Central Virginia Storm

[phalanx]

Well, this one was/is a doozy. 14.1 inches of very wet/heavy snow where I live, no power or heat for 30 hrs. Trees down in my yard with one on a neighbor's fence and shed. Damn garage door wouldn't open for some reason with out power either, manual seems to not be working. Get power back and my heat didn't want to work. Damn condensate line for the furnace is frozen, clear it but pump seems to be burned up now, continually runs. With the pump continually running, safety feature shuts the system down. Bypassed it with an older pump I had and now have heat! Will have to look into it when it warms up. Pump is under warranty still, so that's at least a plus. All my smoke alarms went off when power came back on too, must've been a surge and had to replace all the batteries, its a powered system with battery backup. I at least had hot water as its gas fired. Much better than the people stranded on I 95 and local highways. Many spent over 24 hrs in their car, also an Amtrak train was stuck for over a day. I have many folks that work for me, still without power. This storm was supposed to hit south and east of us then shifted west and slammed us. Worst I've seen it here. Stupid me, I have 2 generators and no gas - drained the gas cans into my car last month because I didn't want bad gas in the spring (never did it before but did this year) and only had a half 20lb tank of propane for my Mr. Buddy heater with two 30 and two 20 lb'ers sitting empty in the shed that I use for my trailer! So unprepared!! First winter storm I have ever lost power here.

 

[MrTom]

And now you’re going to get the frigid cold in a day or so. We are under a blizzard warning until Weds sometime. The weather for the last year has been wacko. Hoping the best for you thru this.

 

[toytruck]

Wow! You all have had a time!
I had 4.5" here in the Shenandoah Valley, little more in spots. This storm fooled the weather folks. I got a alert from Accu Weather before they started changing the forecast locally.
I had all my gas cans full, but went and filled up the truck and got snow blower gas. I need to run the generator to make sure it's ready, do this every month.
They are calling for another storm Thursday night into Friday morning here, another 3-5".
I learned from a delreco wind storm back in 2012. Lost power four days. Had to take my freezer groceries to my parents house to save them. Lucky the power was on there.
Hope you are doing well now. No heat is not healthy!

 

[phalanx]

I saw that new storm coming Thursday night along with the cold from out west. Supposed to get down to 11 deg that night. Last night was 17 deg. Hoping to be able to get out tomorrow for gas and propane! Still feel blessed we didn't get stuck in a car or on a train.

I agree weather has been getting crazy the last year or so.

 

[snapbang]

Not the same but years ago 4 of us were camping north of Beulah Wyoming deer hunting. About the third day I killed a nice buck in the morning. For the afternoon I thought I would do some coyote hunting. By the time I got back just at dark the snow was coming down sideways and the wind howling. I was soaked and told the guys I needed to get some place to dry off and change.

We went to the bar/restaurant/post office/ store in Beulah to have dinner, dry off, and change. While there the Weather Chanel forcasted 44 inches of snow and 70 mph winds. We went to Spearfish to stay at a hotel and thankfully a supermarket next door. Stuck there for 3 days with all roads closed down. But had food and warm bed. Thankful to this day we made it to town.

Realize how good life is when you have to rough it for a while.

 

[phalanx]

Love the: "We went to the bar/restaurant/post office/ store in Beulah to have dinner, dry off, and change." The quintessential "General Store"!! I cannot fathom 44 inches of snow and 70mph winds. Unreal.

 

[4stringdude]

Reading all of these issues alerts me to get all of my propane bottles filled. I also need to get gasoline for my generator. We don't have anything coming in, but I need to be prepared.

 

[phalanx]

That's my lesson learned, I was too complacent from prior years and didn't prepare for the jaut in case like I normally do. It will not happen again. Also time to work again on getting my wife to agree we should get a whole house generator. Don't need a huge one, just enough to run one of the heating units and appliances. I practice power management in my trailer so not a big deal for me. Wife's been against the expense because we never rarely lose power here. Maybe this will change her mind.

 

[southdakbearfan]

Dang, that sucks. Those storms that take out power are the worst.

We haven't gotten much snow yet, but the last 3 weeks have been really cold. A lot of -10 to -20 lows, 20-30 mph winds. 50 mph winds tonight, with a couple inches of powdery snow and -50 wind chills tonight.

Cold killed the end of muzzleloader season for me, but on the plus side we went from no ice on the lake to over a foot so I have been fishing.

The forecasts, which are usually pretty good for winter, have been all over the board this year for some reason.

 

[southdakbearfan]

Not the same but years ago 4 of us were camping north of Beulah Wyoming deer hunting. About the third day I killed a nice buck in the morning. For the afternoon I thought I would do some coyote hunting. By the time I got back just at dark the snow was coming down sideways and the wind howling. I was soaked and told the guys I needed to get some place to dry off and change.

