Damn, no power for 4 days with the ice storm a few years back.

VERY likely. But we're tough New Englanders right? We've got a good supply of wood, oatmeal, and candles...AND we check on our elderly neighbors. They tell us they only laid in a supply of sherry...
So, now we're REALLY ready to ride this one out.

So I've go the generator waiting for the inevitable power outage here in Conn.

So, if you don't hear from some of us for a few days...just know we're dusting off our ol' wobbly songs...


"Oh, you can't scare me I'm stickin' to the union..."

It's the electronics that save lives.

We've got a whole house (permanent, automatic) generator and just had our propane tank refilled last week. It is able to power about 80% of the house. So as long as the phone line stays up, we'll have our DSL, Wi-Fi, and DishTV (unless we get too much snow on the dish).

with kids and no electronics.

I have fond memories of past snowstorms that kept us all home together... able to build snow forts, go sledding, warm some soup on the wood stove. Didn't miss TV, email, or video games one bit... We played "Catch Phrase" and "Encore" and played music for hours as the candles burned down. **sigh**

Good luck with this storm, eggplant.

Stay safe, warm and content. Sending good thoughts from the West Coast!

U.Utah Phillips:

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I saw him in Saratoga a few years before he left us. He hugged me.

At least this thread is a bit more rational. You would think that people have never heard that it snows up here in the northeast from time to time.

both with new-ish tires, and a big-ass snowblower, full of gas and equipped with one of those cage-like enclosures so hubby will stay relatively dry while he clears the driveway as I sip on hot cocoa (or wine, depending on the time of day) and sit by the fireplace. (Gawd, I love writing interminable sentences! LOL) Not looking forward to this storm, though.

During the massive storms of two years ago we could no longer push the snow anywhere. A friend "gave" us the Bobcat so we could scoop the snow. It's not actually ours, but it's permanently parked at our house in case of emergencies. I think we might be using it this weekend!

they predict come to pass. Our next-door neighbor is a landscaping contractor with all kinds of equipment, and he's usually pretty good about bailing us out if it gets too bad. Was definitely necessary in the October 2011 storm!

Forester #1 has 154K miles under the hood, and Forester #2 just hit 212K. They are our 10th and 11th Subarus over the course of 35 years. I think that qualifies us as aficionados (or maybe fanatics)! Truly, a necessity living in New England, and have literally been life savers. Front wheel drive on Subaru #3 pulled me out of a skid in a snowstorm, headed for a 40ft drop.

92 Loyale wagon (those were 4wd, not awd back then tho), sold to a friend
98 Impreza (it got flooded in the icy flooding two years ago)
98 Legacy wagon, sold to a friend
02 Legacy GTLimited, with about 180k on it
06 Outback wagon, with about 90k on it

I am a bit disappointed with the latest models tho -- they seem to be getting larger and larger for no obvious reason. I particularly liked the smaller car feel. I expect that when it is time to trade up my 02, It'll be for an 08.

We were on generator power for 80 hours straight.

We were the only ones on our street with heat, running water, satellite tv, and internet service. We made sure to open our doors to all of our neighbors.

Two years ago I fell and partially tore 2 tendons on my shoulder due to an ice storm. Like a dope I went to work and I was just across the street from my job when I I fell flat as a pancake face down on the street........not a pretty sight. I had to have almost 5 months of physical therapy and my shoulder still bothers me on occasion.

that we will not be seeing news reports of car pile ups, miles of stranded cars, etc. that usually result from a snowstorm and make some of us wonder why the hell anyone would want to drive in a blizzard and whiteout conditions!

This was a rant, in case you could not tell.

He needs to travel from Newport, RI to the Af base on the cape at 3pm. I am trying to get him to tell his boss he needs the day off so he can get to the base BEFORE the roads are bad. He's never had to drive through a blizzard before.

He should leave early rather than later. The real bad snow is supposed to be after sundown. Good luck to him.

its supposed to start getting heavy at noonish. He is scheduled at the navy base in RI until 3 and then has to report to the base on the cape. He works as an IT contractor for the Navy and is also in the AF guard. Hopefully he can have tommorrow off so he can get onto the cape BEFORE the snow gets heavy.

Ughh... so hard not to worry.

Eastern MA does look like it'll be ground zero, and I wish you the best. further inland it looks like a "big" storm, but not crazy bad. But anything over two feet needs to be taken very seriously.

Stay safe and warm.

lots of blankets and soups and warm stuff to drink. Expecting power outages.

I had to go to the office because I had to finish some things, but most people stayed home. I managed to make it back about half an hour ago and praying that I didn't fall because the sleet made the ground very slippery. Although it's now turning into snow. It's very windy and when the sleet hits your face it hurts. BTW, I'm in NJ right across the river from Manhattan.

I picked up some Chinese food and right now I'm nice and toasty having some sweet and sour soup. LOL!!

I hope that your son is OK.

Not sure where he will go from the base, but at least he won't be in. A sedan!!!!

Getting windy here, only a half a foot so far. I'm staying with friend for the weekend

Stay safe!!!

there are idiots wrecking all over the first few snows. 'Why does my car slide going fifty mph on ice?' Duh.

I was once hit by a woman at an intersection, very icy, but she was going at least 40mph on the cross street posted 35, then slid through clipping the passenger side bumper of my car. It was like riding the Tilt-o-Whirl! Wheee! It was ok, the telephone pole stopped my slide. Moron had only had her license for three weeks and it was her THIRD accident! It was a woman in her thirties, not a teen.

