For the TX people, I think we’ll be alright. I think it’s only supposed to stay below freezing for ~48 hours and no precipitation. And I haven’t heard any talk of rolling blackouts. That was the big fuck up. They shut plants down and then couldn’t get them going again because of the ice.
So all in all, I think we’ll keep power which should help with the pipes. Like pp said, keep cabinet doors open, drip faucets and if one does freeze, if you have a space heater you can point it at it to try and slowly thaw it so it doesn’t burst.
I was so looking forward to a white Christmas but alas, it’s not meant to be. I’m a total weather weenie so I’ve been tracking this storm for almost 2 weeks. I need to learn my lesson and not get my hopes up. I’m just glad it will at least get cold and not be ass warm.
Please stay safe everyone! White Christmas is fun but paralyzing ice and snow are not.
Post by midwestmama on Dec 19, 2022 20:48:25 GMT -5
Yes. We're actually in FL on vacation, supposed to fly home to MI on Friday. Because of the forecast, we changed our flights to Wednesday. DH was not happy about losing out on the money for 2 nights at the resort we won't be using, and the $150 cost for the different flights, but I didn't want to get stuck away from home for who knows how many days and maybe over Christmas.
Our forecast at home (West MI) is for blizzard conditions on Friday, so unless there was a significant improvement to the forecast, there is no way we'd get home on Friday. The National Weather Service also is forecasting that travel on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day may also be difficult/treacherous.
I'm just hoping that we get home on Wednesday now and I can go to the grocery store on Thursday and get prepped for potentially a few days stuck at home.
I'm halfway between Detroit and Lansing, Michigan. It looks like we are supposed to get hit Friday. I don't know how many inches we are supposed to get. Its just us but SDs apartment is 10 minutes away so she may miss Christmas Eve but I think she and her boyfriend will still be able to come Christmas morning.
My H has a job that involves a lot of local driving though and I don't like him working Friday but his work is giving everyone a shortened schedule so hopefully he will get home before it gets too bad.
*I keep thinking Christmas Eve is Friday. So I guess it won't really impact our Christmas plans, just gotta worry about H driving around in it.
Post by thedutchgirl on Dec 19, 2022 21:31:53 GMT -5
Yes. We were planning to drive to West Michigan from Minneapolis Thursday and Friday and we’ve moved our travel up to Wednesday. Hopefully that will get us there before it gets bad in Michigan
I live as north as you can go in the UP of Michigan and a local meteorologist is predicting a foot a day starting on Wednesday night We get over 300” a year (Lake Superior lake effect contributes to that) so we are prepared and used to heavy snow but that is a bit much. DS2 went to Minneapolis (6 hours away) with his girlfriend and plans on driving back early Christmas morning. He is being very…unconcerned about it but thankfully she isn’t as used to it as us and told me tonight they will stay if it’s still that bad on Sunday. H works out of town and is only 2 hours away but the entire ride home is on the Lake Superior shoreline so winds will be terrible I’m sure. He will come home regardless, that I know, and I wish he wouldn’t of it’s bad. Thankfully I’m on vacation this week so I don’t actually have to get out for anything. I can scoop until he gets back and can plow. Power doesn’t typically go out but we live in the country and have a well so no water if it does. We do burn wood so that’s one bonus.
It's too early to tell. St. Louis can go either way for snow, and although one of the local teams is saying it will be really bad - really bad for us is a normal snow for some of you. As long as its not ice, it's fine. We don't have anywhere to be except my parents' house five minutes away.
Iowa…traveling to IL. We changed our plans and are leaving 24-36 hours earlier than anticipated to avoid it.
I hadn’t thought much about power. Our house should be OK. Most of our lines are buried, and even after a really major storm, we were the first to get power back.
My parents, however, are a different story. They live in a VERY rural area and seem to lose power pretty frequently. Guess I better pack my suitcase accordingly!
Post by DotAndBuzz on Dec 19, 2022 23:42:23 GMT -5
Yeah, Michigan is looking pretty dicey, so I’m moving up Christmas prep timeline a bit. Groceries coming Thursday, and we’re not going anywhere for the weekend (as was the plan already).
We just had a generator installed this fall, so I’m not worried about power loss, personally, but if the region loses power, that’s really scary with the low temps also forecast. Am ready to open the house to our neighbors if needed.
Post by AdaraMarie on Dec 19, 2022 23:50:37 GMT -5
I am with the other CO people-pretty average amount of snow predicted but about 36 hours of very cold. Thursday is the last day of school before break and I hope they cancel. No one needs to leave the house if it is really -50 wind chill.
