What are y'all doing in New England to get ready for the storm?

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tomturbomatic

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I have read dire predicitons for 2 feet of snow in the Boston area and more possible elsewhere. How are you preparing? Are the stores full of people? Are your weathermen going crazy with excitement? Are people topping off heating oil tanks?

Thank you and best wishes.
Tom
 
Pioneers these people are

What people here in Connect-a-crunt do to prepare for a storm is to mob Stop & Shop and buy enough crap for being snowed-in so badly that they wont be able to get out of the driveway for 5 months. When I lived in upstate NY we had multiple multi-foot snow days every winter and people still got to work, school and stores. Maybe you had to wait an hour or so for the plows, but nobody got snowed-in for long.  

 

How is it our economy is so bad? I see the hoards wasting money every minute of every day buying groceries destined for the trash and huge bills for cell-phone service for their useless children to waste hours of their precious time talking to their even more useless friends about nothing? Somebody is getting very rich on the lemmings. And they get all resentful about us gays because we actually have savings.

 

The two blizzards I remember in New York City I walked a couple of miles to school and I have good memories of the adventure of those walks; it was relatively safe because people weren't out to mug on those days and there wasn't any pressure to get to school necessarily on time, but just get there. By the afternoon, all the MTA was working and I could take the bus home. Now every school bus company is so scared of being sued by the little-darlings' parents that they just choose not to run. Serves the assh(le parents right for being so litigious.
 
Here, they run out for milk, bread and toilet paper. I never knew that snow had laxative properties and what kind of house are you keeping if you don't have a reserve of TP? Like you said, as if they were going to be snowed in for months. They used to write almost annual columns ahead of the first big storm prediction about little old ladies fish-tailing it up Connecticut Ave. in large Buicks as the snow fell, headed for the Giant for the above-mentioned items.
 
Just came back from the supermarket. Wasn't too much of a mob scene. Started up and gassed up the snow blower yesterday. Will start it up again today to make sure. Pretty much I'm home for the duration. Working from home today and tomorrow, so don't have to worry about the commute, as long as I don't lose power.

Ron
Kenmore58

PS: Hoping to get some time to work on a few machines this weekend!!
 
Not doing anything extra to prepare. We have had blizzards before and will again, its part of life here in the Northeast. Life just goes on as usual, mostly just an inconvenience. I am not worried about getting out if I have to as I have 4WD. It just looks like Saturday will be spent behind a snowblower, no big deal, but I can think of better ways to spend my day.
 
But wait! The new thing for people to do with unused supplies they purchased during the pre-storm rush is to return it to the store a week or two after the storm! The same thing happens here with hurricane warnings down here. And they expect a full refund! So what if the milk or bread are past their "Sell By" date. They want their money back!

I love the people who buy 10 gallons of milk and 10 loaves of bread all at one time.
Hey! What about the other people.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. What people should do is during the year when they do their normal grocery shopping trips they should just pick up and extra item or two each trip. By the time a storm comes they won't have to do the bugged eye rush on the grocery store. Then after storm season ends they can use up what they have purchased.
 
Don't forget the gallon jugs of generic vodka! Gotta be prepared.

What seems to work well for us is that we keep a shopping list, one of those erasable magnetic sheets, on the side of the refrigerator. I've got hubby trained (mostly) that when we open the last of whatever item, add it to the shopping list. Then I've got time to restock before we run out.
 
We call them the "Whites"

ie: bread milk & TP... when we get lots of white, there's a run on the Whites!
You'd think it was a nuclear attack!!

Living in VT for 10 years, we've got a Big Honkin' Snowblower. And once that job is done... it's Thank God for the Internet!
 
got pleanty of food here, the snowblower is gased. Just need to stop at the liquor store. Im with everyone else, as long as the power doesnt go out, life is good. We have 4X4 but im not pressed to get it dirty...lol
 
I won't be surprised if we get a lot here, but I also won't be surprised if barely anything happens.

That's always how it is around here, 50/50. [this post was last edited: 2/7/2013-12:53]
 
Midwest variations

I work for a grocery chain, and around these parts if the predict flurries we get crazy rushed.

Our variation is: Milk, bread, eggs, and booze. I always wonder if all of St. Louis is going to have french toast and screwdrivers.

Fortunately, we seldom have any returns after the storm. If there actually IS a storm. False alarms are the norm around here.
 
Beats Atlanta!

One of the things I don't miss about Atlanta is its approach to snow.

It begins with the TV weathercasters forecasting snow. It's seldom much, and usually not anything like a sure thing, but if there is the tiniest hint of snow, they all go into frenzies with warnings dire enough for a ten-foot blizzard. They also make you wish you never had to hear the phrase "Doppler radar" again.

This bombast works the populace into a lather, and exactly as others have described, everyone jumps into their car and goes to help strip Kroger out to the bare walls.

On their way home, a half-inch of snow hits and everyone runs into each other. It's all melted by next afternoon.

That's an Atlanta snow.
 
