# Yanks, educate us Southern folk on all things winter. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 9, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766 "2011-02-09T15:52:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/61 "2011-02-10T14:32:06Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Yeah. I know three cases of burst pipes this winter. Usually its because the residents turn the heat down pretty low if they are going to be out of town - so the outside walls aren’t warm enough to keep the pipes from freezing. But not always. A friend just spent the day at his Mom’s fixing her burst pipes - she’s been home all winter. I have heat tape on my incoming water line. Only thing that saves me. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/62 "2011-02-10T14:37:42Z")
In answer to the OP, I can’t believe nobody had stated the obvious: PEE ON IT! ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/63 "2011-02-10T14:39:07Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Heck, you’re barely north of the 40th parallel. It doesn’t get cold until you at least get to the 44th! 😃 > [@Athena](#): > > So - to start out with - why were Mr. Athena and I outside in 1.2 degree weather in shorts and pajamas? Why, to visit the Vodka bar, of course! For the third winter in a row, we’ve built a bar out of snow on our deck, and stuck several bottles of vodka and gin in it. This year, we’ve got homemade pomegranate gin, 3 different types of vodka (Finlandia, Absolut Mango, Absolut Kurant) and Bombay Sapphire. We also have shot glasses made out of ice (you can buy silicon molds from Amazon). > > Once it hits 5 degrees or below, the liquor turns syrupy and almost sweet. Delicious! Can’t do that in the tropics! Now _I_ want to move to the 44th parallel. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/64 "2011-02-10T15:00:14Z")
We here in Central NY have now had over 138 inches of snow. It’s in the teens today, the sun is shining, and 30 miles north of us, they are getting a foot of snow a day. I shudder watching the radar on the weather, that big blue line right above us can dip and hammer us again. If you’re spinning your tires on ice and don’t have salt or kitty litter in your car, you can use your floor mats, or look around for some branches to put under the wheels so they can get a grip. I’ve done both, in a pinch. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/65 "2011-02-10T16:51:47Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > When we vacation in the winter, we turn the heat down but not off, say to about 45 degrees. And we set a freeze alarm which will automatically call our heating guy if the temperature drops below 40. > > Can’t be too careful. Hey I’ve got news for you. If you’re turning to 45, it’s no longer the heater, it’s the air conditioning! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/66 "2011-02-10T19:14:51Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > If you’re spinning your tires on ice and don’t have salt or kitty litter in your car, you can use your floor mats, or look around for some branches to put under the wheels so they can get a grip. I’ve done both, in a pinch. [Traction Aids](http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/2/DriveWinter/WinterTiresandRims/TireTractionAides/PRD~0301108P/Motomaster%252BTire%252BTraction%252BAid.jsp?locale=en). Really, the whole idea of carrying around messy sand and kitty litter is absurd to me. These things usually come in convenient little boxes that don’t take up much room, they are rather inexpensive, and are reusable. I can’t figure out why more people don’t have these things! Though in the 13 years I’ve had my tiny non-4x4 but winter-tire-equipped Tercel (yes, same car the whole time) I’ve used my traction aids only once, because I had to turn into very deep snow to allow an emergency vehicle to pass. It took one placement of them and I was out. ---
**Author:** ![Ispolkom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@Ispolkom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ispolkom)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/67 "2011-02-10T21:21:47Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > The suggestions of what to keep in your car are valuable. IMO, the most important car fact is to never get below 1/4 tank of gas (preferrably 1/2 tank) in sub-freezing weather. There is always a small amount of water in your gas tank, you don’t want to chance freezing gas lines. I strictly follow this rule, which I learned from my parents 30 years ago, but I wonder if it really applies in Minnesota or other places where the gasoline is 10% alcohol. Not that I’ll ever find out, since I never let the gas gauge get below 1/2. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/68 "2011-02-10T21:53:29Z")
I never heard of traction aids, but they can go in my emergency breakdown kit with the granola bar and blankie. