Normal grocery shopping. We’ve got candles and flashlights if the power goes out, and I’ve got a fully charged camping battery that I can use to power the oil furnace so we at least have heat. If the power goes out, we’ve also got a camping grill that I can cook on, and if worse comes to worse a box of MREs in the basement that I bought last year as a humorous “this is what Dad had to eat back when he was in the military”.
I have aquired the bread and the milk.
I did my normal amount of grocery shopping as I generally keep a decent food supply already. Closed as many blinds and curtains as I could to improve insulation. Kept the thermostat at the daytime temperature instead of letting it drop low overnight. And beer and snacks.
We did shopping on Thursday for essentials, but I also let our tent air out last weekend. We’ve camped in below freezing temps before with that thing, so if worst comes to worst, we’ll set up the tent in the living room.
worst comes to worst, we’ll set up the tent in the living room
Literally my emergency plan except I figured the back corner of the basement would be the most insulated place. I’ve even got a cut down memory foam mattress topper I keep with the tent to use as a “floor”. Great for not sleeping against the damp ground so should work well on the concrete floor downstairs.
We have two relatively large emergency blankets (foil lined on the inside with thick, safety orange plastic on the outside). We put those over the tent and under the rain fly along with some poncho liners.
That setup along with a closed cell foam pad for the floor has let us handle weather below freezing.
Just remember that you can suffocate if you seal everything up too much.
Making chowder tonight. Neighbor has enough firewood for both our fireplaces if we lose power. And if it really comes down to it. My wife has enough candles to warm the house for a day.
Not really worried as you can tell
Normal grocery shopping
Stores will be probably be open by Tuesday possibly even on Monday
Edit: this is a normal north east snow storm and temps tho it’s possible some icy rain takes down some tree branches and power lines but good luck to yall down south
Yeah, the ice is what usually gets us here as far as power outages go.
Same here, and this was the lightest snow I recall which made using the snow blower a blast! We usually get the wet and icy crap in the central plains.
I’m going to clear my driveway a few times to avoid the drifts getting to deep.
Yeah… you can tell the media hype is more about where the storm is heading than anything. It’s cold AF here (Midwest) but it happens.
The entire Midwest, Great Plains, and all of the states between have been warned “two thirds of the U.S. will be hit by a massive storm!” by various media, and so far it hasn’t come close to being true. They were literally even warning the Great Plains last week.
It started in Texas. It’s exceedingly rare for a winter storm to go straight north.
I’ve been watching the weather maps. For days now the maps have projected that it will mainly affect the southeast. Current projections barely have it getting to New York City, let alone the rest of the state. The storm skirts every northern state until it gets to New Jersey.
“Two hundred million people will be affected!” How are they counting this?
It’s crazy how weather reporting has come to almost dominant news stuff now
Turn on the tv news and they flash to the weatherman more than the news caster
Every news site has this storm plastered as the front page
This is what I’m so shocked by! I naively thought they’d just report the weather. Not use it as “if it bleeds, it leads”-style reporting.
I don’t know why I thought that they’d maintain the integrity of their weather reporting. I am foolish.
This is the first time I’ve very clearly noticed a discrepancy in what the media was reporting and what was actually happening.
I recall a (more localized) media hype event twenty years ago that caused people to literally die (mainly the most vulnerable too - infants and the elderly).
The ethical juggling went something like “well, people needed to be informed just in case the worst would happen”, which while it contains a kernel of truth is also pure bullshit.
Money money money, may the buyer beware.
It started in Texas, and it picked up a helluva lot of water in the Gulf.
filled every available vessel with a lid with water to drink in the case that we get a boil water notice from the city. filled a tub with water to flush toilets if we lose pressure. bought fuel for the gennie to keep the freezer cold and the electronics charged. prepared mre’s and bought shelf stable snax. washed all the laundry and blankets. bought a propane stove on clearance to make hot meals if the power goes out. gonna go out and shovel the snow before it turns into ice now. wish me luck…
Best of luck!
Although it doesn’t sound like you need it as you have solid planning :)
I work in a critical infrastructure job, so I need to be at work Monday. I’m used to it.
I got snow chains, but I think they are the wrong ones.
I’m going out soon to do shopping for an aged aunt, and will then go to visit a second one in the residence facility. They’ll be fine through the storm.
Gotta fill up the car and get gas for the generator. I just ran a gen test 2 weeks ago, but I need to go over the startup procedure with my family. Good relationship with neighbors so we have support if needed. More family nearby, too.
