Riley, the storm ravaging the Northeast

We lost power around 2:00 today. Based on what I saw at the time, I figured we'd be without power for a couple days at the least. We don't have a generator at home, so Annie and I decided to have another adventure. We booked into the local Hampton Inn in the Center of New England ... which is really the center of RI. Stupid name for a commercial development. Anyway, power isn't out everywhere. So we went to a good local restaurant for dinner, and picked up a couple bottles of Bordeaux from a store that still had power. We are enduring the crisis (humorous sarcasm).

Anyway, who else in the Northeast is experiencing a disruption to their normal life as a result of this totally normal winter phenomenon? (Actually, it's not that much of a disruption for us. We'd be drinking Bordeaux at home, five miles from here, if the power was on).

the wind is pretty bad here.. and the snow is horizontal. We were not supposed to get any accumulation, but we got an inch or so plus flooding. I had to pull over half way home to clean off the headlights.

I still dislike how the weather channel decided to start naming winter storms

I am waiting for the WC’s next level of panic name that replaces “bomb cyclone” !!

Never lost power, but got 8" of heavy, heavy wet snow.  I had to put belt dressing on the belts to keep the auger from locking up.  Low 40s next week, hopefully this E36 M3 is over.

The heavy snow made it difficult for the snow blower.  First pass was just to get things open.  A second pass later cleaned up nicely.   Worst thing, after getting my driveway nice and open, this morning I look out and the city had plugged it up again.

Oh well, it won't take much to open up.   Although a pain, I can't fault the city guys for doing a good job keeping things open.

I still refuse to recognize snow storm names.

We just got rain and wind around here. Lost power yesterday around 6 and just got an email from the power company that it may be days, ugh. As for named storms, I think that the insurance companies are driving that bus. We just got our renewal notice for our house insurance and our deductible jumps to $10000 from $1000 in a named storm, such a deal.....

einy said:

I am waiting for the WC’s next level of panic name that replaces “bomb cyclone” !!

Whenever I see that term can’t stop myself for reading it in Zak De La Rocha’s voice:

YO JUST ANOTHER BOMB CYCLONE

You remind me of this thing I saw on Facebook.

"Where are we going Piglet?" asked Pooh.

"We need to get supplies," said Piglet. "For the snow."

"Ah," said Pooh, nodding in understanding. "Things like bread, ...and milk, and snow shovels, and cat litter even though we don't have a cat, because it's meant to be good in Icy Conditions."

Piglet did a little laugh, and a sort of leap, and caught a few snowflakes on the tip of his tongue. "No," said Piglet. "No, those aren't the sort of snow supplies we need at all. What we need are family sized bags of chocolate buttons, and chips with dips, and a freezer full of stuffed crust pizzas, and all of the red wine that we can possibly carry, so that when we get snowed in we won't mind it even slightly. THOSE are snow supplies."

All of a sudden, Pooh thought that the snow didn't seem quite so wet, nor the air so cold, and actually, getting snowed in with Piglet and their snow supplies really didn't sound such a terrible thing after all. "Oh Piglet," said Pooh. "I really do think you are a Very Wise Animal."

Saturday night and we're still without power. But it's OK. We're settled in at the Hampton. And an added bonus is that this hotel is about a mile from our son and his family. So we had a very enjoyable Saturday evening at the hotel pool with our three fantastic grand daughters. They had a great time, and that makes Annie and me very happy. I think we'll have power back tomorrow, and things will get back to normal.

OK. Back home now. Power on. Had dinner this evening at our local pub, which had been without power since Friday afternoon, like us. We have a bottle of Bordeaux in our midst (for me), and a bottle of Woodbridge Chardonnay for Annie, in our sunroom listening to Deuter. Well, I'm glad this ordeal is done.

Wind blew part of a CSX freight train off the Susquehanna River Bridge at Havre de Grace, MD. That’s about 30 miles down the line from my house. I used to cross the highway bridge next to it every day. 

Had quite a bad couple of days from this storm. Wind blew large chunks of shingles off of our roof, and the rain was coming into the attic, and following walls,pipes,whatever all the way to the basement, yet it doesn't appear to have affected teh drywall on the ceiling just below the attic Strange I know.

I was running around tending to back up generators at work all the way until around 3AM on Saturday morning. Did manage to swing by home at one point to try to get some tarps up in the attic to catch as much of the water as possible. Had my future BIL come by to help, and he slipped off of the attic decking in one spot, and put a large human sized hole in my sons ceiling. D'oh!!

I fired up our generator just before dealing with the attic leaks, and about an hour after I left to go back to work my wife called to say it quit running. By the time I arrived home around 3Am on Saturday I was in no mood to see what was wrong with the generator. Around 8 Am Saturday after I had a few winks I git up, and checked out the attic leaks, and then tended to teh generator. Thankfully it was just out of fuel. I fired it up, and let it run a while to warm up the house, and get some running water. Shut it down,a nd headed out to get some groceries, and drop my boys with my sister as I had to go back into work for a while, and she was watching them for us as we had tickets to teh Bruins game that afternoon. I almost didn't want to go to the game as my house was without power, and had holes in teh roof, but the tickets were a gift from my wife, and we never go out together, so we went.

