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tremoring_ganglion t1_j1ggbej wrote

In Buffalo, NY we’re currently dealing with 5 foot snow drifts and 70 mph gusts with a -15°F windchill. People are stuck in their cars and are running out of gas. Emergency vehicles are stuck and are mostly unavailable. It’s pretty bad.

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hungaryhasnodignity t1_j1i46m1 wrote

I cannot understand why anyone was on the road. If businesses forced their workers to be out they should be held criminally liable

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Dolthra t1_j1k6zfs wrote

> If businesses forced their workers to be out they should be held criminally liable

Sorry, you seem to have mistaken the US for a sane country where it's considered bad to sacrifice your worker's lives for profit.

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asdaaaaaaaa t1_j1i4nmx wrote

Blows my mind why anyone would even be out. Fuck work, parties, seeing friends, etc when it's literally your life. Not being fired doesn't help when you're dead, or missing limbs/extremities due to frostbite. Was reading about how this was going to be a rough storm for places like that a few days ago and decided to stock up then just in case we got hit, hopefully most people did that as well.

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[deleted] t1_j1h3tme wrote

[removed]

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deletable666 t1_j1h5w6z wrote

That is simply not true. Your body puts out far more heat than a candle. I’m not sure where you heard this, but it is terrible advice to start a fire inside your car. Bad advice like this leads to deaths every year of people trying to keep warm. Keep food and very warm clothing in the car, and lots of blankets. That will create magnitudes more heat for you than a candle. Please do not go around spreading bad information like this. Somewhere out there is a person who will read this and keep a bunch of useless candles in their car.

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asdaaaaaaaa t1_j1i4x0k wrote

> I’m not sure where you heard this, but it is terrible advice to start a fire inside your car.

Holy shit, yeah, not a great idea. If you run out of gas and the batteries dead with zero ability to restart it, maybe? I guess if you have candles/one of those little stovetop things. Even then it's a huge risk, and living in an area like that you should have hella blankets/spare jackets prepared for weather like this. I don't live anywhere that gets severe weather and still stock up for seasons just in case.

Were they talking about a stovetop/candle, or just literally lighting random shit on fire in your car? Sounds like a great way to die from the toxic plastic fumes and such quickly at least.

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deletable666 t1_j1iglk3 wrote

They were talking about lighting a small candle. That just does not put out a meaningful amount of heat compared to the risk of knocking it over and setting the interior of your vehicle on fire, especially if you will be sleeping. Every year people die trying to keep warm in emergency situations or non emergency situations.

To be safe, eat food before you go out on the road, bring calorie dense snacks, and bring way more warm clothes than you’d think you’d need along with whatever other gear you need!

1

SharpieBass t1_j1g5kfc wrote

Brutal. Not awful in Toronto but our friends 90min south in Buffalo seem to be getting pounded. Hopefully the power stays up as it is fucking freezing!

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kudichangedlives t1_j1g6rz7 wrote

Or us unlucky punks that had the power go out have wood stoves. That's what's keeping me warm right now and if the power is still out for days then it will be keeping me alive.

Seriously if you live in a cold place you should invest in an emergency wood stove

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reddituser403 t1_j1gf4ni wrote

Or a back up generator

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kudichangedlives t1_j1ggy2z wrote

Preferably both, but I would say that a stove fireplace is much more reliable and you don't need gas at hand to use it, though I suppose you need wood at hand

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GroinShotz t1_j1gj7tw wrote

You can also cook on it!

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ButterflyAttack t1_j1i2wow wrote

I do proper quality baked potatoes in my wood burner. Wrap a baking potato in foil, pop it on the embers and turn every twenty minutes or so. Give it a couple of hours and it's perfect. I have mine with loads of butter, and tuna and sweetcorn but I'm willing to accept that there may be other valid accompaniments.

Or, yeah, you can stand a pot on top. Wood burners are great for stuff like stews and curries that want to cook for a while.

