven’t heard a peep from the cats since I brought them in. When I fed them, two were hiding and one was in the pappasan chair making himself at home. And they used the litter boxes! I think my best bet is to just to leave them alone except for feeding. I hope things go this well for the next couple days. /
Surprisingly, my barn cat only ate about 1/2 the food I put down yesterday. Usually what he doesn’t finish, the raccoons and possums do. I guess they’re holed up somewhere. Horses seem fine - they’re being tempted into their run-in shelter with an all-you-can-eat hay buffet.
The sun was out today (but temps were in the teens) so ice on the wires melted and it wasn’t too difficult to clean all the ice and snow off my car. I hope all we get tomorrow will be snow (forecast says 3-5 more inches). I have friends in Texas without power and I really hope that doesn’t happen here. It’s going to be warmer (high of 28) tomorrow but snowing all day. Which leads me to:
One of the cats has been whining a bit. I had hoped that maybe I could let them out tomorrow but that’s not going to happen. And the night lows for Thursday and Friday will still be in the low teens. So I’ll have to keep them in until Saturday. I wish I could make them understand that they are not in prison forever.
I looked out on the porch earlier and there was a black cat sitting by the door. I’ve seen it around the neighborhood for quite a while. So it belongs to someone but they’ve still let it out. It’s not there now so I hope that if it doesn’t have somewhere to go, it’s gotten in one of the shelters. I’ve chased it off before when I was feeding my guys so it would run away from me if I went outside so that’s the best I can hope for. Someone reported on NextDoor that they found two dead cats huddled together by their house today (last night’s low was 1). That just breaks my heart. /
How are you doing with the water situation? Some friends of mine in Texas are melting snow on the stove for their toilets. Did your neighbors do okay with their lambs?
I took some pictures today of prints in the snow. There was one set that was a perfect square. I can’t imagine what the animal was doing.
So far my neighbors haven’t lost any lambs - they have shelter, although not a full barn, and the lambs are doing okay. I collected several buckets of ice and water from the troughs to get me through watering the dogs and flushing the toilet. I found a gallon of water for my personal washing up, although I hope to buy more water tomorrow.
I’m in San Antonio, Texas. I woke up yesterday to no electricity. Fortunately I have a gas stove and gas water heater so I can cook. Sat bundled up all day reading with cats piled on me. It was overcast and very gloomy. It got down to 49 in the house. I went out driving in the afternoon to warm up and to charge my phone, and when I got home at 5 pm, the electricity was on. Yippee. Charged my phone, did a bunch of other stuff. (SOOOO glad to get my heated toilet seat back.)
Went to bed around 10-ish and woke up in the night to total, ice cold darkness (“Hello, darkness, my old friend…” Not.). Went back to sleep and woke a few more times, and finally around 5 am, there was a light! Could it be? Yes! Electricity back on.
But. I noted that it came on yesterday at 5 pm, went off at 11 pm (according to my neighbor who texted me), now it’s back on at exactly 5 am. I’m braced for it to go off at 11 am – 6 hours on / 6 hours off. We’ll see.
My old doggie has gamely gone out with no hesitation to pee and poop, bless her heart. One cat has gone out a few times. The other one isn’t into risk taking.
Texas is particularly fucked-up in the energy management department due to stupidity and greed, but that’s a rant for another forum. It’s supposed to be up in the 40s today and next week back in the 70s where God intended.
I thought sheltering alone 24/7 was depressing. But being totally alone in the cold, dark night… a whole lot worse.
Still I don’t have it as bad as many of my fellow citizens. The city has opened the convention center downtown as a shelter and reading about it on Reddit this morning really makes me count my blessings. The place is jammed with people, cots close together, inadequate bathroom facilities-- it’s a COVID nightmare that we’ll see the result of in a couple of weeks, I guess.
I have several friends in Austin. They are beyond angry at all of this. One is on oxygen and she and her husband found a hotel with power just an hour before it ran out. Their son and his family at least have a fireplace. Some others live out in the sticks and are melting snow on their wood burning stove for toilet water.
I know what you mean about being alone in all this. We got hit with an ice storm last week and knowing what was coming this week had me very concerned about losing power. My car was ice covered (until yesterday) and I felt really trapped.
This is the longest, coldest ice/snow event I can remember. It’s been snowing all day and I’m glad I’m warm enough to enjoy it. I hope you get your power back full time soon. Keep cuddling with those cats.
They have been inside for six hours now and all is quiet. Two of them have been in here once each in the past but one has never been in a house. She was upset but calmed down pretty quickly. I hope they are just sleeping, happy to be warm. From the looks of the forecast, I can’t let them back out until at least Wednesday. Hopefully, they will figure out the litter boxes. The two who have been inside were only in overnight and never used the box. / 
I haven’t heard a peep from the cats since I brought them in. When I fed them, two were hiding and one was in the pappasan chair making himself at home. And they used the litter boxes! I think my best bet is to just to leave them alone except for feeding. I hope things go this well for the next couple days. / 
