Polar Vortex 2019

I have been reading our Daily Temperature thread and see that a few monkeys live in the upper Midwest where the temperatures have turned deadly cold. I have dealt with below zero temps but nothing like they are experiencing. It is so cold the Post Office has suspended mail delivery.



How would you all prepare for that? What about your pets? I have tried to put booties on my dog but he wants nothing to do with that. Pipes freezing and bursting is common. I know we have discussed before but these are extreme temperatures. They had a few days notice that it was coming. What would you have done to prepare for the Polar Vortex 2019?

 

Back up kerosene heater, Coleman stove, ready for action, and have the sleeping bags and spare blankets. I feel for the Reservation Indians that live in those cardboard houses, and the homeless. Prayers for all those affected by this intense cold...

 

Put hay out for the cows ahead of time because I know my tractor will not start when it is that cold.
Feed the cows feed (normally they only get hay) every night until it is over so they have some calories to burn to keep warm.
Filled up the generator with diesel.
Stacked lots of firewood inside the house.
Warmed up the house to 76F ahead of time to store some heat energy.
Filled up the chicken water tanks, put a heat lamp over them.
Unhooked all the hoses.
Turned on the heat in our RV so the pipes won't freeze.
Put anti-gel agent in the diesel fuel in my truck.

 

For the dogs, we have absorbent pads for them to do their business on (yes, they know to use them) water lines are insulated, but at those temps leaving some faucets running would be prudent. Insulation is already double what is recommended. Plenty of wood for heat...and excess thermal capacity for those really cold nights. Kerosene and propane heaters ready to go. Really no need to go out...but it would be interesting to see if the video cams worked.

 

This is why I live in Florida...... among other reasons.

 

Hate to say this but this had been one of the most mild winters here in southern california we have had I can remember .
When I lived in the mountains in the 80s I covered my truck cab and hood, and put a rough service light bulb under the hood next to the engine.
It warmed more area including the cab , and though Had 40 wt oil in the engine that old 58 cheve started like it was summer time .
The cover also made it easy to remove the accumulated snow in a moment and drive off right away even at work while every one else was still scrapping of the ice from the windshield ,

 

My only concern is for the pipes. Everything else is fine as I stack plenty of firewood directly on the front porch (~1 cord) and have a couple of small wood houses with at least 7 cords in it. Plus propane fireplace and cooking stove. All my outside facets are frost free and the pipes for them are at least 4 feet deep but I don't know if that would be deep enough. Also, not sure what would happen to the septic tank or the cistern (both are 1500 gallons) neither are that deep underground...yes, that could be a problem which I should give some thought. Good catch MM34!

 

SW coast of Oregon and its 43 deg at 9:30am. Going for a bicycle ride... Can't imagine what the northeastern part of the country is going through.... Nice here and electricity is only 9 cents a KWH.
One of my better prepping ideas. Nice new shooting range (Tioga Sports Park, Bandon Or) being built up.
Great surf fishing (Bullards Beach state park)... I feel much happier here as I no longer need to use a snow shovel (snow shovel in this case being a John Deere) for getting to the road and digging out my neighbor.
FWIW

 

I planned for it in1962.

 

if I knew a cold snap was coming, I would make sure the insulation under the house was in place. Make sure the pipes are wrapped really good. Fire up the generator to make sure it is running smoothly. Check to make sure I have enough propane for the heater in-case things start freezing under the house. Please note: Xcel lost power and some folks were without power over 6 hours. When that happens some folks really start suffering. The elderly, people with small children... I know many of you have fireplaces or wood stoves but people who live in the cities do not always have that luxury.
Get out blankets and/or plastic and cover windows, especially the sliding door. Make sure the weather stripping is doing its job. Get out extra candles and place them around. Charge all electronics ahead of time and make sure our winter gears is read in case we need to use it. One threat is when the power goes out, occasionally people get "creative" in trying to get warm. Fire is a danger. If the house next door catches on fire, it could spread to yours.

My dog was trained on them but he now insists on going outside. A few times I have had to carry him back in the house because his feet were so cold. Maybe with extreme temperatures he would not be insisting on going outside.

*** I did read that you can scatter hay down in your yard to help protect your dogs paws when they go outside.

 

If you have not built well then forget the whole house approach.
Draw up the water you will need for 4 times the advertised time of the event.
Have a dry toilet and keep it dry.
Waste fluids should be placed in containers and chunked out the back door or placed in another place till later.
Drain all the pipes and I mean use an air compressor to make sure they are dry.
Insulate one small room preferably an inner room or even a large closet during the event, this will be your living quarters. In a crunch use a camping tent inside your room as sleeping quarters.

After that figure how to keep the food you have for the event cool but not frozen.
Figure to wear 3 layers of clothes inside.
Got Dogs? Bathe them and they will happily keep you warm.

Other items for heat will be what you have.

Expect to see icicles hanging from inside your shelter, we did.

Yes, been there done that except a CP Tent was the home and the sleeping quarters was another tent inside the CP Tent.

Power was 120vac from a gen set and heat was a set of home made festoon light string.

Stayed warm, feed and content for 4 days,

Relatives feared for us but the Ice storm stopped all but the foolish and land line was down.

DPS blocked all traffic at the city limits.

We did just fine and I doubt the kids even remember the event.

And now I set in a home built for such events without special planning.

 

Just remember, wind chill is NOT something that will affect pipes. Only people, and animals.

So far as what to do? My house is a slab design, so there's no insulating the pipes, any more than what the ground, and concrete slab, are already doing. But if Texas gets that cold? Man, the snow belt states will be screwed!

As for how to prep for it? I'd turn off the water to the house & drain the water lines; then go onto Expedia or Travelocity, and book a nice week-long vacation, someplace warm!!

 

only going to be in -20ish here so I moved a extra tractor bucket of wood onto the porch so I don't have to mess with getting more from the wood rows. Preparing myself to pee in the toilet instead of going out to the Pee Tree. Made a big pot of beef stew that is simmering on the wood stove now. Cleaned out and checked the damper, pipe and gaskets on the secondary wood stove in the bedroom to make sure it was safe and ready to burn, just a small Voglezang but at full burn will heat you out of the bedroom............ Spends most of its life as a night stand and plant stand fer my fern, but occasionally need to fire it up when temps go below 10 degrees. Shredded a round bale of straw for the hog house and shot it in, filled the bulk feeders and turned on the chicken house heat lamps and dropped the tank heater in their 40 gallon water tank. Checked the anti freeze in all of the trucks and tractors, glad I did 2 of the tractors were only good for 20 degrees, so I fixed that. Check the heater in the food trailer because that little 10 gallon HW heater is expensive to replace and those pipes are PITA to fix. Found my lost combo 1/2 and 9/16 wrench under the trailer sink while at it as a bonus. Moved the big bucket tractor into the heated side of the barn so I could start it if I need it for anything. And dug out the extra thick wool socks, because floors are never warm enough when it is this cold And will be spending some quality time with the dogs holding down the couch until it warms up into the 40s tmrw afternoon or Friday.

 

Turning the water off at the main still leaves the water sitting in the pipes Much better to just crack the faucet on and let it trickle.

 

The septic has enough bio action to keep from freezing. It's always the first spot to show through the snow. A freshwater cistern is another issue - 1500 gal is a lot of mass to hold heat, but not for all that long. Aside from that - wood = good, propane = good.