Snow Forecast For Virginia

   / Snow Forecast For Virginia #81  
No trees down here but this one really stung. The snow just piled up on the wet netting and before I realized what was happening it was down. 3 of the 4 frame hoops are bent. This pic was after I shook all the snow off the net. I wish I would have taken a pic before.

PXL_20220104_211156396.jpg
 
   / Snow Forecast For Virginia #82  
According to some stats I just read, an Compact car uses up to .16 gallons per hour idling. With a 4 to 5 liter car will use twice that. If you have a small car with a lets say 12 gallon tank and it was about full when you started, you could idle for about 75 hours. With a larger car with say a 20 gallon tank you might be able to idle for nearly 60 hours. BUT it would be foolish to idle the entire time. A better strategy would be to idle for no more than 15 minutes with the heater on full blast and then shut it off for at least 15 minutes before restarting. Don't let the car get too cold or it will be hard to heat up again. This should about double your survival time with what ever fuel you have onboard.

If you have electric car the protocol is simple, you are going to freeze to death in a few hours. You best be making friends with someone with a an ICE engine and full tank to share their car. You might be able to convince them that your body heat could be a help. :) Don't run the battery down trying to heat the car, you are going to need the reserve battery power to drive the thing off if and when the road is clear. Otherwise you are going to be in for a big tow bill.
It is very easy to run your battery down by using fans. electric seats etc. Be prudent and when the battery appears to be low, DO NOT even try to start it one more time. Take the cables out of your kit and ask someone to be prepared to boost you.
 
   / Snow Forecast For Virginia #86  
I have a friend down there, day 6, no power
 
   / Snow Forecast For Virginia #87  
Bottom line is you are probably better off to being stranded in the Internal Combustion Engine car than the electric car. But you can survive for some time in the Electric car if you use your head. Of course keeping a couple of blankets in either type is a good idea. Not to mention toilet paper, some extra water and a few snack bars could go a long way to making your life more comfortable. Using snow for toilet paper does not sound like much fun to me.
Better yet, whenever you leave your house, go in a FULLY stocked motorhome.
 
   / Snow Forecast For Virginia #88  
Don’t mind Step. He was dropped on his head when he was young!
Obviously. No one expected to be stranded for all that many hours but there was a FORECAST. Is it that hard to be prepared? I realize that Common Sense has been drummed out of this younger generation but so much so that they lost Self Preservation? I guess so, college kids walk across main streets without looking.... The 'book' says that pedestrians have the right-of-way, they interpret that as walking out in front of cars is OK
 
   / Snow Forecast For Virginia
  • Thread Starter
#89  
Got power back last night around 8. Like I said a big inconvenience but not a disaster. I did get the TV to work by running a small converter I have off of the power outlets in one of the cars. Now I just need UPS to re-start deliveries so I can get the part I need to repair my whole house generator. It has been sitting in the local UPS station for the last two days and is supposed to be delivered today.

We finally got the trees completely cleared from the road as well and we'll go back and clean up the limbs, etc. when the weather warms a bit and the snow melts.
 
   / Snow Forecast For Virginia #91  
This may have been mentioned already, but I read a story today about a Virginia guy whose car broke down in the storm, he tried to walk home, got lost, and froze. He called his family and told them where he thought he was, but the deputies couldn't find him. They found his body yesterday not far from the road he had used as a reference, in a thick stand of pines.

I imagine nothing looked familiar, especially with roads covered. He was young and strong, knew the area since childhood. Rule of thumb, stay in your car!?
 
   / Snow Forecast For Virginia #92  
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   / Snow Forecast For Virginia #93  
Obviously. No one expected to be stranded for all that many hours but there was a FORECAST. Is it that hard to be prepared? I realize that Common Sense has been drummed out of this younger generation but so much so that they lost Self Preservation? I guess so, college kids walk across main streets without looking.... The 'book' says that pedestrians have the right-of-way, they interpret that as walking out in front of cars is OK
The problem was on I95, it was the Monday after a holiday weekend and had a lot of people traveling back home from out of state. It's hard to check weather like this for your full route when traveling through multiple states.
That's part of the reason I try to listen to local radio stations when traveling, but with all the options for streaming media in a car I doubt that's very common now.

Sent from my SM-G715U1 using TractorByNet mobile app
 
   / Snow Forecast For Virginia #95  
Uh huh
 
   / Snow Forecast For Virginia
  • Thread Starter
#96  
That's part of the reason I try to listen to local radio stations when traveling, but with all the options for streaming media in a car I doubt that's very common now.
We use WAZE on our phones. It is an absolute god send when travelling since it will re-route you away from trouble, sometimes many, many, miles away from the trouble spot. You have to have faith in it since many times there is no obvious trouble when it is telling you to turn off of your planned route. One example: my son was leaving Raleigh, NC to head home in Charleston, SC after one of the hurricanes and WAZE sent him to Charlotte instead of I-95. He did not believe it and ended up getting stuck in flooding in NC on 95 for several hours.
 
   / Snow Forecast For Virginia #97  
I check weather in cities along my route. Usually by the time waze see’s an issue it is too late for a major detour.
 
   / Snow Forecast For Virginia
  • Thread Starter
#98  
Here we go again... the weather liars are predicting 6 to 8 inches for us on Sunday.
 
   / Snow Forecast For Virginia #99  
   / Snow Forecast For Virginia #100  
Here we go again... the weather liars are predicting 6 to 8 inches for us on Sunday.
We are 1-3" Friday and 3-5" Friday night. My guess is 3-4" total. But it makes for great drama on their part. :)
 

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