I lived in San Antonio one winter. Eight inches of snow, 350 car accidents in a few hours! Same idiotic thought processes without the experience. 'Why does my car slide going fifty mph on ice.?' Another duh.

and have little idea of torque, and how to drop into a lower gear for icy conditions.
So they spin out, then over steer on power steering.
Course, fact is , 8 inches of snow and no one is going anywhere easily.

I am astonished at those with automatic transmissions who have no clue that they should drop to a lower gear at certain times.

I drive a stick. Always have. I'm 64 years old, and when I can no longer drive a stick then I'll know it's time to give up driving. I HATE it when I need to rent a car and of course rentals are only automatics. Blaaaah.

Yep, me too, learned on a stick, always drove a stick, most of them 4 cylinder high milage cars.
Few times I drove an automatic it felt like mush and I hated having no feeling of the road.
Something about a stick lets you drive with your whole body in tune with the car...at least, feels that way to me.

We beat the devil out of those cars, but they went on forever it seemed.

You'd be surprised how much traffic there is around here during a blizzard.

Stay safe everyone!

Would you find sending a little of that snow back to Colorado so you can come ski and snowboard?

have plenty for myself.

I've ever seen. They are saying this one will be that bad & possibly worse.

One town over from where I use to live this happened:

and got up an hour early, dug my car out, and went to work. We didn't know the eastern half of the state had a travel ban until we were all there, then it seemed pointless to close and go home.

The storm in 78 was a frozen hurricane with winds of 90 knots clocked. We hadn't realized how bad it was on the other side of the canal because the eye of that storm parked right over us, surrounding us with walls of black clouds.

We still had to shovel 26 inches of snow that day.

I can't believe this one could be worse. 78 was a stinker.

I thought I'd never get them all home safe and sound.

The drifting was incredible. By the time all was said and done you could just walk right upon my garage roof!

I hope the coastlines don't suffer so much damage this time.

as an HVAC tech. I'm considered "essential" personnel.... gotta show up.

But I would be scared to death to drive a school bus!!!!!

And they get paid crap. And no bennies.

having everyone's most precious in your hands.

It pisses me off how poorly these drivers are paid... and, of course, no benefits are offered.

But they have the lives of all these young'uns in their hands.

oncoming vehicles to pull off to pass. I was on one lane roads that you had to look straight up to see the sky. It was a horrible winter.

The Storm of the Century photos look brutal. The little boot sticking out of the snow is beyond heart-breaking.

Hoping all stay safe through this blast.

we've had 24" storms in New England before.

I hope the storm isn't as bad as they're predicting, and, yes, I sometimes wonder why I live here. But worst of all time? End of the world? I'll let you know about 36 hours from now.

The worst was just under 28".

So yes, this is going to be a historically bad one unless something significant change in the next 24 hours.

The cold front that came through last week knocked out power for 76,000 customers (~200,000 people) in Connecticut. I was out of power for 15 hours and some friends were out for 24 hours. And that was just a cold front with rain and wind.

So excuse me if we take precautions for loss of power.

comes from Wilton and just told me the electric company in CT has asked its customers to plan for a 72 hour blackout. So, please do take it very seriously.

We lose power all the time. I have a transfer switch and portable generator, so I can power the house circuits when I need. It'll suck hauling the generator out in a blizzard, but oh well.

The colleague I mentioned has a son that installs generators - it's been a booming business since hurricane Irene. And colleague has one also. Only, his son is the only one who knows how it works and colleague is having trouble contacting him as he's gone to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Hope you made out okay in the storm. 13 inches around here.

which will keep you warm and cozy. But watch out for rising sea levels.

Last edited Fri Feb 8, 2013, 05:16 AM - Edit history (1)

(yes I "get" it)

say the power goes out for hours, how to I avoid pipes freezing? Is it correct that turning off the main water shutoff to the house and then opening the lowest faucet until it runs empty is enough and probably flushing all the toilets also?

I looked on youtube and the loons at This Old House were putting antifreeze in boilers and stuff. don't know how much of that to believe.

Plus I am not too thrilled about possible coastal flooding (don't look at me, my grandfather bought this house when no one had ever heard of global warming.)

A few drops per minute should suffice.

... if you have kitchen or bathroom plumbing that's surrounded by cabinets or whatever, keep the doors propped open so some of the warmer 'house air' can get to them.

This assumes you have a basement or slab foundation. Crawlspaces are a whole different matter. I'd let the faucets drip and attempt to keep the house above 40 with spare heaters (like a kerosene heater).

LOL

You think two feet is scary? Think about having only one.

I wonder if this is going to be as bad as predicted.

It's definitely going to keep snowing - there's additional mass of snow off to the west - but we'll see...

Here's a newer article on it: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014393994

I hope everyone will stay safe. Please do not drive if you can help it.

I hope they are all prepared this time

How is local weather of national interest? If this post were about the Midwest, it would be locked within a half hour.

Self defeating, don't you think?

tells us something about you, doesn't it?

Touchy, touchy, touchy...

I've seen several articles on weather in the Midwest get locked because they were not on "National interest" per the rules of LBN. This is a local weather story, certainly not of National interest, yet it remains along with many others. Apparently anything that happens on the East coast is breaking news of National interest. I look forward to the Latest Breaking news of rain, then flowers on the East Coast.