Winter Storm Cleon

[Hound dog]

From the looks of weather maps ect it seems this system/storm will affect most everyone in some way and I gather there are 2 more either with it or right behind it. (I don't have tv, so I can't just sit down and listen to a weather report, only time it is really frustrating not to have it) There are already people being hit.

Nichole's husband cousin is a weather dude for one of our major stations. He is a bit freaked by what his equipment is showing him. He warns weather reports are hedging their bets and under predicting because these systems have such a potential for severity they don't want to cause a panic. Ice/snow fall could easily be much more than predictions you're seeing. He can't find a "good" scenario at all right now.

I urge anyone in the path to prepare themselves as much as they can asap. Major power outages are expected. The sooner you prepare, the less crowd battling and shortages you have to deal with at the last minute.

I had a few things I needed to pick up simply because of working so much I just do not shop very often these days and my storage allows me to do so.

I grabbed:

Dog/cat food (doesn't matter that I have some, if roads are impassible or there is a major ice storm I don't have to worry about them eating, especially the cats)
Dog raw hides to entertain two young energetic dogs who may or may not get to go out and play due to weather. (yes, I stocked up lol )
windshield de-icer
kitty litter (both for Bruce and my trunk)
rock salt
bottled water for my trunk

Since the storm won't hit us until thurs night, tomorrow I will be adding my winter emergency bag to the car. It contains just about everything except the kitchen sink.
Bag:
warm set of clothes (layering & dry in case I get wet or stalled or stuck)
extra hats, gloves
heavy winter coat (won't wear it into work cuz it will reek like work eww)
hand and foot warmers
flash lights
protein bars, lots of them
my heavy winter boots
2 sleeping bags
There is a rather wide variety of other things in the bag to handle about every emergency situation under the sun. It is a huge army backpack. I also have an emergency car bag with all the stuff for the car and a first aide kit.

When it is cold/wintery out I also dress in layers. I have no choice, major storm or not. You either freeze to death or sweat to death at work depending on which section of the line you're working. Layers is necessary. Trust me, I'll be wearing my thermal undies, a heavy sweatshirt, a hoodie, and my fleece jacket. I may pack a 2nd set of thermals, haven't decided yet. lol

No. I don't play around. My job is in a small town out of the town I live in, in the middle of nowhere and I have to navigate a highway with some rather steep hills in both directions. I don't worry so much about on the way to work as on the way home. I get off at 3am folks. There is no one except fellow employees on the road at that time in the morning and very darn few of them. If I get stuck or worse, I'm out there all by myself with the 19 yr old I drive to work. I'd rather not freeze while waiting for someone to come fetch us.

In home I don't worry much. I have:
an alternative heating source plus my gas stove
flash lights, oil lamps, and enough candles to last months
two alternative cooking sources
plenty of warm blankets ect and stored food/water

I, of course, have to work fri and sat when this thing is really really supposed to get nasty for us. I've already warned the girl who rides with me that I will call off if I think conditions are going to be too severe to drive. I can do fine in snow. I will not do ice in the middle of the night if I know it's coming. I have all my points saved just for that purpose. This is overtime.......but even 14.00 per hr is not worth my life or my car.

So please prepare. And those in the path keep us informed so we know you're doing ok and well, heck, personal info always seems to be more informative than the darn weather reports with this sort of thing.

Stay safe everyone.

 

[AnnieO]

Lisa,

Now I am nervous too. A coworker and I were laughing at lunch over the big deal they were making over the storm and how the last one was supposed to be 9-12" and we got maybe 1/4". Is this why they're making such a fuss over 3" of snow?

Well, I can stop and get cat food, dog food and a few odds & ends tonight. Mostly we're good due to my habit of putting leftovers in the freezer... I know there are at least 3 meals' worth of pork chops, a whole chicken, tons of cheese, a bunch of tamales, and other stuff I can picture but can't quite identify. That's just the freezer. The 4 of us would be good for probably 10 days or more.

 

[Hound dog]

Nichole's husband cousin I trust. He's been spot on in the past.........and these 3 storms/systems scare him. We'll just say he's getting prepped for it, if that puts it into perspective.

