A joyful headline for east coast snow-lovers -- especially those who are prepared for power outages, being stranded in the car and other potentials of a large-scale blizzard event.

Coincidentally, my new "fatbike" will be ready at the bike shop 24 hours before the storm is due to hit DC. So I'm going to be bikejoring on the Mall with Samoyeds who could hardly be happier than when snow is literally in the air.

Best wishes to everyone in the Mid-Atlantic and northeast who may be dealing with this. I also happened to be at the grocery yesterday and am well-stocked. By Thursday evening, every egg, every loaf of bread, milk, bacon, etc. will be sold out within at least an hour drive of DC.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capi...ll-time-greats/

Weather Service: ‘Textbook’ East Coast snowstorm could resemble all-time greats


"... likened the forecast snow amounts to what fell during the Snowmageddon storm of Feb. 5-6, 2010, the Blizzard of Jan. 1996 (with perhaps a somewhat smaller overall coverage), and the President’s Day Storm of Feb. 2003."


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Be safe! Sounds like you are well prepared to ride it out.

Stay safe, Dagny!

Good to be prepared and to keep in mind weather forecasts are nearly always overblown.

Time to get 5 gallons of gas for the snow blower. Anne Arundel county loves to pile up snow in the driveway. Roads are clear, but you can't get past the pile of snow blocking the driveway.

Isn't that the truth. About the time I dig out my car in DC, the plows come along and create another wall of snow and ice.

Reminds me I need to put my tire chains in the Element. It's great in the snow (Honda's "4WD") but I'm from Oregon and like the added assurance of having chains in the car, just in case.

I've never used them with the Element (an '04), just like having them along for the ride.



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The rush to stock up on vital supplies has begun. A friend just posted this on Facebook:

"The crowds were already out today. Trader Joe's in Springfield was out of milk in anything but Gallon size. Store was packed at 3:30 PM. Crowds will only grow. Giant in West Springfield was out of Gallon size bottled water except Store Brand. TP was being bought by the case."

Another:

"9:53 PM EST
Just got home from the Giant on West Broad in Falls Church. Almost out of flour. Many other supplies also picked over already."

And another:

"Tonight was nuts at the Great Falls Safeway"


Better than everyone waiting until the last second. Maybe more shipments can be delivered to area groceries before the first flakes fall... three days from now.

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I was here for the '96 blizzard which was quite a surprise since not a single weather forecast caught it. Everyone woke up to ~18 inches of new snow overnight. Yes they tend to over-estimate, but this one has the chance of doing what they say. I am going on travel on Friday so I don't get to play until late next week.

Regards,
Bill

Hey, I was there for the '96 blizzard, too! I had to get home in that snow. It was a lot of fun!

I'm tickled by the comment from Dagny's friend: "out of Gallon size bottled water except Store Brand." OMG, the storm is coming and we have to get prepared, but will not stoop to the indignity of drinking store brand water!!!

Amazon is suddenly out of certain water storage containers... Hey, at least people are getting prepared!

Stay safe, our buddies in the affected areas. Take it easy. Don't go out unless you have to!

Too funny -- Maryland/Virginia water is great stuff compared to California's. All I did when I lived in Alexandria, VA was use a Brita filter on the tap water for drinking and coffee --easy peasy and the water was great.

A single Brita filter will last a long time if you start with good tap water. The water in Virginia Beach was a whole 'nuther thing. Comparing a glass of unfiltered tap water to water from a simple tap filter you could see the contaminants suspended in the unfiltered water; it looked brackish in comparison. Those filters didn't last so long. I never used bottled water in VA or MD.