My shout out to any DUers and/or their families in the path of that BAD ASS ice storm

[Siwsan]

It's probably way too late for advice from a veteran of the big Michigan ice storm, last month but I'll give it anyway. Stock up on water!! I didn't buy it, but instead filled every 2 liter soda bottle in the garage along with pots, pans, pitchers, anything I could find. Fill your bath tub for toilet flushing water. I also used some of those big plastic storage bins.

The life saver for keeping me from freezing was having several feather down comforters. I was shocked at how warm you can stay, bundled up in them. Ok, having the cats snuggle with me certainly helped.

Don't head out of your house without checking for VERY close downed power lines. Someone here walked out his front door, directly into a downed line, and was killed.

And, the most important piece of advice is, if you have a generator, I can't put enough emphasis on how important it is to pay attention to wind direction. Even if you have it in your carport or garage with the door open, if the wind shifts, those fumes will inundate your house. It happened to me and I was well over a week getting over the effects of carbon monoxide exposure.

I'm going to worry about all of you - and can truly emphasize with what you are possibly about to experience. It's rough, it's frustrating, but keep your wits and help those around you.

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Thank you! We're hoping Atlanta's better prepared this time.

[Siwsan]

3. It's awful to have two such bad storms in just two weeks!

I have cousins in Charleston, SC, and it looks like they might be in for some bad weather. They've been out of Michigan weather mode for decades. Hopefully it's like riding a bike.......

[babylonsister]

8. I saw about 20 DOT dump trucks

heading north on 95 in Savannah about 2pm today; I'm sure they were en route your way, CurtEastPoint. Maybe they were full of salt?

[CurtEastPoint]

9. Salt and/or sand, I would think. We're worried about trees pulling electric lines down.

[Glitterati]

13. Trees, ice and high winds

There was no mention of the high winds until late today. They were added to the evening forecast - ~35 mph winds blowing ice covered trees and power lines around.

Definitely not good.

[Glitterati]

10. Savannah is going to get hit as well

They were more likely headed to a local staging area.

[babylonsister]

11. That's not what I'm hearing, but

I know that could change abruptly, so I am watching it. It won't be close to freezing until tomorrow night here-35 degrees and rain, so I do expect some ice.

[Glitterati]

12. Atlanta news folks are saying "all the way to Savannah"

I have a sister in medical school down there and the hospital is staffing up and preparing for an ice storm.

I hope they're wrong for your sake (and hers).

[babylonsister]

22. Thanks! I'll see what they're saying down here at this hour.

I'm still working in the a.m. AFAIK, and that would be called off. I'll keep you posted-stay safe and warm yourself!

[jwirr]

2. Add having foods you can eat without cooking.

[Siwsan]

4. I stocked up on peanut butter, honey, crackers cheese and bread

And I was lucky that it was so cold that I didn't lose anything in my freezer or refrigerator. You could actually see your breath when you were inside of my house! I think it might have been warmer INSIDE of my refrigerator.

[malthaussen]

5. Just finished a 4-day power outage on Sunday...

... could do without having to deal with that a second time.

-- Mal

[Siwsan]

6. I walked around with a flashlight for a WEEK after my power was restored

When the big snow storm hit, I was positive I'd be in the dark, again. I still have flashlights in every room of the house.

Damn, I can't hope hard enough for the best for everyone.

[REP]

19. Last BIG one back home, brother was without power for 5 weeks

This in KCMO, so they have plenty of ice storms - had one last week - but this was one of those that paralyzed a city used to them. He lives in the heart of the city, too - boy was he glad for his fireplace.

I think that one was ... holy crap, 12 years ago. Tempus fugit.

[Siwsan]

21. My fireplace was SOOO appreciated

I used almost half of my firewood, during the outage. I have to get more delivered, and next year I will double my usual order - it's not as if it will go to waste.

I can't imagine 5 weeks without power!

[REP]

26. His work had power, his athletic club had power ...

... and they had hot water and gas to cook with; just no electric for the central heating or lights or anything. But yes, he was pretty cranky by the time they got the cables fixed!

[OKNancy]

7. when we had a power outage caused by an ice storm

I was really surprised by how much warmth candles produced.
I put a bunch ( safely) on a glass table. It was in the den, the warmest room in our house anyway.

[tea and oranges]

16. Hot Water Bottles!

If you have a gas water heater or any other way to heat water sans electricity, then do invest in hot water bottles (you can even buy them w/o all the scary rubber tubing) & fill them when you need warmth.

Don't bother w/ a cover - use a towel.

[seabeyond]

14. snow has not taken out electricity, but ice has. 3 days, and we were one of the lucky ones....

stay warm

[anasv]

15. wool blankets are also excellent

if power is lost.

Try to have open water available for wildlife. They were queued up at my open water source in my deck, literally. It was about the only one around as far as I could tell. Put out extra food for them.

