This weather is awful!! 2008-2021

[REWahoo]

(and yes, I know to leave a crack in a window or two if we needed this)

Don't you just hate paying someone to repair those things afterward? Looks like someone could come up with a better way rig up a vent...

 

[ls99]

Well, our electricity is still up, but the natural gas flow is gone. We woke up to very low gas pressure and they have no idea when it will be back. It was 14 degrees this morning and we have gas heat. We are staying warm right now with one electric space heater in one room, but who knows how long the electric service will be with us. We Texans aren't supposed to go thru winters like this, we pay our dues during the summer heat waves.

Might be just a frozen regulator at the service entrance.

 

[M Paquette]

Might be just a frozen regulator at the service entrance.

Sudden flash of someone trying to thaw the regulator with a torch...

 

[ls99]

Sudden flash of someone trying to thaw the regulator with a torch...

Is that a Freudian slip? Flash it will be.

 

[clifp]

I really feel for you all, it seems like this has been a particularly bad winter.

The good news is stocks of heating oil and propane are plentiful, so don't hesitate to turn up the heater. (I own shares/units of a couple propane distributors). Come to think of it I also own shares in one of the largest salt producers. So all in all I am helped by crappy winter weather.

I was trying to make you all feel a bit better by finding someplace with worse weather than the midwest and north east. However, after checking out the usual suspects, Alaska, Mongolia, Siberia, and Greenland, I gave up some of those place are in -10 to -20 range but they don't have sleet and snow.

 

[Bestwifeever]

We also have some awesome drifts, spent three hours shoveling out the narrow driveway, did a neighbor's, etc.

Someone on TV reminded people to check their chimney thingies/exhaust vents that go through the side of the house instead of the roof to be sure they're not blocked. Ours are clear but I wouldn't have even though to look.

TV headlines say BLIZZARD 2011 which looks just like BUZZARD 2011 to me.

 

[Midpack]

Picture says it all as they say. There are drifts up to 8 feet in places, our house just shows the basic snowfall, at least it seems to have stopped. We got somewhere in the 16-20" range, Chicago itself got even more. Now the temp is expected to drop to -4°F tonight. Guess summer is over...

 

[clifp]

An interesting article in Slate, Snow Shovels of Death. Roughly 1200 people die each year from heart attacks induced by shoveling snow- about 3x the average number of soldiers who've died in combat in the last decade.

The conclusion made a lot of sense to me.

Here, then, is what I recommend. Wait till someone younger or poorer than you knocks on your door and offers to shovel your walk for $20 or $30. This person probably needs the money—nobody would volunteer for such dreadful work if he didn't—and assuming he's no older than 40 and doesn't smoke, his constitution can probably handle the strain. Delegate. The economy will benefit and your cardiologist will thank you.

Of course as somebody who has shovel snow no more than 5 times in his life what do I know .

 

[bruce1]

4 Hours to move snow. I got this stuck. It has a front mount blade. Those back tires are nearly six feet tall. I was not happy,

 

[freebird5825]

We had snow yesterday, a little smidgie of sleet this AM, and are getting the thick snow bands now. I live right near the "u" in Syracuse on the map here
Northeast Radar Loop - NewsChannel 9 WSYR

Par for the course for us chickens

 

[freebird5825]

Ask freebird wednesday morning if being east of me is good

We actually did not the predicted snow today (Wed), but the day is young yet.
I posted a link already to show what we are getting near the "u".

Winds have whipped up enough for Mr B and I to stay home and get cabin fever.

 

[calmloki]

Having a heck of a time getting the chlorine levels right in the pool and a number of weeds are sprouting. Did get down to 38 last night, but it warmed back up adequately today. Golfers in their hundreds are out whacking balls about - the Bob Hope classic was held about 12 blocks from here last week. What's the attraction of the midwest and east coast areas again?

 

[freebird5825]

... What's the attraction of the midwest and east coast areas again?

Um...it's where I was born and raised and live (Northeast).

I know it is difficult to understand why people stay here, but if you looked at the recent storm that traversed the country, very few places were left unscathed. I looked at snow in a whole new light...it was not ICE.

Mr B and I plan to leave upstate NY to go to NH so he can be near his Mom in her later years. Beyond that, who knows where we will end up?

 

[NW-Bound]

In the case of power loss, I think it would be nice for RV owners to plug their home into their motor home generator. Have any of you had to do that?

Having a heck of a time getting the chlorine levels right in the pool and a number of weeds are sprouting.

If shocking with more chlorine does not kill the algae, you may want to check the phosphate level. I had a tough time in the past, and it turned out that the phosphate from pigeon droppings was an excellent fertilizer for algae. There are phosphate removers one can buy to add to the pool water.

What's the attraction of the midwest and east coast areas again?

Well, somebody has to live there. Not all of us are suited to the "dry heat", or able to fight with scorpions, fire ants, or have immunity to Ebola virus.

Hmm... Where that last peril comes from? Someone said it was there in Texas, wasn't it?

 

[ls99]

In the case of power loss, I think it would be nice for RV owners to plug their home into their motor home generator. Have any of you had to do that?

Done it when I had a MOHO w/gen set. Of course I also installed a disconnect between panel and meter. Not good to zap utility workers trying to restore power.

Also good thing to kill some CB's so no verload on the gen set, by something unexpected device powering on.

Also done back feed through an outside outlet using a suicide cord. - better know what you are doing if going this route.

There is a reason the required cable is called a suicide cord.

 

[Midpack]

What's the attraction of the midwest and east coast areas again?

