Snowmageddon '21

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We’re expecting somewhere around a foot of snow by tomorrow morning. Luckily, we have terrific snow removal and most residents are used to driving in the stuff.
I spoke to my daughter in Nashville an hour or so ago; she is a nurse and drives a keep. She went to work yesterday and it’s a good thing because most staff called in. It was her, one other nurse and two supervisors. The other nurse grew up in snow county and the supers didn’t have a choice.
this afternoon she was told to go home at about 3 for safety reasons or they were going to make her sleep there. While on the phone, she said she was passing a county snowplow driver on the freeway and he was driving slowly and looked terrified.
Good luck down in the south. If you must go out, slow down, stay away from others, plan every move ahead of time and brake early! Ice doesn’t care if you have all wheel drive.
 
We are sitting pretty in 3-5" of sleet with a dusting of snow on top. Apparently, air was cold enough we only got sleet, avoiding the freezing rain.

Relatives 90 miles away were not so lucky. They are warmer and received freezing rain. Trees are coming down like mad. The I-20 corridor is CLOSED due to trees/electrical lines and the DOT has determined mitigation too dangerous at night.

To make matters worse, they are all electric. So no water pumping, lights, cell service, internet, heat, etc. Generator is running now, but with limited fuel and a carburetor gas leak... things are not good. A coffee can has been deployed to catch leaking fuel.
 
turbodog said:
We are sitting pretty in 3-5" of sleet with a dusting of snow on top. Apparently, air was cold enough we only got sleet, avoiding the freezing rain.

Relatives 90 miles away were not so lucky. They are warmer and received freezing rain. Trees are coming down like mad. The I-20 corridor is CLOSED due to trees/electrical lines and the DOT has determined mitigation too dangerous at night.

To make matters worse, they are all electric. So no water pumping, lights, cell service, internet, heat, etc. Generator is running now, but with limited fuel and a carburetor gas leak... things are not good. A coffee can has been deployed to catch leaking fuel.
Click to expand...

turbodog, That scenario has all kinds of red flags. Gasoline fumes and sparks .... well, I'm sure you're well aware.
 
Poppy said:
Ah... and my thought was... I hope they are relatives you don't particularly like.

How long is it before they predict that temps will be above freezing?
Click to expand...

There was no tree maintenance by power company... area is extremely hard hit. Basically their entire svc grid is down. Best we can hope for, thaw-wise, is Wednesday.

Well comms are currently down to these folk, travel is impossible also... unless I want a 90 mile ATV ride, so they are on their own... exploding generator and all. It is running on a wood deck... so fuel leaks fall to ground below and wind deals with the fumes pretty well. All things considered I'm more concerned about the lack of fuel reserves than the leak itself. Maybe the carb gaskets will swell up (was stored dry) and the leak will stop.
 
Well, earlier today the local forecast was predicting up to 0.5" of ice! But it turned out that the temp climbed into the mid-thirties before the rain started, then it just rained all day and we didn't get snow or freezing rain. Good thing it turned into a non-event for us though, because we're supposed to have a couple of days with temps in the teens, and I didn't relish the thought of going through that with no power.
 
turbodog said:
There was no tree maintenance by power company... area is extremely hard hit. Basically their entire svc grid is down. Best we can hope for, thaw-wise, is Wednesday.

Well comms are currently down to these folk, travel is impossible also... unless I want a 90 mile ATV ride, so they are on their own... exploding generator and all. It is running on a wood deck... so fuel leaks fall to ground below and wind deals with the fumes pretty well. All things considered I'm more concerned about the lack of fuel reserves than the leak itself. Maybe the carb gaskets will swell up (was stored dry) and the leak will stop.
Click to expand...

Thank you for putting my mind at ease.
 
turbodog said:
There was no tree maintenance by power company... area is extremely hard hit. Basically their entire svc grid is down. Best we can hope for, thaw-wise, is Wednesday.

Well comms are currently down to these folk, travel is impossible also... unless I want a 90 mile ATV ride, so they are on their own... exploding generator and all. It is running on a wood deck... so fuel leaks fall to ground below and wind deals with the fumes pretty well. All things considered I'm more concerned about the lack of fuel reserves than the leak itself. Maybe the carb gaskets will swell up (was stored dry) and the leak will stop.
Click to expand...
Comms are down... that really stinks.

Hopefully they were good neighbors, and they can shelter in place with other neighbors for a couple of days if necessary.
Maybe move their gennie to a neighbors house who uses gas or oil for heat, but doesn't have electricity for lights, or to power the heat blower or hot water pumps.

People working together can work anything out.
Let's hope that they are smart enough to work it out.
 