Those gallon jugs of supermarket water are $1 to $2. Buy lots, in advance. Save them and you can just fill them from the tap next storm.

[REP]

17. CAT LITTER. Put it in your trunk. Put a lot of it in your trunk. (From a Midwest native)

Old fashioned, non clumping litter - the weight will help you keep stable if you have to drive, and you can use it for traction if you get stuck.

GO SLOW. Treat two-lane streets as one-lane - right down the middle. It's safer if anyone skids out - less likely to run into another car and more room to correct.

Leave your taps on a bit so your pipes don't freeze. Keep a fan on water lines in basements.

Be careful! Don't go out unless you have to but be prepared to just in case.

Call the elderly, infirm and other fragile people you know to make sure they're okay.

I've lived through more ice storms than I can remember (one reason I moved to California!) and they are beautiful, so take a look but bundle up. Then go inside and hope for sun!

[Siwsan]

20. I had to keep going out to get gas for the generator (once I finally got one)

It would run for about 5 hours on a tank so I'd had to make 2 trips a day, on treacherous roads to fill up my gas cans. Now I have a better generator and more spare gas cans.

Fortunately for me, the main road, about a mile away, never lost power, so I was able to get gas. I would have been SOL had the power outage been more wide spread.

I do still have the 20lb bag of kitty litter in my car, and probably will have it there until Spring is well established.

[REP]

24. We never had a generator

As I mentioned somewhere above, my hometown gets LOTS of ice storms and we're built for/used to them (and we lived IN the city - I'm not sure our neighbors would have let us run one!). If the power was out for more than a day or so, we'd go to a hotel where they had power. That bad one a few years back when it took a month to get power back in some places ... some people stayed with friends, or like my brother, used their fireplace, lit with batteries, and cursed the city of their birth.

Foot or more of snow or ice, and everyone just knew: form single lane when driving, and look out for cars coming down when going up a hill. There was one blizzard I was driving in, one hand out the window scraping the windshield because the wipers couldn't keep up, steering with the other, and dodging little lightweight cars sliding down hills. Do not miss home.

[anasv]

32. generator

If I had limitless amounts of money I'd have a generator that was fed by natural gas lines and went on and off automatically as a function of power loss. Sigh.

[Jesus Malverde]

18. Good advice...and good luck all.

[BeatleBoot]

23. It's going to be rough, check out the 5 day forecast for Atlanta

http://www.weather.com/weather/5-day/Atlanta+GA+USGA0028:1:US

[mainer]

25. Oil lamps. They burn much longer than candles.

And you can get gallons of lamp oil for pretty cheap.

Yes on filling the bathtubs to flush the toilet. Nothing nastier than toilets that can't be flushed.

Charge your electronics NOW. Have them fully charged before the power goes out.

Fill your car with gas.

If there's time, buy a solar charger for your phone. We have one that can charge up our iPad.

[Siwsan]

27. My brother brought me a propane fueled lantern that burned for 24 hours per canister

I only used it for about 5 or 6 hours at night but it lit up the entire den. And it was perfect for when I had to go outside to re-fuel the generator.

I also have a power converter that plugs into my car's cigarette lighter. I ran the car for 20 minutes to charge up the converter, and it would run a lamp and my lap top for about 4 hours. Then I just had to start the car up, again, to re-charge it.

[KauaiK]

28. OMG I feel guilty b/c I complained about a week+ of rain and

no blue sky. At least it was 70-80 degrees. Eeeeesh. Color me embarrassed.

[Siwsan]

30. This is one of the few weather alert free days in Flint, in over a month

So what it's about 3 degrees, heading to sub 3, or so. But it's not snowing, it's not blowing and most important, it's not ICING, and I haven't had my driveway plowed shut in over a week, so I feel pretty damn lucky, right now.

[BeatleBoot]

33. Fellow Michigander here...

Know the feeling. It's been nice in the D this past week!

I know it's hard on folks in the south, but its hard to empathize when we received over 3 feet of snow in January alone.

And we didn't even call out the National Guard. LOL!

Hard to wrap my head around Atlanta and the panic. It's going to be in the upper 40's the rest of the week and 51 degrees F on Saturday. When is the last time we had anything remotely above freezing? Ha!

[Beacool]

35. Where are you and do you have a spare room?

[KauaiK]

36. HAHAHAHA

Kauai - the furthest west you can get without crossing the international date line. Sending you warm, but no sun...yet.

[SummerSnow]

29. NYC is getting hit too. I hope everyone stay safe all over .

[Siwsan]

31. Last year, at this time, my daffodils were already up getting ready to bud!

Now they are buried beneath frozen earth and about 2 feet of snow. I'll be surprised if I see them by Easter.

Keep safe and warm!

[Beacool]

34. It hasn't arrived in NJ yet, but it's coming later tonight.

It's the weekly storm, except that last week we had two.