Buffalo New York is known for its extreme snow and cold weather as an outcome of Lake Erie and the ‘lake effect’ snow created. However, the current arctic storm is making even normally bad Buffalo even more dangerous.
Up to twelve people have been killed after they were trapped in their vehicles and currently rescue operations are underway at the airport to recover air traffic controllers who were stranded in the control tower.
(Reuters) – A deadly blizzard paralyzed Buffalo, New York, on Christmas Day, trapping motorists in their cars, knocking out electricity to thousands of homes and raising the death toll from a severe winter storm system that has chilled much of the United States for days.
At least 30 people have died in U.S. weather-related incidents, according to an NBC News tally, since a deep freeze gripped most of the nation, coupled with snow, ice and howling winds from a storm that roared out of the Great Lakes region late last week.
Much of the loss of life has centered in and around Buffalo at the edge of Lake Erie in western New York, as numbing cold and heavy “lake-effect” snow — the result of frigid air moving over warmer lake waters — persisted through the holiday weekend.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said the storm’s confirmed death toll climbed to 12 on Sunday, up from three reported overnight in the Buffalo region. The latest victims included some found in cars and some in snow banks, Poloncarz said, adding that the death tally might rise further.
Despite a ban imposed on driving since Friday, hundreds of Erie County motorists were stranded in their vehicles over the weekend, with National Guard troops called in to help with rescues complicated by white-out conditions and drifting snow, Poloncarz said.
“This is not the Christmas any of us hoped for nor expected,” Poloncarz said on Twitter on Sunday. “My deepest condolences to the families who have lost loved ones.
The Buffalo police department posted an online plea for the public assistance in search-and-recovery efforts, asking those who “have a snow mobile and are willing to help” to call a special hotline for instructions. The severity of the storm was notable even for a region well accustomed to harsh winter weather. (more)
The weather service has been warning us for weeks about this storm. Yet people still felt the need to get out in it.
Sometimes we just need to let natural selection take care of the dumbest ones.
Though I am with you on natural selection everybody makes mistakes. And with the “News” and the weather channel continually over hyping weather events it is understandable to me why some people did not listen.
Agreed Rah. This crying wolf game with meteorologists and the news media has given them no credibility in this era of constantly “breaking news”. Additionally, we’ve no idea if those people trapped were forced to work and were trying to sustain their jobs. Too many variables to know for sure, so we rely on The Lord for mercy.
To the meteorologist credit they do play a damned if you do damned if you don’t game. It’s not exact science predicting weather. Should they are on worse case scenario or not. Either way you will be bitching
Are/error….damn autocorrect
To their detriment the vast majority just reiterate what the models are saying don’t do any actual meteorological forecasting themselves. After all their jobs depend on promoting the party line!
This is especially true if you live inland from one of the Great Lakes like we do. Lake Michigan weather is absolutely unpredictable hence most of us who have lived all of our lives here tend to error to the side of caution. Still there are some who believe that their 4X4 will overcome the coefficient of friction on ice.
That is one of my favorites. I was once in western Oregon when they had a weather event with snow and ice. I had rented a cheap two wheel drive and was fine, but the idiots who think 4wd will save them were sliding all over and off the road in many spots. When I was flying home there were just two of us waiting for the plane. The other guy grew up in Montana and also did not have 4wd and had zero problem driving. He was laughing about the idiots with 4wd sliding off the freeway right and left. My husband is amazing at driving in bad conditions and grew up in Idaho. It took me 3 years living here in Utah to get good at it. There is a knack in learning to feel the road.
One spin out on the black stuff will correct that belief, if they live through it.
By the time this system made it to the east coast, it was pretty clear how powerful – and bone chillingly cold – it was. This wasn’t some hurricane they had no idea of what the track was going to be, or strength.
But in cases this severe, what is it that makes the RISK worth the Adventure, of being able to say you survived the Worst Weather of 2022 And risk giving your family a FUNERAL for Christmas to remember you by.
I agree with @Carter Burger. Let their results be a Warning to other Mind-Numbed zombies. If Possible.
It’s true the Jim Cantoris of the world live for hurricane winds (some even aided by fans). I follow a number of meteorologists on YouTube who do a great job explaining weather movements, fronts, making forecasts and likely outcomes. They had this storm pegged a full week before it hit. I was able to winterize my homestead and house to sustain the below zero temps and winds, sustaining no damage thank the Lord. But there is a segment of population who depend on others to care for them and will never prepare. Those are the folks taking to the streets and hinterlands ravaging for food in the not so distant future.
Joe Bastardi is the best pro and Mike’s Weather Page is the best amateur.
https://m.youtube.com/c/RyanHallYall
Ryan Hall is also very good. Storm chasers and people caught in the middle of whatever weather event is going on provide him with boots-on-the-ground reporting and video.
In the mountains of NC they can’t predict the weather from one hour to the next. The hype is unreal, too.
Everything is an emergency these days. They exaggerate temperatures regularly, using wind chill for air temperature. Same in summer, 80 feels like 2000 or something. Ridiculous. Sometimes the radar is even wrong..if it’s possible to politicize a radar map I guess you can politicize anything.
While we may not 100% believe news and/or weather forecasts it’s always best to err on the side of caution. If in this case we pay attention and assume they are correct it has cost nothing for those of us who who stayed home, and if they are incorrect it has cost us nothing but perhaps a little inconvenience.
Well, in our Colorado town, the hype has cost us a day of work by the city government, for weather that is not only normal for Colorado, but was ten degrees warmer than it was for several days last winter.
