Just waiting for the epic, historical storm to hit! **Update in original post

[Wheres Toto]

We can use our gas stovetop but just have to manually light the pilots.   The oven doesn't work because it's electronic ignition and can't reach to manually light.  We also have a grill outside on the deck and dh doesn't mind grilling outside in the snow. 

 

Our bigger issue is lack of water, although I guess we can melt snow in a pinch. :-)

 

 

[marbel]

Well we went to bed last night convinced my husband's work and daughter CC would be closed today.  But no!   Normal day today.  Darn it. 

 

I should be happy that the weather is not worse.  But I was looking forward to being home today!

[SparklyUnicorn]

I am thinking of you all.  I am in the Finger Lakes region so we are on the absolute fringe of the storm. It's coming down at a fast clip but it is So Cold that it is small dry snow. If it were warmer (like it is going to be for you) it would be very heavy and sticky.

 

We were told it would only be about 4 inches, but if it doesn't stop soon (and it could) we are going to get more.  My kids are so disappointed, lol.

 

Good luck to you all. I hope your power stays on. That wind is supposed to be epic

 

Woke up this morning and not a single flake in the sky.  YAY!!!!!

[Ravin]

This might sound stupid, but comes from someone who had lived my adult life in warmer climes (except for one winter in Great Lakes, but I was living in barracks and not cooking).

 

If you lose power in a snowstorm and you are concerned about keeping temps in your freezer, can't you just treat your porch/balcony as a freezer? If it's fridge temps or lower, is think you'd just want to protect stuff from getting waterlogged or direct sun exposure.

 

In which case, as long as you have a gas oven/stove (you can bake pizza in a Dutch oven) frozen pizza doesn't seem as crazy.

[Lucy the Valiant]

^ Yes, we do that all the time. :)

 

Two things: (1) animals (so we keep our food in coolers w/a big brick on top), and (2) snow only means 32' or so, so if it's "warm snow" the temps can still mess with food (especially frozen food).

 

We do not have a gas oven or stove, though, so - our go-to food in a power outage is instant oatmeal and pre-made soup, etc. We have a little propane camping stove we can use outside, though, too, plus I do cook things like pasta & beef stew on our wood stove.

[Firefly]

This might sound stupid, but comes from someone who had lived my adult life in warmer climes (except for one winter in Great Lakes, but I was living in barracks and not cooking).

 

If you lose power in a snowstorm and you are concerned about keeping temps in your freezer, can't you just treat your porch/balcony as a freezer? If it's fridge temps or lower, is think you'd just want to protect stuff from getting waterlogged or direct sun exposure.

 

In which case, as long as you have a gas oven/stove (you can bake pizza in a Dutch oven) frozen pizza doesn't seem as crazy.

 

 

Not a stupid question at all. :)   Yes, people do do this-we haven't had to because we have a small back up generator we use to keep the fridge going if need be.  Animals getting into food left outside is a concern, but if the food is well protected in a garage or screened porch it would be fine.

[Firefly]

Here it seems to be as bad as they were predicting... at the moment it's hard to tell exactly how much we have so far because of the high winds and drifting.  

 

School and work have been cancelled until Thursday-- yay!

[Zebra]

This might sound stupid, but comes from someone who had lived my adult life in warmer climes (except for one winter in Great Lakes, but I was living in barracks and not cooking).

 

If you lose power in a snowstorm and you are concerned about keeping temps in your freezer, can't you just treat your porch/balcony as a freezer? If it's fridge temps or lower, is think you'd just want to protect stuff from getting waterlogged or direct sun exposure.

 

In which case, as long as you have a gas oven/stove (you can bake pizza in a Dutch oven) frozen pizza doesn't seem as crazy.

In my case I don't have anywhere to put things in my yard so they don't blow away.  I don't have a porch or anything like that to stop my frozen pizza from being blown into the neighbors yard or being lost in a snowdrift.  In a normal snowstorm you can just put your food outside and hope that things don't heat up before your power comes back on.   Blizzards are entirely different.

 

I am sure other people have different set-ups but I simply leave my fridge and freezer closed to preserve the food if we lose power.   And I can't get out to my grill and cook a pizza in a blizzard.  I also don't have a gas oven or stove.   Honestly, most people I know can't access their grill during a blizzard, and don't have a gas oven or stove.

 

So I still maintain the idea that everyone buying frozen pizza for a blizzard is funny and an odd modern life thing.  If you are able to cook a frozen pizza during a power outage caused by a blizzard, I am jealous and have a piece for me :) !

[Momof3]

Well they lifted the 'travel ban'. :)

 

It's drifted in places, but in front of our house there's no more than 4 inches. No more than a foot in the very deepest drifts. 

