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Are you prepared for the storm?

rob333 (zone 7b)
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago

I've been going around getting errands done ahead of Thursday night/Friday morning. I have all my groceries, toiletries, medication, full tank of gas... And I'm getting anything and everything that can be put into the freezer into it. In the last storm, the stuff that was in the freezer fared far better than the stuff in the fridge. This time, there's almost going to be nothing in the fridge, and if the electricity does go out, I'll have a fighting chance. Living in Nashville, this is one of the benefits, we won't be without electricity for long. I still need to figure out what I can eat that doesn't need to be refrigerated or frozen, or heated up. I'm also about to send my siblings a text that says if you end up without electricity and I have it, I have beds, as a reminder. My child is away at school, so I have a full (futon) and a queen bed upstairs. I'll be sure to charge my phone before too late in the evening tomorrow, and turn off my work phone, so it lasts.


What did you do, or are you doing for this ice storm?


I'm keeping everyone in my thoughts. Stay safe!

Comments (53)

  • LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
    2 years ago

    We are just getting snow here although there is probably a sheet of ice under the snow on the roads and on my driveway because it rained most of the day yesterday. So far we have 2" on the ground and are in a little lull at the moment but more to come.

    I have a portable generator and 5 gallons of fresh gas for it in case the power goes out so I can run some lights, TV, fridges, and freezers. Wood burning fireplace with a insert will keep most of the house warm enough but not comfortable.

    We haven't had a destructively bad ice storm here since 2002 but that one wreaked havoc and the cleanup on my property took months.

    Hope this storm isn't as bad as they are predicting. Looks like right now the ice is in southern Missouri and Illinois and now starting up along the Texas/Oklahoma border.


  • JustDoIt
    2 years ago

    I think everybody in Texas learned from last year. Fortunately I am within a few blocks of a major hospital and we seldom are without power for very long. Southwest Airlines has already cancelled all flights out of Dallas Love on Thursday. Schools are closing here today early and are closed tomorrow.

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  • anneliese32
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    I just got back from getting more cat food (I got to have my priorities straight). Am on the same track as robb. I am all set, got enough food which don't spoil. Bread for sandwiches , some jerky. When it starts to ice, I fill all my thermoses with boiling hot coffee, tea, soup and the big thermos pot with ravioli and tomato sauce. All blankets are in a pile and out of storage. Since I am all prepared and the birdfeeders all filled, it most likely will pass by.

    Everybody in the path of this icestorm,stay safe and warm

  • murraysmom Zone 6a OH
    2 years ago

    Boy, some great ideas here. Thanks. It's raining today, tonight the ice begins, turning to snow late tomorrow so that will be a lot of ice. If we lose power, I have good food to tide me over. I don't have a heat source but plenty of quilts to keep me and Carmelita warm enough. I got her dog food yesterday so we both are good to go. I left my car outside today to get rained on and get some of the road salts off of it. I will put it into the garage in a little while. My garage door is manual so no problem of not being able to get out with the loss of power. I'm so fortunate that I don't have to go anywhere and can ride this out.

    Stay safe everyone.

  • Kathsgrdn
    2 years ago

    I picked up some Stok and milk yesterday when I was out. Bread was almost out in Wal-mart, and I couldn't find normal hot dog buns. I didn't go for bread, but other people were staring at the almost empty bread isle when I was looking for buns and it was pretty sad. I did go ahead and get the pack of hotdogs anyway. Went to Trader Joe's when I was in Lexington for dog biscuits and a couple of freezer items I wanted.


    Will keep my phone and phone charger charged just in case. I just hope the power doesn't go out because then I'll have to pack things up and go in to work. I work the next 3 nights. Not supposed to start till Thursday night.

  • beesneeds
    2 years ago

    Yep, got all my errands run yesterday while my driveway was still gloriously clear :) I didn't have much, I tend to prep up all winter long for days like this.

    This morning I shoveled a few hundred feet of path down to the pole barn- 4 inches or so. Supposed to get another 5-7 inches before it tapers off tomorrow into a couple more inches.

    Life would have been easier if the snowblower wanted to start when we got the first snow- by the time I get us really dug out we get dumped on again, this is the third time. Hopefully this will be the last big one.

    And now I'm warmed up and done with lunch. so time to go out and re-clear the path!

