Are we headed for another "Year without a Summer"?

Well, to answer your first question you need to stock up on these items: Non-parishable foods, seed for cold weather plants, some sort of gun+ammo, Money, wood, matches, bottled gas, an ammo-less weapon like a dagger and blankets.

P.S. i might of left somethings out. I'm low on time right now.

Originally posted by msthurnell
There are lots of scenarios for a year without summer. A volcanic eruption, a nuclear winter, asteroid strike etc. Volcanic eruption is looking likely. As we did not have an airline industry at the time of the last "year without summer" then it did not impact the way it will this time. Our homes are energy hungry now and at least wice as much energy will be required for heating over the whole year and I have seen mains gas and power fail.

The prospect of something like a year without summer is maybe one reason I put in a heat pump rather than solar panels, that, and the prospect of hail damage to solar panels (and because I want to change the roof line of the house). Solar panels are just not going to work in a year without summer and if the weather is bad they may be destroyed.

It's rather difficult to get things right, trying to be green, and trying to cover every world and personal scenario.

I've just tried to spread the risk across all methods of energy usage.

I have bottled gas for cooking, this will still work in case the power fails. I still have a wood burning fireplace as backup heating and over summer I have collected trees cut down on the local golf course. I put a lot more into doing things like this this summer and I do not know why. Maybe instinct.

I'm thinking of getting a small ethanol burning device as well. Has anyone tried on of those?

Certainly home insulation incentives have been being pushed lately and that may be because of fears of some kind of crisis of this kind. Heaps of insulation just sitting in storage here in Australia after our government scheme caused so many fires it was halted.

I'm collecting large bubble, bubble wrap to use on my windows this year. I believe it is quite effective and a whole lot cheaper than double glazing which is simply out of the question. Also collecting extra carpets. If it happens I'll turn my house into a kind of Yurt. The mongolians go quite well in Yurts. Be interesting to know if they have legends of a year without summer. What happened in Tibet the year without summer?

We replaced all the windows with types that have a reflective coating on them to reflect back the sunlight. Six months ago or so, I had a strong need to purchase warm bedding. I now have sleeping bags for all of us and several warm thick blankets, in addition to many lap blankets.

I also thought about solar panels, but realized I didn't want to be so obvious. Like you, we also have to worry about hail here where I am in the U.S. I also want to replace my heat pump but have to convince my husband to do so.

We have a wood burning fireplace that has a gas starter. We put in the gas logs a few years ago. I can always take it out if necessary, but I don't think I'll need to.

I find it interesting that you have been concerned about the cold as well. I believe in always following your instincts. Better safe than sorry! Thanks for your comments!

Originally posted by Allen.craftr
Well, to answer your first question you need to stock up on these items: Non-parishable foods, seed for cold weather plants, some sort of gun+ammo, Money, wood, matches, bottled gas, an ammo-less weapon like a dagger and blankets.

P.S. i might of left somethings out. I'm low on time right now.

I have almost all of those things on your list.

I still need to do some more research about gardening in the winter.

Thanks for your suggestions!

Originally posted by Waiting2

Originally posted by Allen.craftr
Well, to answer your first question you need to stock up on these items: Non-parishable foods, seed for cold weather plants, some sort of gun+ammo, Money, wood, matches, bottled gas, an ammo-less weapon like a dagger and blankets.

P.S. i might of left somethings out. I'm low on time right now.

I have almost all of those things on your list.

I still need to do some more research about gardening in the winter.

Thanks for your suggestions!

I left out these things: a generator, cold weather animals & what they eat (optional), sleeping bags, batteries, battery-powered lamps/flashlights, ect.

Originally posted by Allen.craftr

I left out these things: a generator, cold weather animals & what they eat (optional), sleeping bags, batteries, battery-powered lamps/flashlights, ect.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm pretty prepared.

reply to post by Waiting2


Anytime Waiting2

for heat

[edit on 5/3/2010 by Allen.craftr]

i]reply to post by Waiting2

Does anyone read the Webbot predictions? In one of them, they said that there would be something that would travel around the Earth seven times and would be dangerous to humans.

Could be OIL that will travel around the world seven times. And we can just imagine the ramifications on humans.

reply to post by SunnyDee


Certainly could be Oil. Or Volcanic Ash. Or the missing X37B. Or the missing Air Force Supersonic. Or the Swine Flu returning this fall.

