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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWeekend winter storm with historic ice?!?😱
Yikes. They just issued a Winter Storm Watch & a Flood Watch for my area of Michigan which forecasters are increasingly certain will be upgraded to warnings starting at 10:00 p.m. Friday night. The local National Weather Service forecast office says this has the potential to be "historic" and the TV meteorologists I most trust agree. We could see 2"-4" of rain for 36 hours which is bad, but they said the rain will likely transition to as much as 1.5" of ICE coating everything with winds of up to 40 mph by Sunday morning depending when the cold air invades our area.
So I gassed up my car and went to the store today to avoid the rush tomorrow. I made sure I have enough batteries and a solar-powered & hand-crank weather/AM/FM radio w/USB charging port just in case we lose power. I gassed up the car just in case I need to charge anything else and also for warmth if I need it. I've also stocked up on food that doesn't need cooking in case we lose power. The last ice storm we had in this area was in 2013 and the power was out for at least 3 days. The cats and I will be fine, but I worry about the fish and frogs in my aquarium because I don't want them to freeze to death or suffocate. It's scary. I guess I'm as ready as I can be.
So if you guys don't see any animal videos from me after Saturday, don't worry--I'm just huddled in the dark with the cats waiting for the power to be restored. I'm hoping it'll jog north and we get mostly rain or south and we get mostly snow, but then I worry about the folks to the north & south of me. Like I said when I first started this too-long post, "Yikes." Anyone else in the path of this awful thing, please stay safe and prepare now.
dhol82
(9,353 posts)MuseRider
(34,115 posts)Here I was worried that I have 2 rehearsals and a concert with 5-7 inches of snow and 0.10 ice. If I did not live out of town that would not freak me but out here it can be pretty bad but not what you are expecting. Be safe, grocery up and hole in.
CatMor
(6,212 posts)hopefully the forecast doesn't come about. You are well prepared which is the smart thing to do.
mnhtnbb
(31,399 posts)Ice can be a real PITA and deadly.
We had a snow/ice storm in Chapel Hill in 2003 that left us without power for 5 days. So many trees down. It was a mess.
Stay safe!
Leith
(7,813 posts)We were without power for a week! We listened to a local radio station (those were still around then) and people called in, told their nearest major intersection and the conditions in their neighborhood. The DJ stayed on the air until somebody could come in and relieve him (almost 2 full days). He was our best friend during that time.
There was a major ice storm in Flint in the early 1970s like what catbyte is facing. In front of our house there was an ornamental plum tree. It got covered with ice and all the branches were weighted down and curved to the ground. It looked like a giant purple spider, but beautiful. Unfortunately, it killed the tree.