  • jewels_ks
    2 years ago

    Yesterday I made it to the vet, gym, store, and gave blood all before any weather started. We had misting first and then snow. It's been snowing and blowing since about 9:00 last night. School is cancelled today and tomorrow and since I work at a school I am off. I had Monday and Tuesday off too just due to my schedule. I made a pot of chili last night, getting ready to heat some up for lunch.

  • functionthenlook
    2 years ago

    Our weather isn't coming in until the middle of the night. They still don't know when the rain is changing over to ice. We came home from camp a day earlier than planned. Daughter is dropping off the kids later tonight because the daycare already texted that because of the weather they will be closed Thursday and Friday and she has to work. School will probably be closed, haven't heard yet. We are going to wing Friday.

    We have plenty of food and a generator.

  • Olychick
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Instead of emptying the fridge, I'd fill it with whatever I had that can go in the refer. bottled water, even mason jars of water. Things from the pantry that can be refrigerated, like extra bottles of juice or even vinegar, any canned fruit, etc, The fuller it is, the longer it takes for the inside to warm up. If you're having freezing weather, you can fill containers and let them freeze outside then rotate them into your fridge to keep things cold.

    When we have long power outages in the winter here and it's cold enough outside, I just move the most perishable items to an ice chest/cooler outside - like the milk and mayo, cheese etc. It doesn't freeze in the cooler (I also fill any extra space with bottles or jars of water to keep it warm enough in the cooler to keep things from freezing (if it's that cold outside).
    And if you lose your internet, remember your hotspot on your smart phone. If you don't watch videos, it can keep you connected for a good long time - if you have a way to charge your devices.

  • aok27502
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    If the power is out and you don't have a generator, how about putting refrigerator items in a cooler and putting it outside? We've put it straight into snow, or on a covered walk or porch. The cooler should keep creatures out.

  • matthias_lang
    2 years ago

    We already had the ice aspect of it last night and it is not too bad. That means there is little chance of loss of power. The snow portion has already started, but doesn't look like it will amount to even half of what was predicted 12 hours ago. It is the cold that will be of concern.


    I had 20 fruit trees on order, hoping to plant them last fall, but they did not deliver until two days ago. The ground was already frozen hard, so I could not even heel them in. Had to put them all in my big garden cart and fill with damp pro-mix over the roots. I set up a small heater in my detached unheated, un-insulated garage. They can take some freeze, but I'd rather they did not since they come from a part of the country that I don't think exposed them to such deep cold already. Anyway, the trees are what I'll be crossing fingers for.

  • anneliese32
    2 years ago

    PS: I checked all my flashlights, I also have 1/2 doz. of those puck-lights which get placed in hallway, bathroom, bedside and kitchen and batteries for everything are on a shelf in the hallway. Everything else with batteries got checked and uploaded.

  • marilyn_c
    2 years ago

    I live in east Texas. Last year it snowed three times and we had an ice storm. Two of the snows and the ice storm were in the same week. It was stressful because my husband was on oxygen, and the power was off and our generator, which had only been used three or four times previously, quit.


    My husband has since passed away, so I am not stressed about this one because it will be more of a "normal" storm...it will start warming up in a day or so. If the power goes out, I have my kitchen gas range, which kept us warm last year. I am not worried about my frozen food, because most of it is in an unheated outbuilding, and it handled the outage well last year. I have plenty of food for me and my animals. I have a couple of plants to bring in, and I will go ahead and bring them in this evening when I go to the barn to feed.


    Power goes off around here all the time. It is usually only a few hours. My plan is to just stay in, and bring in the dogs and provide extra bedding for the cats that sleep in the new barn. The cats in the horse barn have plenty of bedding and warm places to sleep.


    Hopefully, that will be it for us. Except for venturing out to feed the animals, I will be staying inside.

  • sephia_wa
    2 years ago

    If you have power brick(s) for your cell phones be sure they're charged up. A good power brick can recharge your phone a couple of times. I always bring one when I'm traveling. Often I'm out and about all day on a trip so having an additional power source keeps my phone from dying.

  • nickel_kg
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    I double checked and they're still saying an inch of rain for us -- so thankful it won't be ice or snow. Hope everyone in its path comes through it uneventfully!

