Snow SUCKS!

Hi Jeff,

Sorry to hear about your misfortune with the storm.

We were lucky and missed it all here in the Midwest. I'm starting to experiment with some alternative energy sources that hopefully will give us the essentials in a situation like yours.

Living without power is no fun, but at least you're safe and still alive!

Hope things get back to normal soon for you!

Gary Hammond,

It wasn't the volume of snow, it was that it was heavy and we had lots of leaves still on the trees.

We got about 12" of snow. Thats nothing. But because the leaves were still on all the trees the snow clung to them and snapped them like crazy. I had a 40 foot oak that snapped about 1/2 way up.

If I drive 20 minutes from my house I will see at least 100 trees down in that time frame. Most 2 lane roads are now single lanes that you snake your way through. In one section of town a tree fell across a two lane state highway and it was probably 15 feet tall when laying on its side. People actually went in and cut a tunnel through the tree to allow 1 car at a time to get through.

And that was on Sunday late afternoon...meaning there was about 20 hours that had passed and no one even got close to getting it off the road. We litterally have hundreds and hundreds of trees down on wires in my small town of 15k people.

We still have about 350,000 people without power...and thats primarily in small residential communities.

Amazing, I am roughly 320 miles north of you but a little to the west. All we have had was rain for the last week. No snow in the forecast. Temps hovering around 35 deg F dropping to 31 at night.

Day 4 with no power, no water and no cell phone service.

Inside house temp has dropped to 42 overnight. Bathrooms are really cold with the snow trying to melt in the tubs.

We have been going to my sister-in-laws for hot meals and showers.

Hoping to maybe see power on Friday morning.

No water in the pipes to freeze! I have been draining the hot water heater for fresh water. The basement (since its underground) stays relatively stable regarding temperature.

Day time temps are expected to rise to the low 50's so we might be opening the windows to warm up the house!

The inside of the fridge is actually warmer than the house!

Good thought! Might try that tonight. We just need to be a little conservative with our propane consumption.

This is our most recent update:

"“The report that I’m getting back is that there is more damage than was originally thought. I’ve authorized work crews to work through the weekend so we can try to get the roads up for bussing by Monday at the earliest,” said Williams.

Williams also explained that one of the two National Grid line crews was pulled out of Belchertown last night.

“One of the line crews was pulled out of Belchertown to head to Hardwick. Their police station generator went down,” said Williams. Only one line crew in Belchertown is working to restore power to the 6th largest town in the Commonwealth four days after the storm that left the entire community powerless.

At least you have a plan, that's good. Just curious, Do you have a laptop to post on here? and what do you use for internet? you said you had no power and no cell service and I want a new internet carrier, I use cable internet.
up in seattle, (it snows very little,) every time it snows the world comes crashing down. You'd think that noone ever saw snow before, and people freeze to death in their houses in only 30* weather! but It snows every year.
I put a freestanding wood stove in the living room just for when the power goes out. cost me about $300 after the hearth, but keeps the house warm and gives me somewhere to melt water.

30 deg F is still tee shirt weather up here. Had friends that went to Florida a while back, 50 deg F and the locals broke out the winter coats. Locals thought Canadians were nuts as they were still swimming and in shorts.

Heading into day 7 with no changes other than we now have cell service. i would much rather have had heat or water but at least its something.

The tubs are running out of water and so is the hot water heater (not really a heater now...more like a water container). if we don't get it back this weekend we will have to move somewhere.

Power is back! Good thing my wife stopped in...our toaster oven was still on and unattended.

Wow! I haven't dealt with any of that in about 7 years since I moved to Florida. I am moving back to Pennsylvania in about 4 months though, makes me think that I need to get a backup generator for electrical power just in case. Or find a house with lots of fireplaces or a woodburning furnace and a generator. Looks like I know how I am spending my off time over the next summer, cutting and splitting wood and putting up solar/wind powered electrical generators.