I am torn – should I be mad that the city government employees got a taxpayer-paid day on the ski slopes, or should I be happy that we had a day free of city government making our lives worse?
All the same we used to know to keep emergency gear to stay warm in our cars. I live in the west and we never expect to be rescued quickly if our cars are stranded. I think of my kids thinking my husband and I overdo the preparation. Similarly never travel in the desert without lots of water just in case. I feel for these people as I doubt they knew better than to go out in a blizzard without preparation or to just stay home. I know many people who ignore storm warnings.
For weeks? Show me! None of the weather models, be it US, Europe, Japan picked up on it until it was 3-4 days out. The Canadian was the exception, but it was only a week prior.
Joe Bastard at Weatherbell started talking about the what was coming in November. He and few other meteorologists that make their living in the private sector were the only ones that I saw doing actual long range forecasts for what was coming.
Joe Bastardi is a lone voice of honesty in an industry that has been corrputed. He’s the weather-world’s equivalent of Doctor Malone.
Bastardi is a weekly guest on David Webb’s program on SiriusXM Patriot Channel, and often gives forecast info that prove to be darn accurate.
Ryan Hall Y’all.
Totally, Amen!
POW Ponder as well. His near daily forecasts are incredibly accurate.
I saw them, I watched the Ryan Hall Y’all stuff for weeks, and DAILY saw 4-5 other You tube weathermen covering the same period of time with very roughly close and similar reports, as well.
Besides, stick yer nose out the door, and take a good HARD look around. LEARN to Recognize what you see in the weather patterns, and remember them from one storm to another. Then the Pattern gets very familiar and it doesn’t take long for that to happen, with a minimum of Alertness to what you are seeing with your own eyeballs, outside.
That is exactly what Big Joe does. He is old school and has a fantastic memory for what past weather patterns were and what they portended. So he was showing the blocking high pressures moving in to push the polar jet stream south back in November. As for you. I would suggest reading the whole message your responding to or perhaps checking your reading comprehension.
Bastardi relies on archived weather and temps. That’s how he identified all those 40 yr and 80 yr patterns that seem to have repeated over the years. However the solar activity or lack of it take a more prominent role in our weather particularly through these solar minimums. This recent Siberian blast is not similar to prior patterns and is likely more indicative of future trends.
There is far more evidence for spikes in solar activity having something to do with the formation of high pressure blocking in the Arctic than for any greenhouse gas causing that to happen. There is a strong correlation between earth directed spikes in solar activity and disruptions of the polar jet streams.
A strange fact is that most major spikes that effect the earth occur during or near solar minimums between cycles or during weak solar cycles. For example The Carrington Event of 1859, the most powerful recorded solar blast, occurred during minimum between solar cycle 9 and 10.
Discover the Sun! (solarcyclescience.com)
However the prediction of how active a coming solar cycle will be is an even less exact science than weather forecasting. And the prediction of those directed towards earth is non existent more than days out. If one looks into it you will see that various authorities and experts are all over the place with their projections for a coming cycle.
Here is what Joe is saying now.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fk6cwz5XoAE9cBB?format=png&name=900×900
Basically a warm up in the first part of January followed by a return to winter cold. As per his forecast way back in August, we’re in for a winter like we have not seen in some time.
The coldest 90 day period started Dec. 5th. In my personal experience, typically the coldest time comes the first two weeks of February.
Yep.
Don Day @cowboystatedaily is an honest weatherman with common sense.
Bastardi is the best.
Didn’t get Biden
Next Time…..
cuckiest cuck reply possible.
Same with Fentanyl…Natural Selection does seem to work!
A lot of people who have died on Fentanyl thought they were ingesting a different, less deadly drug. Poor judgement anyway, but, one never knows what the seller has actually cut it with.
Weeks? BS. They didn’t know with any precision what would happen until just a couple of days in advance. And then it changed after that! My area was originally predicted to get 8-12 inches of snow, we got less than 4 because the heaviest snow shifted northward.
6-10 inches was the forecast for here in Central Indiana. We got 3″. The forecasted rain and cold came, but not the snow.
For some of us it’s our job to be out in it.
Coldest I ever worked outside on a roof was -23F. Doing small detail work barehanded in -23 was no fun at all. For N Dakota I guess that’s a walk in the park. For mid-Ohio it was darned cold! Tools stick to your skin. IF the owner of this building had listened to me and authorized the work when I told him it would fail I would have been home warm not spending Sunday night on a frozen roof.
I doubled his bill and I told him why. He signed the invoice without comment or even looking at me LOL!
I have been in -30s multiple times. (Temp, not including winchill, which is I’m sure what you’re talking about.) I wasn’t working outside though! I was rushing to get from one place to another, all bundled up like the kid in The Christmas Story.
Yes what I experienced was actual ambient temperature. Was very still so no wind chill. We don’t generally see that mid-Ohio. Pipe thawing trucks from Alaska were working here because it was warm there. Glowbull warming don’t cha know.
I was used to working in -40F food lockers and there is a heck of wind from the evaporators so hardened to it. 99 degrees in the summer and walking to my truck in insulated coveralls and frosty beard. Lots of strange looks. 😉
Soon as I retired I moved to the Caribbean !!
Especially in Buffalo as they looted into the night.
A question Carter Burger. If you saw a stray dog or cat wondering in the road in such conditions would you rescue them? Or shrug your shoulders and go on? I bet your answer would be the former.
That is really an ignorant thing to say…You sit there and you don’t know peoples circumstances..Sometimes no matter what side you get ignorant comments..