I've went through mult sources and have as yet to find one optimistic outlook. Even if we don't get snow, we're for sure getting the ice...... but there is a high, very high, probability of more than a foot of snow on the ground by this time next week with frigid temps and ice under it. I look at the maps........and my instincts are screaming this is a bad one. Just as they did the blizzard of jan 2000 I think it was when if Fred hadn't listened to me we'd have been stuck in Ky. He griped all the way home we were supposed to get flurries only (is what weather reports said)........until the snow started and we suddenly could not see the road........took us 2 plus hrs to get from cincy to town. We were snowed in for a week.

I look at emergency prepping this way..........

If you don't need it for this storm, you'll need it eventually. Then you'll have it and won't have to venture out and fight crowds.

 

[Jody]

I also put lighter and larger candles in the car just in case you get stranded somewhere or the battery dies. A little light and it doesn generate quite a bit of heat.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Add to Jody's candle, a small aluminum/tin camping pan - so you could melt snow over the flame if necessary.

 

[susiestar]

EVERY car should have a big bag of kitty litter in it during snowy/icy weather. You can get by with road salt, but kitty litter works better. If you slide off the road and the car is drivable but you cannot get traction, sprinkle the litter under the tires in front and in back of them. Use a heavy coat not a light sprinkle. I always kept a scoop or coffee can or plastic cup (not the thin disposable kind as they get brittle when stored in the trunk) to help spread the litter. The old kind works and so does the clumping.

If you don't want to do a lot of scraping of the windshield, pick up some carpet scraps or use old boxes and put them over the windshield. When you go out to start the car, you can just pull them off and not scrape so much. A friend swore that the flannel backed vinyl tablecloths were perfect for this until the second day we got ice. Then it fell apart on her.

 

[Hound dog]

Hmm.

Good idea Jody about the candles. I'll add them. Although IF I get stuck I hope to heaven I am not stuck that long!!!

I always carry kitty litter or sand. I had to pick up litter because Bruce ran out and I'd not gotten a chance to go to the store in forever so I used the car bag for him. lol Now he has plenty and the car is restocked.

Travis mentioned the cardboard boxes.........but wouldn't the cardboard just freeze to the windshield?? I see myself standing in a parking lot at 3am cussing and freezing trying to peel them off. omg

No need to melt snow. I've got a case of water packed in the trunk. I'll walk home before being stuck that long. That is another reason for the layered clothing and snow boots.

I'm off to look at the forecast again. I got so many different versions from work I just got to the point where I wanted to start slapping people.

 

[InsaneCdn]

No need to melt snow. I've got a case of water packed in the trunk. I'll walk home before being stuck that long. That is another reason for the layered clothing and snow boots.

Obviously, you don't know what "next town" means around here... but that could be anything from 20 to 100 miles.
I wouldn't DARE attempt to walk out if I got stuck... we stay with our vehicle, period.
Plus, that water would be frozen solid, so it's either melt that water or melt some snow...

So... we need the option of melting snow.

 

[AnnieO]

LOL, IC... Where Lisa is, it's not so far. Fortunately. But still - I am hoping it starts at around 3 AM!

 

[GoingNorth]

It's already been through here. We got the upper edge of it. 11" of snow and a quarter inch of ice. High winds. Right now, we are dealing with the Arctic blast that came in on the tail end of this thing. Bitter cold temps and windchills of -25F.

The storm we got is meeting up with another weather system on the seaboard and the victims of that combined storm system are gonna get clobbered, the ice sounds like the worst of it. Like I said, we got the upper edge of ONE of the storms going to make up Cleon and it was bad up here. Lots of power outages, treacherous driving conditions as once we ice up, we don't get warm enough for it to melt off until spring in most cases.

 

[witzend]

Good ideas, Jody. We're traveling this weekend on a road we're unfamiliar with, so I will add those things to the trunk.

 

[Hound dog]

I have a guardian angel.

I did not feel comfortable working the overtime this weekend. I have a very bad feeling about this storm and the ones on it's heels. But I didn't want to call off and use pts either......would've done so if need be but sure didn't want to need to do that.