 

I feel bad for all the people who now have to decide whether to go into work after all or not...

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/nyregion/new-york-blizzard.html

[SparklyUnicorn]

This might sound stupid, but comes from someone who had lived my adult life in warmer climes (except for one winter in Great Lakes, but I was living in barracks and not cooking).

 

If you lose power in a snowstorm and you are concerned about keeping temps in your freezer, can't you just treat your porch/balcony as a freezer? If it's fridge temps or lower, is think you'd just want to protect stuff from getting waterlogged or direct sun exposure.

 

In which case, as long as you have a gas oven/stove (you can bake pizza in a Dutch oven) frozen pizza doesn't seem as crazy.

 

Sometimes you can do that (use your porch as a fridge).

 

You often cannot turn the oven on because most ovens have electric starters.  You can usually use the burner though because you can get it started by lighting it.  Not everyone has gas though.  Of the 6 places we have lived only 1 place had gas (the place we are in now). 

 

You can't get your heat to turn on either.  If you go long enough it becomes dangerous.  We had to go to a shelter once. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

I would like to hear more details on the weather forecasting improvements that Gov. Cuomo mentioned in his 8 a.m. status update.

 

I hope the students who did not get to take their Regents Exams Monday afternoon or today will get a reschedule rather than a wait until June.

 

Eww yeah that's stinky.  Although some students might be happy about the extra study time!

[SparklyUnicorn]

In my case I don't have anywhere to put things in my yard so they don't blow away.  I don't have a porch or anything like that to stop my frozen pizza from being blown into the neighbors yard or being lost in a snowdrift.  In a normal snowstorm you can just put your food outside and hope that things don't heat up before your power comes back on.   Blizzards are entirely different.

 

I am sure other people have different set-ups but I simply leave my fridge and freezer closed to preserve the food if we lose power.   And I can't get out to my grill and cook a pizza in a blizzard.  I also don't have a gas oven or stove.   Honestly, most people I know can't access their grill during a blizzard, and don't have a gas oven or stove.

 

So I still maintain the idea that everyone buying frozen pizza for a blizzard is funny and an odd modern life thing.  If you are able to cook a frozen pizza during a power outage caused by a blizzard, I am jealous and have a piece for me :) !

 

Uh yeah that's true about leaving food outside.  I do have an enclosed porch that I can use.  If not, around here animals would get at the food (cats and squirrels mostly). 

 

I once left a bag of trash outside the back door thinking I'd walk it to the trash can later on.  Within 5 minutes an animal broke in and scattered the trash all over the place!  The squirrels have chewed holes in our plastic cans. 

[MEmama]

I put perishables in a cooler on our enclosed back porch. Not much really needs to be refrigerated though, just dairy. I don't worry about cheese and farm eggs, they'll stay good or a long time without refrigeration. We don't et meat, otherwise obviously I'd keep that on the porch, too.

 

Our gas stove has an electric starter. So using the oven is out, but the burners are fine.

 

It's a wild one out there this morning. Yay for good skiing!

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

We have about 2 feet here but it's hard to tell exactly because of all the drifting. We're supposed to get 5-10 more inches on our side of the state and the travel ban is still in effect for most of the state. Governor Malloy lifted it for local roads in 2 counties but all state roads are still closed.

 

My kids were outside playing before my DH and I even woke up this morning. They are loving it! My DH has Monday and Tuesday off of work this week so we've been enjoying being all snowed in together. The power is still on, and everyone is getting along great so far. I'm about to go shake things up a bit and suggest that we do some school.

[Momof3littles]

We ended up with about 2-3 inches.  Neighborhood kids had a two hour delay, and my kids were thinking all day yesterday they'd be playing outside today in the snow with the neighbors.  As a result, we did a shortened day of school and will do some baking and puzzle assembling later on today.

 

We were supposed to get 9-14 or 6-12. 

 

DH's work decided to close even though the roads were not that bad.  He drove part way to work, got the call, and turned around, so the kids are happy he's working from home. 

[Chava_Raizel]

We're in the middle of the worst part of the storm - I'm in southern NH and we've already got 22 inches at last check, and it's still coming down pretty hard.

 

We are prepared for everything (flashlights, gas for the generator, plenty of food) - but I really hope the power stays on!

[Guest]

~5" so far and coming down steadily.  It's just beautiful.  We're up for a good settling in... We usually just get ICE, which wreaks even worse havoc re: power lines.  

 

This is what goes through my mind when people say they are jealous. :) Winter storms are usually pretty, but the trouble they cause with roads and power lines....not so much.  