Tha game was just what the doctor ordered as I forgot about the crap at home for a few hours, and had some fun. We found a gas station up around Boston that had fuel still, and not fist fights in hour long lines like what was happening down around home. Fueled up a couple of gas cans, and went back to get our boys. Topped off the generator, and fired it up. Passed out on the couch, and woke up around 1AM. Decided that I probably shouldn't run the generator all night pissing off my neighbors, and shut it down before crawling into bed.

Phone rings at 3AM or so yesterday morning from work asking if I could come in. I said sure, and then noticed my alarm clock was flashing, so we had power back. Yipee!! Off to work for a while, and then got a call from the roofer that I had called on Friday asking me if I still needed him to come by. I said of course I do. He had said he would be by on Monday. He decided to start on Sunday. He comes by around 9:30AM, and they patch up the roof with some ice, and water dam, and make it weather tight. Tells me what I already knew about needing a new roof. Quotes $8k for the job including these fancy Owens Corning 50 year non-prorated shingles, and the best ice and water dam, moisture barrier on the market. Also suggest replacing our sky light with a solar powered one that will give me a 30% tax write off for that portion of roof.

Not sure what to do about filling a claim with insurance, but after reading about the named/un-named storm rules I might just be better off figuring out how to pay for the roof myself. Oh yeah, and fixing the ceiling in my sons room.

Wasn't a fun weekend, and then I have to deal with my youngest son today not wanting to go to school because his older brothers school canceled. Also he didn't do his homework, and says he's just stupid, and doesn't care.  I'd really like to get away. Where is that South West Airlines guy when you need him?

Oh yeah I forgot to mention. On Saturday morning we went to leave for the grocery store, and pressing the key fob for my Sienna resulted in nothing happening. I thought oh well maybe the battery finally died. I unlocked the van with the key, and then went to hit the door lock button, and nothing happened. Tried starting the car, and nothing as well.

Grabbed my jump box, and hooked it up. As soon as I did the cooling fans kicked on full blast. Thought was weird, but asked my oldest son to fire up the engine. Worked fine, and away we went with jump box in the back. Went to the ATM, and then the grocery store. Decided I would shut off the car, and see if it would restart. Noticed that while it did restart the HVAC fan stayed on even with the key out of the ignition, and also the cooling fans were on full blast again. Decided to pop the hood, and find the fuse or relay that ran both of those circuits. Pulled them, and the fans stopped. Putting them back in didn't make them come back on again, and no issues at all the rest of the day. My wife took the van yesterday to my older sons bowling tournament a couple hours away, and no issues at all.

What do you think was wrong? I'm guessing water got into something as it had been sitting out in the driving rain the whole time. Never happened before. Should I be concerned?

In reply to Mazdax605 :

Man, sorry to hear about your place.  

I made it through the storm relatively unscathed. Everyone around us lost power, and some of them still don't have it today. About a mile up the road on the road behind my house, it still looks like a tornado tore through there. There are downed trees and poles all over the place and the road is impassable. In fact, there are still a lot of roads around here that are blocked by massive trees. 

Worst that happened to me was my basement taking on water. We got nearly 5 inches of rain (!!!) and the ground is saturated. After the last storm, my sump pump quit so I replaced it with a new one, and that thing has been working overtime since Friday with no signs of stopping. I was lucky enough to have power throughout the storm, but if I didn't, I'd be absolutely screwed. Since these storms seem more frequent these days, maybe it's time to buy a new generator.

My neighbor didn't fare so well.

Pine trees are stupid. That must have been a relative of the one that killed my Saab in the last storm. Good news is that his garage seemed fine. 

Not over yet, calling for 3-5" tomorrow.

Changed their minds:  6-11 inches.

After Monday and Tuesday you get WTF.

Tony Sestito said:

Pine trees are stupid.

Spruces are no better. Two lost their tops, which promptly plummeted onto my father's VW.

This will not buff out.

Had a close call with a tree limb. Just missed the shed i'm still building and the 240Z. Other then that we only lost power for 2 hours Saturday when a transformer caught fire and exploded up the street. 

You guys are weird.  Those trees all should have been logged out or burned for heat decades ago. 

Signed,

A flatland prairie boy, who doesn't actually own a tree large enough to do serious damage because I cut them all down.

In reply to PseudoSport:

Lucky guy. Buy a lottery ticket.

I looked at Intellicast radar today to get a plan up for tomorrow. Holy crap, it's blue (snow) from Chicago to Rhode Island. There's a few breaks here and there, but not much. I've never seen anything quite like it. Massachusetts, CT, and Rhode Island are mostly dark blue (more snow). You guys have my sympathies.  I used to live in close proximity to many pine trees, and yes, pine trees are very, very stupid.

So far (fingers crossed), this one doesn't seem as destructive. Lots of snow (we're over a foot, probably around 14" right now), but the wind isn't nearly as bad. Some sun and above freezing tomorrow, so hopefully it will go away as quickly as it came.

I am far enough inland to miss the worst of these coastal storms.

During yesterdays storm, the sidewalk on the south side remained bare.   It got a few inches overnight.

Overall we got 5/6 inches.   Easy work for my new snow blower.