Winter Thread

[Puget]

I feel for you Clean-- I grew up in a semi-rural area and we lost power for several days at a time at least once a winter. We had a wood stove so heat wasn't an issue, but on a well you have no water when the power goes out-- the trick is, at the first sign that it might go out, fill the bathtub (to be used for flushing toilets), and every pot, jar, and pitcher in the house (for drinking, cooking, and washing hands). Also have an emergency supply of water ready to go-- 5 gallon buckets for non-consumption uses plus sealed gallon jugs of drinking water.

[apl68]

Most of the additional snow we were forecast to receive seems not to have showed up.  We did get some, though.  Tracks I know were there yesterday are now covered with a hard crust.

While out walking, I came across a guy trying to get his vehicle unstuck.  He was annoyed at his boss calling him in to work on a day when even the local McDonald's is shut down.  I tried my best to help him get out.  My best wasn't nearly good enough.  Then the Chief of Police showed up and offered to give him a ride.  The man said he wouldn't be mad at the Chief today--"I don't care what they say about you!"  Community policing in action!

[hmaria1609]

Got a snow day from the library! It was great to sleep in this morning. There was snow, sleet, and rain until early afternoon. The plows cleared our street. Somehow we got newspaper delivery! It was cloudy when I went to shovel.
There's some light snow and re-freezing overnight:
https://wtop.com/weather-news/2021/02/winter-weather-looming-as-snow-ice-could-make-travel-hazardous-in-dc-area/
I'm not scheduled to be back at the library until Monday.

For those in hard hit areas, please stay safe and keep us posted when you can.

[apl68]

Got a snow day from the library! It was great to sleep in this morning. There was snow, sleet, and rain until early afternoon. The plows cleared our street. Somehow we got newspaper delivery! It was cloudy when I went to shovel.
There's some light snow and re-freezing overnight:
https://wtop.com/weather-news/2021/02/winter-weather-looming-as-snow-ice-could-make-travel-hazardous-in-dc-area/
I'm not scheduled to be back at the library until Monday.

For those in hard hit areas, please stay safe and keep us posted when you can.

We've had to close our library for an entire week.  Not having to be here early every morning has been nice, all right.  But this week has put me badly behind on work that we really need to do!  I have deadlines next week that I'm going to have to cram for when we get everybody back to work.

[clean]

Water boil might maybe end tonight.  The suspected major water main break has been ruled out.  Instead of one big break, there seems to be a lot of small breaks on private property as well as higher demand as the news told everyone to turn on their taps to drip water.

Stores have pretty much reopened in order to allow the hordes to strip them bare. 

among the items that are no where to be found:
water, milk, meat (of all kinds), fresh veggies, frozen food of all kinds (even ice cream... at least the 'good kinds'), ...

Some of the local fast food places remain closed.  The last time that we faced a weather issue (a hurricane at that time), the same ones closed because they were out of buns.  They can not serve any beverages, and with no buns, no reason to open. 

More places are open, and power is mostly restored, but I suppose that with the store shelves bare, the food places open are packed (or long lines outside).

[apl68]

How's it going now, clean?


We're finally able to reopen at work.  As of yesterday the main roads were wide open in and near town.  Side streets and roads were still chancy in places.  A handful of us were able to meet face-to-face at church.  A fellow member who is a state trooper said that he had spent the past week getting people out of ditches.  Each morning he had had to have his wife take the pickup truck and get him unstuck from their long rural driveway so that he could get his police cruiser on the road.  I got stuck just inside my driveway on my way back from church.  At least it's off the street.

Some of our staff who live out in the boondocks have begged off from coming in today.  We're not pressing them.  We have enough staff here to operate.  Half of our parking lot and the walkways around the building have thawed, so patrons should be safe getting in and out if they take any care at all wich what they're doing.

Saturday I was running low on bread (been making more sandwiches than usual) and hot chocolate.  I walked some blocks to the grocery store and actually found bread!  There were still a few little loaves of pricey "organic" bread down on a bottom shelf.  Didn't check to see whether they had supplies of dairy products and fresh fruits and vegetables.  I'd guess they were mostly picked over.  Probably due more to supply chain disruptions than to hoarding.

My trooper friend said that we've had no fatal accidents in our region due to the weather.  Between that and the generally good utility service, we've been very, very fortunate.

[clean]

Im pretty sure that the national news has covered the issues in my state.  Power has returned.  Water, at least here, is available and does not require boiling to use.

Still, there are lots of business still shut down.  Saturday afternoon I was out and about and drove by 3 chicken type restaurants. They were all closed. While power had returned and water was safe, I surmise that they had lost their freezers and had not yet been resupplied.

The burger chain closest to my house was closed as well. They closed for a while after the hurricane too. It wasnt that the store was damaged, powerless or waterless, but they could not get buns. 

Saturday the local grocery and Walmart were stripped bare. 
Today I ventured to Walmart. They have restocked somewhat. Still no eggs, bread, milk, frozen foods and only about 1/2 of the veggies have returned.  So it may take a few more days to get back up and fully stocked to enable shopping. 