Sounds like Minnesota

We deal with this on average every couple of years in the Twin Freezers er Cities.
Most recently being when it snowed and blew wind like hell until the roof of the Metrodome collapsed. I had a 4 foot drift in the driveway from that one. Let alone the Halloween Blizzard in 1991 where we got 38 inches of snow overnight. That was bad enough that MSP airport shut down dor a short time. (Very rare) I hope for everyone out east's sake it dosen't get followed by the subzero cold and howling north wind that usually follows that weather here. Stay warm and stay safe, warm wishes from the North Star State.
WK78
 
Interestingly, milk and bread freeze just fine in their original packaging. While the bread may be a bit crumbly after thawing, it is still decent enough to use. Eggs can also be frozen out of the shell. If I get a quaniity of eggs that are beyond the expiration date I will crack and whip them and then freeze them in 1/2 cup portions. They are fine for MONTHS after frozen for scrambling or baking.
 
Only purchased extra batteries and filled up two gas cans. To me, it's just winter in New England.

I grew up in CT and was in the blizzard of 1978. I remember walking home when school closed early and took a short cut through a golf course. The snow was over my waist at that time. Took a lot of energy to push that snow while walking.
 
HMMM Atlanta sure sounds a lot like DC... only this year they have been adding the most massive pre-treatment and salting campaign that I have ever seen. So far this year, we have had a couple of minor dustings, but probably several inches of corrosive salt on the roads.
 
Chicago's northern suburbs got 8" dumped on them today and O'hare is running 1 hour behind with over 225 flights canceled.

I was looking at the aviation weather forecast for NYC to BOS and while NYC is only expecting 12-14" of snow they are anticipating 50-60mph sustained winds. The isobars are wrapped so tight that you'd need a shoe horn to put your finger in between them!
BOS is expecting only 40mph winds, but even that can cause massive snow drifts in the 25" inches of snow expected.

Bundle up and stay inside and keep those fireplaces going!
 
Right now I have been hearing that during Friday snow will turn to rain, as it will be just above freezing (38) but it is going to go down to 23 for that night. That can cause some serious icy roads.
 
Geoff, No, that is a MAJOR North-South artery in the District of Columbia and then up into Montgomery County in MD. As you go north in the District, the elevation rises so going uphill in the snow gets to be more fun, especially in a rear-wheel drive vehicle with no weight in the trunk piloted by someone who is afraid of driving to begin with and is not used to driving in snow.

Jeffrey, when I lived in Atlanta, we got more ice storms than snow storms and those were bad in a region filled with long-needle pines. Atlanta is 1000 ft above sea level and the storms would usually begin as rain with dropping temperatures. The rain would turn to sleet and freezing rain and coat everything. The pine trees would bend, then break and fall on the wires and there was almost no traction on the roads. Sometimes, it would finish with ice pellets or hominy snow as it was called. Give me snow anytime over ice. I don't think that the area had any equipment for treating winter roads back then and it proably was not cost effective to have any. You can't really plow ice. Life was just supposed to stop.

Tim, does your dog have fun in the snow?
 
Sorry, I did not know that was a memorial picture. She's a noble creature.

I always like stories of or, better yet, to see an animal's first encounter with snow. Usually, as long as their humans are not afraid of it and are out in it, that is good enough for them, but to see a world so transformed for the first time; I wonder if some sort of ancient memory circuits in the brain kick in to let them know about snow. That is one of the things I look forward to finding out where all of the secrets are revealed.
 
4 Wheel Drive...

The Biggest problem with these nitwits behind the wheel of the Soccer Mom Mobiles is that don't realize that 4 Wheel Drive doesn't help you stop.

I love how they pass you doing 70 miles per hour on the snow, then watch them go into a spin when they try to stop.
 
Atlanta /Ga snow "storms"

Real snowfalls rarely occur here. A few years ago, it snowed enough to make snowmen.

Danemodsandy is right ...slightest threat of snowfall and into action goes Ch2 ActionNews and "Channel 2 Severe Weather Center", "Storm Tracker...", WIZometer updates (a Wiz reading? LOL) that releases a grocery store shopping frenzy. But we lived in a hilly area in Forsyth, and where it's not flat, they don't have enough salt brine and resources to make driving safe, and by the time anyone got to melting roads, mothernature melted it or turned it to rain.

It was long ago that I encountered a 24" plus snowfall. The drifts were 3-4ft...Lake Michigan lake effect snow. Flakes came straight down, clustering, some as big as golf-balls. No ice, and not too wet - really pretty, covered the trees. NEasterners might be used to all that - but a 40-55mph wind and then ice? That can't be fun...with wine, though..good fire....just no serious electrical outages and deaths.

Hope all NEasterners get through it ok.

Phil
 
Phil:

You just brought back a bunch of memories of Glenn Burns, the biggest drama diva in Atlanta.

When he's getting all worked up about snow, you would swear he's the love child of Bette Davis and Richard Simmons. That overwrought.

I do not miss him.
 
Last blizzard we had

It was just a normal day... Went to lunch in the afternoon, storm started, went home and hung out til the next afternoon when it ended. The worst part about the whole thing was the 5 foot snow drifts in the driveway. It took 3 hours to dig just one car out! (no snowblower, big driveway)

After getting the car out I went to go check everything out around town. Roads had about a foot of snow in them and nothing had been plowed for hours. Had to step on the gas and fly through a snow-barricade to get out of the block (probably the only time an AWD SUV actually came in handy!)

Didn't run out to the grocery store and stock up on crap or anything like that. We already have a pantry full of stuff as it is.

That was the 2-3-11 blizzard. Think it was the same one that collapsed the metrodome roof? I know it was the same winter at least... But anyway that storm dumped 24" with up to 5 foot drifts. VERY windy storm. Got very cold after too.
 

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