  • Alisande
    2 years ago

    We're expecting some snow, a lot of sleet, and a lot of ice. I went out this morning and picked up curbside grocery orders. I thought Walmart would be crowded, but I was the only vehicle in the pickup section. I stocked up on cat food last week, so I'm good with that. Ditto the gas in my car. I'll get everything charged, including the hand-held transceiver that I use as a scanner during weather events.

    We have portable generators, but I don't like to rely too heavily on them just in case.

  • summersrhythm_z6a
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    We are expecting 8-12" from this storm, have two snow blowers ready to go. It's raining right now, I will go get some milk tonight. We also have portable generators. Last Dec while we were traveling we had 4 hr outage.

  • bpath
    2 years ago

    As usual this winter, we seem to be on the north edge of the snow. Last week, a town just 7 miles south of us got 7”, we got 2”. okay, maybe 3. Early this morning, we got a few inches, the city and points south got up to a foot. It’s all very strange. We are getting some more tonight, but not a storm, not a blizzard. That’s okay by me, I’ve had my fair share of blizzards and ice storms and ”winter events”. But I would like a less anemic winter than we’ve had so far. Give me a few 4”-“6” events with a week or two of freezing air and blue skies in between, so the snow stays white and doesn’t turn to ice.

  • LynnNM
    2 years ago

    It’s been snowing on and off all day here in our northern New Mexico mountains. Right now we have about 5-6 inches of snow on the ground, which for us here is very good because this past year has been very dry. My husband and I are both retired so we didn’t have to drive anywhere which is a really great! We got all of our food shopping done on Monday. Our daughter moved back home with us from Dallas temporarily until she can find a nice place of her own nearby. She luckily counsels her clients via TeleMed , so she’s safe and warm here with us. Now I’m off to make a nice hot homemade soup for us for dinner.

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    2 years ago

    Y, we went to Costco and bought a chicken....that'll feed us for a few days, cold or hot. Hopefully we won't lose power, but we have a woodstove and a generator so we should be ok.

  • Adella Bedella
    2 years ago

    My dh did his monthly generator check. We are pretty prepared so I didn't do anything beyond that other than pulling some of the Christmas ham out of the freezer to add to the black eyed peas tomorrow. That will help keep us feeling warm and toasty.


    My kid who works in the grocery store got home about an hour ago. He said the bread, milk, water, etc., was steadily going out the door today.

  • schoolhouse_gwagain
    2 years ago

    murraysmom, where in Ohio are you located? I'm in Wayne County and have the same forecast as you. Raining here right now.


    Went grocery shopping Monday but didn't need too much. I ended up with mostly snack items! I should have waited until today to get those as they are nearly gone. lol With a stand-by Generac generator, I don't have the anxiety like I used to all those years without one. I was getting too old to use a bucket when the pump wouldn't run to flush the toilet. Funny thing is, we used to lose power alot - until I got the generator. Now not so much.

  • LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
    2 years ago

    The storm has moved to the south and east of us already. We got about 4" of snow yesterday and I got that cleared off the driveway. Looks like another inch or so fell overnight. That is about half of what the guessers were forecasting for my area. I'll take it!

    Looking at the radar this morning, just about the entire state of Arkansas is getting ice as well as a good chunk of Texas and a thin strip along the Ohio river valley.

  • Ninapearl
    2 years ago

    west central illinois here. we had 3 straight days of heavy snow and ended up with a total of 15". our road commissioner took pity on us and plowed our private lane yesterday. i have shoveled the deck 8 times. my long-legged great danes are having no problems getting around in the snow and my youngest girl is having a blast playing in it.

    my dog food delivery that was scheduled via fed ex for monday is finally out for delivery today. whew!!

    had to turn the thermostat down yesterday, i'm waiting on a delivery of propane. my 500 gallon tank is down to 20% so hopefully, he will get to me today. bright sunshine today and for the next few days so the roads should be decent by monday. i don't ever remember having this much snow since i lived in minnesota!! i'm SO over winter!!!

  • murraysmom Zone 6a OH
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Schoolhouse, I live in Hamilton County. We were supposed to get rain, then ice, then sleet and then 3"-5" inches of snow. What we ended up getting was rain, ice, sleet and then even more sleet. The most ever recorded for our area. There are snow flurries still happening until this afternoon although the sun made a brief appearance. At least the neighbor's dog is happy.