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Cutiecrusader2009 t1_j1hynse wrote

Some people have standby generators. They don’t have to do anything when the power cuts out. You can have it run off natural gas or propane.

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grainia99 t1_j1idaxo wrote

We have the generator and the stove is planned but have to redo the chimney first. Grew up with a wood stove and nothing beats one for winter back up. Saved my moms life during the 1998 ice storm (13 days without power and the lane wasn't open for 8 of them).

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in-game_sext t1_j1ir7x1 wrote

Why get a genny when you are reliant on gas when wood is a sustainable and renewable fuel source? My family has harvested and replanted groves of trees for fuel for five generations on their one piece of land.

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Tar_alcaran t1_j1lkhmk wrote

It a hard to have a forest in the suburbs

1

in-game_sext t1_j1lkmfs wrote

Well its a good thing you don't need a forest and can buy firewood almost anywhere. Whether you've grown it on your lot or buy it from a store, doesn't change the fact that its renewable....

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Sentinel451 t1_j1guyi2 wrote

We used to have one years ago, but the landlord tore down the chimney because it gave him cheaper insurance or something. All we have now is an old oil furnace and some electric heaters. I'd love to get another wood stove, but without a chimney it's just not happening. If we lose power we're fucked.

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asdaaaaaaaa t1_j1i54y2 wrote

Agreed. Even if it's a shitty, cheap standing one on top of a metal plate. Anything's better than nothing (unless you really cheap out and burn your house down) in my experience. I'm so glad I have a fireplace, it's not perfect and I rarely use it, but I like having the option and spare wood just in case.

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diabeetus-girl t1_j1ghyu2 wrote

Yeah Buffalo is chaos right now. Some of the suburbs have entire towns without access to EMT/Fire rescue because the entire squads are stuck. Listening to the scanner is insane… so many stranded in cars.

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Malumeze86 t1_j1grd2t wrote

I heard someone say "I don't believe in the weather" the other day.

I'll bet he's stuck in a ditch right now.

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Wand_Cloak_Stone t1_j1gscnq wrote

On Long Island, no snow but my area was flooded to shit today and trapped some people in their cars, others couldn’t leave their house. Power is on by me but internet is down (currently using data, boyfriend seems to be dying without the TV, moment of silence for him pls).

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notlikeyourex t1_j1h54q8 wrote

That's insane. We had some -12/-15C days with 30cm snowfall in mid-November here in Stockholm but not that much chaos, just some disruptions to public transportation and needed a day or two for the snow plowers to clear most major streets.

What's the issue in upstate NY that similar conditions create this much chaos? AFAIK it's quite common to have snowfall there, no?

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rachnar t1_j1h6eol wrote

Their temps got closer to -30 and even lower. And shitty infrastructure not made for it combined with people not used to it that don't know what the cold does.

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irabonus t1_j1hlm7y wrote

It's very rural and if you can't drive you're stuck. Walking to the closest building or sometimes even a neighbor can be impossible in inclement weather.

Power lines in much of the US are aboveground (as in, not just long-distance transmission lines but the ones going to each house) and snow causes tree limbs to fall and lines to come down.

Each outage might only affect a few people, but where I live there were over 1000 individual incidents within one day last week, so it can take days to repair all of them.

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Aleriya t1_j1hsewi wrote

Part of the difference is labor laws. There are people driving 30km to commute to work with no public transit alternative. Even if it's unsafe to drive, they will make an attempt because they are required to be at work, and they can't wait for the snow plows to come through.

One time I commuted into work when there was 30cm snow, and we got another 30cm during my shift. Most of the employees weren't able to get home, so we slept that night in the store.

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FindingMoi t1_j1hof7y wrote

I think other posters have explained it fairly well but I think a point you’re missing is that Buffalo got 5 ft, or over 150 cm, vs in what you describe, 30 cm. That’s not similar conditions at all.

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NoNameComputers t1_j1hveix wrote

Most places in Western NY operate just fine with extreme cold and 30 cm of snow. Buffalo is potentially looking at closer to 200 cm of snow from this storm. Combine that with the fact that it was heavily redlined and therefore infrastructure was heavily under-invested, and you end up with a real disaster.

