Skip to main content

Prepping for the big winter storm

     


    The first great Winter Storm of 2022 is slowly making its way across America.   It's supposed to hit us here Sunday afternoon and bring anywhere between 8 to 12 inches of snow.  The worst part of this storm is the anticipation of it.  

    It's slowly moving across the United States and the local weather service has given us advanced warning going back several days.   As such, we have weatherproofed some of the windows - at least those that we know our young kitten is not likely to destroy.   We have tested the generator, and cleaned our wood burning stove.  

    We have the staples of milk, bread and toilet paper in stock.  I have a huge can of ice melting salt at my disposal, a brand new snow blower ready in the garage.  I have my boots, heavy jacket and scarf laid out;  I am ready for this storm.

    I have never liked winter.  Moving south was always part of my plans and I moved south shortly after college to escape the cold.  So I find it ironic that I've moved back up north to escape the heat caused by climate change.

    Generally speaking, winter in Pennsylvania is not that bad.  Historically we have had average lows of 19 F (- 7 C) to highs of 45 F (7.2 C), it's just that our part of Western Pennsylvania seems to be perpetually grey.  

    According to the locals, last winter was the worst winter we had in some time.  I was surprised by how mild it seemed to me.  Climate change however is affecting even my home state.  Our average temperature has gone up by a whole degree in the last 50 years with a steady increase in rainfall and flooding during the spring and summer months.

   We live 1 exit above the so called I-80 border, it is part of the US highway system that cuts the state in an east - west direction.  It's also the unofficial snow line that separates the "south" from the "north" of Pennsylvania and historically the worst of the winter weather is to the north of the I-80 separation. When I mean historically I do mean "Historically," as even the glaciers of the ice age only went as far south as nearby Moraine State Park.   


    The funny thing is that if we can make it through these next two weeks; thanks to the storm and its cold front we expect temperatures to remain below freezing, it starts to warm back up and we can expect a rather warm February.

    Thankfully I am continuing to work from home and don't have to worry about a commute.   Our house is well stocked with a variety of food and drinks.  If I have learned one thing about living in the country it's to be prepared for whatever may come.  

    Have those tarps ready, have that extra gas can available, have those blankets in the car.  When I lived in the city I could rely on public transportation, or on the roads being plowed.  Here, we have to be prepared.  We have to be a bit more self reliant because those services I once took for granted simply are not available.  I am frankly as ready as I can be as I interned to simply hunker down and ride it out.  

Be safe everyone.

Labels:
Location: Stoneboro, PA 16153, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

What all the cool kids are reading.

Getting things done. Small victories add up.

In the new TV show Fallout there is a great line.  " The Golden Rule of the wasteland is thou shalt be distracted by bullshit every single time." I've never played the game it is based on but the picture shows the two newest distractions in my life.  We have taken care of our former neighbors barn cats since he moved out nearly a year ago.   Long story short the mama cat gave birth in his barn that we we given access to.  We found four little black long hair kittens and decided to take them, as it would probably be the only time we would be able to catch them.   Much to our surprise after a day or so the mama came over and started to milk them laying on our kitchen floor.  She's comes in, feeds them and then goes back outside.  Once they are mature enough to have them fixed we are planning on doing so and then they will go to a good home.   That's the plan...but plans have a tendency to change as one or two of them are findi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Calling in the professionals

 I come from a long line of guys that call in professionals.    Part of that reason is my own lazy nature, part of that reason is that I would rather have it down right the first time.  Everyone has their own skills and abilities, so why not call in an expert to have it done right the first time? In this case; why not seek advice in the battles against the invasives that have not only invaded my yard, but also a nearby piece of property that my neighbor simply refuses to take care of?  I find myself in a bind of my own design. I let part of my property "go wild" in the first place because that area had a lot of exposed roots, stumps and rocks.  At the time, I was not expecting a bunch of invasives, of which Mulitfora Rosa  is the worse of the bunch, to be a problem.  Yet, here we are. I decided to let parts of my yard "go wild" back in July of 2021.  It has proven to be a mistake, and in order for me to ensure that the invasive plants st...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rain and tears and those damned deer. Gardening can be painful.

“ None of us understand what we're doing, but we do beautiful things anyway.” ― Allen Ginsberg   The weatherman stated that we have not had any significant rainfall in over two weeks.  Nor did he see any relief in site. We are not in drought conditions yet, we are just unusually dry.  Interestingly enough, Pennsylvania should be getting warmer and wetter in the future if the climate models hold true.  If we narrow that down even more to my home town , the picture becomes even more interesting.   Solar Punk Pittsburgh For now though, I was worried about my garden.   It is not that big, I basically have a variety of containers around where I am maintaining lettuce, leeks, tomato's, peppers, strawberries, grapes, sunchokes (which I was really interested in growing) and a few other things.     Every garden needs to be watered and I played around with the idea of a r ain water collection systems before, we even had a simple one i...
2 comments
Read more