    ETA I don't have a generator so I will be out of luck if the power goes out. However, I will still have water which I am thankful for.

  • rob333 (zone 7b)
    Original Author
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Sounds like everyone's doing okay?


    We got a glazing, with a ton of rain! I bet my basement got flooded, but I'm not going to go find out, because I'd slide all the way down the stairs.


    Electricity has stayed on, so I will make a ham and leek pot pie.

    Hope everybody turns out okay!

  • lily316
    2 years ago

    It's been raining here since Wednesday night nonstop and the temps are going down but still above freezing at 34. So no ice which I hate but not a flake of snow. We are so under for snow this year. All systems missed us including last week's of feet to the very east of us.

  • marilyn_c
    2 years ago

    No biggie here, but I let all the dogs sleep inside. My little house dog wasn't pleased about that. She sat in her recliner and glared at them. She is definitely not an animal lover.

  • functionthenlook
    2 years ago

    We got it all, rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow. A mess. We kept electricity, but some were not so fortunate. Going to throw on some chili and start the task of clearing the driveway. It will probably be a multi step project to get it down to concrete.

  • Kathsgrdn
    2 years ago

    Rain, turned to sleet and light snow on top. No ice on tree limbs so that's a good thing.

  • woodrose
    2 years ago

    We had a lot of rain yesterday and last night, heavy at times. It changed to snow during the night, but we didn't even get enough to cover the ground. No power outage and I can't see any ice anywhere. I hope we don't have any ice on the ground, but I'm not going outside to find out !

  • functionthenlook
    2 years ago

    Driveway is shoveled and salted.. The rest is ice. Now we wait until the ice turns to slush and shovel again.. then salt again.


  • lily316
    2 years ago

    Pretty much a non-event for us. I just did a 3 and 1/2 mile walk around town and there are no icy sidewalks. The trail would be far too muddy though with two inches of rain.

  • stacey_mb
    2 years ago

    No biggie here, but I let all the dogs sleep inside. My little house dog wasn't pleased about that. She sat in her recliner and glared at them. She is definitely not an animal lover. LOL!

  • lucillle
    2 years ago

    Temps were in the 20s and my thermostat went out. Fortunately the apt. complex handyman replaced it just a few hours later.

    I did forget about the plants outside my door, they are pretty sad looking.

  • Ninapearl
    2 years ago

    well, my propane tank is full but my dog food delivery didn't show up. i have enough to get me through to next wednesday but once again, fedex has failed miserably. i wish i could buy local but one of my dogs has to have a renal support food and if i buy from my vet, it's $90/17 lb. which is $20 more than at chewy.

    it's -2 right now. i haven't been anywhere since early this week so i need to go out and at least start my van and let it run for a bit! hopefully, my garage door isn't frozen shut. 🤣

  • murraysmom Zone 6a OH
    2 years ago

    I couldn't get my driveway cleared since most of it is ice. My very nice neighbors got the part at the street where the plow builds a wall cleared for me and I got out today just driving on the snow on the driveway. It felt good to be able to just leave for a little while. :)



  • Adella Bedella
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Happy to say it was basically a whole lot of not much with school cancelled. We had a little wintry mix and a short period of sleet and then the storm moved on. They closed some of the overpasses because of ice and I guess no equipment to handle it. Nothing stuck to the ground here. We did have to go pick up a child after work. There was some frozen precipitation on the windshield that we had to scrape off. We don't carry ice scrapers in out vehicles anymore so fortunately, I remembered where I put them.

    Here was the worst of it for us. ;)


    Edit: For some reason, I can't post my photo.

  • functionthenlook
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    murraysmom Zone 6a OH, half of the people around here (Pittsburgh area) aren't touching their driveways. Salt is non existing. It's better to just leave the snow on the ice than taking it down to ice. It took 3 shoveling/scraping and salting to get our driveway down to concrete. Just hoping the wind stays calm until it warms above freezing tomorrow. The trees are covered in ice.

  • Kathsgrdn
    2 years ago

    I went to Lexington today, on the way I noticed one side of the trees on the parkway had ice all over them, the other had none. Got to Lexington and seemed most of the trees were covered in ice. It was really pretty with the sun shining on them this afternoon. Went to Target and when I left there was a bit of a steep hill to the main road and a Jeep of all things was slipping on the ice, three guys had gotten out of their cars to help push it up the hill. All the other cars behind it had no problem going up that icy slope.