God bless these lost souls.
But the great lesson, don’t screw with mother nature, sometimes “hunker down” is the right move.
I lived in and operated a farm in South Dakota for 29 years. During that time we experienced floods, droughts, blizzards, power outages and more. With this said we carried in all our vehicles emergency kits along with blankets just in case. Never once did we have to use them which was good because I’d often catch the kids snacking on the food and to their delight would have to pull over to restock.
I had some British friends visiting a couple of decades ago. We had a blizzard a few days after their arrival. One wanted to go for a stroll into the white out. I couldn’t talk him out of it so got him all dressed up then gave him instructions on what would save his life if he got disorientated. Basically he wasn’t to lose sight of a shelterbelt that ran E and W behind the house. While he was gone one of my other guests became worried and asked if he doesn’t show up who do we call. My answer he was unprepared for, “No one! why do you think I tried to talk him out of it?” After about a half hour he suddenly appeared with a smiley face frozen on his facemask none the worse for wear. He said it was so bad he at times had to walk next to the trees just to keep them in sight.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for a lot of people but especially farmers and ranchers. You can’t just park inside when the weather is bad, you have to be outside every single day, especially if you have animals to feed. Farmers in particular are probably the most self-sufficient people on the planet.
There are 2 things someone must know when living in a sparsely populated place and I suppose the Serenity Prayer pretty much covered what we had to do in times like this. Accept that, in this case, weather is coming so prepare. There are times you can’t change whatever will happen so accept that too. Lastly if your in South Dakota on a back road and break down know that everyone will stop to help you. I’ve gone so far as to bring strangers into my home to make sure they won’t freeze. Got their problem taken care of and sent them on their way. I remember I had another visitor who questioned my stopping for a local farmer. He told me, “I thought you didn’t like him?” I didn’t but that isn’t important when it looked like someone was in need especially a neighbor.
I once skied the Italian Dolomites in January and was told that, if I left the marked trails, a search party would come in the spring. I took them at their word.
In Buffalo, the national guard transported hospital workers to replace staff stranded there for days. This demonstrates how impassible their roads are.
We put a makeshift system in place -a window decal- to help the elderly and homebound in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, so neighbors would check on their well-being.
The problem is, in Buffalo, it’s still snowing. The storm is not yet over. So nobody from afar will come to their rescue.
Modern day “rain makers” doing their hustle, trying to make it rain money! That’s what all politics has become!
With Precautions…
I used to be part of a small Open Discussion Platform, with a group of relatively people who had got to know eachother somewhat for most of nearly 15 yrs. Every time we knew a drastic change of weather-related issues were coming up, we had LONG threads full of Experiences and Advice =- that you would think that The Great Lakes surrounding neighborhood folks would NOT need to be told on every necessary occasion. As we usually said when it was a bout to be a whole season of it, SEE THAT YOU PUT THESE THINGS in your Cars, SEE that you have THESE THINGS STOCKPILED in your HOMES. Flashlights, flares, blankets, even if just some Vinyl sheeting blankets, Kitty Litter and a shovel in the trunk, a supply with Sterno cans, Candy Bars, Vienna Sausage, etc, a can of soup, a can opener even though many cans are now lift tops, Heavy Duty Gloves, or a thermos with water and a jar of instant coffee, Even some emergency candles for very very CAREFUL and LIMITED CIRCUMSTANCES which were described in detail, cautions about Jump Starters and small air compressors, a limited provision of certain tools. Bottles of Water. Anything that might be useful as Signals, even something to attach to the antennae’s we used to have, to attract attention of any Potential Help. The Pocket Hand and Foot warmers that Hunters who do winter hunting, and Winter Sports enthusiasts usually have with them. Large Garbage Bags (emergency raincoat or extra insulation, cover a broken window…) DUCK Tape, First Aid Kits… and even in some cases, for people on certain medications, a little stash in the car, in case your trip takes much longer than anticipated. Also rubbery mats that might help the person who has to change a tire in the snow, or something. We came on a car one night that had skidded off the road, and a young man ended up on the ground on his back with his leg hung inside the car, but with back pain none of us could diagnose. We didn’t have snow, but it was freezing, he was not dressed for it, and I knew the ground would suck heat out of his body too fast, given the distance EMS would have to travel to the site. We had some large cardboard boxes from work, and some blankets for the kids, that we were able to put the boxes opened up, underneath him and cover him with a couple of blankets, ’til help could be notified and have time to arrive.
Most people had some item that many had never thought of, that turned out to be incredibly handy – both at home, or vehicle, when power goes out or the vehicle runs into various types of trouble of any kind, highway pile-ups, or Weather, or just an individual unexpected situation.
Everyone doesn’t have room in a vehicle for a Mountain of stuff this sounds like, but most of this stuff really comes in very small packages. And parts of it can help a LOT even if it only ends up being JUST 3-4 hrs in a vehicle that is NOT running, with accompanying heat, or A/C.
We were down in Southern California and had to be towed after a rat chewed through some wiring (this is why you see the hoods of vehicles left up when parked there). The tow truck driver saw chains under the front seat and said he had no seen that in years. Hubby is always prepared.
You are referring to “pack rats”. These are even more common in AZ. We had a 2 week old SUV, parked in our driveway while we were on a trip. When we returned, I drove 3 blocks to the post office to get our mail, and suddenly warning lights flashed and the engine died. Turns out, a family of pack rats had created a small town under the hood of the SUV. The main frame wiring was chewed up – to the cost of $4500 to replace. In AZ, when the pack rats do their damage (all the time), the owner must take a picture proving it was the rats’ work. That is why you see most outside vehicles parked with their hoods up. Very annoying and very expensive!
