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Winter Storm: a little help from our Northern brethren

Here in Oklahoma (& much of the central South) we are getting ready for the biggest blizzard we’ve had in over a decade (expected record breaking lows). Any suggestions from those of you who regularly deal with this kind of weather? Besides dripping faucets and having groceries stocked up what other preparations do you suggest? 
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  • Make sure you have food and other supplies before the storm hits. Then, if at all possible, stay at home. 

    Assuming you have done everything for safety, HAVE FUN! If you have kids, let them sleep in a tent in the living room! Have lots of hot chocolate. Play board games. Let the kids enjoy the snow, then come back. I grew up in Northern Florida. We had snow maybe once every couple years. I remember pictures of snow on palmetto bushes. 
  • Charge all your rechargeable devices and have candles and flashlights ready in case of a power outage. Check to make sure your heating fuel is 50% or more. Keep a shovel outside next to your main entrance door.
  • If you're on a private well fill a few pots with water for consumption. If you have gas for cooking you can melt snow for other uses such as flushing toilets. 
  • Spent two years in Fargo. Winters meant 40 degrees below, strong wind coming off the prairie,  and every flake that fell in October was still there in April when it all melted. A blizzard meant you could not see your hand, held in front of your face. I was raised in Cleveland and a real blizzard blew my mind. 

    During storms stay in. Don’t drive. Pull over if shelter is available. I remember people sitting in the aisles at a grocery store, playing cards.

    We were lucky. Old timers spoke of 60 below..... 

    Be safe. Be well. 


  • @jfreedy;
    The Brothers have given you some sound advise and I can't add much. We in Iowa tend to take a lot for granted based on our experience as far as things like insulation and water pipe wrap. I'll bet there aren't many snow blowers to be acquired in your neck of the woods. Five days before my heart surgery I was shoveling snow and experiencing chest pain, thinking it was heartburn. It wasn't! Cold and snow bring out the worst in machines other man made things we take for granted, it makes everything twice as hard to get done. Be careful and good luck my brother.
  • @jfreedy
    If you have a block heater on you vehicle, plug it in.  Check your anti-freeze/coolant to make sure it will not freeze at the temps that are expected .  A cracked engine block sucks😖. Oh, make sure your RV’s, boats and whatever else that has water in them will survive the low temperature expected.  If you have a good heater in your house, no need to let the faucets drip😳, if not, open any cabinets that have waterlines run inside along an outside wall, especially if your house was built awhile ago and has pitiful insulation...like mine.  Of course, if it stays in the “positive” temps, probably no worries, right?
  • motie2motie2 Master
    edited February 2021
    Let's finish the job:

    When we moved to Fargo, we had three alterations done to our two cars.
    1) electric heat pad under the battery or wrap around the battery
    2) a circulator cut into the lower radiator hose
    3) a dipstick like heating device inserted into the engine
    All three led to a male AC plug that dangled from the front of the car. You plugged it in to an extension cord (and some parking meters) if it was to be left outside for more than an hour or two. We had the two cars, so one in the garage and the other.....
    If you left a car outside, unplugged, at 40 below zero, you got it back in April, or after you had it towed to a heated garage.
  • jfreedyjfreedy Master
    edited February 2021
    Thank you guys! One of our local meteorologists is predicting -17F for Tuesday morning (actual temperature...  not windchill). So keep the advice coming! We Okies and Texans don’t know what to do with this kind of weather!
  • motie2motie2 Master
    edited February 2021
    Pipestud Consignment Shop Weekly Newsletter 2/13/21
    http://www.pipestud.com

    <<You Have Got to be Kidding Me!

    I live in the heart of Texas. Bone chilling winter weather around here means a couple of days of blustery north winds and temperatures in the 40's before going back up to the 60's and 70's. We had an ice storm yesterday that blanketed most of the state with temperatures in the 20's and caused a 155 car pile up in Dallas (about 90 miles north of me), that actually killed 6 people. And now, I am horrified after seeing the weather forecast down here in my little town of Robinson, just a few miles south of Waco. Cold all weekend and on Monday, an expected high of 14 degrees with a low of 0 degrees with blowing snow. Are you kidding me, 0 degrees? Blowing snow? A dadgum blizzard to boot! As soon as I finish this newsletter I'm going to order a Parka, snow shoes, mittens and survival gear such as flares, from Amazon. If you see a flare in the sky over downtown Robinson, HELP PLEASE!>>
  • (Dude doesn’t know what a blizzard is.....)
  • edited February 2021

    Driving down the interstate in a snowstorm (blizzard) at ~10mph with my head out the window watching for the centerline while my brother, riding shotgun, has his head out the passenger side window watching for the shoulder, both hoping we make it to the next town instead of into one of the the barrow pits on either side of the road.....that’s a blizzard.
  • St. Louis area weather is predicting 0° / wind chill = -14° by 7AM ... I can hardly wait! 😳
  • Will you guys please come get your winter weather. It took a wrong turn and got lost in Louisiana. It’s 29 degrees where my son lives at the moment and we are visiting him. 
  • I remember one ice storm back when I was stationed in Portland OR that left a 3/4-inch thick layer of ice on everything, especially the tree branches on the ground that couldn't bear the extra weight. I think it was in '78 or '79. I watched a city bus that was about half-full of passengers literally spinning its wheels trying to get moving again from a bus stop.
    What the winds howling down the Columbia River Gorge carry along to Portland do when they meet the winds coming north along the Wilamette River and their cargo is not always certain, but that winter gave us a bit of a surprise.
  • Beer and tobacco,that should about do it. 
  • @PappyJoe
    I like some winter, but I really don’t need any more🙂.  My friend in Tennessee is getting some cooler temps as well, but he was raised/lived in North Dakota and Montana and his wife was born and raised in Montana.  They both lived here for at least 30 years before moving to TN, so he and his wife are use to it🙂.  I don’t think they miss the winter though😉  Me, so far, I would miss winter, that may change when I get older, but I hope not🥶
  • Put CORNISH ROOM HEATER into YouTube. Heat a room for pennies. I tried it. It works!
  • For the record, I know cold. Stationed in Washington state for almost six years. Spent over two years on an icebreaker and made two trips inside the Arctic Circle and one to Antarctica.  Spent 18 months in New Jersey and 42 months on a small island in New York Harbor (was colder/harsher there than anywhere else).

    Now, I like it cold enough to wear a sweater or light jacket. Don’t really miss ice and snow. 
  • FYI,  Snow is a 4 letter word. 
  • Our forecast of 8-12" ended up being about half an inch. 
  • 8-12 inches sells. Nobody cares about half an inch.
  • Breaking records in OKC.

  • As far as I know, we did not get anywhere near the -25F forecast earlier, maybe -15F ?  I think it is 9F above or so now.  I think we may be out of the really cold stuff for the rest of the season?
  • 22 degrees/feels like 15 degrees this morning. Supposed to get all the way up to 41 by this afternoon and will drop back to 29 overnight.

    Won't be sitting outside to have a pipe again today.

  • North OKC (where we Drill for National Guard). ❄️🥶 
  • Woke up to 0° here this morning. I'm guessing about 6" of snow.
    Got out of bed, looked outside, checked the temp., then crawled back into bed and slept for another hour...
    Isn't it great being retired?...
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