I am with the other CO people-pretty average amount of snow predicted but about 36 hours of very cold. Thursday is the last day of school before break and I hope they cancel. No one needs to leave the house if it is really -50 wind chill.
I am hoping for this as well. The district already sent an email saying to be prepared for Wednesday to be the last day before break and I really hope they follow through. I would love to go nowhere.
I am with the other CO people-pretty average amount of snow predicted but about 36 hours of very cold. Thursday is the last day of school before break and I hope they cancel. No one needs to leave the house if it is really -50 wind chill.
I am hoping for this as well. The district already sent an email saying to be prepared for Wednesday to be the last day before break and I really hope they follow through. I would love to go nowhere.
Tried driving on literal ice this afternoon and came home instead of running errands. Tonight with a couple inches of unplowed snow was much more manageable to drive on. I live on the second most major street in my area and have not seen a plow since November. Lucky me has a short walk to work tomorrow. Southern Vancouver Island really needs to invest in more snow plows. This is the 4th year in a row of this sort of a snow fall.
I'm in the southeast, and we're supposed to get rain and then single digit temperatures. I'm worried about ice and losing power.
I told H last night that I'm obsessing about the weather, mentally tallying what we have in the pantry/fridge, worrying about the outdoor cats and wildlife in our neighborhood, etc. And I know it's irrational and we likely won't see any ice. But I'm exhausting myself and I can't stop 😪
Thank goodness for tools I picked up in CBT, but I really wish I was on meds right now.
It's too early to tell. St. Louis can go either way for snow, and although one of the local teams is saying it will be really bad - really bad for us is a normal snow for some of you. As long as its not ice, it's fine. We don't have anywhere to be except my parents' house five minutes away.
My son moved to Springfield, IL about 1 1/2 yrs ago and he grew up in SE WI (so he's used to driving in snow). They are supposed to be in the path of this storm. He said everyone panics in Springfield when any snow is predicted. Last year they had more snow than usual down there and everything shut down (grocery stores, restaurants). It takes a lot up here in WI to shut places down! I realize they don't have the snowplows, salt, etc that areas like WI have due to not getting much snow, so driving is more hazardous than places that have the resources.
It's too early to tell. St. Louis can go either way for snow, and although one of the local teams is saying it will be really bad - really bad for us is a normal snow for some of you. As long as its not ice, it's fine. We don't have anywhere to be except my parents' house five minutes away.
My son moved to Springfield, IL about 1 1/2 yrs ago and he grew up in SE WI (so he's used to driving in snow). They are supposed to be in the path of this storm. He said everyone panics in Springfield when any snow is predicted. Last year they had more snow than usual down there and everything shut down (grocery stores, restaurants). It takes a lot up here in WI to shut places down! I realize they don't have the snowplows, salt, etc that areas like WI have due to not getting much snow, so driving is more hazardous than places that have the resources.
That's interesting. I grew up in the Bloomington Normal area about an hour from Springfield. We always had a lot of snow there so people didn't panic. I'm surprised Springfield would be so different. The problem with snow in central Illinois is that it is so flat and windy that the snow blows all over the place. So, you often end up with whiteout conditions from all the snow blowing around. Also, we lived outside of town and all the power lines were above ground. We were always losing power in the winter.
We are supposed to drive from NC to IL on Friday. I'm keeping a close eye on the weather. I hope we can make it. My mom will be so disappointed if we can't get there.
Maybe? LOL - the meteorologists are holding off predicting what will happen in MI until it gets closer. I'm going to the store tonight to get the last few things we need for the holiday meals so I can hopefully miss the mad rush of folks stocking up.
Kid is worried it will mess up plans for Christmas Eve with family but we'll see.
Otherwise we're stocked with firewood and kerosene should the power go out but thankfully that doesn't happen too often because our power lines are buried.
I just watched our local news (metro Detroit, not sure where you are) and while they haven’t given accumulating snows numbers they are saying it will start as rain Thursday and then turn to snow Friday into Saturday.
We are suppose to go to my MIL Friday in Saginaw and if it is as bad as they are saying I don’t want to go until later in the week but H is all ‘no we will go Blah blah blah. We can leave Thursday…’ but I don’t want to spend two nights there it’s a pain in the ass. So annoying.
Yes. We're actually in FL on vacation, supposed to fly home to MI on Friday. Because of the forecast, we changed our flights to Wednesday. DH was not happy about losing out on the money for 2 nights at the resort we won't be using, and the $150 cost for the different flights, but I didn't want to get stuck away from home for who knows how many days and maybe over Christmas.
