anyone on the East Coast using this storm as a "dry run"??
could you make a fire or shelter in a Nor'ester??
could you open you BOB to get stuff out of it with soaking
everything else in it??..my 12 below zero stove tests out
here in Minnestoa gave me some good feedback on just what
i would face with minimal gear in severe cold..as in,no tent
or big fire handy..so anyway--any severe weather testers
out there tonite..i talked to my daughter in Salem MA tonite
and i know this is a nasty storm and don't want you to think
i'm makeing a joke out of your weather..

You're right about this being a good training opportunity but above all, it's the perfect time to rethink about one's BOB and contingency plans.

Yeah, it sure is raining pretty hard up here in Massachusetts tonight. The conditions remind me of a camping trip two years ago this May. We had driving rain and relatively high winds for both Friday and Saturday nights that we camped. The only savior was that the sun came out for about 4-5 hours on Saturday during the day, and the sun and wind allowed the boys to dry out some of the soaked gear from Friday night, so they could start dry on Saturday night again, when the pouring rain returned in earnest.

I recall spending about 30 minutes Friday night in the wee hours, (actually I think it was Saturday morning) reattaching rain fly's and tarps that had partially blown off some of the tents. It was tough, because my tent was ok, and I really didn't want to go out there, but, I woke up when something started whacking the side of my tent, pretty violently. It was a rain fly that had detached from a nearby tent except for one or two guy points, so it was just flapping in the wind, and spanking the side of my tent. When I finally got out of my nice warm sleeping bag, put on my rain gear, and went out to check it, I saw that half of my troop's tents were in similar disarray. Fortunately, one of the other adults must have heard me out there trying to pull things together, and he came and helped.

Starting a fire on those nights was a real trick, although once the boys got the idea of actually splitting the wood, it went a lot better. It turns out that there's a lot of dry stuff out there, under the bark, even in driving rain. The tinder is a little harder to find, but, birch bark has always been like gold in those situations. I also always have a couple of 6 inch mini starter logs with me when we go, just in case. If I light one of those, I have about an hour of flame that should be enough to get a rip roaring fire going, even when most of the fuel is damp.

Meanwhile, it's school vacation week, and my son has 3 extra boys sleeping over tonight, maybe I should make then all go out back and set up my son's tent? No, their parents would probably find some attorney to throw me in jail. (Now, if they were all in my Scout Troop, I might just try it!)

I'll trade you your rain. I've got something like 5-6" of heavy wet snow outside that wasn't there last night.

I'm not sure what is worse- spring never getting here, or having it rain half the winter.

Low 60's is cold?

Mid 30's is cold when it's raining and windy! We had that and some snow over the weekend. It's really getting old.

BTDT, North Cascades. Fortunately, it was a just a day hike, didn't need to set up camp or attempt a fire. Just kept moving.

On Friday (4/13) there was a line of nasty thunderstorms/small tornados running through the DFW area (between 5:00 and 8:00 pm). I thought it was a great time to practice/drill for Texas spring weather. Some of my thoughts/observations:

1) We have a NOAA alert radio (programmed to set off for warnings in our county) at our house. Fortunately, I noticed that the backup battery was low and picked up a new one on the way home from work. Although the power was out for an hour, we still could keep updated on the progress of the storm.

2) We used the "radar" channel that appears on our local cable companies broadcast, as well as watched the local news (they broke into programming). Unfortunately, when the power went off, we lost our visual feed and had to rely upon our NOAA radio and AM broadcast station (KRLD 1080). Because I'm kinda visual guy, I had trouble following the radio updates. Definitely need to keep a series of maps, with county listings) nearby to track the storms progress in the event of TV outage.

3) I had a cheapo camping lantern (4 AA, incandescent bulb) for power outages. Won't go cheapo again. Definitely going to upgrade because it was nearly pitch black outside (and inside) even though the sun hadn't set. Anyone have suggestions on a replacement?

4) I had upgraded my AA mini-mag to LED (using Nite-Ize kit) a few days earlier. Much better than traditional bulb.

5) Repair supplies - I don't have much in the way of supplies to make emergency repairs to windows, fences, etc. I'm making a list and checking the sales at Lowes and Home Depot.

Any other Texas stories?

Go to Circuit City and get you a 5" black and white tv that runs off of D batterys for 14.99, I've got a couple so that when the lights go out I can see whats going on. Also Wal Mart carrys a battery powered fan in the camping section that helps keep air circulating during blackouts in hot weather, doesnt move alot of air but in the heat every little bit helps. Oh and if you dont have a headlamp you should really get one the ability to have both hands free to work and still have light where you want it is a very good thing to have.

Brian Tex..good idea about the maps to keep track of storms.
when they do that " a line from the NW corner of bla-bla
county to a line running SE of yack-yack county" i'm lost..
and if you have seen any of my other posts you will see i'm
a loyal fan of the Coleman gas lamp..finding someone to give
you a good run thru will help if you have never used one..
know any Boy Scouts??..a Coleman will give you all the
light you need for any storm related project..
Big Blue Tarps--get a few and a 100 feet of nylon rope...

Great suggestion about the TV - $15 seems to be a very reasonable price. This could work for the broadcast stations if I still want to see their weather radar. I also like the idea of the fan because when the power goes out during a T-storm it usually is pretty warm and humid.

I forgot that one of my back-up radios is a multiband radio with UHF TV channels. That might have helped as well.

Canoe Dogs,

Why yes, I am an Eagle Scout ( ) and I don't own a Coleman Lantern ( ). The lovely BethTexas hasn't let me spend the money on it yet, but it is on my long-term plans. I thought about getting a propane lantern and stove, with the kits to run either on a 20lb tank or disposable 1 lb.

The maps with the county lines are essential. When I lived in Ohio, Lake Erie bordered the northern border and I had memorized the surrounding counties and cities. I found that a simple road map from AAA will work for storm tracking.

Well, its switching to Tornado season here, so I'm rotating the stored water and will be checking the radios & batteries...

When out and about and worried about the weather I carry one these. It's not terribly precise, but usually better than the weatherman re: local conditions, and much easier to carry.

http://www.strikealert.com/

For a less portable, but much more accurate unit, I use this for lawn parties and when the kids have outdoor events, ie. soccor or football games. It gives a fairly precise warning of approaching storms (if there is lightening in it, and most Midwest storms do). It aso gives afairly accurate time to clear (it estimates passage time based on rate of travel)

http://www.spectrumthunderbolt.com/personal.html

For the handyman (I haven't tried this but found courtesy of google):


http://www.techlib.com/electronics/lightning.html

Great question. BTW I grew up in Salem Ma and my parents still live there. I went out not in the recent storm but another real windy soaker to try to start a fire. It was an eye opener I must say. I consider myself pretty good, but I burned out a lighter and went through two wetfire tinders. I handicapped myself by not letting myself use birchbark. I didn't use my woodman's pal either to go digging into trees for dry wood. Anyway, good question. raging storms are great practice times!