Won't have to work near as long to afford living here (we're probably moving BTW) and the folks that make fun of us in winter, are mostly paid back by having their brains baked out all summer. SoCal is an exception in terms of moderate temps, but who can afford that and the CA outlook is? YMMV

 

[Lisa99]

Just read that 15,585 flights have been canceled this week across the US.

The weather truly is awful!

 

[NW-Bound]

Done it when I had a MOHO w/gen set. Of course I also installed a disconnect between panel and meter. Not good to zap utility workers trying to restore power.

Also done back feed through an outside outlet using a suicide cord. - better know what you are doing if going this route.

There is a reason the required cable is called a suicide cord.

Ah, without the switch-over your genset would not have the power to drive the grid of the entire block anyway. And the suicide cord is just evil, pure evil. I can never see myself doing it. It's just so wrong. I would take the time to wire it into the panel.

Anyhoo, I am kind of itching to get a chance to "enjoy" the luxurious power of my motor home gen set, but there is little risk of power loss here in the metropolitan area. Up in my boonies home maybe, but why would I want to be up there now?

So, I don't know when I can put on my survivalist's hat. Heh heh heh...

 

[ls99]

Up in my boonies home maybe, but why would I want to be up there now?

So, I don't know when I can put on my survivalist's hat. Heh heh heh...

Something about little traffic and peace and quiet. Contemplating belly button and lint sculptures.
Unless accompanied by e few rug-rats.

 

[ERD50]

Well, for those who missed all the fun of this Mid-West snow storm, DW took some pics that I'll share. Good thing for me is this will be followed by some cold weather (yep, you heard me right), so I should be able to get in some XC skiing before it turns to slush.

Everything closed down, so since no one had anywhere to go, it is really no stress at all. Streets weren't plowed until this afternoon (might as well wait for it to stop), and our plow service was out soon after. We had some cleanup to do, they just couldn't get into the corners and one car in the drive in the way didn't help. School closed a second day (I don't know why, things look clear now), so another day of fun for the kids.

First pic is out the garage window - that's a car under that snow.

2nd is that car out the front door, you can see the snow over the sidewalk, but can't tell the depth with all that white.

3rd pic is my 5' 7" helper for some reference, after we cleared a path in that sidewalk.

4th we decided to dig a tunnel rather than clear the whole sidewalk. Any Census takers are gonna have to climb through that tunnel to ring my doorbell And that's me making a 'dex-like' appearance

5th pic is my helper 'wading' out in the snow a ways down the driveway.

-ERD50

 

[bbbamI]

Holy shizzz...I'll never complain about our snow again!

 

[ERD50]

Holy shizzz...I'll never complain about our snow again!

And the 'best' part is - this did not even break the records set in 1967 in Chicago-land. So we can still 'impress' our kids, in our best 'old codger voice', and say " snow! this ain't nothing but a little dustin' - we lived through the big one, yep the BIG ONE in 1967 - now THAT was a snow storm...."


I remember the drifts in 1967 reached the overhangs of houses. Kids were literally sledding from the rooftops of garages right down to those drifts reaching the roofs.

-ERD50

 

[bbbamI]

I remember the drifts in 1967 reached the overhangs of houses. Kids were literally sledding from the rooftops of garages right down to those drifts reaching the roofs.

-ERD50

Mmm...hmmm...yep, those 60's sure were somethin' huh? O0

(jk)

 

[Telly]

And the 'best' part is - this did not even break the records set in 1967 in Chicago-land. So we can still 'impress' our kids, in our best 'old codger voice', and say " snow! this ain't nothing but a little dustin' - we lived through the big one, yep the BIG ONE in 1967 - now THAT was a snow storm...."


I remember the drifts in 1967 reached the overhangs of houses. Kids were literally sledding from the rooftops of garages right down to those drifts reaching the roofs.

-ERD50

I was watching WGN on cable for a bit and was thinking that even with all the hype it wouldn't hold a candle to the January 1967 storm. IIRC, it started to snow around 1 PM on a Thursday. Friday morning, I woke up, total silence. Not a sound. Nothing was moving. And the snow was absorbing sound. No plow went by for three days. Most of the houses in my neighborhood had raised front entries, so you were able to push open the door and push the snow off the top step to be able to get out. Back doors at ground-level that were reached by inside stairways couldn't be used. Open the back door, see the side of a drift, close door. Now THAT was a snowfall! And yes, garage roofs and the tops of drifts were one, could not tell where one ended and the other started.

The winter of 1978-79 had way more snow total, but it was spread out over November to March, just kept coming and coming.

I still have my winter driving skills, having grown up with them and tested them out driving home from work late night when no one was on the road. Play time! But if I got myself stuck, I would have to get myself out, so, didn't get stuck! It was a good training ground.
Around here, it's scary. No winter driving skills. Even a puddle can do someone in... of course, they hit an obvious puddle of unknown depth at high speed, never slow down!

 

[clifp]

And the 'best' part is - this did not even break the records set in 1967 in Chicago-land. So we can still 'impress' our kids, in our best 'old codger voice', and say " snow! this ain't nothing but a little dustin' - we lived through the big one, yep the BIG ONE in 1967 - now THAT was a snow storm...."


I remember the drifts in 1967 reached the overhangs of houses. Kids were literally sledding from the rooftops of garages right down to those drifts reaching the roofs.

-ERD50

Wow all this lovely white stuff, plus the best government that money can buy, a quarterback who plays through pain, an ocean of red ink, and you Land of Lincoln folks want to point out that weather could be even worse.

Did I miss any other charms of Chicago and Illinois?