My university ended up being open only 1/2 a day on Wednesday.  We were closed Monday and Tuesday and then we closed down Wednesday afternoon through the end of the week. However, we have some 7 week classes offered online, though with a large proportion of on campus students, that were not cancelled or extensions for the term issued.  So I had the midterm extended to Sunday, but Exam 3 is going to be Saturday and Sunday.  Students are "asking questions", but my answer is that "The provost has made it clear that the term will end as usual, and we can not delay the rest of the term's assignments.  "  (there are only 3 weeks or so left in the term!  )

The storm has exposed some repairs that I have to get done now.  My car needs new tires (scheduled for Wednesday morning).  One tire in particular has been flat to the ground every day for the last week, so it is not simply because of the low. low temperatures.
My truck's tire pressure system wont turn off, though I have plenty of air in all 4 tires.  I dealt with this last summer, taking it to the shop 3 times!  Hopefully this is simply a matter of just one sensor being bad (still not a cheap fix).

My generator worked well enough, but needs to have a tune up at least. it was not happy running at low speeds.

the external gas tank needs repaired (or replaced, but it is $140 to replace, so I will try to repair it first!)

I was very fortunate. I see on the news that this could be much worse than a hurricane as far as insured (and uninsured) losses from all of the broken pipes.  I kept my heat on enough to not freeze.

On the national news there are people showing that they had market rate electricity rates, and not even bills, but cash withdrawals from their checking and saving accounts in the $7000 to $12,000 range  (for a few day's worth of power!!)  Im just sayin... you can buy a hell of a generator in that range!

IN all, I fared well.  I lost food from the fridge and freezer, but no water damage and my electric bill will be higher (as my bill is somewhat tied to the price of natural gas, which also spiked last week) and because of higher than usual usage, but I should be fine.


Thanks for asking! 

[apl68]

Glad to hear you've come through safely, clean.

I've been hearing about assorted roof and awning collapses due to the snow.  Some I'd already seen for myself around town.  The worst was a shipping warehouse that is now disrupting a local manufacturing outfit.  One of our staff members has a husband who will be losing income in the near future due to the disruption.  Whoever it is that buys their products (packaging materials, basically) is in for some supply chain disruption until they get things worked out.

[Vkw10]

Limited buildings on our campus were open Saturday, but network services weren't fully restored until late Sunday.

Classes are cancelled until 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, with faculty required to extend due dates for tests and assignments.  Seven instructional days missed; my syllabus is a mess.

Student Rec Center is open to employees and families with campus ID, even without membership this week, so people with burst pipes can use the showers.

I spent much of day inspecting department facilities and taking photos for insurance claims. A water pipe in building broke. I'm glad my department doesn't have plants or animals in labs, because cleanup in those labs will be a mess. After days of freezing cold, we had a more typical Texas weekend, with highs in the 70s.

[hmaria1609]

Thanks for the update, clean!

I drove to work in a burst of snowfall this morning. There were some accidents reported on WTOP Radio's traffic updates but not along on my commute route. Later the snow switched to rain. It was clear weather when I went home.

[apl68]

The streets in town are nearly all clear.  There are still some trouble spots here and there on the back roads.  Today the high is supposed to spike into the low 70s!  Straight from winter storms into spring.

I've been hearing more and more reports of roof collapses locally and around the state.  One of our cities is having major water problems.  Our town has only had a sprinkling of pipe bursts at houses and businesses.  The school district in the capital has been e-mailing around to ask about how to dry out books.  They've evidently had some pipe bursts in classrooms.  I also heard about a church called Level Ground Fellowship that had a roof collapse.  I don't think that's what the name was supposed to mean....

[clean]

News last night focused on the grocery store shortages that remain.  The roads have pretty well cleared. The power is restored and water in most of the local areas (though not all) no longer requires boiling first.

The distribution centers are up and running, but there are and will continue to be lags refilling the distribution center before they can refill the dependent stores.  Still, they expect that full shelves will return within the week. 

I believe that I posted that I went to Walmart yesterday to find no milk, bread, veg, frozen foods and minimal but returning meats.

So as long as are you are a second order vegetarian like me,  (I eat things that eat vegetables!), then you can find enough to get by. 

[clean]

I was out this morning getting new tires for my car.  After that work was done I ventured to the local grocery store.  The parking lot was surprising full for a Wednesday morning (though to be honest, I dont really know what Wednesday Mornings are supposed to look like at the grocery store!).  The aisles were not really busy, and there were plenty of workers restocking, but still lots of areas that are still in the restock stage. There is beef, for instance, but no chicken. 

Then I discovered why the parking lot was busy!  The milk/egg aisle was blocked off. They were restocking and about to open it.  Security guard and all!!  The line went past the refrigerated section, in front of the pharmacy and to the front of the store!!!  I wanted to venture down a nearby aisle, but could not get past the line, but I could see the workers telling/yelling at people LIMIT ONE! 

Fortunately, I still ahve a pint or so of milk and at least 1/2 a dozen eggs.  My bride will have to make due with the substitute creamer her parents gave her for her coffee! 

But it looks like things are improving.... but Gas Prices are up probably 30 Cents a gallon here now!  BUT there IS gas, and there are no longer lines at every pump!  So we ARE returning to normalcy!

[AmLitHist]

Last week we had 8+ inches of snow and -30 degree wind chills here in central IL.  Yesterday it was sunny and nearly 70.  I hung my laundry outside to dry this morning--spring looks and feels a lot nearer today than just a week ago!

[apl68]

Last week we had 8+ inches of snow and -30 degree wind chills here in central IL.  Yesterday it was sunny and nearly 70.  I hung my laundry outside to dry this morning--spring looks and feels a lot nearer today than just a week ago!

Some thing here, except not as much snow.  I've even ridden my bicycle to run errands today, for the first time in months.  It does look rainy.  Lots of rain in our forecast.