Lord have mercy
they are dead because they ran out of fossil fuel.
if all the vehicles in america were electric there would be THOUSANDS DEAD
in fact, you would be afraid to leave your driveway in the winter.
Isn’t that the idea?
Absolutely! And don’t ever forget it.
Electric cars don’t work very well in the cold. I would say most would not have gotten out of the garage, let alone around the block. that leaves them to hiding under the bed until spring.
Right. The cars don’t work very well, and then if the people lose power they can’t even charge the cars. Brilliant idea of the Dems to make everyone helpless by relying so heavily on electricity.
They would be so horrified – Totally MORTIFIED, in fact – to learn of the super-abundance of Fossil Fuel – God Prepared for us – and how tremendously HARMLESS it is in Most Circumstances. Just don’t have a Sealed Tight building where wood or gas are being burned for cooking or heating, which is usually accommodated for by the (mechanically) MANDATORY Chimneys or Vent hoods, that are part of the set-up, and 1/4 crack in one window can alleviate.. Put a Kettle of Water on the hot plate of a wood stove, the Steam helps heat the room and counter any worries of Carbon Monoxide, too.
Just be sure to take it off and let it cool before refilling, otherwise the flash of steam produced will result in extremely painful and dangerous consequences.
They don’t work well in hurricanes either. After Ian a number of EVs burnt the house down.
I was here in Northern Ohio for the Blizzard of ‘78. This one was just as bad, but with much less snow. Same winds, same cold , same dummy’s out buying food! This time tho, I was much better prepared. Dog is not happy and acts like he’s bored outta his head! Alas, one more day of cold and we will be romping in the snow! Be careful out there!
Remember it well, Rick. I had a one-year old and a newborn and our furnace went out. Memories!
Also had a one year old and a newborn in the ’79 storm in Cincy. One year old was born during the ’77 ice storm. Ice was inches thick on the road. Key broke off in car door. That was the month/ year you could walk across the Ohio River.Never lost power. ’79 snowstorm I believe we had 18″ of snow , strong winds and record low temps. I remember feeling like you had to keep blinking your eyes if you were outside or your eyeballs would freeze with the wind. We lived in town those years .Never lost power.
Lowest pressure ever recorded in the US not associated with a cyclonic system was recorded up near Cleavland. Here in Indiana, Indiana Bell only allowed emergency calls through. The whole state declared a disaster area. You could walk across the Ohio River from Indiana to Louisville.
Plows couldn’t do it on north south roads, it took front loaders. They were using National Guard M-113’s as emergency ambulances and to rescue people.
Yea, I remember. I was out in a jacked up, hopped up Toyota Land Cruiser with big mudders on it my cousin trying to deliver prescriptions to isolated individuals. Rescued three Great Danes that we had to life over a fence and then drug us to the jeep.
Sad for these folks and their families. These are the latest victims of climate change hysteria who have been brainwashed by the schools, news media, movies, national geographic at every turn that palm trees are growing in Buffalo NY. The globe is on a cooling trend as we enter the next solar minimum.
Solar cycle 25 has already begun. It appears to be less severe than expected, but it has a ways to go. We are slowly headed for an extended cooling cycle – no one knows for how long. El Nina is in control for now, so cold/wet will dominate. Snow fall and temperature records are being destroyed around the globe. Over the next two years, we will experience global cooling that will defy all the Climate alarmists.
Some thoughts after reading about the current deadly Buffalo Blizzard:
After a volcano blew up in AD 536, the sun was obscured for nearly two years, only as bright as the moon at mid day.
This was when the Christian Emperor Justinian was trying to put the Holy Roman Empire back together.
Temperatures plunged, there were no harvests at all for 3 years. Massive famines occurred all the way around the northern hemisphere from Ireland to Japan.
There were no records of what happened in North America or the Southern hemisphere, but tree ring and ice core data indicate this was a global event. Wars and pandemics broke out everywhere among the famine-weakened peoples. A decade later, the population of Europe was cut in half.
Imagine the level of social collapse following such an event today. Buffalo is just a local, temporary disaster. Imagine the irony if, after all the man-caused global warming hoopla, the world were plunged into darkness, cold and crop failures. “Man plans, and God laughs.”
Here is an excellent 16 minute video on the events following the AD 536 volcano:
536 AD – Worst Year in History
The LIA was extended due to the eruption of Tambora. The year after that eruption is snowed in New England in July! It was known as “the summer that never was”. In fact the LIA can be divided into three major cooling periods, each marked by massive volcanic eruptions and the whole period of the LIA was a time of increased volcanic activity. Japan saw the largest eruption in it’s history during that time and even Mt. Fuji fired up.
Though some claim that the whole event was a result of hyper volcanism, I tend to believe that there were other factors, such as decreased solar activity that were also in play.
Major eruptions along the equatorial band that reach up into the stratosphere tend to cause global climate changing events while other eruptions outside the band tend to primarily effect the climate of the hemisphere in which they lie.
Most here probably remember Pinatubo and the cool summer with a red sun at high noon that it brought us.
Toba catastrophe theory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory
The Youngest Toba eruption has been linked to a genetic bottleneck in human evolution about 70,000 years ago; it is hypothesized that the eruption resulted in a severe reduction in the size of the total human population due to the effects of the eruption on the global climate. According to the genetic bottleneck theory, between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago, human populations sharply decreased to 3,000–10,000 surviving individuals. It is supported by some genetic evidence suggesting that today’s humans are descended from a very small population of between 1,000 and 10,000 breeding pairs that existed about 70,000 years ago.
