Worst Winter Storm in 20+ years!

Reporting in from the Quachita Mountains, we're doing better than expected. Some power outages, and we expect more through tomorrow, but temps have stayed near freezing, and sometimes going above, so the damage isn't too bad. Most roads are passable, and even though all the schools are closed, businesses remain open.

Rain/sleet is expected into the evening hours, so roadways will freeze and driving conditions worsen, as a cold front takes over. Dangerous to be about and about until at least mid day tomorrow.

But heat is coming. Predictions are for mid 50's on Saturday.

You guys north of me in NW Arkansas and NE Oklahoma are taking the worst of this one. I wish you the best. According to 40/29 News, there's a lot of damage up there.

Stay safe folks.

reply to post by Jay-in-AR


I just heard from one of our members in your area and he just witnessed a transformer blow. This is very very serious. They can even shut down power because they dont want trees and live power crashing into homes and cars. Take shelter. Be safe I am so worried about you all. We have significant snow, but after having been through this I know how terrfying it can be in the best of conditions. Be a support to your neighbors and family at this time that cant be underestimated.

Keeping children from being afraid is the number one priority. Get creative and draw strength from being a positive role model for them.

Dont heat unopened cans on woodstove as pressure will explode, you can always chip ice to make water on your woodstove for pets and or cleaning, not reccomended to drink unless you purify and its a real emergency. or heat source, DO NOT run Generators indoors as carbon minoxide will kill you. Make sure your generator is not spweing carbon back into your home through wind gusts.

Take grocery bags and place them in your toilet for number 2 and remove to throw in larger garbage bag kept outside. Have all pans and bottles filled and marked for handwashing or drinking.

I am afraid you are just about out of time here if you have not already made preparations, but my candle will stay lit until this is over and you can begin the heavy job of clean up.

National Guard should be dropping in by tomorrow to check on people so dont get paranoid about that, they are there to help.

[edit on 27-1-2009 by antar]

reply to post by mrwupy


Do you have a generator? None of the people in our area are without electric right now but it's not over yet. Kind of scarey if you're in a wooded area and the trees are snapping in half all around you. Keeping you all in my prayers.

Originally posted by Jay-in-AR

About the lights this morning, I realize that it could have been transformers, but it looked more like lightning to me.

That was lightning this morning. 40/29 couldn't broadcast from Fayetteville for awhile because they were afraid the mobile truck they were broadcasting from might get struck. This is one seriously strange storm.

reply to post by mrwupy


Yeah, it was really eerie seeing that this morning.

Stay safe, man.

Here are a few pictures of where we are.

It is pure ice, and the temps are in the single digits with windchill.




It is starting to sleet and snow now, so we will see what happens before it is over.

Looking at the pictures, it does not look all that bad, but walk out on those porches and it is like a fresh sheet of slick ice.

reply to post by mr wupy


That is the part I get conspiratorial about, it just is not right to have lightning and thunderstorms at this time of year, and then during an ice storm, I have to say it is weather modification or the effects the beginning of our mini ice age.

I am attempting right now to get a crew together to come down and cut trees and debris out of the way. u2U me and let me know if you need help.

Northern Arkansas area.

[edit on 27-1-2009 by antar]

Originally posted by Seekingmyself
alright I live in cincinnati and we got about 6 inches of snow last night/today but apparently this big ice storm is coming our way. Any advice for a girl who essentially lives on her own? I have to work tonight (a dinner shift) and have classes in the morning(university of cincinnati NEVER closes) I drive a dinky little 96 cavalier. I don't know how to prepare or with what. Thoughts?

As for going to work tonight, can you find someone to pick up your shift? If not, call your manager and ask if they even need you to come. It could be they're expecting business to be very slow and they might not need too much staff.

If you don't feel comfortable driving your vehicle in this weather, is there a coworker who lives near you who could swing by and pick you up and then give you a ride home?

If Cincy has public transportation, taking a bus might be an option.

As far as your classes in the morning, if you can't find someone to catch a ride with or you can't take a bus, you could always skip classes. I'm sure your professors would be understanding.

If you end up deciding to try to go to work/school in your car, here are some things to keep in mind before you go.

First, dress in several layers and bundle up real good, making sure to wear at least one hat and waterproof gloves if you have them. I was just outside for quite some time and was wearing a hoodie, a hat, and the hood of coat to keep my head warm.

Gloves are a must. When I was outside I saw a young woman getting ready to go to work at the hospital who was trying to clear her car of ice without any gloves at all. She didn't have an ice scraper either but was pretty creative because she was using a CD case to scrape her car. My husband helped her with our scraper, but if for some reason you don't have one, her CD case did fairly well.

De-Icer is awesome stuff that will help you get into your car if your door is stuck, and it also helps get the ice off.

Let your car warm up quite a bit though before you start trying to scrape. If you live alone, do you have a friend who lives near you that you could buddy up with? I wouldn't want to be outside by myself scraping my car. Two or more people together is better than being alone.

Ok, while the car is warming up, you're gonna need to dig your car out. My husband and I did that, not only for ourselves, but we also dug out that young lady going to work at the hospital, and we also dug out two other parking spots.

If you don't have a shovel, see if you can borrow one from someone. If you can't walk to a nearby store to buy one, then you're gonna need to be creative to get yourself dug out.

Last winter when my husband and I found ourselves in this situation, we used a large piece of sturdy plastic to move the snow. I can't remember what that plastic thing was, but I can tell you that even though it worked, it took a long time and it wasn't easy.

