Best winter storm tips.
A lot of people are in line to get smacked with a winter/ice storm today and tomorrow with some of them still digging out of the one that hit the east coast. I wish I could say I'm experienced in this department but I'm not. All I could think of was keeping all phones charged beforehand (hell, even an old one if you have it for ER purposes if your regular one dies), have whatever food you'll need and maybe make sure your propane tank for the grill is full in case you need to bust it out.
For those who are used to winter storms, what are your must do's/must have's as you hunker down?
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(Oh yeah and a reminder to anyone putting stock in a rat to predict the weather today, Spring isn't for 6 1/2 weeks no matter what he says.)
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We live in central NY state, south of Lake Ontario, so we get a lot of lake effect snow. We didn't get hit by the last nor'easter. Sometimes we do get slammed by them, then get some lake effect afterwards. We're getting possibly a foot Thursday night but shh, I'm in Florida for a few days with a few daughters, so when I say "we", I mean my husband and kids still at home...anyway, I make sure we have lots of candles and matches, plenty of water, as we have a well that doesn't work with no power, and make sure there's a shovel right outside the door...nothing like walking through a foot of snow to go fetch the shovel...:)
ReplyDeleteHonestly if you get a lot of snow, snow tires should be something you have on every car. If you don't get as much snow, like me, then I recommend good all-season tires with the 3 peak mountain snow symbol - like the Michelin Crossclimate 2's that I have on my car this year. They are great all year round and, while maybe not quite as good as full-on snow tires, will get you through a lot more snow than regular all-season tires.
ReplyDeleteWe don't lose power very often here so I don't worry about that too much. I know some places get storms bad enough to knock out the power for extended periods every winter and they need to plan differently. I have good all season tires on my cars that are good enough for my area, I keep bottled water and some foods that don't need to be cooked on hand anyway (tornado season's just around the corner). The only real prep I do is checking that I'm stocked up on pantry staples and maybe a little extra comfort food.
ReplyDeleteWe have really good all-season tires for our cars, always have 2 propane tanks for the grill (we grill out all year long when the winds allow), and I have a car emergency pack that has everything in it from blankets to hand/toe/body warmers to all the car stuff, plus my water/food/dog food stash. I keep a phone battery charger fully charged in my car at all times and that has come in handy numerous times. In the house we have loads of candles, emergency lamps, and various flashlights that are magnetic where needed.
ReplyDeleteI fill the bathtub with water for flushing the toilet, incase we lose power.
ReplyDeleteI have six big lanterns and batteries that I keep all the time. I make sure batteries have not expired.
I get extra bottled water (big blue jugs)
We stock extra people food and dog food
Gas for the snowblower. We start it in advance to make sure the spark plugs are still good.
I make sure all the clothes and dishes are clean and run the vacuum in case we lose power.
I take excess recycling and compost to the drop off spots so our bins are all as empty as possible. (We have big curbside pick up bins. We have drop off available too.)
We make sure everything is charged including our external batteries (we have good ones).
We check with neighbors on our street (5 houses) before storm hits to be sure everyone is ready/okay.
We have boots for the dogs to protect their feet in extreme snow and ice.
I take care of anything that has to be snail mailed or done in person at the bank, in advance.
Besides the tips mentioned above having cash on hand and a full jug of gas also helps in preparation for an extended power outage. Power outages can knock out the gas stations and take longer for credit/debit systems to get up and running again. I also like to keep the house as warm as possible through winter storms, not letting the thermostat set point drop at night, to keep the house warm for as long as possible if the power goes out. No power, no heat in my house.
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