Proponents of the genetic bottleneck theory (including Robock) suggest that the Youngest Toba eruption resulted in a global ecological disaster, including destruction of vegetation along with severe drought in the tropical rainforest belt and in monsoonal regions. A 10-year volcanic winter triggered by the eruption could have largely destroyed the food sources of humans and caused a severe reduction in population sizes. These environmental changes may have generated population bottlenecks in many species, including hominids; this in turn may have accelerated differentiation from within the smaller human population. Therefore, the genetic differences among modern humans may reflect changes within the last 70,000 years, rather than gradual differentiation over hundreds of thousands of years.
On the other hand:
Supervolcano Not to Blame for Humanity’s Near-Extinction
April 29, 2013
https://www.livescience.com/29130-toba-supervolcano-effects.html
The eruption in Tonga was bigger than Pinatubo and will force “another summer that never was.” Southern Hemisphere is now dealing with it’s impact, but MSM refuses to report on it. Crop production will be severely damaged. With this latest outbreak in North America, winter grain production will significantly reduced. Global food shortages are on the way.
Tonga ejecta reached higher than any volcano so far recorded in real time. It reached into Mesosphere or IOW beyond the Stratosphere to the edge of space. And since it emerged from the ocean included in that ejecta was water vapor.
Doesn’t this sound like a great thing for the climate madmen? Don’t they want to shoot dust into the atmosphere to cool the planet? It just proves how evil these climate madmen are that they want to do something that history proves is catastrophic to the human race.
Those that are doing this are evil and at the same time they have dumbed down the younger generations by not teaching them to think critically and hardly teaching any history.
For history nerds, the book “Catastrophe” examines this in great detail. The social and political aftereffects were quite severe.
Bill Gates wants to shoot sulphur dioxide particles into space to block the sun’s rays to control global warming. Sounds like a plan.☠️💀
Common sense is required in winter storms.
I used to drive in weather like this all the time along the southern shore of Lake Erie. You need good snow tires and/or chains. You can go through pretty much anything with 4 wheel drive, some weight, and Goodyear Blizzak tires (or studded tires). Also, winter clothing. a blanket, snow shovel, and a spade are mandatory equipment.
You would be amazed how many people don’t get snow tires and think all-season tires are good enough.
Having commuted daily in Quebec during the 1970s (when vehicles were not as capable as they are today), I can vouch for the truth in the above statement.
We just had an ice storm in my area. On a roughly 200 yard stretch of a major highway I counted 4-6 fully jacknifed semi trucks. It was like an ice rink. I later talked to someone who went ripping through that area in a 4WD truck with studded tires at 45 MPH and complained people in front of him were driving too slow.
It seems whenever we have one of these 75% of the vehicles crashed off the roadway are 4WD, as though someone thought 4WD alleviated the need to drive with some caution.
Common sense is required in winter storms.
It’s global warming for sure, where’s Al Gore when you need him?
Apparently he resides in a large wasteful mansion in Tennessee.
What won’t be reported are the people they’ll find when the snow melts. I remember from 1977 the young couple that was frozen to death next to the chain link fence along the rural expressway not far from where I live.
I had a 60’s VW microbus and I can confidently say that no one who drove one of those ever froze because with no heat you always had to prepare for the trip, even if it was just a couple miles into town.
Now I carry a mil-spec cold weather sleeping bag, butane camp stove, two Bic lighters, toilet paper, a small pot for melting snow, transistor radio with spare batteries, Pop Tarts, Slim Jims, Pretzels, Granola bars, and dried fruit. A bottle of good whiskey for morale, especially if I’m stuck with someone else, and one of those lithium battery jump boxes that has an outlet for charging a phone. Last and most important is a small inflatable camping air bed that fills the space in the back seat. As anyone who has had to sleep in a car will attest, there is no place where one can sleep comfortably. That bed will turn any car with a back seat into a usable RV.
All this stuff will fit into a duffle bag you can keep in the trunk. If your back seat folds down, you don’t even have to get out of the car to reach it. Think in terms of being comfortable for at least two days.
The old US military extreme cold sleeping bag is a monster. One can pick up a civilian bag rated the same that is less than half the size when rolled. Down used to be the preferred but now days fiberfill is equal in insulation value but admittedly not as soft. However fiber filled bags will keep you warm when soaking wet when a down bag doesn’t.
I have both. One for outside use the other for use where moisture is not a concern because I love the feel of a down bag.
I sleep year ’round with down comforter on my bed (super lightweight for summer and heavy for winter). I also use a down throw on my lap when at my desk, like right now. And I have a down coat. I love down! But you’re right, it’s no good when wet and it can take a long time to dry out. I didn’t think fiber fill could be as warm as down but it sounds like they have improved it so I’ll check it out.
I live in Florida and use down year round too. I can’t imagine people living up North not having a down comforter. You can keep your heat lower as you sleep to save money. With this cold snap, I have been toasty with my down. You put a nice wool blanket on top and you will really be warm. Somehow, it regulates temp in the summer because I am not roasting underneath it.
I have copied your post to my “go bag” file so I can pick some items from it to add to my list. I hadn’t thought about an inflatable bed, that’s a good idea.