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ommnian t1_j1hkatn wrote

That's a little crazy. Usually the plows get firetrucks and squads out first ime....

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SheriffComey t1_j1g8snf wrote

Co-worker in Buffalo just sent a picture of a while lot of "fuck that!". Then again I live in S. Florida so tomorrow I'll have to worry about falling iguanas

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Spiritual_Navigator t1_j1gtgkk wrote

Makes me Happy to be an Icelander

We get our heat from 10km unerground

Geothermal energy

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tdring22 t1_j1lh6x0 wrote

The us has an electrical grid that is hanging on by a thread basically all the time. It's going to be a rough couple days

1

McBleezy8 t1_j1glyjh wrote

State: Out:

Maine 252,688

New Hampshire 110,486

New York 94,723

Pennsylvania 87,231

Virginia 75,759

Massachusetts 70,000

North Carolina 64,758

Maryland 62,287

Connecticut 54,246

Vermont 42,159

Ohio 37,475

Kentucky 35,916

Texas 33,522

Tennessee 29,408

Michigan 23,222

New Jersey 22,732

Washington 19,589

Louisiana 17,888

West Virginia 14,319

Alaska 11,511

Top 20 states 1,159,919

Total nationwide 1,228,882

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Redman5012 t1_j1gmktv wrote

Btw Maine only has like 1.3 million people living in it. So for us to be at the top is insane

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Acadiankush t1_j1gq28a wrote

Im from new-brunswick winds are fucking insane right now. Still have power for now

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westplains1865 t1_j1hizu3 wrote

My wife and I are retiring to Maine next year. Any idea why so many out? Are there more above ground wires due to the rocky soil, more remote wires, or was it the state just got hit harder?

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Mountain-rescues t1_j1ht5ek wrote

I'm in rural Alaska but I"lll take a shot (I have relatives in northern Maine). Maine, like us, has huge rural swaths. Like no joke rural. These are probably the areas with outages due to the sheer amount of trees falling on the lines, aging infrastructure and winds from the ocean. If your moving there and buying a home if it doesn't have a toyostove, a wood stove or a full house generator it I'd call it a deal breaker and keep looking

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in-game_sext t1_j1isv0d wrote

Everytime I see above-ground wires strewn between fucking wooden posts sticking out of the ground, I'm reminded how poor our infrastructure is in the US. We need to have started investing in buried line decades ago. Edison himself would recognize the technology and that should concern us all.

My rural county got cut off for two weeks about three winters ago. It was traced back to the fact that power for over 150,000 people could be traced to one. fucking. line. coming over a hill and a blown-over tree took it. Ridiculous.

Instead of proper upgrades that utility company (PG&E here in California) chooses to pay out stock dividends to investors. Their negligence has resulted in death and destruction in the form of everything from fire their equipment has started to leveling entire blocks of cities like the infamous San Bruno gas line explosion. We need to get our priorities straight and stop giving these companies a pass.

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LiftYesPlease t1_j1j3tg4 wrote

A book was written not long ago about this. California Burning. Catherine Blunt. Absolute greed led to the campfires and the unreliable infrastructure of California utilities.

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TrukThunders t1_j1hvrpg wrote

Mainer here. While we do get frequent outages during bad weather, the amount from yesterday's storm is a little unusual. The winds we got were more severe than what we usually get so there's a lot of downed trees out there which is the primary cause of outages in the state. Most of our power lines are above ground, I'd imagine that it has to do with how rural the state is making buried lines impractical.

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TheEngineer09 t1_j1hs9w4 wrote

Not an expert, but a front ripped through last night that was pretty brutal. I'm in NH, happened to be driving when it happened. I left my house and things were calm, then things were very not calm, car being blown around, branches coming down everywhere. By the time I got downtown the power was out almost everywhere. Like supermarkets with full parking lots just 100% dark inside. It wasn't like outages in used to where you'll see pockets without power, this was most of the town. Driving home was nuts, just so many trees down everywhere. Almost couldn't get home because 2 out of 3 routes were blocked by big trees and power lines in the road.

