The weather is not always predictable, as we know. When temperatures hover around freezing, rain can turn to sleet and sleet to snow. One inch of rain equals approximately ten inches of snow.
In October of 2013, the Black Hills of South Dakota had a storm system come in that was just supposed to produce rain. Torrential rains turned to sleet and then to snow. The weight of the freezing rain and sleet snapped power lines.
Two days later with four feet of snow on the ground, and much of the area without power, the storm passed. Entire herds of cattle, horses and sheep on open range, soaked by rain, could not withstand the freezing temperatures and died. Many people were without power for a week.
The longest known power outage that I know of in North America, 3 weeks, due to sleet was in Canada about 25 years ago. It can happen.
Let’s pretend that a winter storm is predicted for your area, you have 3 hours notice. What will you do?
Are You Prepared?
- The winter storm has knocked power out for 24 hours…
- The winter storm has knocked power out for 3 days…
- The winter storm has knocked power out for a week…
- The winter storm has knocked power out for 2 weeks…
- The winter storm has knocked power out for 3 weeks…
Everyone is in different situations, but you are at home without power in cold temperatures for your area. If you are reading this, you are into preparedness and should have no problem with 1 -3 days without power. But what about a week? Two weeks? Three weeks?
If you can only keep one room in your home warm, when do you decide to turn off the water and drain the pipes? Do you unplug your appliances or turn off the electrical panel switch to prevent power surges? What about 3 weeks with no bathroom facilities? Do you cooperate with your neighbors (And how for how long?) or hoard and go into self defense mode?
- Heat/Warmth?
- Light?
- Water?
- Food Preparation?
- Critical Medications?
- Radio/Communications?
What If You’re Caught in a Blizzard or Snow Storm in Your Car?
Yes, this happened to me and it could have turned out badly…
I was coming home from a conference 200 miles from home in a winter storm that turned into a blizzard. As I was going down the interstate listening to the radio I could hear numerous road closings just behind me.
It was wicked going at about 30 mph, basically following tail lights of the vehicle ahead of me. It was white knuckle driving in near white out conditions with numerous cars and tractor trailers in the ditch.
I finally got off the interstate within 20 miles of home and was stunned to see no snow plows on the road. The radio was reporting that the snow plows had stopped because of hazardous conditions. Well, what about those of us stuck trying to get home!
I was within 7 miles of home in my little Escort wagon with about 6 inches of snow on the road and a hill, not a big one either, to climb. Half way up, pushing snow with my front end, I was stopped. I tried it a half dozen more times and was now stuck on the road in the middle of the lane.
That little car wasn’t going anywhere!
This is before I was into preparedness, but still had a winter bag in the car with extra snow boots and a parka. And I did have a cell phone at the time. I called Bob and told him where I was and that I was stuck. He informed me that our 4 wheel drive truck was in the pasture (where we had last hauled wood) and there was no way to come and get me.
The radio was announcing that there would be no emergency rescues that night. To just stay put in your car, if you were stuck, with the emergency lights on and call in your location to 911 for when the snowplows would start clearing the roads in the morning.
What would YOU do?
- What if I had gone down in the ditch with the tailpipe covered in snow, but the engine was running for warmth?
- What if the car would not run for warmth (out of gas or whatever), what then?
- Other thoughts?
The rest of the story…
The little valley I was in blocked enough of the driving snow that I could see a farmhouse in the distance with a light on – it was nighttime. I pulled on my heavy boots and parka and made my way through deep snow and high winds to the farmhouse. They knew me; I knew them. Their son had a 4 wheel drive truck and took me home.
I left my keys in the car with the flashers on and they moved it in the morning when the snow plows started up again. Not fun, but it could have been far worse.
Something to think about…
We are coming up on the Christmas season and your sons, daughters, or grandkids may not have as much sense as you do about what could happen. Please talk to them about winter preparedness and if they don’t have a winter bag in their car, it may be a good gift.
You could save a life.
These questions and this scenario is not at all farfetched–think ahead!
This has nothing to do with this subject, but wanted to get the info out to all of you.