I just opened that file and I see at the top I typed:
aim for 2 weeks without power and 1 month without shopping
I live in an urban area so I think that’s pretty generous but I’m still sticking to it. I did run through some supplies while dealing with COVID and I need to stock up again.
…” A bottle of good whiskey for morale, especially if I’m stuck with someone else, “….
LOL!!!!!!
The problem with drinking alcohol is that causes peripheral vasodilation. Thus the flushed cheeks in a person that is imbibing. This causes increased body heat loss. Generally not a problem in the short term but in really serious situations, leave the bottle alone!
Glad I got one of those electric snowmobiles /s
Such tragedy for those lost souls.
This and other posts are not showing up in my Twitter feed which I always have liked and shared. I guess I may be restricted without even knowing it.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/footage-shows-looting-across-buffalo-city-plunged-chaos-after-blizzard
This is what happens when the criminally minded know the cops aren’t coming.
Have they hit the weave stores yet? Because you know, during a post-blizzard shutdown, it’s important to sew someone else’s hair to your head.
After multiple days of cold and high winds, I went outside this morning and it felt almost warm. I fed wildlife and did some shoveling and didn’t feel cold at all. I just checked the temp …… it’s 16. haha I think I have fully adjusted to winter now. 🙂
I hear you. Once the wind ceased, the frigid cold here in SD was almost bearable. I could once again walk outside without my breath being taken away.
It is STILL snowing in Buffalo. https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/buffalo/14202/weather-radar/349726
Buffalo airport official snow total is now 49.2″. https://nwschat.weather.gov/p.php?pid=202212261532-KBUF-NOUS41-PNSBUF
It appears the plan is still to open the airport at 11am tomorrow (Tuesday).
I-90 is still closed from the PA-NY state line to Rochester. Interstate cameras show some stretches of road in poor condition. https://www.thruway.ny.gov/travelers/map/index.html?layer=cameras
This is an image from an interstate traffic cam just north of the Buffalo downtown area.
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Here’s another one, just east of the city. This is why the interstate is shut down. If they opened it up there would be so many accidents, the police, fire, EMTs, and National Guard already have their hands full.
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One of my relatives said the grocery stores are not open. They do have food in the house but she said they will be going vegetarian soon. She mentioned potatoes and onions, that sounds good to me because I haven’t had that in a long time but I’m sure if you have to eat it every day it will get old. 🙂 She said many of the pumps at the gas stations are not working and she doesn’t know why, I’m thinking it’s because of lack of incoming gas to supply the stations but I don’t know for sure.
https://buffalonews.com/business/local/need-groceries-tops-wegmans-work-on-plans-to-reopen-but-restocking-shelves-will-take-time/article_66c8b88c-8486-11ed-8147-5f5804245998.html
Even before supermarkets began closing for the blizzard on Friday, a commercial driving ban had been issued and the Thruway had been closed. Although those transporting food are considered essential services, the undriveable conditions made it impossible for trucks to reach supermarkets so that workers could replenish stores. They will have some catching up to do once the roads are clear and stores are back up and running.
If people run out of protein (or gasoline) within 2-3 days, then they aren’t well prepared.
I’ve been expecting Armageddon since 2020, so I don’t fool around. For over a year, I’ve been buying extra food and supplies during each shopping trip. And I always top off my gas tank, when the car is 3/4 full.
When power is interrupted the gas pumps don’t work. Neither do computers at the checkout counters in stores. Supply trucks can’t get through these unplowed roads.
People should be ready for anything these days. “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”
For once this oncall driver was not on the road heading towards the worst of it. A few years ago they sent me to Tonawanda to pick up high temp insulation from Unifrax. As I was going up I-79 the Jumbotron said I-90 was closed at Hamburg. I took I-86 down to catch US 219 north. I had to go east on US 20 a short way to Hwy 16 but I got to my destination on Fire Tower Road in in Tonawanda.
The funny thing was that with people still stranded in their cars on I-90 and Lackawanna and surrounding area under a snow emergency, when I backed in the dock at Unifrax about 8 miles NNE of there as the crow flies, there was not a flake of snow in the sky or on the ground.
Lake effect can be some crazy stuff.
I was shocked to see photos of Buffalo Bills landing at the Rochester airport (after the game in Chicago against the Bears), and there was barely any show on the ground or pavement. Rochester is only 75 miles from Buffalo! I have been watching radar since Friday night and that snow band is so narrow. It’s really amazing.
I’m on the ground here. The storm was unbelievable, definitely historic. That being said the people of this area need answers on why all Erie County plows were grounded for almost a full day. Plows are the absolute lifeline for these storms and they were sitting idle. I’m sure the “visibility” answer will be cemented and yes blizzard whiteout conditions are terrifying driving but we needed those plows.
What day do you think they were grounded? I was listening to the Buffalo police/fire/EMT scanner on Friday night and plows were running. They were having tremendous difficulty though.
If cars/trucks/semi’s are stuck on a road in whiteout conditions, the plows will strike them and kill people and/or destroy the plow. They have to be moving with some speed to move the snow.
I’m over in Onondaga County and The Good Lord has seen fit to spare us the snowfall that you folks in Erie County received.
None of the aspects of this storm individually are anything that we don’t receive in a normal winter.
We periodically get 35 mph wind gusts at my place, heavy snow, and sub-zero temps.
However, it’s very rare that we get them all at the same time.
We had been hearing about this storm even before the last major storm, but the details were vague and uncertain.
As the storm approached, we were told that it was going to be historic, but still there were no details regarding wind speed, temps or snow accumulation.