We've had some wild weather in the last couple years that I would have thought had cleared all the at risk trees, but I guess not.

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Goronmon t1_j1hvofr wrote

Aside from the crazy winds, the storm surge was pretty staggering. Some places along the coast had multiple feet of flooding.

We don't even live on the coast but have a tidal river that goes through town and it flooded the entire park that sits next to it.

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Can_Of_Worms t1_j1injpa wrote

In my time living in Maine the power just goes out more than anywhere else I’ve been. Not sure why.

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baxterstate t1_j1m3gy2 wrote

I live in Maine. We have a lot of trees. I noticed the power company cutting back the trees and branches two years ago and asked them out of curiosity, why haven’t they been doing it for the past 5 years. I was told every county is on a rotating schedule; they don’t have the manpower to cut in every area, every year. Seems to me it would be better in the long run to hire a full staff and act preemptively rather than have to import workers from far away at huge overtime wages. Meanwhile, I advise you to get an emergency generator.

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westplains1865 t1_j1m8vd8 wrote

Thanks, I appreciate the response. Would you also recommend a wood or wood pelet stove? They seem to be popular and I've been trying to lean about them. I'm coming from Illinois and will miss the cheap and readily available natural gas.

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baxterstate t1_j1muvc5 wrote

Wood pellet stoves still need electricity. Wood stoves don’t. However, pellet stoves are more efficient. Get an emergency generator first, professionally installed with a transfer switch so you don’t electrocute a lineman trying to restore power. Then check out various heating methods. If you plan to rent the house or have guests while you’re not there, I wouldn’t get a wood stove.

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baxterstate t1_j1m28bh wrote

I live in Maine, and when I moved here, I had in my mind the terrible ice storm that took out the power for a week and a half back in the 1990s. Maine is beautiful, but neither the individual towns nor the power companies take responsibility for taking down trees and branches closest to power lines. I bought an emergency generator. I paid for it by not going to the Oxford casino and by not smoking and by not buying liquor. Maine is beautiful, but they’ve lost their minds when it comes to liquor. You can get liquor at every gas station, every convenience store, every pharmacy and every supermarket. You can afford to gamble, smoke cigarettes, drink liquor but you can’t afford to buy an emergency generator?

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[deleted] t1_j1gqqy6 wrote

[deleted]

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irabonus t1_j1hlxe2 wrote

Modern pellet stoves don't work without electricity either unfortunately. If you're too far out of town to walk to the nearest public building I'd get a backup generator.

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drecklia t1_j1gqf4e wrote

Surprisingly low in Texas

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GMFPs_sweat_towel t1_j1hzjl3 wrote

Reddit is upset Texas isn't falling apart.

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AirborneRodent t1_j1h15jw wrote

Texas became a laughingstock after the power grid failed last year, so they put a lot of effort into making sure it didn't happen again. The high winds have also been very helpful at keeping the grid supplied, since we have so many wind farms across the state. On the flipside, those high winds are responsible for the outages we do have - lots of downed power lines from fallen tree branches over the last day.

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Fenrils t1_j1hq430 wrote

>so they put a lot of effort into making sure it didn't happen again.

They literally did not. They did some minimal maintenance on some old infrastructure that needed updating anyway but in terms of winterization, virtually none was performed. If we get another storm like last time, the power is gonna fail again. It has nothing to do with green energy either, the issue last time and still today is the natural gas lines freezing. Once they freeze, everyone is fucked.

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user-name-1985 t1_j1huac4 wrote

Has Texas connected to the national power grid yet?

−5

Fenrils t1_j1hy9hb wrote

Nope because freedom and uh... Higher costs with less stable infrastructure? Idk, lost my train of thought there for a second.

