Are all you West Virginia jellies ready for an ice storm if it happens?

Ooh, please be careful, my West Virginia friends. There’s really nothing that can be done about ice storms/freezing rain other than staying inside and keeping safe.

The ice storm is supposed to hit a pretty wide swath of the Northeastern US. NJ and parts of NJ and NY are also at risk for up to an inch of ice after several more inches of snow fall; New England is going to get a lot of snow, too. It’s going to be a sloppy hump day.

Prepare for power outages now.
1) Do you know where the flashlights are? Do they work?
2) Do you have some candles and matches handy?
3) Do you have drinking water?
4) You already have enough food to last a couple of days. Don’t bother running to the grocery store. You will survive. Eat some expired food.
5) Your car should have more than ½ tank of gasoline. Is that enough to last for a few days?
6) Don’t go anywhere if you don’t have to. Tell your sister-in-law you are not taking her grocery shopping. She can walk to the 7–11 if she needs something.
7) Set your thermostat a couple of degrees higher than normal. That way if you lose power the house can coast for a longer time.
8) If you have young kids make the event an adventure. Camp out in the bedroom. They will fondly remember the experience forever. Enjoy!

My daughter’s school is already cancelled for tomorrow (southern NY, suburbs of NYC).

Some areas are calling for up to 1 to 1½ inches. Make your precautions please.

Looking for my flashlight…no batteries. Damn I’m unprepared.

Everything @LuckyGuy said. That pretty much sums up the week I spent without power after our last big ice storm.

Just don’t do anything to make it worse. We had a family burn down their house using candles a few years ago. They didn’t make it out.

The snow started around 2 AM. It is 6:00 am and the plows have gone by twice already. It is warm in the house.
@chyna You need a couple of free 9-LED flashlights from Harbor Freight. They are great and last a long time. You can also buy an LED Maglite . Even the small AA battery size is bright and will last a long time. They are ~$12.00.
I’m sure you already have enough peanut butter and jelly.

Adding to recommendations above, fill a bathtub with water to be able to flush toilets if the public water system goes down. They sell a putty like material to help ensure the drain will be water tight if your stopper doesn’t work well.

@chyna I have a flashlight with a radio on it that runs on hand crank. Always works, just have to put some of my own elbow into it. Not that it is difficult to crank, it’s very easy. You might want to get something like that, I think everyone should have one. Right now mine is packed in a box somewhere, so a lot of good that would do me, but it has helped me in many storms in the past.

I bought my aunt some of those battery operated candles, some of them in the store even had remote control, but I didn’t buy those. I can see how that would be nice to have in a bathroom though.

Hopefully, you didn’t lose your power.

@Adirondackwannabe I only use candles that are down inside of glass, and I only use them when I am actually in the room. Candles scare me.

What a miserable drive into work today. We have about 6 to 7 inches of heavy greasy snow on the ground and you can’t steer for crap. You have to get the car pointed where you want to go and drive it there with the engine. That was not fun.:(

@LuckyGuy “Don’t bother running to the grocery store.”

Why is it that any bad weather forecast sends people rushing for bread, eggs, and milk? I always have this mental image of families hunkering down, during a hurricane or snow storm, eating French toast.

@SadieMartinPaul It’s ridiculous, really. Probably half of those people running to the store have a can or two of evaporated milk sitting on a shelf in the pantry.
When a storm approaches you should be food shopping in your freezer and pantry. Use some of the food that you have been ignoring for years.

Every house should have a box of pasta, a container of canola oil, bottled water, cans of tuna, a can of Kraft Easy-Cheese and crackers on the shelf in a corner somewhere that is dedicated for emergencies. For less than $20 you can have enough calories there to last for days. If you have it, you never have to run out during storms.
Don’t forget to rotate the stock every 2 years.
I am a bit of a “prepper” and have some MRE / LRP rations in a corner with water, matches, cooking fuel. I bought the rations at a local gun show. They’re great.

I am pleasantly surprised that with all the bad weather we’ve had so far, there have been no power outages (knock on wood).

@SadieMartinPaul: My impression is that people think when there’s a storm, it’s going to be an Eating Fest.

@jca “people think when there’s a storm, it’s going to be an Eating Fest.”
Why not just eat the food that they have on the shelves now? I don’t believe most people have empty cupboards and refrigerators. After a storm you always hear that people lost so much food from their freezer. They would not lose so much food if they just ate the stuff that was in there now. Don’t buy more until the freezer is nearly empty.
We have not lost power but I’m ready if we do. Stay warm!

Just for fun I shopped in my refrigerator/freezer for pizza. I found a bag of mini wheat bagels and use d them as the dough. I had some old turkey pepperoni slices and some mozzarella cheese that has been sitting around for months and a can of olives. I put them together like 4 mini-pizzas and heated them in the toaster oven until the cheese melted.
It was not the same as a double stuffed Pizza hut pizza but it was virtually free, I didn’t have to go anywhere and I cleaned out some food that had been around for along time.
That tasted great.

So far, so good, in my neck of the woods!

So far, so good in my neck of the woods also!
I’m feeling for you jellies with the massive snow, ice and sleet.
I now have batteries, so I’m prepared.

@SadieMartinPaul Bread, eggs, and milk would not be my first choice in a power outage… I’d rather go with something that doesn’t need refrigeration. So, if I’m running to the grocery store for anything, it would be for soups, etc.

However, I would also be eating French toast – to consume the bread, eggs, and milk that’s already in my fridge, before they go bad.

I spoke too soon the other day. We lost power for about half a day, but still, that’s not too bad.

Our go-to ‘storm buys’ are a little different…soda, toilet paper, tobacco and alcohol, haha.