We went to the bar/restaurant/post office/ store in Beulah to have dinner, dry off, and change. While there the Weather Chanel forcasted 44 inches of snow and 70 mph winds. We went to Spearfish to stay at a hotel and thankfully a supermarket next door. Stuck there for 3 days with all roads closed down. But had food and warm bed. Thankful to this day we made it to town.

Realize how good life is when you have to rough it for a while.

Winter Storm Atlas? That one sucked.

 

[toytruck]

Also time to work again on getting my wife to agree we should get a whole house generator. Wife's been against the expense because we never rarely lose power here. Maybe this will change her mind.

That's what I did in 2012 after that delreco wind storm. A large tree 1/4 mile below me dropped a large limb over a power pole which knocked power out from the tree for miles including me. Power was on the other side of that tree. The tree was finally removed couple years ago.
I bought a Generac portable generator that will power my two freezers/refridgerator/microwave/and kitchen outlets. I had an electrician install additional breaker box that came with the generator so if/when I need to use it just plug it up outside, throw the breaker and we have power. It's not a full house, but should get me through the short term of a power outage.
Like said we have the occasional outages from some idiot hitting a power pole or lightning. Never had lost power for four days till that wind storm.
Might fool me once, but not again...lol

 

[toytruck]

Winter Storm Atlas? That one sucked.

View attachment 18566

That snow reminds me of Ellsworth AFB, S. Dakota in 1973. I was working that night, blizzard hit, only thing moving on base was snow mobiles.
My little Toyota car was covered up, that was a big storm. I really like the state of South Dakota, would like to return one day.

 

[phalanx]

southdakbearfan that pic is amazing!! Makes the snow here look tiny!

Toytruck generac is what i would get. I lile the idea of being able to hook up to the house if needed and ability to use elsewhere if needed. Seems like a good compromise on power and transportability. I have a small 1500W Coleman and a 3500 generac that is on wheels. Was thinking 8K size for the house though.

 

[southdakbearfan]

southdakbearfan that pic is amazing!! Makes the snow here look tiny!

Toytruck generac is what i would get. I lile the idea of being able to hook up to the house if needed and ability to use elsewhere if needed. Seems like a good compromise on power and transportability. I have a small 1500W Coleman and a 3500 generac that is on wheels. Was thinking 8K size for the house though.

It isn't exactly a normal snow here, but every few years we seem to get some stuff like that. Also depends where in the state you are as the Black Hills get a lot more snow, but warm up pretty fast and melt whereas the northeast part of the state gets less, but if you get snow early in the year it blows around all dang winter as it is much colder.

 

[deermanok]

Losing power like that definitely isn't fun.
One year in Connecticut, we had a Halloween snow storm that dumped a few inches of wet heavy snow. Big problem was that all the trees still had their leaves on. What a mess, trees down all over the place.
I lost power at my house for 3 days.
At least we had the wood stove for heat. We cooked food on the Coleman stove on the porch. Luckily, a friend of mine had power at his house, I brought all the venison from my freezer to one of his empty ones.
We took showers at the hospital where we worked. We actually were pretty lucky compared to some people during that time.

 

[minelabbob]

power outages ! i feel your pain we had a storm years ago like that . no power for a week. story gets better so
i bury all my food in a deep snow bank so at lest i could fireup gas grill. after the 3rd day YOGI BEAR need something
to eat and found my snow stash! well he must have had a ball . all i had were bear tracks all around.
now we have a generator and its the best money i ever spent. good luck stay warm.

 

[Hausser1]

Reading all of these issues alerts me to get all of my propane bottles filled. I also need to get gasoline for my generator. We don't have anything coming in, but I need to be prepared.

me too

 

[Hausser1]

That's my lesson learned, I was too complacent from prior years and didn't prepare for the jaut in case like I normally do. It will not happen again. Also time to work again on getting my wife to agree we should get a whole house generator. Don't need a huge one, just enough to run one of the heating units and appliances. I practice power management in my trailer so not a big deal for me. Wife's been against the expense because we never rarely lose power here. Maybe this will change her mind.

uh-oh, you have a warden too

 

[Hausser1]

Winter Storm Atlas? That one sucked.

View attachment 18566

on the next twilight zone, "The Forever Freeway"

 

[MrTom]

One year in Connecticut, we had a Halloween snow storm that dumped a few inches of wet heavy snow. Big problem was that all the trees still had their leaves on. What a mess, trees down all over the place.

We had a Halloween snow storm here in 1991. Something like 17 inches of heavy, wet snow. Then ice came. Miles of downed power lines and poles. Trees took a severe beating as did gutters. We didn't lose power here at home. My deer season began two days after the storm and that was a mess.

Right now we are under a blizzard warning. 9 degrees right at the moment with some strong, sustained winds and hellish gusts. I don't think its snowing but rather snow being whipped around by the wind. This system is headed straight east so Wisconsin and Michigan maybe should get prepped.