Let em make fun. Your being smart. I've been teased too....I have one of those signs you can put inside your windshield that says "please call for help". I've never had to use it, but I have it. My roadside emergency pack also has those neon little markers so that in a bad storm, no one hits me if I'm stopped. Nope, I'm with you...prepared is better then not, so let em laugh.
I remember my husband and his buddy doing some late season hiking/scramble several years ago (this was before child, or I might have killed him!!). They were doing a pretty serious hike that turns into a scramble at the end in early Oct (as you know, mountain weather can get really weird and unpredictable that time of year) and the dumb azzes went without anything...not so much as a flint. So guess what happens...they hit the peak around sundown, weather starts moving in and they are in trouble. This is also grizz country, and Oct is not the best time of year to run into a Grizzly. They made it down...barely. I was so mad at them...and they were humbled by the experience. Today they are both husbands and dads, so they think it through a little better, but these are two experienced back country campers, and they almost got in trouble. It can happen so fast.
The ramifications of not being prepared are just too steep. I personally make it a habit this time of year when I see anyone broke down or off the road to be sure that they are okay and that help is on the way.
I've got a hunting buddy who laughs at my hunting back pack. I've got it pretty refined, but it is easily 20lbs minus the weight of the pack. I've normally got enough food and water for a few days if rationed, 3 ways to start a fire, ways to make a shelter, extra layers... again, the risk is just too great to not be prepared.
We had the same thing here a year or two ago (or maybe its the same story?). They actually just found his body not all that long ago...some time past the actual incident. Personally, I don't tackle the Rockies from Oct to May - at least not any further then Banff. It's just way to unpredictable. But I'm with the majority of you....winter time my car looks like a survivalist camp, but I am ready. Too many stories of folks being stuck and not being prepared. I too travel with blankets, flashlight, even canned food if going any kind of distance. It's too important.
There was a story on the national news last winter or the winter before about a couple who were traveling though the mountains of northern Nevada in April. (Flat landers don't realize that Spring includes blizzards and below 0 weather in the mountains.)
Eventually they got stuck. The gentleman knew that they were just a couple of miles from town and set off afoot. That was the last time that woman saw her husband alive. She survived on eating raisins and M&M's for about a week, if I'm not mistaken. She lived because she stayed with the car. Shelter in situations like this are the most critical components of survival....
She ate the raisins and candy and melted snow for water.....
Going to my dad's from my Grandfather's 100th birthday party, my dad was driving in white out conditions and we got stuck in a snowbank in -100 wind chills; yes, that's 100 degrees below zero......... We were in a ground blizzard so could see yard lights, but not the road... my dad thought he knew where we were and was going to walk to the farm place......... over my dead body, would he do that; yes, I was prepared to stop him, but his common sense took over and he knew I was right. ......turned out that we were about a mile from where he thought we were and he'd have died for sure, if he'd tried to walk for help. I was in dress clothes (light slacks and high heels) and sitting on the passenger side of the vehicle; with the wind hitting that side of the car, the side of my right leg was frozen and from then on, I never traveled without extra clothing, blankets, etc. As it turned out, a pickup truck came by (whole other story of getting my dad to turn on the lights, so we could be seen), but all said and done, a very nice family gave us a ride back to my dad's house (hour and 1/2 to get < 2 miles)... Even in sunny FL, I travel with blankets, and certain "extras" depending on the time of year and distance we're going.
Bad weather is bad weather, no matter where you are or what the conditions.
It certainly IS your life.
I love that... someone looks you dead in the eye and says, "well heck, it ran great back on 2008."
I by no means am the poster boy for preparedness, but there are certain things you have to do. Around here in the winter, your car should be equipped with jumper cables, spare tire, a jack and lug nut tool, water, a blanket or two, flashlight with good batteries, some gloves, a spare coat... it's common sense. IN this state, its common for there to be more than 50 miles between towns. You blow off the road in a white out, you'd better be damned prepared! It's your life.
"Get prepared, stay prepared."
I just shake my head. Every time a Hurricane is heading toward us, the shops are full of generators being repaired. They all say the same thing; “I haven’t started it since the last Hurricane.” Everybody down here knows you should start your generator about once a month and run some fresh gas about every 2 months. Instead they let them sit up for a couple of years and wonder why it won’t start. My favorite was last year when Isaac hit someone told me “ I don’t know what’s wrong with it. It ran fine last time I used it, when Gustav hit.” Gustav hit in 2008! That means they hadn’t done anything with it in 4 years and expected it to crank right up.
Get prepared, stay prepared.
MrsP -- when we moved to FL, I made sure we got a gas stove, so if we do lose power, I can at least heat the kitchen and cook. Took forever, but I was able to heat simple things to eat on the kerosene heater.