Our forecast at home (West MI) is for blizzard conditions on Friday, so unless there was a significant improvement to the forecast, there is no way we'd get home on Friday. The National Weather Service also is forecasting that travel on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day may also be difficult/treacherous.
I'm just hoping that we get home on Wednesday now and I can go to the grocery store on Thursday and get prepped for potentially a few days stuck at home.
You west-siders always get it WAY worse than the rest of us!
scout8, I grew up in that area. There’s a line right about Lincoln (halfway between) where the weather frequently changes. It’s really weird, but yes…the two cities aren’t far apart, but the amount of snow that they get is often very different! And yes, the flat land really lets the wind whip things around, so 1-2” of snow can be treacherous.
It's too early to tell. St. Louis can go either way for snow, and although one of the local teams is saying it will be really bad - really bad for us is a normal snow for some of you. As long as its not ice, it's fine. We don't have anywhere to be except my parents' house five minutes away.
My son moved to Springfield, IL about 1 1/2 yrs ago and he grew up in SE WI (so he's used to driving in snow). They are supposed to be in the path of this storm. He said everyone panics in Springfield when any snow is predicted. Last year they had more snow than usual down there and everything shut down (grocery stores, restaurants). It takes a lot up here in WI to shut places down! I realize they don't have the snowplows, salt, etc that areas like WI have due to not getting much snow, so driving is more hazardous than places that have the resources.
Just going to assume your son is a Lincoln impersonator, lol.
We tend to get a combo of snow, then blowing, then sub-zero temps, which knocks out the ability to get the roads clear. The shutdown last year was definitely an ice issue, not snow. There was high panic, though. I feel like last year there were 2 winter storms that were predicted to be huge, so everyone got prepped and hunkered down, and then fizzled at the last minute. They were still disruptive, but they were not the 3ft of snow we were supposed to get.
scout8, Bloomington is significantly north of Springfield, which is itself 90 minutes north of STL. My ILs live there and often have very different weather. I remember the first heavy snow I experienced in Chicago. I called my boss and said I didn't think there would be any way I could come to work. He was incredulous and when I got on the roads they were clear and dry. More southern cities, even when they still get some winter snow, don't have the plows and salt somewhere like Bloomington, where is snows more regularly, do. Up until the last minute, any forecast snow here can be rain. Thus the freak out. The city of St Louis doesn't plow some streets at all. You just have to drive over the snow or wait for it to melt.
As of right now, we're predicted to get 1-3 inches on Friday here in Central Ohio. Which is by no means a winter storm compared to what I grew up with in Michigan but people will likely freak out anyway and forget how to drive safely in the snow. Of course, Friday is the one day I have to work downtown (~25 minutes away) instead of my office in a suburb with good snow clearing/road treating (~15 minutes away) but with the proximity to the holidays I'm hoping that means traffic will be lighter.
Our meteorologist has basically said, “Listen…I’m not going to say how much snow we’re going to get. It doesn’t really matter anyway. Whether we get 4” or 12”, it’s all going to blow around anyway. You won’t be able to measure it, and it’s all going to be awful. I’m getting my last minute stuff done now, and I suggest that you do, too.”
I think they don’t want people thinking, “oh, it’s just 4”. They know it’s coming, plows will be out, and we’ll drive slowly, but it’ll be just fine.”
4” can be basically nothing, or it could have major impacts. Not all snow is created equal. If we get the predicted winds, no one is really going anywhere on Thursday!
I need Midwest posters to weigh in. We are currently in the Twin Cities visiting family. The plan is to pick up a rental car at noon on Thursday and drive to Michigan for Christmas (other side of the family) spending the night in Chicago and arriving on Friday. I’m trying to convince H to change our rental car reservation to Wednesday instead, but he’s hesitant. I think we are going to be better off driving Wednesday into Thursday, but I can’t figure out what the weather people are saying about the storm, especially across multiple states. Last year we didn’t make it to Michigan until Christmas morning due to multiple flight cancellations. I’d like to avoid that this year.
ny96, google local news stations and watch the weather report for the cities and days on which you would be driving. I am in Wisconsin, and here it’s not supposed to get bad until Thursday night, but I know it gets bad earlier other places.
I am planning to get all of our holiday food and run any last-minute errands Wednesday and Thursday morning. It’s supposed to be snowing here on Thursday, but not getting super windy and stormy until late afternoon or early evening.