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/69 "2011-02-10T23:54:36Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Since nobody’s asking new questions, some general tips… > > If you’re going to leave your house for more than a day in severe cold, or if you know you have a water line in a vulnerable place (read: along an exterior wall), worry about pipes freezing and bursting. On very cold nights open the cabinets so the pipes get some heat and if you know freezing is problem, let the tap drip. In my mothers house, the cold water pipe to the upstairs bathroom could freeze overnight, if it was very cold (under -10º F) and the wind was from the Northwest. The pipes ran through a semi-exterior wall (the front entry, which had no heat vents in it) on the NW side of the house. Underneath that was a basement room, also with no heat – we had to remember to keep the door of that room open when it got cold. Generally, only the cold water pipe froze – the hot pipe was warm enough to last until the morning, when it was used again. Sometimes we left the cold water running a bit overnight when it was real cold. When it froze, we would fill a bucket of hot water in the tub and use that to flush the toilet. (Sitting above that was actually nice on a cold Minnesota morning!) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/70 "2011-02-11T00:01:37Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Yeah. I know three cases of burst pipes this winter. Usually its because the residents turn the heat down pretty low if they are going to be out of town - so the outside walls aren’t warm enough to keep the pipes from freezing. Had a friend who had to replace much of the plumbing, some furniture, and redo walls and floors last winter when her heat went out while she was on vacation. She had bought one of those fancy new thermostats with timers and multiple temp settings – the battery in that died, so it shut off the heat! (Really lousy design.) So a $1 battery failure caused an insurance claim of over $10,000. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/71 "2011-02-11T00:11:02Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > All of this is necessary if you are driving in non-populated areas. In the 30+ years I’ve lived in the Twin Cities - as long as you are staying within the city limits - there are other idiots on the road and you will get rescued. My grandmother once told us kids a story of the time she almost got frostbitten hands in the Twin Cities. A cold, snowy day, and she and other nursing students rode in a sleigh from Lake Calhoun down Lake St. past the cemetery (at Cedar Ave.). She had refused to wear her gloves, because she wanted to show off a fancy new muff she had.\* And her hands got so cold they were nearly frostbitten. We couldn’t understand the problem – "why didn’t you just stop and go into one of the stores on Lake St. to warm up?’ She told us Lake St was at the edge of the city then, and there were no stores and hardly any homes along it at all. - Yes, this was part of a grandma’s rant to kids on why you should dress warmly during the winter and not pay attention to fashion trends. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/72 "2011-02-11T00:22:10Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > On the freezing pipes note…ice dams. My brother in law lost his kitchen ceiling on Christmas Eve this year to an ice dam. So… what’s an ice dam? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/73 "2011-02-11T00:29:45Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > So… what’s an ice dam? Roof snow melts a little in the sun, runs toward the roof edge and freezes as temps cool down again at night. Now you have a dam of ice on the roof edge. Subsequent melt water, instead of running off, piles up behind the dam, and may soak in to the roof. After all, most roofs are only intended to shed water in the gravity-fed direction and have no protection for backflow. An ice dam allows backflow. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/74 "2011-02-11T00:37:44Z")
> [@lindsaybluth](#): > > **Quadgop** , what’s this “freeze alarm” you speak of? Maybe QtM is busy, so I can answer that. Fancy alarm systems have options to sense temperatures, just like fire, smoke, glass breaking, door entering. Or you can get a poor man’s version, a gadget that turns on a light when the temp gets low. Put the light in a window, and if a caretaker driving by or a neighbor sees a light in an otherwise unoccupied home, they know the heat has failed. I had a $99 Radio Shack gadget once that sensed many of the things the fancier alarms do, and could be programmed to dial up to 4 numbers with a message that told what was wrong…low temp, hi temp, loud noise (like a fire alarm), sensor tripped (door opened) or power outage (it was battery backed up). It even continued to dial the numbers until one of them called back, and allowed the caller to listen in to the room (for a burglar). Probably the best $99 bargain I ever had, as it alerted me once when the furnace failed. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/75 "2011-02-11T00:46:15Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Roof snow melts a little in the sun, runs toward the roof edge and freezes as temps cool down again at night. Actually, the real problem is usually insufficient insulation in the attic, allowing escaping heat to melt the snow on the roof above. Then as the meltwater runs down toward the edges of the roof (which are colder), it freezes, and forms an ice dam. That can cause leakage, like Musicat described. A temporary fix is laying old panty hose filled with rock salt across you roof. Really – that’s not a joke! You will see that on the roofs of houses up here. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/76 "2011-02-11T01:48:06Z")
Another “experienced winter trick” We Minnesotans think its funny when snow is projected and there is a sudden run on food at the grocery store. You see, we usually maintain pantries. I have enough spaghetti and spaghetti sauce to last a week. And that isn’t even getting into the beans, tomatoes, tuna fish, soup, canned peaches, 25 lb bag of rice, or side of beef in the freezer (which also contains several loaves of bread). The vegetables would all come out of the freezer (except for the sweet potatoes, potatoes, beets, carrots - those generally keep several weeks…) - and we’d run out of milk, but even then, there is condensed and dry in the house for in a pinch. I might go overboard (and I’m not even Mormon) but I don’t know anyone who if they were snowed in for a week couldn’t feed themselves - unless they are a bachelor who lives off delivery pizza. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/77 "2011-02-11T01:56:13Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > A temporary fix is laying old panty hose filled with rock salt across you roof. Really – that’s not a joke! You will see that on the roofs of houses up here. The best way I have seen to prevent this is to prepare in advance, before winter, and insert a heating wire under shingles near the roof edge in a W pattern. Turning on the current to the wire melts the ice dam. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/78 "2011-02-11T03:10:38Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Don’t lock the door on key entry only vehicles just before an ice storm. You can also stick some duct tape over the key hole. The important part is to never use too much pressure on the door handle or it breaks. After pounding at key spots around the door, you attempt to open the door at the seem edges. As a last resort you go in and get a hairdryer and 100 feet extension cord and put the nozzle up against the door seem. The hair dryer is used for many frozen stuck mechanical devices. I use it on the snow blower to get unmovable parts to move. Never use a hairdryer on glass though as it will break. > > Lubricating the seal on a door that keeps freezing shut will often prevent the door from freezing shut in the future. Yes, the key is preparation. Well before the freezing starts wipe the door seals with Armor-All or [303 Protectant](http://www.303-products.com/shop303/index.cfm/category/65/303-aerospace-protectant.cfm). This will prevent them from freezing shut. That would also be the time to lube your locks with some spray lubricant. ---
**Author:** ![seanchai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@seanchai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seanchai)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/79 "2011-02-11T07:09:59Z")
“Yanks, educate us Southern folk on all things winter.” As a Canadian, I am kinda surprised that you don’t think we could be of any help for you re: winter conditions:) That said, it looks as though most of what you need has been offered, so I’m off now. an seanchai ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766/80 "2011-02-11T16:16:16Z")
I stock up starting at end of summer, a few extra items a week. I squirrel away a stick of butter, a package of cheese, a loaf of bread, and hamburger in the freezer. Spaghetti, sauce, toilet paper, medicine, and extra cat litter and cat food. That will cover us for a couple days, I feel secure with extra bare basics. I also buy extras when winter comes, like eggs, bacon, and soup. It’s not that I’m afraid of starving, and it’s not that I CAN’T mush down to the grocery store in the snow if I absolutely have to, but…I prefer not to! …Someone will whine, “we have no cookies, why don’t we make lasagna, we’re low on beer” - and if I have bare basics for a couple of days, I can say, suck it up, we’re eating what we have until the roads get plowed! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yanks-educate-us-southern-folk-on-all-things-winter/570766.md?page=5)