−1

kudichangedlives t1_j1g5jj8 wrote

Hey that's me! All's I want is to be able to make some warm food and watch the wire, but cold fries and reddit are all I have

Also I'm so far north I'm almost in Canada, so it's pretty chilly out

E: ok have the power again!

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sinmantky t1_j1gsyeb wrote

Portal, North Dakota?

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kudichangedlives t1_j1gt2ol wrote

Cook county, Minnesota. Whole county has been down for 7 hours

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sinmantky t1_j1gtbpj wrote

Rent a room at Thunder Bay, will probably be cheaper than the heat bill you’ll get. Modern problems require modern solutions.

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kudichangedlives t1_j1gtqar wrote

My heat is electric supplemented by wood stove. Also don't have a passport on hand. Also I couldn't even get there as I need gas and don't have any cash, when the county loses power you can't use credit cards in town. Annnndddd downtown is closed right now because a roof came off a business and they don't want people down there because of all the wind and debris

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zedemer t1_j1i4n7s wrote

Not so bad in Canada so far though. Like 3-4 ft of snow and some ice, but power has been on in most places

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kudichangedlives t1_j1ik0p0 wrote

We're approaching 24 hours of no power here. The most annoying thing is that it was flickering off and on for like 5 minutes a few hours ago.

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zedemer t1_j1iy5pi wrote

Sorry to hear that. Friendly reminder: turn off most breakers until power comes back. This way you avoid having electronics break due to power surges. Keep one breaker for something basic like lights.

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kudichangedlives t1_j1iyl1n wrote

Well it came back on less than 2 minutes ago, let's hope it stays on. This place is prone to power outages and that's never happened in 40 years

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Donkey_Kahn t1_j1gjy18 wrote

-11 here in central NY. I just know my energy bill is going to be really high in January 😢.

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[deleted] t1_j1gpzbr wrote

[deleted]

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pseudocultist t1_j1ht8iz wrote

Based on my usage so far this year compared to last year, and because a new utility bought our gas company and is raising rates astronomically. I am expecting my first $800+ gas bill this month.

Granted we have some gas fireplaces we probably use too much because it’s Christmas season. But something is not right about this.

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leonden t1_j1hhq1y wrote

I keep thinking that -11 isn’t that bad until i realise you guys use Fahrenheit.

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SoggyBottomSoy t1_j1gqucf wrote

Think about all the wildlife that has frozen to death in the last 48hrs.

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katoomer3 t1_j1h6uy0 wrote

eh, most animals are great at survival and can handle adverse conditions. Hundreds of millions of years of natural selection does magic to building survival instincts.

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SoggyBottomSoy t1_j1i1pny wrote

When the snowpocalypse happened we had dead dear and birds everywhere, In fact I had dead birds on my front porch.

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katoomer3 t1_j1i3d2v wrote

Not saying it doesn’t happen, but it is a natural process. Mother Nature can be a cruel beast and survival of the fittest isn’t always glamorous.

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TheFunDip t1_j1iasef wrote

Absolutely. If the south gets colder, then we have plenty of tundra animals that will love it there.

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bingold49 t1_j1gaih0 wrote

It's been an average of -15 here for the past few days, everytime my furnace isn't running I get nervous and am checking the thermostat, couldn't imagine if the power went out

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mdkubit t1_j1gb98c wrote

Heyo. South-eastern Michigan reporting in. Where I'm at, it's -2F outside, with windchill at -30F. And we had a power skip for about 5 minutes an hour ago. For five minutes. Long enough to seriously reconsider where I'm living. Scary...!

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Impossible-Flight250 t1_j1gilbo wrote

Yeah, winters like this make me seriously consider moving somewhere warm. The wind is the worst part.

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BigPianoBoy t1_j1gqtcc wrote

I think it’s absolutely wild I’ve left SE Michigan to spend Christmas in Traverse City and it’s actually warmer here than there. Snow is a different story, but even so.

