Weather: Be careful out there

[mdlbear]

If you're anywhere east of Seattle in the US it looks as though there's some bad weather headed your way: This is the first time I've encountered the term "bomb cyclone". According to the Washington Post, "The Weather Service office serving Buffalo is calling it a “once in a generation” storm system." (Which probably means that we'll see one every couple of years, given climate change.)

Here's WaPo's advice about how to get ready: How to prepare yourself, your home and your vehicle for extreme cold; 20 smartphone tips for weathering natural disasters. To which I will add: if you want to use an electric vehicle as a temporary power source, I found out that -- at least in the Chevy Bolt -- auxiliary power isn't coming from the main battery. There's an ordinary lead-acid battery that powers the car's electronics, and when it's totally discharged, nothing will work regardless of what's in the main battery. So if you're planning on spending an hour or two working on your laptop and charging your phones, hit the "start" button.

And if you don't have any plastic "space blankets" in your house and in your car, get some.

Be careful out there.

Comments

[kengr]

I've got one of the reusable (tarp type) space blankets around here somewhere. And I've got several "army blankets" And a cloak made from an old horse blanket.

Even have some food that doesn't need cooking.

So if the power stays on, I'm fine. If it goes out, my only problem will be not being able to run my CPAP, and not being able to cook. Keeping warm won't be a problem (I'll just curl up in a pile of blankets with my Kindle and and lots of batteries :-)

[madfilkentist]

"Bomb cyclone" is something of a clickbait expression. NOAA defines it as a storm with barometric pressure "dropping at least 24 millibars over 24 hours." It's nasty and can take you by surprise if you don't watch the weather reports, but nothing we aren't used to in New England. The local weather report for Friday shows that the temperature is expected to drop from 55° to 15° F, there will be about an inch of precipitation, and wind gusts could reach 45 MPH. Icy roads are likely to happen. But it's winter in New England, and that's the kind of stuff we get. Arisia and Boskone occasionally get snowed in.