We have a big winter storm for this area coming in this week end or at least that is the for cast. So I filled up the garage with wood and kindling and put up some 5 gallon containers of water. Got the generator out and ran it. Emptied the ash pale. In general trying to be somewhat prepared. So How many of you watch the weather pretty close so as to make sure you have enough dry wood and other items at your disposal in case there is a bad scenario. Even if we do lose power I know I can heat the house and cook on the stove if nothing else. I know I will not be going anywhere for a few days.
I keep a close eye on the forecast. Old habit from the lawncare & snowplowing days. I'm a bit anal with some stuff & I hate getting caught unprepared. Always keep a stock of dry fuel & Diesel & gas for the genny's. That's been a lifelong habit to be ready. Learned from my father & grand father.
Tomorrow is last details prep. We are good on wood, same as you with stove for heat and cooking if needed, but he'll get the generator for my coffee maker and other things. Also the market, but that was already planned to fill in the missing items here and load up for going to Kimball for bird hunting over spring break, no way now. Too bad, good deal on the birds and our puppy is an older pup now...... Our storm totals are down to 1.5' now, but my mother & her husband and also my Father's wife are south of you in the ~same snow amount zone as Chy.
I keep an eye on the weather. No generator here, with a well. No tub. Just a shower stall. I have a couple of 7gal water jugs that get filled, just in case. Haven't had to use any yet. Living on a state highway, our power rarely goes out for any length of time. The wood stove keeps the house warm. A propane cooktop and a propane camp stove, along with a gas grill, cooks food and boils water for coffee. I'll top off the wood rack on the deck. I'll also bring in a couple of days wood use. Storage bins work well for this. I'll gas up the snowblower. Then, fire it up for a few minutes while verifying all functions are funtioning. Our cars get parked differently, to facilitate easier snow clearing. No garage. I'll also walk the woodyard to remove anything thst can lock up the snowblower and break a shear pin. I have several pins for backup. Batteries, flashlights, and radio are handy.
From habit I usually check the weather forecast morning and evening. Have done that all my life. Back on the farm we also listened to the weather report at noon. I helps one in planning. However, that does not mean you don't keep watch on what is actually happening as we learned many moons ago, they can be very right but also can be very wrong. Weather forecasts do help in planning, like how one needs to dress for the day; should we buy groceries; do I need to put extra wood on porch, etc, etc.
I always watch the weather, but during this time of year (fire season) I depend on it. My issue with weather being wrong is more of a work safety/liability issue, instead of more or less snow. Lately NOAA has been having a h3ll of a time getting the fire weather right, especially winds. And tuesday, they missed the humidity by 10%....called it 22% in the am, updated later in the day to 12%. That is a big deal in my world and can be very dangerous, especially after the match is struck. We knew the way the fire was acting they had missed it, didn't know that bad. It caused problems, but luckily we had contingencies that we could hold. I called their office the next morning for a chat, when I asked the forecaster what happened, he calmly said "we got it wrong". I held my tongue and politely said "yeah, I know. I'm trying to figure out how and why so I can learn for future planning". We had a decent chat...but now uncertainty with their forecast will stay in my mind. Sorry...semi rant over.
You doing some prescribed burning? If so, can you provide him the prescription and ask if he is certain that you have a sufficient buffer for humidity, temperature, wind speed, direction and cloud cover? Some of those precriotions are pretty tight on the variables to get the desired effects. Glad you made it work.
I watch the weather, especially during hunting season. I'm pretty much like MikeInMa, except no snowblower. With 4 wheel drive I'm not overly concerned. If it's going to be a foot of snow I'll go and shovel a few times. No garage as well. We have a small creek behind the house, so I can get water for the toilets there and bath water. Have done that in the past when power was out. Always have water gallons on hand as well as enough food, propane for grill, batteries, etc... If weather calls for severe weather we usually top off the supplies. Make sure we have important items, like bourbon and chips. We lose power a few times in the summer. Our line runs along the river to the next town. Tons of trees along the route. I should probably invest in a generator, especially to run the well.
I probably "could", but I'm already wrangling too many cats in the am before burns. I also usually have wiggle room in my prescription/plans, but when they start missing the weather so bad it causes issues beyond the plan. And you can't always cut a burn off, especially in uxo areas. A lot of these areas are fuel redux and fire risk...either i get there first and Rx it, or they get there on the "right day" with tracers etc and it's game on. So I gotta make it black when I safely can.
My husband is getting new tires, Fox31 is on at the tire shop, he said they have us at 3+ feet, idk, weather underground has us at 1.5', we'll just have to see.
Understood. If you are the burn boss you certainly have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. Most people have no idea. Seen my fair share of fires started with the second method.
It depends on what model they look at. But when all the weather outlets local and national are reporting a lot of snow I listen.
Mag Craft, I look closely at weather across USA, and saw you might be in the bullseye for a big one, and was thinking of you. Good luck!
My phone just dinged, county emergency alert, blizzard 11pm tonight - 11pm Sat, travel for emergency only, "difficult to nearly impossible". The weather is beautiful right now and we'll all be home together by dinner.
It’s always nice when we have a snowstorm and I’m not scheduled to work. Seems for a while, I always worked when we were getting a blizzard and had to drive in the weather, but I’ve avoided having to do so the last couple! Nice to be available for the family, keep the fire going, and the snow shoveled. Never was dealing with that much snow though. Ready to hear how it turns out for you! Sounds like you’re well prepared