I come in from lunch and boss man calls me over, tells me he needs to take 2 people off the Occupational Therapist (OT) list, since he knew my feelings about this storm (and no one else wanted to give it up) he made sure to ask me. When Fate steps in, I don't ignore it. I told him to remove me from the list. Now I have a girl I drive as well. She wanted to stay, so he hunted her down a ride. I come back from last break and she tells me she's not working either. Her mom (day time boss) ordered her to stay HOME this weekend.

So then......I have a little discussion with the man upstairs about driving home on ice. Temps were dropping like a bleeping rock. Just let me get this other mother's child home safe and sound and I'll be happy.

Drove 45 mph the whole way. Only hit a couple of icey spots.....it's just beginning to freeze. Got her home safe and me too. Now I'm staying put.

 

[Lothlorien]

I just sent husband out to buy a new generator. Ours is about 14 years old and had a work out last year after Sandy. It's just had enough. I don't want to wait until we get a storm and realize this thing is just not going to start. We are well and septic and there is nothing around here. We lose power at the drop of a dime. I know we are supposed to get snow this weekend. Yuck.

I'm just so surprised that areas that are typically so warm are getting this below 0 wind chill. I feel bad for all who are involved. We are more prepared up here for that kind of weather.

It's bizarre...I went out to a client last night at 7:00 and it was 60 degrees out.

 

[DammitJanet]

Ummm, do I need to worry?

 

[1905]

Thursday it was in the 60's here. Now, I'm in a total blizzard. This was unexpected, husband left to watch the football game. The Eagles are playing in a blizzard. I just decorated my house for Christmas while I'm alone here. (Yesterday I gave difficult child and daughter in law my tree, I have 2 ft. one and loving not having the big one.) This weather is crazy! I didn't even know it was gonna snow. I'm crossing my fingers for a snow day tomorrow.

 

[Hound dog]

Janet, I think you avoided Cleon.

We didn't. Ice and snow. Quite a lot more snow than I see on their "official" posted thingie. I know I had nearly at least 5 inches of snow in the yard......ice under it.

No problem with power, thank goodness. But I am glad I didn't work overtime.

Got a 2nd round today of both. I hope it melts or the salt trucks handle it before I have to go to work tomorrow.

 

[BusynMember]

Well, I hope everyone stays home and doesn't get caught in the snow. I really don't like driving in the snow and ice!

Here in frigid Wisconsin we are only getting 1-2" of snow, but we have below zero temps with the wind chill and it is dangerously cold. I didn't go out today, but tomorrow I am in a Christmas play and I have no choice. Brrrrrrrrrr.

We don't travel far in bad weather, but always have heavy blankets, flashlights, and ALWAYS a charged cell phone with us, in case we need to call for help.

 

[GoingNorth]

It's the warmest it's been since the storm blew through. A whole 6 above. Supposed to be around zero with nasty windchills for next several days. Several fifteen below zero BASE TEMPERATURE nights on tap, with windchills of thirty below.

I have to go out tomorrow and stock up on catfood. I stayed in today. Was out in it yesterday when it warmed up to 2 below and winds died down some. Long underwear under sweats. sheepskin boots, a sweatshirt under a parka, and thermofleece lined leather gloves. That and a goofy hat with earflaps and my hood up over that and I was nice and warm.

Had to do a quick peel every time I went indoors as I swear they heat to 80 degrees and I started sweating instantly. Plus, my glasses kept fogging up whenever I changed temperatures.

It was annoying, but it's do-able if you know how to dress for it.

Keeping the heat at 65 in the house and wearing sweats and sheepskin slippers. I should own stock in Ugg of Australia. I live in their sheepskin footwear in colder weather.

 

[DammitJanet]

Yeah we avoided it. It has been raining and cold for us but definitely not awful. I did worry about Jamie though because the forecast for his area was sheer ice and I know he would have to be on call. He has the newest and biggest truck so he is always having to go out in bad weather. I assume he is okay because no one has called me..lol.