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Looks like God wants Brown and McMahon to win
Yeah. Life is getting reaaaaaaallllly interesting in this neck of the woods. We’ve got a generator, we’ll have a lot of water in large containers, and I’m planning on picking up some extra dry goods. Just in case.
But if we lose power for any stretch of time, it’s going to be a friggin’ mess. Our water is supplied by a pumping station just outside of Baltimore City, and it’s run by the city. They’ve got no emergency generators to keep the pumps going if they lose power. We saw the results of that with Derecho that ran through here this last summer. A big chunk of the county lost water for a day, until the station got its power back. The city refuses to spend money on generators, and for whatever reason, the county can’t. Jurisdictional BS.
We’re getting lots of opportunities practicing our mad survival skilz!
And the worst-case scenario on this storm is even worse than a “normal” hurricane hitting the mid-Atlantic. If everything lines up just right, then lots of cold air gets sucked down behind the front that will collide with the hurricane. That cold air could produce significant snow in Western Maryland, West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, and even Eastern Ohio. Under normal circumstances, the target area for a hurricane gets a lot of help (especially from utility companies) from neighboring jurisdictions. The problem now is that those very neighbors will be hit just as hard. A foot of snow in that region hammers their power infrastructure, because there are still lots of leaves on the trees. That, combined with significant winds, means trees down all over. So, they’ll be handling their own crisis, instead of coming to the coast to help us. Which then means that a much larger area of support will be needed, and it will take that much longer to recover even basic utilities.
So, we’re basically talking about, as an example, a region comprised of Virginia, Maryland, DC, Delaware, New Jersey, West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; with possible secondary impacts as far south as the Carolinas, and as far north as New York/New England. With a significant loss of power, trees down all over (which limits traffic movement), limited water supplies, and only a few days of food available.
I’m a weather nerd, but this is pegging my “too much” meter. I think the “billion dollars” figure may be way short.
And, by the way, nobody’s addressing this particular twist on outside help. Not that I’ve seen, at least. If the utilities aren’t already widening their call for extra prep, then we’re screwed.
Got any extra room at Casa Verde?
Hmm, by Tuesday, it looks like northeastern Virginia, eastern Maryland, Delaware, New Joisey, downstate NY, and the Philadelphia area will be hardest hit. And what do all those areas have in common, especially on voting day?
10 paragraphs later, as per when politicians of a certain ilk get in trouble:
all Democrats!
I think the Tuesday in question is October 30.
Ah, damn, getting my weeks mixed up. Have an Aikido seminar coming up and getting everything messed up. Maybe the storm aftermath can still, um, have an affect.
I think what you’re trying to say is that low pressure areas are racist, is that correct?
Even if the impact is anything as severe as the snow storm last october, which is very unlikely, even that was mostly back to normal in a week for most people. And that one had every power line for a hundred mile swath on the ground.
I suspect little more than some wind and rain, which isn’t exactly rare on the east coast in late fall.
We remember Katrina in part as a case where the dire predictions came true, while forgetting that most of the dire aftermath we heard about was not a direct result of the storm and, in many cases, was simply not true (cannibalism in the Superdome, anyone?).
We remember Irene for the looding in upper New England and the destruction of covered bridges while forgetting that before landfall it was being hyped as potentially leaving lower Manhattan underwater.
Not saying people on the east coast shouldn’t be prepared. The rest of us, though, might do well to step back from the media hype.
None of the Republican states booed God. Just sayin’
Heh.
I’m prepared for anything, so normally I wouldn’t worry much about this (other than from the angle of being a weather nerd like Nukem).
Buuuuttt, I’m supposed to drive to BWI on Monday for an early afternoon flight. Which looks about when, and where, the storm could hit.
I’m not necessarily worried about myself. But I’ll be gone until Thursday, and my wife will be home alone. She can work the woodstove, but not the generator (which we would depend on for water). And we live in the woods, so downed trees are always an issue.
Our closest neighbor is about a quarter mile away, so she could probably walk there for help if she needed it. But I’m close to begging my boss for a pass on this trip.
jay,
It looks like the decision will be taken out of your hands. Every meteorologist I’ve been reading tonight is saying the airports will likely be shuttered between Monday and probably Wednesday, at the earliest. From VA to MA.
And I know you don’t know me from Adam, but Steve does. If you do get shipped out, I’ll give you my contact info so that your wife has an extra resource if she needs it.
Drop me a line at my email address if you want. And feel free to talk to Steve if you want at least a little assurance that I’m not a complete freak!
(Steve, I hope you don’t mind me drawing you into this. Kinda presumptuous on my part, I realize.)
Good luck with everything. I’m in the Owings Mills area, which is fortunately not ground zero for any major meteorological/geological occurrences. Well, except for the occasional derecho! We just have to worry about turf wars between Baltimore City and County over water supplies. :-/
Thanks Nukem!
I’m in PA, probably 45 minutes from Owings Mills (if the traffic in Westminster cooperates).
I know you’ve been reading and commenting here a loooong time, just like me.
So I trust you!
I’ll see how things go tomorrow, but I might just try to establish contact if it looks like I’m going to be passing through your hood.
Hell, we should probably know each other regardless of the storm!
Yeah, I had that thought, too. So … you’re up in the Gettysburg area? Not a bad place to pitch a tent. I’m jealous.
Drop me a line at your convenience. We’ll figure something out.
And yeah, the models are getting more dire by the hour. Just talked with my wife about getting her folks out of their apartment in Pikesville and over here before the weekend ends. They lose power rather regularly, and her mom’s in a wheelchair. So getting up and down from the sixth floor is … problematic.
Slumber party at Hill Haven!
Yep, about 15 miles north of Gettysburg, living on the east side of the Blue Ridge.
I’ll shoot you an email at some point, but not tonight. It’s time to collapse….
Yikes, the 11:00 models don’t look good for us!
Graphic just goes to show you what bad things happen when you make a hard left turn.
FTW!
This guy seems to understand the situation. He’s painting worst-case scenario visions, but the models are really supporting him right now.
He’s got a checklist of “must dos” if you are in the affected area. I’ve already got most handled, but I’m going to have to get the generator up on blocks, get some extra gas (wife got more gas cans this morning), and pick up more dry goods this weekend.
Weeee!!!
jay, do you have a good chainsaw handy? Sounds like you’re in an area where it’s a necessary piece of equipment.
Yep, 3 chainsaws actually. They get a lot of use year round, since I burn a lot of wood in the winter. Got a bobcat with a grapple bucket too. And 2 generators. And 2 of those battery/inverter combo things.
Just I filled up all of their tanks with fresh fuel yesterday, then refilled my gas cans this morning.
Got a couple months worth of food, more ammo than logic would dictate, and some springs out back in case things get really bad…..
Like I said, I’m ready for just about anything short of a direct nuke strike. That’s just always been the way I like to do things.
But none of that does me any good if I’m stranded at a damn airport. So I’m very close to cancelling my trip.