Looks like 6-8 inches of snow here on Saturday with 2 inches of mixed snow and sleet on Sunday. Yuck. Some bitterly cold temperatures over the weekend and more bitter cold next week.
I see we’re supposed to get snow again next Saturday.
@kelsmom, jealous!!!
We’re in the Philadelphia suburbs and current estimates are 14-17” of snow. Our 30+ year old snowblower is in many small pieces in the garage because DH (engineer, sigh) decided to give it a tuneup.
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Most of the weekend events in town have been cancelled.
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Almost every night, my Ring camera picks up cats walking across my porch. Lately, there has been a really cute Tuxedo cat with four little white boots taking a turn. I’m really sad, thinking about the possibilities for these cuties. I am thinking we may not see these strays walking across my porch after this bitter cold event. How could they survive this kind of cold?
We may be really horribly impacted by the ice and what follows. But I have no inclination that we could die by two days of horrible cold, loss of our beloved trees, and power outages. But the animals who live here without human care will not be so lucky.
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Lots of people here put out shelter for stray cats like that. Boxes (styrofoam? I feel like they reuse some medical shipment boxes) and fill them with straw or old towel or something. Flip the box and create a hole for them to climb in but be sheltered
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We’ve been known to keep a paper Hammermill box on the front porch with towels and also a heating pad on a timer. H cuts a hole in the front for easy access. The lid is on top. Several years we have had a cat move in. Not in the last few though.
We have 1-2 strays that come up on our porch to eat. They always come in the middle of the night, but one of them always registers as a person on our Ring doorbell. It’s always a bit disconcerting to get the notification that a person is at our front door at 2am!
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Of course.
A friend posted on FB this morning “what are you cooking/baking and reading during Snowmaggedon (or ice)??”
So, to all of you? What are you cooking/baking and/or reading during this big weather event???
I live in a town in MA that always gets more snow than towns closer to Boston. Right now, projections are 18-24 inches. We’ve got a whole house generator (installed it when we built our house), which was the best thing we did when building. We also have a radiant heat driveway. Turning it on, really spikes our already exorbitant electric bills, so we only use it when we’re getting more than a few inches. I plan on staying home and reading or finishing Pluribus (Apple TV). Also, I’m not a football fan, but I have two friends who decided that I need to become one. My friends are getting together on Sunday to watch the Pats game. I might go since the hostess only lives a few miles from me. i’ve lived in New England long enough that I’m OK driving a few miles in the snow.
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Y’all can have a laugh at my expense… H calls me up… “You know, since we’re going to be holed up for a couple of days, we could…” (wait for it) “go to the ZOO on Saturday!” The Zoo is 1:30 away in the direction of the storm that’s supposed to hit that evening… I was not enthused, so he suggested a kids science center (with mini zoo) 1 hour away. I agreed to that, but I told him I want to leave early… but of course he has to workout beforehand… I’m still hoping to go and eat a late lunch there and then be home by late afternoon.
Ugh. I was planning to get the whole house cleaned Saturday because I fully expect to lose power Sunday. Can’t vacuum or do laundry with no power. And then he wanted me to bake brownies and he’s baking a pumpkin pie tomorrow - but we are 2 people who now won’t even be home to eat it.
I fully expect him to try to go to Walmart Sunday, because that’s what we always do. He can NOT be at home for more than a few hours without climbing the walls. And yeah - he may not be going to work Monday, but I have to. I could burn my leave time, but I sure don’t want to burn it with him all grumpy and trying to figure out where we can go…
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Our zoo is actually closed due to the fact that the wind chill is -20.
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Here in my part of East Tennessee we are expecting light snow on Saturday afternoon, and up to 1/4-inch of ice on Sunday morning. My wife and I have loaded up on toilet paper (we are fairly well stocked with bottled water, milk, and de-icing salt), and have lots of canned/frozen foods at hand.
In response to @abasket, I may cook some sourdough bread and/or a casserole on Saturday/Sunday, assuming that our power doesn’t go out. If it does, then I may do some cooking over our living room fireplace (or eat tuna fish from the can).
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If you can put out some cardboard boxes with old towels or rags, it’ll give them a place to shelter. Also if you put out water that will also help a lot. Cats don’t need to eat every day, but finding unfrozen water in very cold weather is tough. Many cats get poisoned from drinking antifreeze in really cold weather.
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I read that towels can be dangerous in frigid cold due to them absorbing the moisture and then freezing- the cats can stick to the towels and freeze to death 
They recommend hay. Makes me sad imagining these kitties out in the freezing cold.
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I just got back from the grocery store. The crowds weren’t too bad but there were lots of empty shelves and they were working furiously to restock. Much of the produce was picked over, the yogurt was decimated, and the meat case was virtually empty.
We have a well, so I am really hoping we don’t lose power. I’ll fill up the bathtub so we can flush the toilets at least, and we have bottled water. I have heard everything from 5” to @juniebug above saying 14 -17” in Philly ‘burbs? (I have not seen that in the media yet)
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I’m in South Texas. There’s so much panic shopping going on, it would be annoying if it wasn’t so comical. Yesterday, the HEB grocery store was so full, there were no parking spaces anywhere. I mean, seriously…on the worst day, our high is going to be 45 degrees. Seriously, Texans should get a frozen pizza, ice cream, and watch Netflix.
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My better half is upset that i don’t want to leave. Panic shopping - told me shelves are empty.
Well I hit Kroger at 7:30A - other than her lactaid, it was full - meat and all that she said was wiped out.
Trader Joes - also full - I should have bought stuff there instead of Kroger but I was playing it safe.
Then Costco - had everything - got fruits and veggies.
Now she’s saying - great - you spent all that $$ and when the power goes out, it’ll spoil. OK - maybe she’ll have me there 
I travel for work and don’t want to spend 4 or 5 nights in a random city like I normally do. I’m glad to be home - and if we leave, who is to say driving home would be safe?
As it is, I leave on my next trip Tuesday afternoon- hopefully it will be gone by then but no idea. Knoxville and Asheville…..up into the mountains.
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I saw panic shopping here in Dallas too, but we are definitely in a bad spot if the forecast is correct. I’m glad you guys will be above freezing. The year that everyone in Texas was sub freezing was a nightmare on the grid. We don’t need a repeat of Feb 2021!
I’ve read that colorado hasn’t gotten much snow. People around her (New England) have been skiing locally (ME, VT, NH) instead of heading out west. Compared to recent years we’ve gotten quite a bit already.
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