The canned food sale at the local grocery store was just last week so we’re stocked up.
Plenty of board games. Batteries are charged. Plan to setup my CPAP battery tonight.
We’re expecting very near a foot right now. Been through this before. And worse.
I don’t have to go out until Tuesday (and I can cancel that if I absolutely have to, but I’d really prefer not to). The HOA will take care of the sidewalks, and I pre-paid the kid next door to dig my car out for me (my back got injured recently). I filled up my gas tank and got some cash out of the bank. I was already fine on food and didn’t bother shopping this week (I have several weeks worth of food in the house), but I’ll pick up a pizza before the storm starts.
Pulled out my deep weather winter gear (heavy duty jacket, gloves, mittens, those Canadian hats with the built-in ear muffs, yaktrax, etc). Stuck a bunch of audiobooks on my phone.
Double-checked that our heated mattress pads and electric blankets work, so we don’t have to worry about heating the whole house. Put towels across the bottom cracks of the doors in the rooms we’re not using. Made sure the utility room door is open - that’s not very well insulated and our pipes come in there. Opened the cabinet doors under the kitchen sink. Changed the furnace filter. Took a shower and did the laundry and dishes. Took the garbage and recycling out to the community bins. I’ve been putting out extra food for the birds and wildlife for a few days now, and I put out an extra serving this morning.
My main concern is losing power: with this being such a large storm, we won’t be able to borrow power crews from other areas, and I live in a smaller exurb area so we’re not high on the “restore power” list.
I’ve verified the location of my candles and matches (you can seal yourself in a room, bundle up and light a couple candles and stay surprisingly warm-ish), some large plates to prevent accidental candle fires, and rotated my fire extinguisher to make sure the powder’s still loose. Pulled two camping coolers out of the shed and stuck them by the back door in case I need to store food outside.
Charged up my power packs so I’ll still have my phone, and verified the location of my little solar-charger for camping in case I need it. Verified the location of my sterno and mini-propane stove. Retrieved my headlamps from storage and put in fresh batteries.
Filled up a few extra bottles of water and stored them in the fridge. Made sure I have the power company’s phone number and my account number stored in my phone so I can quickly report any power loss. (In smaller storms, my power company slightly prioritizes earlier reported outages, so quicker can be better.)
Brought out extra blankets and throws and placed them around the house. I have friends I can evacuate to if I need to, but I’d rather not drive in the weather - and I’m uncertain if they’ll still have power too. I’ve entered the phone numbers of the three nearest hotels into my phone, just in case.
Charged the snowblower batteries to clear a way out if needed and made sure the pickup had a full tank of gas. We have plenty of shelf stable food and bottled water.
We don’t have a backup power plan if that goes out but the house is large enough it will take quite a while to get to an unsafe temp. The house’s lower floor is in a hillI slope and the storm shelter/shop never dips below 50 F so I’m pretty confident that the lower floor won’t go any lower than that but we can relocate if needed.
If we were in a more rural area I would have had backup power arrangements, but we have only lost power for more than an hour twice in the last 15 years and only one of those was for over four hours where we had to think about tossing stuff from the fridge.
Cleaned up outside- picked up chair cushions, blowy things, and stuff that could be a trip hazard if it’s hidden under snow. Put up curtains to reduce drafts. Bought some breakfast food and soup ingredients. This house was without power for 4 days in 2021 so i picked up a generator from Facebook marketplace. I was hoping it would run the pool pump if needed, but it won’t. Got gas and tested the generator with two space heaters- all good. Made plans with my pool girl to drain the equipment if power goes out. Downloaded a power outage alarm for my phone. Let my friends know that we would pick them (and their animals) up if needed. Today i need to find the water key just in case. Currently snuggled up and working on a movie list. It’s just starting to get cold in Dallas- 24 degrees and slowly dropping throughout the day with light snow. Our biggest fears here are freezing rain on power lines and a grid that’s controlled by greedy assholes.
It hasn’t started here yet, but I topped off the pantry at the grocery store on Tuesday and made sure to grab some stuff I could eat in case the power goes out. All my appliances are electric so that’s what I’m most preparing for.
It’s supposed to drop to single digits Sunday and Monday and with no power, I can’t run the furnace. So this is gonna be fun. I’ve been wrapping towels around pipes since Thursday afternoon and coming up with a plan to stay warm and fed. So I’ve basically been meal-prepping all morning.
S/O is with family this weekend so it’s just me and the dogs.