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TheFunDip t1_j1i9rhg wrote

We are used to this kind of weather though, for the most part. I wouldn't be alarmed yet. This storm came upon us fast so we have to take the hit, unfortunately, but we have survived every winter before.

2

cloudZZZound t1_j1gemyf wrote

52F in Phoenix. I had to wear a light jacket today, so I get it, I'm so tired of winter already.

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naytedoes t1_j1gj2fs wrote

Came home to power but frozen pipes in Ohio. Maybe I’ll try to shower in the morning?

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HughManatee t1_j1j4dpf wrote

That is insane that you even have exterior pipes in Ohio, tbh.

1

Burdybot t1_j1kbepd wrote

I don’t know anyone here in Ohio that has exterior pipes. Problem is our indoor pipes freeze just as easily if they’re against an outside wall and not well-insulated.

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HughManatee t1_j1kx383 wrote

Damn, that is frustrating! Spray foam insulation was a life saver at our old place, but we still had the occasional issue with our dishwasher since that line ran right next to our garage.

1

lucky_harms458 t1_j1h88be wrote

Reeeeeeaaaaallllllyyyyyy thankful that my dad bought and installed an automatic generator for our house. That and our wood burner has us fortunately warm

10

JasonVanJason t1_j1go4g9 wrote

February is gonna be interesting

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NextTrillion t1_j1h1knr wrote

Could be really warm. No one knows with these bizarre weather patterns.

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kheret t1_j1hh6m9 wrote

The most populous city in Wisconsin is being threatened with a natural gas outage in this cold, because of a pipeline problem and increased demand on what would otherwise be backups. Not an electric outage - a gas outage, which a generator can’t get you out of. It hasn’t happened yet but they asked everyone to turn their heat to 62 to try to prevent it.

8

TheFunDip t1_j1iabwk wrote

Makes sense. This storm happened so quickly. Bundle up with layers of clothing and ride it out. If they live in such a cold spot and aren't prepared, that's on them. It's not a surprise that our northern temps get below freezing often in the winter.

−2

Agent__Caboose t1_j1ieatm wrote

>This storm happened so quickly

You would have thought Texas last year would have been a wakeup call for the country. Guess not...

0

Aacron t1_j1jiyrv wrote

My concern is everyone saying this happened quickly.

I was hearing about a "Siberian arctic blast" over a week ago, and knew how cold it would be for days beforehand.

5

eccezarathustra t1_j1gm1pp wrote

40 here in Florida, so we had to get out an extra blanket.

I did stock up on a couple extra cords of wood, just in case.

3

Mr_Metrazol t1_j1huy44 wrote

40 degrees?

Lucky ass. It's-30 degrees with the wind chill up in the Blue Ridge Mountains (Southwest Virginia).

4

eccezarathustra t1_j1hwsxt wrote

I was honestly considering spending Xmas in Asheville before all of this. Honestly glad I skipped it

2

MoonBeamerGirl t1_j1k941w wrote

South Floridian checking in too. Yeah we’re spoiled as hell right now- extra blanket is all I’ve needed.

1

Daniastrong t1_j1hq6c8 wrote

In Maine over 237,000 out of 847,000 homes lost power. https://poweroutage.us/area/state/maine Some heavily populated areas lost 100 percent. At least they are not getting the brunt of the polar blast, but people with electric heat will be cold.

3

donaldinoo t1_j1h4qw4 wrote

Biden should tweet “otw to Cancun for Christmas! Lol jk”

2

sonic10158 t1_j1hsqmt wrote

Mississippi has power outages due to rolling blackouts Not the same thing, but definitely not used to the cold

2

Orisara t1_j1hcgtr wrote

I'm honestly just curious where the leftover heat went.

If it's colder than usual in the US now it has the warmer than usual in another place.

1

Aleriya t1_j1hukjv wrote

The arctic. Barrow, Alaska (northern tip of Alaska) is about 20 degrees warmer than their usual.

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Plenty_Area_408 t1_j1hisox wrote

Will be 90f+ in Melbourne on Christmas, usually it's about 65.