"I actually cannot recall the last time we had any power outage at all. That's an east coast thing I guess." Not necessarily; it happens when the snow is wet and heavy, or it sleets first, and weighs down the power lines and poles. When we lived in Iowa the poles actually snapped, like toothpicks one time, from the weight of of the ice on the lines.
desrt - have to agree that the South is "problematic"........ we get the hurricanes, tornadoes AND red flag fire warnings. All deadly and all equally scary.......I guess they make such a big deal about the northeast because of the dense population. Hopefully, your winds will go down and/or you'll get some rain, but I know sometimes, that doesn't seem likely.
Hopefully, when the storm is all over, everyone will check in so we know they're okay.
Yeah, even without the hurricanes 'South' is problematic. Red flag fire warnings this weekend where I am. Sixty mph winds with close to 0% humidity and everythng already tinder dry.
Has anyone heard from nygirl? She's right in the middlle of all that.
Yeah, it's the winds that are the real danger. 2' of snow is no biggie here either, but you get those blizzard conditions and it turns into a whole different game. I actually don't know anyone who owns a generator, but those types of conditions are not common here (we are sooo close to the Rockies that we are fairly well protected). I actually cannot recall the last time we had any power outage at all. That's an east coast thing I guess.
You all take good care if your in the path of this. Stay safe and warm. And R, not sure how much sense it makes to move south like that. Your hurricanes scare the heck out of me! My city gets snow and cold, but we don't get tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes or any of those natural disasters. Makes our super cold winters look not so bad! (ok, they still bite, but saying that makes me feel better...lol)
"Our house was all electric and with no power, we were "dead in the water"........ no heat, no water, no way to cook"
OMG! That is us...We had oil but our furnace went so we figured just change the heating to electric. It's expensive but still cheaper than oil..We do have a kerosene heater funny enough and we have kerosene so at least we'll be warm IF the power does go...
Aaahh the generator..... remember once in Iowa (Feb 1983), we were without power for over a week, due to an ice storm......... our kids were young at the time and the best way to keep them warm was in our water bed that was heated (as long as the water stayed warm). Our house was all electric and with no power, we were "dead in the water"........ no heat, no water, no way to cook.........over a week....... friends loaned us a kerosene heater, with which we could heat a small part of the house and cook things like eggs, soup, etc......talk about a miserable week...and we had company to boot....
After the hurricanes in 2004 (we never lost power), we did get a generator and with hurricane season approaching, we need to start it up and run it some.
Seems like, if you have a generator, you won't need it, but if you don't have one, you'll end up wishing you did.......
Due to the Hurricanes down here, owning a Generator is about as common as owning a Lawn Mower. Glad you brought that up, it reminded me I need to start mine up and run some fresh gas through it.
Good Luck!
I am more worried about the winds that are coming overnight. I don't really want to loose power because we don't have a generator..Fingers crossed..BTW, we will be investing in a generator after this storm..(I know little to late..but hopefully not..lol)
It's a whiteout in my neighborhood. No one is out!...So weird..I LOVE it!..We went sledding already and it was sooooo FUN!....
74 here and going to cut the grass/weedeat tomorow before the rain comes. I'm probably going to get blasted for this but we have saying in the South, "A Duck's Brain is about the size of a Peanut and he has enough since to come South for the Winter".
Everyone Take Care.
Oh I don't miss that weather. When I lived in Ohio and you heard the term nor'easter, it meant bad bad things! Rain, ice, snow, downed power lines, impassable roads and if you were one of the unlucky ones and parked in a zone where the snow trucks came thru, you had to wait for your car to reveal itself again. We are sunny and 80 today. I have an extra bedroom!
People laugh at us because once every few years we get snow. When this happens they close the schools and ask everyone to not get out on the roads unless it is necessary. I tell them, “incase you haven’t noticed, this is Louisiana. We don’t have Snow Plows or any other equipment to deal with snow. Our vehicles don’t even have the proper tires. One of the reasons we live here is because, we hate snow.”
Everyone be careful getting back home or to wherever you need to get.
We used to get 2' of snow on a regular basis when we lived in Iowa, too, but we prepared for it in October and stayed prepared until April......... I agree that the wind, creating blizzard conditions makes any snowfall much more dangerous, because of low visibility.
Stay safe.
It's not the snow it's the wind and blizzard conditions. It is going to be dangerous and remember there are missing seawalls for this NorEaster.
Leaving work shortly - two feet of snow don't freak me out too much but it's sleeting now so they are letting all of us leave our jobs up here before they have to close the highways.
Interesting the God threw Sandy at mostly Blue states, and is now throwing another superstorm their way.
Maybe God's trying to tell the Democrats something?
I'm just sayin'...
*Disclaimer:
Please take with a grain of salt. This was meant tongue-in-cheek. If you take it seriously, please re'bury your head in the sand and crawl back under the humorless rock from whence you came. That is all. ~LMNO
I hope everyone out that way is going to be okay. They need some more country folks out there to help. We get 2 feet of snow all of the time and it gets no mention, and we all live through it.
Get prepared, stay prepared.
I hope all in the path of this monster stays safe, and home.