The Ice Storm Cometh - And Your Favorite Winter Storm
Mates,
It looks like we could be in for some epic weather this weekend, from top to bottom of the state. Could be the kind of storm that LSA has to work for a week straight if the power goes out with all the ice they are predicting. The middle of the state is in for a whacking with ice:
Some more info here:
And for up north there is over a foot of wet snow predicted, then ice to cover it all. Its supposed to come in waves throughtout the entire weekend, too. Did I mention the gale force winds on the lakes, 15 foot waves? I guess fishing will have to wait for a weekend.
Sat A.M. EDIT: Snow up here is way, way heavy with moisture, trees starting to bow down l-o-w, and the winds are picking up. Could get interesting if the rest of the weather prophesy unfolds as predicted.
Two questions for you all:
1. Are you prepared if/when the power goes out this weekend?
2. What's your memory of your favorite winter storm? When was it and how gigantic did it get?
If it turns out as bad as advertised, be safe you all.
XM
April 14th, 2018 at 10:40 AM ^
April 14th, 2018 at 10:47 AM ^
I was born in a crossfire hurricane. But it's all right now. In fact, it's a gas.
April 14th, 2018 at 12:17 AM ^
1. I live in Islamabad, Pakistan, where the forecast for today is 86 and sunny. Going to a pool party later. Suckers. On the other hand, the power goes out here a lot more regularly than in the States. So y'all have that going for you.
2. The Blizzard of '96 will never be topped. I was ten years old. We got a week off from school, there were three feet of snow on the ground. Never had more or better sledding, snowball fights, snow forts and tunnels. Epic. The standard by which all snowstorms are measured.
Still can't remember if it was winter 1994 or 1995. Had a rental on S. Forest and my eyeballs froze solid by the time I made it to the natural sci blding - only to find out class was cancelled b/c of the freeze.
That was the day I realized Michigan post-grad just wouldn't work.
April 14th, 2018 at 10:54 AM ^
Broken windshield, over 40 dents.
I handled it pretty much like Lt. Dan. (if there was hail).
I
Total armageddon. Destroyed my house. The sound of the storm approaching was the creepiest thing. My poor dogs tried to jump through the windows. Fun times.
I really need to invest in a power generator
job one in the U.P. when i built our first house 20+ yrs ago. when we got this one i poured a concrete pad and set a generator hooked up to 1,000 gals of propane. buddy of mine helped me wire it. when power goes out here in the boonies it automatically kicks in and runs the entire house and the barn, no problem.
April 14th, 2018 at 10:52 AM ^
I’ve put a lot of thought into it. In my old house the power went out all the time. I had a gen-tran panel in the basement with a large wire running to the garage that I plugged my portable generator into (backfed with transfer switch). I pretty much would run everything I “needed” in the house with that 5500-8500 watt generator. All the lights. Furnace. Refrigerators, freezers. Coffee maker...lol. You could have a similar set up put in for a few hundred dollars. The downfall is “feeding” the generator with fuel every 6-8 hours. Also, it obviously doesn’t automatically start up if the power does go out and you are away from home. If your sump pumps runs a lot and you have a nice finished basement it may be worth some serious thought!!
My current situation...we live in a newer neighborhood. All power comes in underground. They just revamped the local grid with new larger poles and wires. Trimmed back all the trees. My power has literally been off once here in the few years we’ve been here and it was for a few hours. I Just can’t get myself to take the $6k-8k plunge on something that may turn on once every 700 days.
So I spent a few hundred and wired this house to backfeed as well. If I refinish my basement or as I get older...I think it’s worth the money to do it right and get the standby if you can afford it.
April 14th, 2018 at 12:14 PM ^
you can get a 15 KW gennie for less than $4K, and a 12KW for $3K. if you don't live up north i can walk you through the pouring of the concrete pad - cost about $200. if you live nearby i'll do it for you. your electrician (and someone to run a gas line) can do the rest for $1-2K. the generator comes with the transfer switch and box:
adds to the value of your house. remember that time in '04 when some idiot in ohio forgot to throw a power switch and it shut down about 1/3 rd of the country for a week or so? yeah, i remember.
April 14th, 2018 at 12:34 PM ^
Great info thanks guys
April 14th, 2018 at 12:40 PM ^
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003
and yes, ohio blew it up. knuckleheads. i remember that very day getting off of a plane at metro and deciding to walk the terminal instead of taking the tram. it wasn't 20 seconds after that tram took off that the power went off and they were stuck for hours. i was able to talk my way into a cab and get a ride to dad's house. we came up north the next day and there was power up here.
with no power, no way to pump gas. travel gets sketchy. thanks ohio.
I have a friend that just bought one at Home Depot. Opened a 24 months same as cash credit card. Paid it off in two years. So that would be an option too if someone had to have one now but didn’t have the cash.
I just saw an add on tv too that they are offering a free small generator with the purchase off the standby. Looked like a 1kw quiet run type for tailgating at M games ;).
I guarantee one thing as well...if the power goes out for a day there won’t be a single generator available within 100 miles of here as they will be sold out!!
i know the answer to that question, at least on the farm. YMMV. not kidding about pouring the slab. easy and quick. i'll come over with some of my sons and knock it out. what part of the state do you live?
I looked at the sizing chart on the Generac website and it recommended 21or 22 kw for my home.
I’m really not looking to buy right now. Thanks for the offer tho...and btw.... I live in central lower Michigan between flint and Saginaw.
Maybe late eighties and early/mid nineties? No power, heat, water... I actually remember it being kind of fun as a kid though. We camped out in the living room in sleeping bags by the fire and played board games. We went sledding at mach 5 on the ice snow...