1

known-to-blow-fuses t1_j1jk05y wrote

It's only 65f in Melbourne in the summer?

1

Plenty_Area_408 t1_j1jlht8 wrote

Probably more like 75f, with the hot temperatures spiking a week after the Summer Solstice, just before New Years eve.

January average is 85f, but tends to be the coolest city on the mainland.

1

sucaji t1_j1hzlxh wrote

Supposed to be 80F where I am in SoCal, which is quite warm this time of year.

1

1320Fastback t1_j1i6grf wrote

I've loaned out one of our generators before when they turn the power off here in SoCal because of the wind. While you not going to be running your entire house off of a smaller generator you can power your refrigerator, run a heater, charge your phones, etc.

1

sd1360 t1_j1jpuzy wrote

Let me guess, most of them are in tEXAS.

1

Maximum-Carpet2740 t1_j1ozqtl wrote

My family doesn’t have a generator or anything but I am glad we have a natural gas cooktop and oven. It’s by no means ideal, but if we lose power we can still cook and heat the main living area of the house. We were without power for 12 days during a huge ice storm that laid an an inch and a half of ice over my area (northwest Arkansas) in January of 2010. The gas stove kept us all warm and fed. Thankfully have never had to do that again! Although, I did enjoy the comraderie and closeness that my family developed through that particular hardship. Without power there was no tv or video games or anything so we had to entertain ourselves by actually interacting with each other. We played a lot of board games, cards, listening to music on battery powered radio, just sitting around talking etc. It’s amazing how struggle can bring people together!

1

dizzy_A t1_j1gxd30 wrote

Idk I thought about moving away from hurricanes, and maybe one day I'll have enough of them and I'll pack up and get out of dodge, but no power and sub zero temps just doesn't really help my decision.

Yeah, my community is in shambles after a hurricane, and we definitely lose power, but it's 80° and I can handle that.

Talking out of my ass in Florida where it's in the 30s and dropping but I'm sitting in front of a heater that works when I turn the dial.

0

Xtasy0178 t1_j1hiq3s wrote

I definitely wouldn’t invest in infrastructure though…

0

chromerchaser t1_j1gov51 wrote

Sounds like an ideal situation to have electrical emergency response vehicles.

−1

allannon t1_j1gydzp wrote

I'm honestly not sure what you mean. Like BEV emergency vehicles, or emergency vehicles to respond to electrical problems?

If the former, I'm not sure this would be the best weather for them.

If the latter, they exist; it's just slow and fiddly to bring a grid section back online, otherwise you risk other parts of the grid. Wouldn't do a lot of good to bring e.g. your neighborhood online, only to have it and the next neighborhood over immediately go back offline. So it might take more time to prep the grid for reconnection than it did to--say--fix a cable.

2

After-District8811 t1_j1hiwoe wrote

Down to 45 here in south Florida. Anyone have any tips on how to survive when it’s this cold out?

−1

RaspberryTwilight t1_j1huug0 wrote

While I empathize with you as it can be scary if you're not used to it, but me and my husband in Belgium didn't turn up the heating until it was much colder than that outside. Just wear a warm robe over your sweatpants and sweater inside of your house and you should be fine.

4

Aacron t1_j1jjbny wrote

On the off chance you're serious, two or three layers of clothes and you're good, we had the negative of that temp swing through Colorado the other day and that was full stay inside.

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baxterstate t1_j1iiiow wrote

I have an emergency generator. How is it possible in this day and age that there are homeowners who don't have one?

You can buy an emergency generator and have it hooked up by an electrician for the price of a low end refrigerator. My advice is to have it done before you need one. The big box stores like Lowes and Home Depot usually have them for about $800 for one that'll power a 3 bedroom home and cheaper generators that just run the fridge and heating system. However, once there's a power outage for more than 1 day, the generators sell out.

You cannot count on huge power companies anymore to keep you supplied with electrical power. They're too busy looking for ways to cut expenses like not cutting back trees or trimming branches when the weather's good.