Good luck and be safe.

Here is a report from the Ozarks :

UPDATED: Tuesday at 10:25 a.m.



Moderate to occasionally heavy freezing rain is STILL falling (and has been all morning) across far northern Arkansas and far southern Missouri. Reports of 1.5" of ice build-up has been reported near Mountain Home, and power outages are becoming quite common as far north as the West Plains area. As of this writing more that 56,000 people are without power in Arkansas alone and the number is climbing fast. Farther north toward I-44 the precipitation has been quite light through the morning thus far, with a mixture of freezing rain and sleet.

There is really no good news for the rest of the day into tonight. An upper level trough and associated jet stream continues to fire a line of precipitation that runs southwest to northeast from the Texas panhandle all the way Washington DC. As the trough approaches, activity in the Ozarks will actually increase in intensity once again with some movement northward back into the Springfield area and beyond. This evening colder air will begin to move in between 3,000-6,000 feet and remove the above-freezing layer creating the ice mess we have. Moisture will begin to exit about this time, but it appears we'll see a change-over to snow from west to east beginning later this afternoon into tonight. A general 1-3" of snow is possible on top of all the ice.

NORTHERN ARKANSAS, EXTREME SOUTHERN MISSOURI

Needless to say, travel is not a good idea over the southern half of the Ozarks and conditions will only worsen. Power outages will continue to increase in number through today and tonight as the ice continues to build. If you live in this area and have power...be ready for it to go out. The approach of the upper level system will keep the freezing rain going for the rest of the day, and an additional 1" (one inch) of ice accumulation is possible, pushing total ice accumulations to between two and three inches. By all accounts this will be a crippling blow, and we'll likely be measuring the number of people that STILL HAVE POWER. The storm will finally begin to wind down after midnight tonight. While sun will return tomorrow, the thick ice and snow will keep us from warming much and below-freezing temperatures are expected through Thursday.

We will continue to monitor radar and forecast data through the day into tonight.

Link for report above...
www.ky3.com...

Originally posted by NGC2736

And I'm sending my heating bill, pre-wood stove, to Al "We'll All Fry" Gore.

Global warming is here! LMAO

I'm honestly surprised I still have power, there is a large branch that broke off a tree and is hanging on the power line that feeds into my place. I step outside my door and I can watch branch after branch fall off trees and it's been like that all day.

Still, I got my candles out and my knickers ready, just in case. I'm sure my good fortune won't last all night. I'm praying it will though

This same storm system is affecting my neck of the woods here in West Virginia as well. Forecast called for 4 - 6 inches of snow and about a quarter of an inch of ice on top of that. I'm just east of Charleston myself and we got about four maybe five inches of snow here. Up in the hills is a whole different story because they were supposed to get over a foot of snow. This system is moving northeast out of the Tennesee Valley towards New York. Cities that will be affected are Cleveland, Hoio, Columbus, Ohio, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Erie, Pa., Buffalo, Syracuse, New York City, New York, Washington, D.C.. Baltimore and Hagerstown, Maryland, Hartford, Conn., and Boston, Mass.

Soooooooo yeah, this is one big ol' fashioned winter storm.

reply to post by mrwupy


We lost power for about an hour here where I'm at and it just came back on 30 minutes ago, or so.
I hope that is the last of the power outages here, but I'm figuring it probably isn't.
I guess tomorrow I'll have to go back by my place and assess the damage. We had so many large, large branches hitting our roof that I thought it best just to get out while we could.
I think the biggest concern now, for us, is sleet mixing over to snow. There is a lot of standing water on the roads, though. I wonder what the straight-up-rainfall totals have been, because that will all be frozen in the morning.
HAHA, as I'm typing this the lights are starting to flicker again.



[edit on 27-1-2009 by Jay-in-AR]

The news just said at least 100,000 homes are without electricity. Some folks are out celebrating, as the tree branches break off and come crashing down they whoop and holler. I think they're all drunk. Maybe I should go join them

reply to post by mrwupy


Wanna start a pool as to how long it takes the first drunken idiot to be squashed by a 500lb. tree limb?
It would be nice to kick back a few, though.



radar.weather.gov... This is going to continue for quite some time with temperatures at a low of 10degrees!
Buckle your chinstraps, folks.

Damned government and their HAARP equipment. This MUST be that man-made natural disaster Joe Biden elluded to.

[edit on 27-1-2009 by Jay-in-AR]

We've got freezing rain coming down here. I tacked a rug over my back door (North facing) and my heater has only kicked on once since then. Been meaning to do something about that draft for years. Nothing like teeth chattering to inspire a little motivation.

I've moved on from hot cocoa to hot toddies. Music's mellow, fire's roaring. If the brake job I just had done was not in need of using the warranty, I'd be happy to trot over with the chain saw and cut some limbs for yall.

You don't even have to be a survivalist to need preparation for emergencies. The weather happens to us all-skeptic and C.T. alike.

If anyone wants to see what the people in this area are having to deal with... www.kfsm.com... That is the local news station and they have streaming coverage. This is WILD! Be safe, people.

If you saw my photos from a couple of hours ago, here is an update.

16 degrees with a windchill of about 6... Burr, wheres my coffee?




Snow and sleet by the bucket fulls then changing to sleet and icy conditions later. I realize this pales in comparrison to the event you are facing down south, at least we still have power in our area. Lets hope the transformers dont freeze and start popping...


[edit on 27-1-2009 by antar]