It has been very cold here... record lows last night about -2 degrees and tonight forecast -9 degrees and I already had one pipe freeze but hasn't broken (yet). Tomorrow it is supposed to snow more we already have 3-4 inches of snow on the ground and another 4-8 inches expected also. We have had ice also luckily I have some salt left over from 10 years ago it was so slippery out that I decided not to go anywhere at all not worth wrecking a vehicle when you can just stay home another day. This weekend we should completely thaw out with a high around 50 I may pass out from being overheated as I've gotten somewhat accustomed to below freezing for over a week now so cold out even goretex gloves aren't warm enough when dry and my feet in shoes get cold quickly. I think my gas bill will be extreme next month.
 
One of the power companies in my state started a program in the 2010's of buying small tracts of land across the country side in order to install lines underground and replace age-ed over head lines. This year it seems to have paid off for the customer and the power company. The cost of replacing lines for a handful of customers is down while those customers have less outages.
It also frees up crews to restore service to more populated areas.
 
+

Truly hope emergency planners & city officials in the south are taking bold steps to close ANY larger buildings
& have those thermostats set to 52F. Until further notice.


RE: potentially frozen pipes in homes, shut off water main valve & disconnect power to that water system until you have a thaw,
this could save you in the biggest way,,

I understand no water is the hardest thing, but burst pipes are far worse.
 
orbital said:
+

Truly hope emergency planners & city officials in the south are taking bold steps to close ANY larger buildings
& have those thermostats set to 52F. Until further notice.


RE: potentially frozen pipes in homes, shut off water main valve & disconnect power to that water system until you have a thaw,
this could save you in the biggest way,,

I understand no water is the hardest thing, but burst pipes are far worse.
Click to expand...

If you are on city water, you might consider letting water drip from the faucets a little bit. If you are going to leave the house due to no heat, then shutting off the main, and draining the system, may prevent frozen/burst pipes. Burst pipes in the wall, can make quite a mess after they thaw.

RV antifreeze, can be poured into sinks, toilets, and bath-tub drains.
 
Poppy said:
If you are on city water, you might consider letting water drip from the faucets a little bit. If you are going to leave the house due to no heat, then shutting off the main, and draining the system, may prevent frozen/burst pipes. Burst pipes in the wall, can make quite a mess after they thaw.

RV antifreeze, can be poured into sinks, toilets, and bath-tub drains.
Click to expand...

+

RV antifreeze

We can have thread after thread about disasters & emergency backups this & that, planning ect..
I bet there are only a handful of people down south who have a few gallons of RV antifreeze on hand, for this exact situation.

..but alot of D cell batteries 🤢
 
Reading threads like this reminds me why my grandparents moved from places like New York and Utah and settled in California, and I’m thankful. No burst pipes, no toxic antifreeze down the drains, no carbon monoxide poisoning, no snow tires, no shoveling or slipping, and no death by falling branch. Yeah, we get ridiculed for taxes and nutty behavior, but today I’m biking and playing tennis. Good luck to those hearty souls enduring real winters.
 
The electrical power situation in TX has gotten pretty bad. ERCOT normally reports >70GW of capacity but the past couple of days it's been <50GW with margins well below the acceptable minimum of 4GW. Rolling blackouts - and just plain equipment failure blackouts - are happening statewide in the face of record-shattering cold.
 
ledbetter said:
Reading threads like this reminds me why my grandparents moved from places like New York and Utah and settled in California, and I’m thankful. No burst pipes, no toxic antifreeze down the drains, no carbon monoxide poisoning, no snow tires, no shoveling or slipping, and no death by falling branch. Yeah, we get ridiculed for taxes and nutty behavior, but today I’m biking and playing tennis. Good luck to those hearty souls enduring real winters.
Click to expand...

You get forest fires, mudslides and drought. We have almost no natural disasters here, and all the fresh water we’ll ever need. Just cold and gray for a few months.
As an added benefit, the cold kills off many of the insects each season.
 
jabe1 said:
You get forest fires, mudslides and drought. We have almost no natural disasters here, and all the fresh water we’ll ever need. Just cold and gray for a few months.
As an added benefit, the cold kills off many of the insects each season.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. Don’t forget earthquakes. And hurricanes and flooding on the other coast. The midwest is overall quite safe. Inconvenient at times, perhaps, but rarely dangerous. Even tornados are pretty rare here in WI.
 
Chauncey Gardiner said:
One wonders how ledbetter's grandparents feel about California's homeless/drug addicts/ sidewalks covered with hypodermic needles and excrement.
Click to expand...
Silly and trite stereotypes no doubt gleaned from fox fake news. My long deceased grandparents were very proud of the lives they built for their families and I just sweep aside all those hypodermic needles before I play tennis.
 
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