Get a propane generator if you have a large propane tank. If you have municipal natural gas, get a gasoline generator because you can't always count on natural gas flowing to your home.

If you're allowed to, have your own well dug for water, because you can't always count on city water. Try not to depend on bureaucrats who are never accountable.

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breadexpert69 t1_j1g1m99 wrote

Someone make sure Texas is ok

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CakeAccomplice12 t1_j1g475s wrote

Since we lost the Elon tracker, do we have a Cruz tracker?

If he's still in Texas they're probably okay

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cptnamr7 t1_j1glcab wrote

It's like the inverse of the Waffle House indicator. If Cruz is still in Texas, you're going to be fine

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AwesomeBrainPowers t1_j1g6d1z wrote

(To clarify: Not because human-like object Ted Cruz would actually do anything helpful; rather, he'd just cut & run if it actually got bad.)

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TheFunDip t1_j1ib7jt wrote

He's a canary in a coal mine, some could say.

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mbm7501 t1_j1gbyg7 wrote

28,000 customers out, things are bad!!

https://poweroutage.us/area/state/texas

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Throwawaybcfu420 t1_j1gf6y4 wrote

Considering Texas has almost 30 million people, 28k really isn’t that bad.

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mbm7501 t1_j1gjfuh wrote

Yeah it was sarcasm. I’m not super defensive of Texas, but it good old with Reddit constantly railing on us.

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Throwawaybcfu420 t1_j1gyxbv wrote

Too right, buddy. Typical reddit jumping on whatever bandwagon gives them a chance to try and leave le funniest comment and continue to beat a dead horse.

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Prochnost_Present t1_j1i3z0r wrote

Personally I'm more worried about Ukrainians. Their power will go out many more times and affect tens of millions. For us it is merely an inconvenient moment. Our relatives aren't on the battlefield and we aren't targets of rockets.

This is about the third time Reddit has pushed one of theses stories.

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Velveteen_Dream_20 t1_j1iv2nk wrote

I live in America.

Crumbling infrastructure Housing as a spec investment increasingly bought up by private equity firms Widespread homelessness Lower life expectancy than our parents and grandparents Increased risk of death during childbirth Declining birth rate Underfunded education system Higher education so cost prohibitive that many people must take on unprecedented amounts of debt to have a CHANCE at being able to clothe/house/feed oneself The most expensive, least efficient, increasingly harder to access privatized healthcare system that puts profits over people Mass shootings on a regular basis Corporatization of everything including self Toxic individualism Political parties both captured by corporations who dictate policy decisions vs the will of the people Military industrial complex Consumerism Piss poor labor conditions Growing domestic terrorist threats People don’t see a future here

The Ukrainian people are going through hell. Western media is full of pro war propaganda. No one asks why? Why does the United States intervene in other countries issues while ignoring the needs of their own citizens? Do you really believe we’re spreading democracy or are we trying to impose western neoliberal capitalist ideology? Why do we spend so much on defense? What are we defending?

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Prochnost_Present t1_j1iz5ff wrote

First, all obvious, and I agree, but most of that doesn't have to do with the power being out. I actually don't understand the need for all of those tangents. I think the first half is just a copy pasta of yours sans-punctuation.

We shouldn't accept any of that being the way it is, but we also have a lot to be grateful for. It is insane how many hundred of millions of people can't drink the water out of the faucet or the municipal sewers are so cheap they can't flush their used toilet paper and have to keep it piled up in a bin in the bathroom. They actually have to live with their shit piling up. Or every hospital lobby you visit absolutely reeks of urine for some unknown reason. I lived in a modern city in China more populous than New York City and when there was shit and piss in the streets and no one batted an eye.

Second, most of the time in America we can fix these issues within a day or two. Re-erect a pole or powerline, replace something we have ready replacement parts for, etc. I've lived in America with the power out for 2-3 days and it is barely a memorable experience. It was just inconvenient. Throw a hoodie on and find something else to do.

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