Now, as an adult, I would probably hate it? Michigan weather is only for the brave/insane among us.
If I recall correctly, one of the worst ice storms regionwide that we had was in March 1994, where I think about a half million people in SE Michigan lost power, some for days like we did actually, and almost as bad, lost entire yards of trees. I still remember the aftermath of that storm being two-fold - throwing out a shit ton of spoiled food and having someone saw down the rest of the now decimated birch trees in the front yard.
with this storm? looking at the weather map, the entire lower peninsula is covered in greens, yellows and reds of radar precip. like, 100% of the state.
who's going to the tiger game today? nobody!
Oh yes, I have all the texts on my phone regarding "Be prepared" and which storm team is on notice and all the usual things that happen. I live south and west of the city, where it should be nearly entirely rain, but north of here (we do cover the thumb), there is some worry.
or at least, not one with you and an adult beverage. so many of these storms are way overblown but there is enough moisture and wind coming that depending on where the freeze line is, could be a doozie.
Daniels.
My largest winter storm was not in Michigan but in Maryland about ten years ago. We had close to 40 inches where we lived and then about two feet more from another storm four days later. We never lost power but nobody moved very far as most everything was closed.
I now live in Ann Arbor and it surprises me that Maryland does a better job clearing its roads than does Washtenaw County.
My favorite winter storm was beginning of February 2011. We had like 30” of snow over night. Haven’t seen anything like that since. That’s the only time ever that I didn’t make it to work because of snow. Even my 3/4 ton pickup wouldn’t go down the driveway. Of course my snowblower couldn’t get going that day either.
Nice.
Sump pump: like "Michigan Power Rodding," a term that sounds like some filthy dirty sex thing but really isn't.
April 14th, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^
Hopefully THE GAME 2018 will give this phrase new meaning
Current home has battery backup pump with alarm.
Had a blizzard come through not long after we first moved into our new house in 2006. Lost power for 21 hours as the snow dropped (~24-30") through the night. Without heat, we split up with the dogs at bedtime - i took the couch with the small dogs (yorkies), and the wide had the bedroom with the big dogs (FC Ret and GSP). There also baby birds wifey was hand feeding, that we set up with hand warmers. The house temp only dropped to ~55˚, so it didn't feel too bad. But I was using the gas grill to warm up water and do all the cooking that morning. Hand feeding the bird babies was interesting for the wife, but everyone survived!
I spent about 7 hours on the tractor pushing snow off the drive and the roadway that day...
whew.
our house thermostat is set at 60 in the winter, and about 52 in the basement where the older boys sleep.
Before my (then future) wife moved in, in my last house, I had a fireplace insert that did a really good job heating the main parts of the ranch style house. But my bedroom, at the end of the hall, didn't get any of that heat. Bedtime was bliss - I don't think it was above 60 in the winter. And then she moved in. She is cold when summer evenings drop to 80, and my life has been a heat trap since...
Except when she was pregnant. Preggo wife was never cold, always H. O. T. HOT. She stepped out on the deck for 10 minutes on 10˚ January nights, in shorts and a t-shirt, just to cool off. This house has never been more comfortable than when she was pregnant. Alas, that is no more and the heat has returned...
heck, i moved her from socal to the UP a few months after we got married and she got to see back-to-back 300" snow seasons. she's a trooper, to say the least.
April 14th, 2018 at 10:25 AM ^
anybody in the family that is cold/chilled will come and sit next to me, get a hug, whatever.
going to go for a run in the woods in the blizzard right now. k-9 is quite pleased with the prospect.
April 14th, 2018 at 11:35 AM ^
April 14th, 2018 at 12:03 PM ^
no other temperature, wind or precipitation will stop me from going into the woods. it might modify the run (today about 4 1/2 miles and s-l-o-w because of the thick wet snow) but it won't keep me from going. in fact, the winter extremes are easier for me to handle than the summer ones. i think it goes with me being, shall we say, ahead on my eating and thus better insulated.
Make sure the wifey doesn't know you called her a "wide" on mgoboard. She might have you sleep on the couch for eternity with that remark!
<blockquote>Without heat, we split up with the dogs at bedtime - i took the couch with the small dogs (yorkies), and the <b>wide</B> had the bedroom with the big dogs (FC Ret and GSP).</blockquote>
Ohh SHIT, that was a mistake! Thanks for pointing it out? Good thing she cares not for sports, and wouldn't look at this blog if I asked her to...
And thanks for locking it in with the edit, dick. LOL!!
April 14th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^
i locked it in with my reply. and though i didn't call you out on the 'wide' part, i confess to having seen it before i replied. sorry.
Growing up in Michigan remember some tremendous storms including 78. Also remember winter of 81 when it was beyond cold. However the best has to be 2.5 weeks in 2015 when we received over 100 inches in the Boston area. That was crazy!
However one of my new pet peeves is the naming of Winter storms like Hurricanes! When did this start? Drives me crazy whenever the refer to the "named storm" on Weather Channel.
January 26-27 1967 22.7 inches of snow in Flint. My wife grew up in the Chicago area and she remembers the snow storm there as well. But the one I remember best, since I was older, was March 16-17 1973 with 13.7 inches. Part of what makes that so memorable is that on March 15 it was 59 degrees, and everyone in the neighborhood was out that evening, enjoying the warm weather. My best friend's mother was talking about a huge snow storm that was on the way. I thought she was crazy.
Favorite snowstorm dropped a little over 60" of snow over 3 days in Sault Ste. Marie. I remember the local national guard were called out to help with snow removal. Here's to hoping we get at least 12" this weekend, none as of yet.