It wasn’t until about last Monday that we heard that temps would rise close to 50 degrees and then fall to near zero in a 24 hour period between Friday and Saturday.
Still, nothing that we haven’t seen before.
About midweek, the weather people started talking about wind gusts in the 30s for our area.
By Thursday, we started hearing about snowfall amounts.
We were told to expect about 1.5 inches, while north between Watertown and the Tug Hill plateau could expect to receive anywhere from 12 to 36 inches (not unusual for that area) of lake effect off of Lake Ontario.
What I found unusual was the duration of sustained high winds.
The wind at my place averaged around 20 mph for 3 straight days with gusts into the 30s.
The county plows were working throughout the storm, but they still couldn’t contain the drifting on my road.
I know that NYSDOT has been having trouble keeping and recruiting plow drivers.
I’m guessing the counties have had a similar problem.
I wouldn’t be surprised if county officials use that as an excuse for why your plows weren’t operating 24/7.
It’s hard to operate around the clock with a skeleton crew.
Thanks for that account. They really cannot predict with accuracy what’s going to happen until about 2 days in advance.
As much as I hate California politics, taxes and wokeness, it was 78 degrees here in Newport Beach, CA on Christmas Day. No need for heat, A/C or a jacket. The weather has become California’s only saving grace!
That is why a lot of people do not leave. I am pretty sure that once the replacements for Americans is finally completed by the invasion on our southern border there will be a lot of Americans who will finally leave SoCal. I think that neighborhoods are going to become segregated according to “born here Americans” and “newly arrived and not-looking-to-assimilate” people.
I grew up in SoCal but left in 1981 when I could see the writing on the wall back then. I live in Las Vegas now. We are presently at around what SoCal was in 1981. Thankfully, I am older and might be able to live out my life here without having to flee once again.
I contend the negative 4-7*F temps we sustained here in TN over three nights was easily 70-80*F colder than our seasonal weather. And like many southern homes with construction/insulation/plumbing/heating less than adequate for those temps, a lot of people suffered. It was an extremely unusual weather event for us down south. And if rural and raising animals, the effort was even worse. The costs of protecting against that severe cold will also be devastating to many. Yet forums are filled with comments claiming winter weather events are normal for all areas is naive. I had hoped people would recognize this. I was wrong.
Possible explanations:
Can’t afford to stay in a hotel and don’t have relatives to stay with
Don’t want their home to be looted
Weather events are seasonal. When the Weather Chanel starts to showing rockets on the radar I will stay tuned.
Death toll is up to 25 and will probably increase. Some of the dead were people who were caught out early Friday morning before driving bans were issued and/or people who really do not understand the winter driving capabilities of their vehicle. I drive a sedan, and after driving home through the 2014 November storm, I usually make sure I am parked at the homestead before one of these is blowing through because I know that type of vehicle is not going to be able to handle it. It did not help that in this case the snow bands were well north of their typical impact zone – the folks in Buffalo and points north usually do not see snows like this.
I knew there was a blizzard warning starting at 7 Friday. Anyone who heeded that warning and was off the roads by then was fine, but then there was the problem that winds knocked out power to tens of thousands in a deep-freeze and given conditions, restoration was in some cases estimated at 4 days or longer. The government was opening up lots of warming shelters, but how do you expect people to get there? They’ve either got to walk or drive in this.
The Pollyanna doomcriers in news media over every storm and climate thing do tend to make it harder for warnings to be heeded when they really need to be, but it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to look up what is actually going on in Chicago/Detroit/Cleveland/Erie because that’s likely going to hit here down the way, the only variable is where the snow bands set up.
As usual when a democrat is governor and a democrat is president no politician is blamed for the deaths.
It’s a good thing they changed their fear mongering narrative from “global warming” to “climate change” because now they can apply it to any kind of weather and you’re not allowed to argue with them or to ask the wrong questions.
People are just as in the days of Noah..Haven’t any of you heard about weather warfare and I know darn well the wonderful writer of this site knows about it..Why is everyone that knows about so afraid of talking about it????? This is going to be the end of our civilization..Not climate change..but the deliberate and ongoing spraying of our skies..Is it to kill humans..Idk..Is it some crazed scientists..thinking they are God..PROBABLY….But if you don’t at least try to find the answers then you are just like the those of Noahs time..He tried to warn people and they called him crazy..But the fact is the world’s military has been using weather warfare for..way over 6 decades..I can’t make people wake up and I am just putting it on there and dusting off my feet when non one will listen..If you want info on this go to geoengineering…com..It is only going to get worse if we don’t stop this insanity..!!!!
This is why Arizona homeowners who want to sell should know … it’s still a “sellers” market here!
If Powell and Mead’s water levels get much lower, it could definitely affect the real estate market.
Here you go. Tony Heller adds fuel to the fire:
Just goes to show you can’t predict the future until it’s here …….. LOL’ing at global catastrophe/warming/cooling/change
Weather reports are worth as much as the last few years of pandemic reports.
Geoengineering has been going on since before most of us were born, just like everything else, evil/control has seeped everywhere. Dig deep and discern…
Farmer’s Almanac called this winter weather right………..early December projection:
Now compare that to NOAA NWS long range winter projection for 2022-23 and ask where the heck are our tax dollars going?
Sorry rah….it was in the bin.
No worries Ad rem.
I say northern Illinois is in the hibernation zone. That’s exactly what I feel like doing! I think maybe I have some brown bear genes or something, I’m driven to overeat and I want to sleep a lot. I overslept my alarms twice last week.
