THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

[Deleted User]

It is going to be treacherous underfoot for anyone venturing out. Take baby steps when testing, keeping weight over foot

I bought a second large thermos last week, by gum they are good these days. I filled it yesterday morning and it was still very hot this morning. I also put dry/tinned foodstuffs handy in a kitchen drawer. If the power goes off then I don`t want to be opening the fridge. Later I will get a small bag of fridge stuff and keep it in my porch, so I can dip in and out of milk etc over the next few days.

Tremendously dangerous drifting snow is due in hours in the sw. 10cm can turn into a massive drift because of the strong winds. I am making sure to have proper cooked meals while I can, ready to survive on hm granola and stashed soya milk but I will be fetching them out of the shed as soon as it is safe. Candles matches torches handy. Radio, on batteries, set on fm because dab uses an awful lot of power and will drain batteries fast

Oh yes, I am also heating my water tank to its maximum, helps to keep house core warm

GreyQueen

:eek: Looking Christmas-card perfect outside today but the snow is piling up fast. A visual estimate is 3-4 inches atm, but I shall take the ruler out when I leave for work and take a proper reading.

Have just attatched the yax trax to the wellies, which I will wear for the five minute toddle up some steep slopes to the office. Five minutes sounds trivial, but you can fall easily. In the great freeze of Dec 2010, two of my neighbours broke limbs just outside the block, and they were in their twenties and their forties respectively, not frail seniors.

I have also got out one of my leki walking poles and will be using it in spike mode. People might laugh at me in the city centre but a walking pole (or stick) means that one has two points in contact with the ground at all times, even in mid-step, and that's got to be safer.

It's not just broken limbs that can occur when you slip, you can wrench muscles and tendons with a slip-and-awkward recovery.

I am strongly suspecting that refuse/ recycling collections will have to be suspended today, I cannot see how the trucks can safely squeeze into streets of terraces with cars double-parked on both sides. It's tight fit even without snow to factor in, and a bit of slippage can see a v.large vehicle sliding into a row of parked cars/ garden wall/ house etc.

I've got a pal or two and a rellie or two out in HGVs as they drive for a living, so hoping that they stay safe and aren't stranded somewhere mahoosively inconvenient.

Keep warm and well, preptastic peeps.

mardatha

Fabulously snowy windy morning here, couple of full-on blizzards and some lightning so far. I wish I had stashed more sweeties though.

DigForVictory

Husband, when he reaches for his poles, uses them in pairs. Medics delighted - apparently it takes a load off the knees - but then he'll by rucksack packing back anything so anything that helps knees strikes me as a good call. He gets some joshing by the ignorant "where are yer skis?" etc but not, I notice, within swiping range...

GreyQueen

DigForVictory wrote: »

Husband, when he reaches for his poles, uses them in pairs. Medics delighted - apparently it takes a load off the knees - but then he'll by rucksack packing back anything so anything that helps knees strikes me as a good call. He gets some joshing by the ignorant "where are yer skis?" etc but not, I notice, within swiping range...

Actually, I will take both poles, if anyone's gonna take the p I can just push them over on the snow and laugh aloud. I've been having physio for a hip problem and currently have a healing (strained) tendon at the top of a quadriceps muscle and don't want to undo the good work thus far.

Bah! Let the mockers, mock. My back is broad.

Snow's still coming down and the sky looks like it has plenty more up there. Gonna be an Interesting Day. Just hope we don't get a burst watermain anywhere + subzero tems = impromptu skating rink. :eek:

Karmacat

Morning! Sunny day here! And its minus 7 outside according to Accuweather, whereas the Met Office tells me it feels like minus 11. Dear me ... normally I wouldn't put my nose over the doorstep in weather like this (well, maybe my nose, yes) but today we have to load the rental van and go to the recycling tip for my area, which is in the next town. Three of us though, we should be fine.

fuddle

How does it become possible for thunder and lightning to occur in such cold temperatures? I haven't heard thunder but I've seen lightening through the night and this morning. I'm flummoxed.

THIRZAH

Blizzard here. Just watched a neighbour ( wearing jeans) clear his drive and then drive off. He's just retired so presumably not going to work. Even if he gets out of the estate he won't get far as according to the local Facebook page the roads that aren't shut are hazardous or blocked with abandoned cars.

[Deleted User]

unstable atmosphere, upward flowing air, jostling clouds, friction, electrons, discharge. Its rare you might get thundersnow ie snow not rain but you`ll only hear it in a small radius because it will be damped sound

Sun is lovely, while I am sitting inside

DigForVictory

karmacat - loads of layers, none of which need be waterproof, hat and at least two pairs of socks. Just check you can still drive, bend & unpackage in a loo cubicle...
fuddle - not sure if this *helps*
"Thundersnow-storms share some characteristics with summer thunderstorms. In both, a region of relatively warm air causes moisture to condense into clouds. A temperature gradient then forms with colder air farther up and warmer air closer to Earth's surface. If the relatively warm air begins to rise, the turbulence causes some water molecules to lose electrons and others to gain them, forming charges within the atmosphere that lead to electrification (discharged as lightning) and a sudden heating and expansion of the air. Thundersnow is unique, scientists believe, because due to the subzero temperatures, interactions between supercooled liquid water, ice crystals and larger ice particles can also generate lightning. In both types of storms, thunder results from the sound waves created by the rapid cooling and contraction of the air superheated by the lightning."
Oh yes and it is Fast "By the time the lightning flashes during a thundersnow-storm, it is often already too late to prepare local residents for the whiteout on the way. "If we're talking about the observation of thundersnow," Market says, "the predictive value is on the order of minutes to hours."

Got to love Scientific American - the science is admirably clear.
Says she puttering determinedly towards the kettle.