Preparing for a big storm here

[maple1]

Snowblower is the tool to have for dumps like that.

 

[jharkin]

I cleared this patio at 11am. It's a step down from this door to the patio, so I'm figuring about 54" deep in the middle.

View attachment 172978

Wow.
That's what it was like here last year, but it took a few storms to build up to that.

 

[woodgeek]

Hard to tell with the drifting, but my birdbath is gone. I think its over 24" average, and the single biggest storm I've seen here in 20 years.

At least its powdery and not pulling down the wires.

Bad flooding in NJ with the full moon high tides...higher surges than Sandy.

 

[jatoxico]

Yeaaah...

 

[jharkin]

Our totals have been updated... Not surprised as I had the predicted 2 inches at dinner.

Now we might get a whopping 6... still nothing compared to you all. Stay warm.

 

[Ashful]

Hard to tell with the drifting, but my birdbath is gone. I think its over 24" average, and the single biggest storm I've seen here in 20 years.

At least its powdery and not pulling down the wires.

Bad flooding in NJ with the full moon high tides...higher surges than Sandy.

The biggest one I recall was exactly 20 years ago, to within ten days. This is in the top five, tho! Prior big storms in my memory were 1983, '93, '96, and then the 1-2 punch of "Snowmageddon" in 2010.

I have it up to the meeting rails on several first floor windows, now. Got a double-hung on the walk-out side of the basement that's just a wall of snow, no light at all. Looking up at the roof on the leeward side of the house, there's a 7 foot wall of snow straight up from the gutters. That can't be good.

 

[BrotherBart]

The Tropics of Virginia when I got up this morning. And it has kept coming down until about a half hour ago.

 

[Ashful]

Time to build a shed for that tractor, Bart! Run electric out there, if you have a block heater. I did the long extension cord thru the snow thing for a few years, and it gets old... fast.

 

[BrotherBart]

Glow plug for twenty seconds and it fired off this afternoon. It has a block heater but I just gave it a shot without it. Surprised me that it started so easy.

 

[firefighterjake]

I grew up in snow country. Snow (sometimes lots of it) was part of life. Food? the 'rents always had a nicely stocked larder (as do I) and while they may've picked up eggs and milk there certainly was no panicked rush for those items. The biggest threat was loss of electricity (the well pump!); we had a stove and there was no way we were going to be "cold". In retrospect, I blanche at the memory of that stove; it violated every sensible set-back from combustibles, every sensible hearth recommendation, and there was no fire extinguisher in the house (let alone smoke/CO2 detectors).

It made a very big impression on me, you guys. A lot of ladies dislike wood stoves because they're afraid of them (Mum was one of them, for good reason). I love them, but I am the PITA who schedules chimney sweeping, boiler/furnace maintenance, routine stove maintenance and all those details. And I'm the one who maintains the Aladdins and makes sure we have the necessary replacement items on hand at all times. (is there a hyphen in "anal retentive"?)

Also: cat food and cat litter... heaven forbid we run out of either!

Good to see you still kicking around here Bobbin'.

 

[Bobbin]

All I can say is, WOW! you guys were definitely slammed. And my heart goes out to those on the shoreline. It must be so discouraging. I wonder if This Old House will revisit the jobs they did on the Jersey shore as a follow up on the upgrades to vulnerable homes?

 

[Dix]

My emergency stash, right out the back door

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Ended up with maybe 8" here in NE CT. Hard to say with all the blowing and drifting.
Went for a walk on the golf course last night during the height of the storm. Was alright heading out with the wind at out backs, coming back home was like an expedition on Everest!
Glad we got some and not as much as others!
Be safe while digging out. One beer per every hour of shoveling .

 

[begreen]

Biggest PITA is digging around the mini split condensers.

Sounds like they need a small shed roof.

 

[Ashful]

Sounds like they need a small shed roof.

That may not be a bad idea, or at least a temp shelter I put up for storms like this one. Has never been an issue before, but install was just in 2012, and this was our first two-foot storm, since.

The 64" snowblower performed admirably, but I wished I had ballast in my tires, as a 2500 lb tractor pushing a 500 lb snowblower thru this amount of snow doesn't have sufficient traction, even in 4wd and standing on the rear diff lock. The 24" blower failed me, but is repaired now. Headed back out to do walks, patios, and dog trails, shortly.

Also running out of wood at the house! I'm debating chaining up to head down the big hill to my wood lot for another cord. Trouble is, they're 20" splits that must be trimmed to 17"... In about 30" of snow around my stacks.

 

[jatoxico]

After clearing the snow it's still pretty tough to tell how much we got. Could have have used some drift cutters but the snow blower did the job. Last year I tuned the carb and turned up the high speed rpm just a hair (by ear) then did a small repair on the weight distribution lever. There's still stuff I could do but 4 hrs is enough, at least for now.

 

[Ashful]

This is what I was up against here.

 

[begreen]

Lots of drifting.

 

[Dix]

Drifting was amazing ... the wind gusts were brutal.

 

[begreen]

Snowblower is the tool to have for dumps like that.

Uh, about that snowblower...

 

[maple1]

Still better than a shovel or plow. Just need a hole big enough to blow it through. Knock down & blow, repeat..

 

[Zkx14]

These are from yesterday afternoon long before it was done. That's my heat pump under a tarp in front of the dog and Bilco doors where I load my wood into basement behind hèr. Ended up with over 31"

 

[jatoxico]

Uh, about that snowblower...

View attachment 173076

Not quite that bad today but not too far off either. Wind out of the south dropped everything on the north and north/west side of the house. Had probably 40+ inches facing me when I opened the garage this morning.

 

[jatoxico]

Still better than a shovel or plow. Just need a hole big enough to blow it through. Knock down & blow, repeat..

Yeeeahh...I'm not buying it. Blow where?

 

[maple1]

Out away from the doorway. Might take a while to get it, and might have to blow the same snow more than once, but it'll get blown out of the way eventually. What are the alternatives? Unless you get someone to come in with a loader & dump truck to haul it away. Might take them a while to get to you though.