[Alessandra]

We missed the worst of it in NJ. It's hard to tell what the snow was for radio reports, as I don't know if measurements are for the "blizzard" only, or include the Monday snow too. We had about 4" on Monday, which we shoveled In afternoon and again around 10 pm, no big deal, as there were breaks when the snow stopped.

 

This morning, another 6", snow had stopped, so it wad ok to dig out. It started snowing again about an hour ago, and it's predicted to end late afternoon. Nothing resembling a blizzard -- no wind, no rapid accumulation. Roads are cleared, power is on. Pretty, light, fluffy snow. Thank goodness!

 

I hope the people to the east of us who are getting the real snow will be ok.

[Alessandra]

This might sound stupid, but comes from someone who had lived my adult life in warmer climes (except for one winter in Great Lakes, but I was living in barracks and not cooking).

 

If you lose power in a snowstorm and you are concerned about keeping temps in your freezer, can't you just treat your porch/balcony as a freezer? If it's fridge temps or lower, is think you'd just want to protect stuff from getting waterlogged or direct sun exposure.

 

In which case, as long as you have a gas oven/stove (you can bake pizza in a Dutch oven) frozen pizza doesn't seem as crazy.

What you are asking makes perfect sense. I have thought of getting a bear bag or even just a big cooler for the garage. The aggressive squirrels we have would probably break through the garage windows and gnaw a cooler apart, lol. Or the raccoons would break in. Or the coyotes. We also have deer, groundhogs, bears, skunks, and chipmunks. We are not even in the country. I have to budget for regular repairs, because squirrels get onto our roof via electric lines and gnaw through shingles. End of rant.

 

After storms, we often get temps that are close to freezing, so I worry about food safety.

 

Also, I harbor a (vain, usually) hope that power will be restored quickly.

[Wheres Toto]

We didn't get much.  I fully expected to have to go to work today but first they called a delayed opening at 11am, then closed completely.  Honestly I was shocked.  Even with our steep hill I was planning on going in if the company was open.  Our road was pretty clear.  Maybe it's slippery out there?  The governor is still suggesting anyone who can should stay home.  Our local schools are all still closed.

[MEmama]

It's still roaring here. The neighbor's metal roof is peeling back in sheets and threatening to blow all over the neighborhood. I'm baking cookies for an upcoming ski meet, DS put in a commendable school day, and we are watching the backyard furniture disappear under drifts. Every time I think it might let up, the snow comes own harder and the wind blows stronger. I love it!

 

Hope everyone is staying warm!

[Murmer]

I got a couple inches...and it appears to be done where we are...originally we were told up to a foot but it seems to be way less than expect...but we still are not planning on going out and about...the roads are a mess because schools were closed so they don't plow as much.

[Ethel Mertz]

Still a raging blizzard here. Power is still on (knock on wood). We've had at least 2 feet of snow. Our car is buried in a four foot drift, the roads are impassable, we're under a travel ban still, and no one is going anywhere anytime soon.

[Lucy the Valiant]

We must be neighbors. Just measured 27" in the "flat part" of the yard (i.e., not a drift!) - shoveled some, but gave up and came back in.

 

VERY thankful to still have power! Beef stew in crock pot . . . Settlers of Catan on the table . . . fire in the woodstove . . . kids curled up with books . . . my van is Out There Somewhere . . . and it's snowing like crazy! Still!

 

Nothing to complain about here. :)

 

 

 

Still a raging blizzard here. Power is still on (knock on wood). We've had at least 2 feet of snow. Our car is buried in a four foot drift, the roads are impassable, we're under a travel ban still, and no one is going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[Lizzie in Ma]

It's already snowing here on the Cape. We're supposed to get hurricane force winds, so will probably lose power. Thankfully, we have a gas fireplace to stay warm by and lots of food.

 

You are on the Cape?  Me too!!  Man we got some snow, but we never lost power.  How are you holding up?

[Lizzie in Ma]

If the power goes out, we can't use our electric stove. Food that doesn't require cooking (like pre-cooked pizza) is much easier. And, while it wouldn't be easy to grill in the well-ventilated garage, at least we would have an opportunity to have coffee, eggs, oatmeal, etc. Plus, if the power is out longer than a couple of days or so, we'll need to start grilling the fish that are in the freezer.

 

Or you can build an outdoor freezer. ;)

[Ethel Mertz]

You are on the Cape?  Me too!!  Man we got some snow, but we never lost power.  How are you holding up?

 

Hi Lizzie - I think we have 18-24 inches. Never lost power. Totally snowed in! Am hearing rumors of another storm coming late weekend or early next week. Kid is eager to get outside, but I am being mean and making him eat first! Hope all is well where you are!

[Home'scool]

More snow predicted for this weekend!!