At this point in time, there are so many things trying to wipe us out that it is almost useless to guess! IMHO, none of it will get us all, but there are a lot of prophecies about 1/3rd of the Air/Ocean/Land/Life getting wiped out, and I can see a half dozen or more things currently capable of fulfilling that prophecy! Just a matter of time really.

back when you first posted on 19-4-2010
I would have said nope... but down here in Albuquerque the past several days we had temps below freezing in the mornings... even some snow flurries... yeah that's common up on the mountain this time of year but not down here in the city

We are already into the first week of May here in Socal and it's been very strange weather. Cold and more rain than usual. This time of year it's starting to get hot.

Originally posted by SunnyDee

Could be OIL that will travel around the world seven times. And we can just imagine the ramifications on humans.

Excellent thought, Sunny! Oh yeah! I never even THOUGHT of that! Honestly, I'm not sure I even buy all the webbot stuff. I was pretty surprised to find out that a volcano eruption could change the weather that severely....and shocked to find that it happened before.

Your comment definitely made me think!

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by SunnyDee

 

Certainly could be Oil. Or Volcanic Ash. Or the missing X37B. Or the missing Air Force Supersonic. Or the Swine Flu returning this fall.

At this point in time, there are so many things trying to wipe us out that it is almost useless to guess! IMHO, none of it will get us all, but there are a lot of prophecies about 1/3rd of the Air/Ocean/Land/Life getting wiped out, and I can see a half dozen or more things currently capable of fulfilling that prophecy! Just a matter of time really.

You're right, Getready. I never even heard of the X37B! I'm glad you added that.

Like you, I've heard of the prophecies wiping out a 1/3 of "whatever", which would greatly affect Earth.

One of the reasons why I started this thread was the idea that a drastic change in weather would affect all of us. A massive volcano could do it. So could a pole shift. Either way, it would be helpful to have ideas to prepare for such a thing.

DaddyBare and Zosynspiracy, I agree. The weather is just weird. It is easily 20 degrees cooler than normal for this time of year. We had a much colder, wetter winter than normal and now we have a much colder spring. I am glad I planted "cold weather" crops because they are doing quite well!

Do any of you have any ideas where I can find information on year round/winter gardening?


[edit on 3-5-2010 by Waiting2]

Originally posted by Waiting2

Originally posted by Anuubis
My question is what happened to winter? It never came here in Idaho.

I think we're all experiencing strange weather. You lost a winter; I received a harsh one when ours are usually mild. Now, my spring is much cooler than normal, by at least 20 degrees.

I don't think the volcano is to blame for that, but I wonder how much the world weather will be affected if the volcano erupts again like it's supposed to.

Or worse yet, if Katla blows. That will mess everything up.

reply to post by Waiting2


The survival forum hear has everything you have read here about surviving and more! It is terrific. Gardening, tools, do-it-yourself stuff. Lists. Bug Out Bags, and Everyday Carry Bags, etc. I have learned an immense amount of information and integrated it into not only my daily life, but the life of all the non-CS people that I know. Like an Everyday Carry bag, and a meeting place for the family in case a disaster (natural or otherwise) happens while we are all split up at work.

As a starter, the Farmer's Almanac is a great starting tool outside ATS. It will have very accurate weather cycles and predictions for the year. It will have planting and harvesting info. It will have appropriate crops for the year. Start there, and start combing through the Survival Forum. Search for thread titles with "Bug Out Bag" first. These threads have terrific lists of things that should be on hand in a convenient format for a disaster scenario!

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by Waiting2

 

The survival forum hear has everything you have read here about surviving and more! It is terrific. Gardening, tools, do-it-yourself stuff. Lists. Bug Out Bags, and Everyday Carry Bags, etc. I have learned an immense amount of information and integrated it into not only my daily life, but the life of all the non-CS people that I know. Like an Everyday Carry bag, and a meeting place for the family in case a disaster (natural or otherwise) happens while we are all split up at work.

As a starter, the Farmer's Almanac is a great starting tool outside ATS. It will have very accurate weather cycles and predictions for the year. It will have planting and harvesting info. It will have appropriate crops for the year. Start there, and start combing through the Survival Forum. Search for thread titles with "Bug Out Bag" first. These threads have terrific lists of things that should be on hand in a convenient format for a disaster scenario!

Thanks for all of your input! I know the Farmer's Almanac is good and had planting and harvesting info. However, I don't think it will be very helpful in a year without a summer. Planting and harvesting seasons will be off. Everything will be off. That's why I started this thread, to see if there is anything about what to do if all of us end up missing a summer.

Really, what if Katla explodes? What then? How will that affect the rest of us? That's what I want to know, how to survive a much colder year. How to figure out planting seasons when the seasons themselves are totally off.