Storm preparation: I don't get it.

[jymbee]

The weather wizards here in the Northeast US have been positively giddy as this storm approaches with the kind of over-the-top, non-stop reportage that they always do about such weather events. Unless you live in a cave it seems it would be impossible not to have known about it's coming for days.

So why do so many people wait until the day before or even the morning OF the storm to line up for gasoline, buy snow shovels, flashlights, batteries, basic food supplies, etc. etc.?? And this is not all that unusual as one sees this all the time.

I guess I'm a fine one to talk as I've been known to procrastinate more than most, but I'm apt to overcompensate when there's a predictable chance my power will go out!

 

[Travelover]

If you buy flashlights, batteries, salt, etc in advance it is really no fun. Cheap, plentiful and no crowds. In other words, booooring.

 

[sam5570]

you know we don't seem to have the panic thatwe youst to have. now the only thing you got to worry about is the weather man say's it's going to snow, you better get to the store and get milk and bread because they will clean it out in just a few hours. our biggest problem is the highway crews. the weather people will give us a 3 or4 day nottice we got snow comming well the road crew's wait till the road is blocked with wreck's and they say well we can't get past the wreck vehicles to get there.i don't understand but happen's ever time.

 

[unbidden]

The media loves to scare us with doom and gloom so you stay tuned in. I'm looking at radar now, the two storms are still split apart. I'm not feeling thier predition of 30" in my area but will see how it plays out.

 

[deerseeker001]

if it happened in Wisconsin they wouldn't even make mention of it.if they did say anything they would say oh they are used to it.

 

[clemsonfor]

What i want to know is why does this happen every time every year and sometimes many times a season. Who that lives in Boston , or Maine, New hampshire Ct or any of those places up there not own a snow shovel, snow melt, batteries or a flash light for power outages associated with winter?

 

[Larry Caldwell]

What i want to know is why does this happen every time every year and sometimes many times a season. Who that lives in Boston , or Maine, New hampshire Ct or any of those places up there not own a snow shovel, snow melt, batteries or a flash light for power outages associated with winter?

I give them a little bit of a break, because many people can't really afford storm supplies and won't buy them until forced to spend the money.

I live in the country with plenty of resources: 2500 gallons of gravity feed water, a wood shed with several cords of dry firewood, no mortgage, a tractor, travel trailer, generator, and a barn to store stuff in. My pantry takes up two whole walls of floor to ceiling shelves in my 2-car garage, and I have two cupboards dedicated to nothing but batteries, oil lamps and candles. My wife loves that the comfort level of our house doesn't change when the power goes out, and we frequently quit buying groceries for a month or more just to rotate what's on the shelves.

Yes, I worked and planned for this lifestyle, but a lot of it was luck and timing. I try to remember those who are not as fortunate.

 

[jerrybob]

What i want to know is why does this happen every time every year and sometimes many times a season. Who that lives in Boston , or Maine, New hampshire Ct or any of those places up there not own a snow shovel, snow melt, batteries or a flash light for power outages associated with winter?

Good point Nate......I don't understand the lack of preparation either. In our neck of the woods....it rains...it rains alot. When the weather folks say another storm is coming in off the ocean.....guess what....we get rain. You don't see a mad rush down at the stores for rain coats, umbrellas, rain boots.....they're already in our closets. When they call for high winds......we all know some trees will fall over or branches will be lost. That's why I have a chain saw in the shop and a generator for when power goes out. Maybe some folks just like the feeling of being rushed....kinda like last minute Christmas shopping???

 

[mikehaugen]

yeah, if this is happening a couple times a season, wouldn't they have the stuff from the last storm? Okay, salt, milk, water, I understand... but a snow shovel, flashlight, snowblower? I remember back 2 years ago when we got a big snow storm and my friend/ coworker got stuck in his driveway trying to leave for work one night (we work 3rd shift). Had to get a ride to work, then I drove him home the next morning and we had to go scrambling store to store to find a snowblower so he could clear his driveway. Why he didn't already have one was beyond me, not like it was the first time we ever got a decent amount of snow.

 

[bcp]

In the hurricane areas, at every storm the lumberyards run out of plywood for covering windows. Did everyone throw away those they used for the previous storm? Do the lumberyards not stock up in advance of hurricane season?

Bruce