Brothers and sisters snowed in

Living in Minnesota, seeing whats going on in the east coast of the United States, I thought I was obligated to let you guys and gals know what its like to deal with both very serious cold, and mother *Snip* snow drifts. In Minnesota, the cold can be god *Snip* awfull. In the northern part of our state, we get -40 degrees below zero, every few years or so. But we don't really get huge snow falls. We leave that for the rocky mountains, at least most of the time. Once in a while, we get nasty snow. As we have this time along with the east coast of the US, we have had a hell of a lot of snow.

A little kind and gentle advice? If you can afford to have buy a very basic systems like a generator, to power a few light bulbs, a heater or two, and mayby a computer, get one. And for Christ Sake, have a good battery powerd radio and and a bunch of flash lights. What do you really need? Flashlights, and a very high quality sleeping bag, able to keep a single person alive at -50 degrees below zero. You need enough for each member, including pets, though they can share a bag with some one, of your household.

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[edit on 2/9/2010 by semperfortis]

reply to post by arbiture


Damn gopher! Badger here. A trick when you get stuck in a car is to have a candle available. One candle will give off enough heat to keep you alive. Do not leave your vehicle unless you see a place to take shelter.

And have fun over there on the East Coast. Snow is your friend. Have fun shoveling. I have had to three times, in the past 2 days.

Originally posted by endisnighe
reply to post by arbiture

 

Damn gopher! Badger here. A trick when you get stuck in a car is to have a candle available. One candle will give off enough heat to keep you alive. Do not leave your vehicle unless you see a place to take shelter.

And have fun over there on the East Coast. Snow is your friend. Have fun shoveling. I have had to three times, in the past 2 days.

I don't have a candle, buddy. Last time I got stuck in a snow drift, about ten years ago, I had several military flares. I sent four up. I had 3 county police departments, 4 fire departments and a national guard detachchment on training show up. They even sent a helicopter. Made me feel real important. I have been on missions over seas and when I was really dying, the most they sent, was a guide dog. But in the end, it all worked out.

That's great advice. I have a kerosene heater and 20 gallons of kerosene I keep in cases of emergencies. I also have a lot of candles, but just recently bought 4 oil lamps which burn brighter than a candle.

If you are talking mainly about being stuck in a car, I didn't know about the candle thing, so I will be sure to put a few in the glove box. Thanks for the tip.

I've been outside three times today snow blowing and as soon as I get it done, it needs it again. It's times like these that I really hate having such a long driveway.

reply to post by arbiture


Jeez, the last time I got stuck it took 4 hours before anyone drove by. Of course I was out in the country.

I never thought to add flares, total brain fart I guess.

Yes, the candle is for inside the car virraszto. Just one is enough to keep the vehicle warm enough to keep you from freezing. I grew up here in the great northwoods, so I learned early to be prepared in weather like what the east is getting hit with.

As the old saying goes, pray for the best, prepare for the worst.

Be safe people!

Yea, I was in the Blizzard of 78 in Western Michigan. We had 22 1/2 foot drifts on the roads and I lived in a house with a walk-out basement. The front of the house could not be seen as it was one big snow drift. I had to dig a tunnel to the front door. My tractor (w/plow) was burried under 4' of snow and after digging it out I took the rest of the day to clear our drive and road. It was so deep, I had to keep going forward and backward only a few feet at a time.

I live in Florida now! No more of that mess. This year has brought quite a bit to the South and East coast. So much for global warming around here. If this is due to climate change, then I expect we could see these type of events repeating themselves and becoming increasingly worse. It snowed in North Florida Back in 1989 or 1990 only a couple of inches, but nothing since. This year it seemed close a couple of times.

reply to post by endisnighe


I only had flares because I was transporting them to a base from the Minneapolis Naval Air Station. It was a total fluke. Now I always carry a few in my car...

reply to post by spirit_horse

Thanksgiving weekend of 85. The entire state of Wisconsin got buried. Of course I was visiting the old homestead and got stuck there. I was in college at the time and had to drive back on Sunday instead of the Saturday I had originally planned. St. Louis U is my Alma mater. The normal trip time from my old home to St Louis was a 9 hour trip. It took me 29 hours. I got to about 6 miles from school and had to stop to sleep. Had to make up the classtime due to FAR regs.

I can still remember that horrifying boring trip. Through most of Wisconsin I was driving like 10 mph. One section of highway by Madison Wi is a 3 lane freeway. The road had been plowed all the way into the shoulder. People were driving about 7 vehicles wide. You could not even tell where the road was.

I will never forget that trip.

I don't know why this was put in bts. With the severe weather we are having now, it could be helpful to someone. Maybe it should have went in survival forum?

Originally posted by endisnighe
reply to post by arbiture

 

Damn gopher! Badger here. A trick when you get stuck in a car is to have a candle available. One candle will give off enough heat to keep you alive. Do not leave your vehicle unless you see a place to take shelter.

And have fun over there on the East Coast. Snow is your friend. Have fun shoveling. I have had to three times, in the past 2 days.

How big should the candle be? It would be my luck I'd get stuck for days before someone found me. I'm thinking one of those big coffee table candles would last a couple days. Candles are also handy to light a stick fire so you don't waste all your matches or lighter.

A generator should be crunk up and run periodically so it will actually work the day you need it. Old gas has a way of clogging the main jet in the carb and sometimes the day you need it most, it wont start. That happened to me one time. It wasn't below zero but still.

If that happens you have to take the carb bowl off clean it and stick a needle up through the main jet so that puppy can get some gas.


Those little 1500 watt ceramic heaters not much bigger than a shoe box with a blower on them are amazing. They are almost like backing up to a fireplace in fact would probably heat more area than a fire place over time.