Snowmageddon November 2018

[Kingcreek]

Drove home from thanksgiving with the wife’s family in Minneapolis yesterday. Left by 5 am and hit weather in Iowa. Some miles of 45 mph on interstate ice and blizzard conditions. Lots of vehicles in ditches and some bent metal but we got to the front edge and raced it home to nw Illinois. 8” or so of the white stuff with drifts 2’ or more.
Just got off the tractor clearing the drive and the big road grader with the V plow busted the road open a few minutes ago. So now I can get to town for a half days work.

[Kingcreek]

Made it in to town everything is closed even Walmart!
Nothing but plows and a few 4 wheel drive vehicles out. Going back home by the fireplace.

[Fly320s]

Made it in to town everything is closed even Walmart!
Nothing but plows and a few 4 wheel drive vehicles out. Going back home by the fireplace.

Is Waffle House closed?  That is the standard by which -mageddons are measured.

[Kingcreek]

No Waffle House here but the red apple diner was open.
Not that I would ever eat anything there...

[lee n. field]

Drove home from thanksgiving with the wife’s family in Minneapolis yesterday. Left by 5 am and hit weather in Iowa. Some miles of 45 mph on interstate ice and blizzard conditions. Lots of vehicles in ditches and some bent metal but we got to the front edge and raced it home to nw Illinois. 8” or so of the white stuff with drifts 2’ or more.
Just got off the tractor clearing the drive and the big road grader with the V plow busted the road open a few minutes ago. So now I can get to town for a half days work.

Freeport, right on the edge of it.  Not much in town, but the road to Rockford has many vehicles in the ditch, and reports of roads slightly to my south sounded bad enough that I changed my plans for the day.

[Kingcreek]

Storm center was pretty much right down the I80 corridor. Iowa city to Davenport was the worst driving. I live 6 miles south of 80. They are now saying we got 10”.

[Kingcreek]

Kinda nice having an unexpected snow day tacked on to an already 4 day holiday weekend. I’m sure I’ll pay for it in labor tomorrow but I helped the wife put up the Christmas tree and carried totes full of Christmas stuff up from the basement in between fueling the fireplace and drinking wine.
And I finished my LED conversions in 24 can lights throughout the house.
Also got some more stuff squared away for my moms estate sale next weekend. Auctioneer is picking everything up tomorrow.
I’m wondering if this is what retirement feels like.

[Scout26]

Big thick heavy wet snow here.  I was one of the 510 houses in my area and one of the 710,000 without power.  16 hours.  10pm last night until 4 pm today.

Fired up the generator to get the blower on the Fireplace insert working that brought the house up from 58F to 66F in under an hour.  At 75F in another hour.  Also plugged in the kitchen fridge, just to be safe and charged my phone.   Hurricane lights and Harbor Freight flashlights came in handy.  Never broke out the candles.

I need to have some way to power the furnace when power goes out.   It'll be something I seriously look into when I get to SC (and powering the AC down there.)  I've got a 5kW generator, so I should have the juice for an AC unit.   

[charby]

Big thick heavy wet snow here.  I was one of the 510 houses in my area and one of the 710,000 without power.  16 hours.  10pm last night until 4 pm today.

Fired up the generator to get the blower on the Fireplace insert working that brought the house up from 58F to 66F in under an hour.  At 75F in another hour.  Also plugged in the kitchen fridge, just to be safe and charged my phone.   Hurricane lights and Harbor Freight flashlights came in handy.  Never broke out the candles.

I need to have some way to power the furnace when power goes out.   It'll be something I seriously look into when I get to SC (and powering the AC down there.)  I've got a 5kW generator, so I should have the juice for an AC unit.  

Depending on the size of your new AC unti in SC you probably don't have a big enough generator. Many are 6-7kw at start up and 3-5kW running. Since your building possibly, looking into a larger NG permanent generator.

[K Frame]

Storm center was pretty much right down the I80 corridor. Iowa city to Davenport was the worst driving. I live 6 miles south of 80. They are now saying we got 10”.

Damn, that means that my friends in Cedar Rapids got clobbered, and likely had troubles getting to her father's in Bettendorf. I'd better give them a call this morning to see if everyone is OK.


Thanksgiving day was quite windy and cold at Castle Key's new place, but it was clear.

Friday started out absolutely gorgeous, and we were working on hanging new exterior flood lights, but about the time we finished it started in with a cold, miserable rain that lasted through most of the rest of the day.

Sunday was absolutely gorgeous again, though. We were doing some wood working in the driveway and it was sunny and warm enough that I was working in my shirt sleeves.