  • maire_cate
    2 years ago

    I'm not disappointed that we missed the horrendous ice storm that was predicted for our area. We had heavy rain during the night but no black ice on the driveway or street. The path down to the woods was a little icy where the rain had frozen on top of the leaves but it wasn't bad. We canceled plans to travel to upstate PA over the weekend because the conditions in that direction weren't good. I'm sure it's all because I went out Friday morning and bought very expensive rock salt at the little hardware store near my home. $20. for 8 pounds of magnesium chloride pellets - which I didn't need anyway.

  • beesneeds
    2 years ago

    Got the big inches cleared, but the propane din't show up on Friday :( that 5-7 business day window is a stinker somtimes, lol. Then we got another 3 inches over Friday night. We got everything cleared again yesterday morning. I do hope the truck shows up tomorrow rather than Tuesday. Keeping my fingers crossed we get no more snow before the delivery. Had to kick baseboard heaters on and such to get us through the past few days.

    Also got a nice batch of turkey stock and a batch of Asian pork simmered up for the freezer, and been doing rounds of dehydrating overnight to boot.

  • functionthenlook
    2 years ago

    Beesneeds, we have a wifi device on our tank. When it hits 30% they automatically come and fill the tank. Something you might want to look into.

  • Lars
    2 years ago

    The storm should be over by now, I think, as there is a heat wave in Southern California at the moment.

    Since weather generally travels from west to east, you should be feeling the effects of this heat wave later this week.

    We left L.A. on Sunday, and Palm Springs is being spared the excessive heat wave warning this week.

  • rob333 (zone 7b)
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    Ya know, I don't think a heat wave today will make up for the ice branches that brought a hault to services.

    https://cm.commercialappeal.com/specialoffer?gps-source=CPINTRSM&itm_medium=onsite&itm_campaign=2022SLJ&itm_source=digital&itm_term=inmark

  • beesneeds
    2 years ago

    I do have a device on my tank, well one of the two lol. The one that does not have the device is the one on my loves office, and he lets it run out before saying anything. The new tank on my side of the house gave me the message to make the order. But it was a matter of 5-7 business days- so either Friday or after the weekend of Monday or Tues. I had the bad luck of falling into the end of Tuesday to be scheduled. Propane got delivered this morning and everything is running fine again. It was nice to see my usual friendly propane guy :)

    We have been using the baseboard heaters for almost a decade before finally getting a new furnace last fall for my side of the house. So a few days to cover while awaiting a fill wasn't too bad, the snow timing just sucked, lol. And that would have been fine except the snow blower not starting was a bummer.

  • raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
    2 years ago

    I still have most of the driveway covered in ice, but it was softening up rapidly this afternoon. I still couldn't get a lot of it cleared, though. The sidewalk by the street not only had the initial layer of sleet and freezing rain, but a few more layers added by the plow as they cleared the street right up to the curb. I hacked my way through that multilayer mess on the driveway apron, to the point that I could drive over it, but I am not attempting the sidewalk again. (I usually do have it shoveled the next day, since we have so many kids walking to the school down the street, and adult walkers too - but for this, I'm on strike.)

    The local weatherman said that if the freezing rain and sleet had been snow instead, it would have been 12-18" of snow. It sleeted steadily from around 3 am until 5 pm, when it changed to snow.

  • summersrhythm_z6a
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Raee, put some salt on your driveway and the sidewalk. I just had a fall on the icy driveway, it wasn't fun, I couldn't move for a while. The dog dragged me down, and he won't help me up.

  • raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
    2 years ago

    Summersrhythm I did throw sand on it a few days ago. It's very nearly all melted now.

    A couple of years ago I started to sweep the snow off my porch, not knowing that there was a layer of ice underneath. As I approached the steps I stepped on the ice, went flying off, and landed at the bottom having hit the edge of the bottom step. Like you, I couldn't get up right away, and had to lie down as soon as I got back into the house. The fall gave me a broken rib and vertebrae. I've been extra careful ever since!

  • summersrhythm_z6a
    2 years ago

    Oh no, that sounds painful! I had a fluffy fur coat and fur hat on, that helped a lot with a hard fall, I didn't break any bones, just have some muscle pain today. I checked online about falling technique today. Have to know how to fall safely.