Waking up to an icy landscape, and the power is still up and chugging along with no outage for us here.
We're at zero Celsius and the forecast I'm looking at says precip ends in two hours, with temp up to two degrees.
There's still a high winds issue to deal with, but we're doing well so far.
I'm really not looking forward to power outages tomorrow with the #iceStorm.
I've got stuff to do, and really would rather miss any drama. We've been lucky and not had much more than a blip in power in years.
The incoming-weather warning has the words "prolonged utility outages are likely" and I keep looking to see if they've deleted that part or reduced the 20mm ice accretion mentions. Sadly, no.
Hoping it's not as bad as feared.
Where do you park overnight?
With ice accretion and high winds, it's probably a good idea to think about the risk of falling tree limbs. An alternate parking spot, or garage might be a good choice.
I'm a bit worried a falling tree branch will knock some of the hail dents out of my car's roof. I've become attached to them.
16/n
Electronics in a power outage.
Consider turning off and unplugging potentially sensitive electronics. I'm thinking my NAS backup box is a good candidate. I have a laptop, but my SO's desktop will be shutdown overnight too.
The risk is from repeated power fluctuations or surges with a grid being hammered by tree falls, heavy ice and high winds.
15/n
Food leftovers storage? Do it now.
If, like me, you have leftover Christmas food you've been grazing on for three days, now is a good time to get the remainders into the freezer.
If that was the plan anyway, get it done now. If there's a power outage, it'll be difficult, and you won't have to face eating yet more of the same, in the dark, to avoid its spoilage.
14/n
Use the Great Free Freezer!
I've put a few large containers 3/4 full of water outside. At -8°C they should freeze up solid, and if power goes off I can use the ice blocks to keep the fridge cold.
Ultimately I'd move perishable contents outside to stay cold, but initially ice blocks should do the trick for a day or so.
13/n
Dishwasher!
As @human3500 mentions, running your dishwasher now makes good sense, so you're not both without power and without clean dishes and having to heat water to wash them by hand.
12/n
Oh, salt and sand. Almost forgot that I haven't brought that out of the garage for the winter yet. I'd better move that near our front door for use tomorrow.
11/n
Storm chips.
As our brethren in #Halifax have taught us, having chips on hand is an important thing when you're couch-bound under a blanket. We're prepared.
10/n
I've done the strange thing of adding some snow to a strip along our walkway.
If you've lived with an ice storm before you've found that walking on crusty icy snow is easier than a glassy hard surface.
9/n
Ross of Ottawa