I find FA to be usually spot on. I once planned a golf tournament based on its prediction. It was spot on, clear sunny skies in the morning and afternoon rain. We had a perfect morning and about 30-45 minutes after we were out of there it started to rain.
I wonder which computer model Farmer Almanac used? European? Canadian? Some mountains in Colorado are 157% of normal already.
They don’t use a model. My understanding is they use their own formula developed long ago based on observations to generate their long range forecasts.
Can’t wait to hear how they spin this one as an argument for “Green Energy” programs.
The storm didn’t seem to impede the looters much.
That takes the death toll to almost 4o across the nation. Pretty brutal. And the season is still young. We haven’t even started dealing with black ice and the other little things that can make the season difficult.
So saddened by this and for my fellow Americans. Praying the Lord’s comfort and peace upon all affected by this storm,
A truly brutal storm, yet it did not stop the fine youths from massive looting. Imagine how productive these fine young people could be if, God forbid, they actually worked for a living?
It’s STILL snowing. https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/buffalo/14202/weather-radar/349726
Travel bans in some areas have been lifted and the grocery stores there have opened. My relatives were able to go to the grocery store, I haven’t heard back yet what kind of an experience it was. I don’t know how badly the stores were cleared out prior to the storm’s arrival, the big stores will have some amount of food to put out for restocking but they haven’t had any deliveries since Friday morning I think. Hopefully nobody is hoarding.
One of my relatives told me that they have enough food for two weeks, 3 days of decent stuff and then “weird *ss concoctions of whatever we can find”. 🙂 Been there, though not in a while. In their defense, it wasn’t planned to have 3 additional adults in the house during the storm, the 3 who travelled were supposed to leave mid-week but couldn’t because of the storm in the midwest.
This is good drone video, it looks like the neighborhood is working hard with the city to clear the streets. I’d be out there too if I lived there.
And what’s the first thing we see in Buffalo after the storm passes? People looting stores…smh.
I wish the stores that suffered looting would just pull out of those neighborhoods rather than pass the losses onto everyone else. I’m getting tired of subsidizing looters. Let the ferals have their “deserts” if they can’t behave properly.
A day later, stores are being looted.
https://dnyuz.com/2022/12/25/in-buffalo-even-the-rescuers-needed-rescuing/
These stories remind me of the Manhattan boat lift on 9/11. Government puts out the calling-all-boats-mayday signal, and individual Americans drop everything they are doing, including celebrating Christmas, and risk their lives to go save strangers.
WOW! I had not heard of the 9/11 Manhattan boat lift until now.
Of all the 9/11 documentaries, the boat lift wasn’t mentioned, or I missed it.
Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
The Farmer’s Almanac said this was going to be a cold winter.
If we can’t understand how cold it can get ahead of winter, how on God’s green earth can we predict something as ridiculous as climate change (previously known as weather) or global warming???
a weatherman’s job is to tell me if air need an umbrella tomorrow. All else is supposition.
Wonder how many of those people stuck on the roads were out cuz they had Christmas plans to be somewhere?
Word to the wise>>> If this ever happens again, postpone the Christmas Dinner for another day.
We did that one year, celebrated Christmas about 10 days later. It worked out Just. Fine.
In many ways, it was even better, cuz by then all the commercialism around the holiday had stopped! We had a GREAT Xmas that year!!
The foolish Dim governor of NY blames “climate change,” whereas for years Joe Bastardi at weatherbell.com with his Saturday Summaries has shown analogues from past years that produced conditions such as happened this year. That’s how he predicted this weeks ago.
It’s the weather, stupid.
Hey all. Went through this storm and if people just listened and prepped and stayed home all would be well. We were so blessed to not lose power, have shelter and many kind neighbors — but no plows seen for at least 2 days so no venturing out anywhere. But we are warm inside and safe. Light a nice fire. We have food. We have meds. God is good. Merry Christmas to all.
We have weathered many of these storms in WNY but none were like 1977. So, this too will pass. We are very, very sorry for the loss of life as always. It is Always sad…
It’s snowing AGAIN. NOAA is predicting another 4-8 inches in the Buffalo area. https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/buffalo/14202/weather-warnings/349726
The travel ban in my relatives’ area was lifted and a grocery store opened up so they could at least get more food and supplies. They said the store was crowded and some shelves were bare, but it wasn’t bad. They had gotten there within an hour of the store opening, it might be a different story now. With I-90 still closed it might be difficult for the stores to receive new supplies, hopefully there are local warehouses they can still pull from.
It’s still snowing.
The effects of “Global Warming”, “Global Cooling”, an “Climate Change” on the polar vortex are identical according to “the science”. They lie like dogs.
Symptoms Of Global Warming And Global Cooling Are Identical | Real Climate Science
And…. just how many electric tow trucks, emergency vehicles and tractors can help… that would be NONE!
I am 70 and storms like this have been going on all my life. everyone was warned so if you went out in this mess hopefully you had a good reason to go out and possibly die.
I am about to give up on Treehouse..You can’t see the see the forest for the trees or just maybe it is just more convenient not to..But one day we will see the end of this when Jesus returns to create the new heaven and new earth and makes everyone accountable for burying their head in the sand..If you only look up you can understand the why of this extreme weather..up and down..40 degrees..50 degrees or more..Then ice storms and blizzard conditions..Ask yourself is this really natural..?????????
I was raised to keep this in mind ALWAYS….
“Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.”
This has served me well for over 6 decades.
If one is always prepared, it doesn’t matter what meteorologists and all the rest of them have to say.