(02 December 2013 – 10:23 AM) CryptoLocker Virus Alert…a major corporation in our area inadvertently opened an email from what they thought was UPS. It spread throughout their complete network in a short matter of time. All (I mean ALL) their network system is now locked up & we’re told, being held “ransome” for an unlock key. It is a type of ransomeware and mimics notices from respected firms such as LinkedIn, UPS/FedEx or customer generated complaint emails. There is no known anti-virus to detect it because it comes in as an attachment etc. One local our servers had posted a notice over a month ago, so we were aware of it’s existence.
We’re told it’s affected hundreds of pc’s in our state. When I tried to log into our bank, the web site is down, so we’re thinking they’ve shut it down voluntarily as a precaution until their network emails can be checked, since they have several branches that could be affected? Be careful people, this is a shopping season and there’s alot of ordering online & being delivered via UPS etc. I even received a land line call a week or so ago from someone trying to represent themselves as a “customer support” person for FedEx and wanted to verify my shipping address etc., and I immediately told them to get lost and hung up. I knew I hadn’t ordered anything.
This is a very real scenario for our part of America. In that 25 year ago time span, my first/late husband (wifey here) was in hospital and we were living in a major metro area when the power went out and was out for about a week or so. I kept the wood stove stoked & we cooked on top of it, using every piece of scrap wood we could find. Also had a kerosene heater that helped keep things warm and not freezing up. No fun! Then again, when we were empty nesters the power went out during an ice storm, and I kept him & I warm with kerosene heaters (windows cracked for fresh air) and cooked on a portable propane stove. No fun! But…now wifey has WE2 and he was a preparedness fella when I met him. LOL We could easily go 3 weeks at least, right here in our home, and longer in our RV if we needed to. Having a 3 hour advance notice will enable Mr. WE2 to grab his small air pump & blow out the water lines then pump in RV anti-freeze as well as pouring a cup full of RV fluid down each drain to protect the traps. As for lighting, we’ve got several sources, so no problem there. Also would grab our two generators with our stored fuel, to keep the frig & freezer at bay…taking turns hooking each one up just long enough to keep things frozen. We also have several large coolers that we could fill & sit outside (or in the back of our van) in this “blizzard” and keep our food safe & frozen. A couple of times, the WE2’s have simply a space-type blanket to block off all rooms except kitchen & bath and heated with a buddy heater…again, we have alot of propane canisters stocked up. Also have a 2-burner Coleman cook stove here, and a single burner butane stove at the “Roost”. Again, we have stocked up the butane cyclinders for it also. We also have our solar oven and the makings for a wonder oven for cooking. We’re getting ready to re-install the solar window boxes that Mr. WE2 built for our 2 southern exposure windows at the Roost. Just because we want to supplement our heat there. When he tested the temp coming out of one, it measured 100 so it would definitely help put a few extra degrees in the house, especially if we closed off the bedrooms. We also have a ventless natural gas stove on a custom-made stand that we could sit in either house & keep things warm. We know that if this situation was to go on indefinitely, we’d have to turn to wood…and we’re just starting to view our options for that, but we’re pretty much geared ourselves to use propane, butane, kerosene & solar heating sources. Our food sources would have to be foods that require no refrigeration, and that’s what we’ve geared ourselves for. We only keep enough frozen foods (meats etc.) for a couple of weeks. As for unplugging, definitely! As for neighbors…that’s probably not going to work for us. We don’t have anyone around us that’s even “vaguely” prepared for a storm. This past summer a neighbor with a small child, had lightening blow the box off their house. They didn’t even have candles! We “loaned” them several LED puck lights that have never been returned. No free lunches for neighbors any more. We know who are “circle” people are and they know who we are. We all know that none of us will come to the table empty handed, and all know how to take care of ourselves…unless it was a really…really…really bad situation where we’d have to “gather” at some point. We’ll be tweaking our preps even further this spring…having learned some additional things this past year.
Hmmm… Not a problem for me here in Western Australia, though I remember well living in southern New Zealand where old houses weren’t insulated and the occasions when the water froze in the toilet and even peeing on it didn’t melt it. But that was as bad as it got. If we really thought that all the pipes would freeze we would just turn the tap on slightly and leave it running all night – not acceptable behaviour now but we did it back then. Snow was fairly rare and mostly didn’t settle for more than a few days.