Yesterday, though, cold, miserable rain again for my trip home. Fortunately it petered out by the time I got close to him.

Rest of the week is going to be blustery and cold, though, with chances of rain. At least no freaking snow in the forecast, though.

[charby]

Damn, that means that my friends in Cedar Rapids got clobbered, and likely had troubles getting to her father's in Bettendorf. I'd better give them a call this morning to see if everyone is OK.

Cedar Rapids was missed in the storm FYI

[K Frame]

Good for them.

[Ron]

The November blizzard of Chicago dropped 6”of very wet snow on my neighborhood.

Ten minutes into snow blowing the drive the snowblower started plugging up regularly.

So many branches broke from the heavy snow I must have inadvertently sucked one into the unit and broke a shear pin. Spent an inordinate amount of time trying to pound it out with a punch. Finally got sick of that and drilled it out.

The unit still struggled with the low part of my drive that was basically a large puddle with snow on top of it. I ended up using the old Craftsman as a plow, pushing the six inches of slush off to one side.

Usually I enjoy clearing the drive and sidewalks, not this time.

[Kingcreek]

Shoveled a lot of heavy wet snow. The radio station was warning everyone and the medical and rescue folks call it "heart attack snow". Now they are reporting some areas of up to 15". Only seen snow with lightening and thunder 2 or 3 times in my life. Still a lot of schools and businesses closed. Some drifts are hip deep.
The auctioneer was supposed come today to pick up the rest of my mothers estate items for a big antique auction this Sunday. Don't know if the rental units are plowed out, I imagine they are low priority on the plow list.

[Ben]

Depending on the size of your new AC unti in SC you probably don't have a big enough generator. Many are 6-7kw at start up and 3-5kW running. Since your building possibly, looking into a larger NG permanent generator.

That's even a little short. For AC plus even limited other stuff, depending on the size of the AC (assuming central), You're looking at 10kw minimum, 15kw for a comfortable buffer. Everytime the AC starts, it's a major electricity suck. The startup does you in, or yeah, you could probably run most on 5kw at their running draw if you're using nothing else.

[K Frame]

My friends moved into a new place a few weeks ago in a pretty rural area of Virginia that's near the bay and is in hurricane alley, so power loss is a real possibility.

The place came equipped with a huge Generac system that will run everything on the property, including the pool, the heating/cooling systems in the house and the garage, etc.

[Ben]

My friends moved into a new place a few weeks ago in a pretty rural area of Virginia that's near the bay and is in hurricane alley, so power loss is a real possibility.

The place came equipped with a huge Generac system that will run everything on the property, including the pool, the heating/cooling systems in the house and the garage, etc.

I want to look into something similar at the new place. I'll have both propane and diesel storage, so plenty of fuel options for the genny. Really my main concern will be Winter. While there's a few weeks in the high 90s there, no AC for short periods is not all that uncomfortable in the dry climate. I'd like a whole house auto kick-in option for the Winter though, in case power goes out if I'm gone for a couple of days or whatever so I don't come home to burst pipes.

[charby]

I want to look into something similar at the new place. I'll have both propane and diesel storage, so plenty of fuel options for the genny. Really my main concern will be Winter. While there's a few weeks in the high 90s there, no AC for short periods is not all that uncomfortable in the dry climate. I'd like a whole house auto kick-in option for the Winter though, in case power goes out if I'm gone for a couple of days or whatever so I don't come home to burst pipes.

Always get a whole house generator and an 2nd 500 or 1000 gallon propane tank.

[Ben]

Always get a whole house generator and an 2nd 500 or 1000 gallon propane tank.

Yeah, the propane tank there is kinda dinky because it's just a supplement to the heat pump. I was thinking about maybe going to a 500 gallon tank if I install a whole house generator. With diesel prices these days, there's not much of a cost delta between diesel and propane, and propane is a bit cleaner/easier to deal with.

[charby]

Yeah, the propane tank there is kinda dinky because it's just a supplement to the heat pump. I was thinking about maybe going to a 500 gallon tank if I install a whole house generator. With diesel prices these days, there's not much of a cost delta between diesel and propane, and propane is a bit cleaner/easier to deal with.

20HP engine will probably consume 40 gallons of propane a day. Propane is nice because it has a shelf life that you won't outlive.

[HeroHog]

So, if I mentioned the nice 60+ degree weather here in Northwest Louisiana, I might tick some of y'all off? 

[charby]

So, if I mentioned the nice 60+ degree weather here in Northwest Louisiana, I might tick some of y'all off? 

You also got a lot of bugs and other critters that bite, that we don't have up north.

[HeroHog]

True but they DO slack off when the temps drop and we are in the 30's at night.