Food wise, we have enough to likely handle several weeks to a month, using both stored and frozen goods. Fuel wise, though, I would take part of that 3 hr window to get more gasoline so we could use the generator a little longer (right now, we have maybe a weeks worth). My kerosene needs topped of at least every two weeks as it is, so I’d get more of that too. We also have coleman stove and lantern, have a few extra canisters, but that’s one we’re working on. Light, no problem, we have hurricane lamps, solar lights, multiple flash lights with extra batteries and others that are rechargeable by hand crank or electricity. Ditto radios. So short term, I feel fairly confident. It’s longer term we are continually working on.
I’d fill the bathtub and laundry tubs with water for washing etc. Get some gallons of milk and bread. I think the basement wood stove would keep everything from freezing. Tried to use it alone a few years back at -15 below and did well. I definitely would work with neighbors. I have more survival supplies but the families I have lived next door to for 30 years have the guys who can do things I can’t and we have helped each other with downed trees etc. Through the years and borrow from each other. I have collected tables from them for some Christmas parties I am having. I can see my house full of people with sleeping bags and blankets and that thought makes me very happy.
@ WE2, would love to hear more about your solar window boxes!
@ GrammaMary, with “short term” outages like this it is always good to work with neighbors. I too would feel a sense of warmth with sleeping bags all over. I have informed our Pastor that I have backup heat and my door is open. : )
3 Hours Notice: Go fill up the gas tank on the truck and car and all of the gas cans. Several loaves of bread, milk, and extra batteries – can’t have too many of those!
Heat: I have a ventless garage heater in the basement that should be able to heat the entire house without electric. Natural gas is supposed to flow even without electric. No natural gas? Then I have a woodstove with about 30 days worth of dry wood that I could rig in the insulated attached garage to heat at least that area.
Lights: I have solar, crank, electric lanterns, oil lamps and candles.
Cooking: Propane grill and I have two Deadwood stoves that heat with tinder and I can cook on those. My wish list for Christmas includes a propane camp stove – we’ll see…
I do have a small generator which is the reason to fill the gas tanks etc. That could power small appliances, recharge batteries, etc.
The freezer and refrigerator is outside at that point in coolers or cars.
I have at least 2 months of critical medications on hand.
Snow melts into water at about a 10 to 1 ratio – 10 inches of snow = 1 inch of water.
I have a weather radio that works with solar also.
Food is not a problem.
If I became concerned about keeping the house warm I would shut off the water and drain the pipes.
I would turn off the main electric switch in the box to prevent damage from surges. A couple of hours one way or the other isn’t going to matter near as much as the damage to electrical appliances.
Since there is only one flush to the toilets after the electric goes out, I would line them with heavy duty garbage bags with twist ties. I usually have a bale of sawdust around to keep smells down, lime too – in the barn. I also have a septic system with large lids out back that we could dispose of waste in, where it belongs.
I have a good chain saw for downed trees, etc.
I would cooperate, but also let people know this is a loan and not a gift. The easy way of dealing with that is to make a list and have them initial where they took something on loan or borrowed food, etc.
Baking soda and corn starch are great to stay socially acceptable in these situations and a once a week hair wash and towel bath goes a long way.
I have lots of books around and decks of cards. But it would get boring without the computer. But maybe the generator would help with that too, but I’m guessing WIFI would be out.
It’s a hunker down and make the best of it situation.
Yaahooo. I have had 3 days notice and I have not done anything differently. This morning at feeding time I had 1/2 inch of ice with ice pellets coming down. 2 hours later, snow hits. Evening feeding time, no one would come out of their hut to eat. This is the first time 3 pot bellied pigs, 5 goats and all the chickens have seen snow. Watching the chickens trying to run in snow that was chest deep with my dog chasing them, was a sight to see. The dog didn’t know what to do when the chickens couldn’t get away from her. No biting now. I wish I had a camera. Very dark though in the greenhouse. I guess I should have brushed off the snow, but the sun wasn’t shining anyhow. The snow would provide an insulating blanket and keep the heat in.
Anyway, here I set in KY in front of the fire, with plenty to eat, as snug as a bug in a rug. Let it snow.
Online alerts here, and temp is definitely falling (put the hard cider outside to freeze for applejack experiment) but the air still just doesn’t smell and taste like snow. I may be wrong.