Prepper Alert: Ice Storm of the Century heading for the South
I worked on an old vehicle, outdoors in my driveway, yesterday at 21 F and windy and light snow, and today in the upper 30s in light rain, so in my area the "storm" never materialized. I purchased a new 20 lb propane tank and filled it in advance, just in case we lost power and needed heat, never a hiccup, let alone any serious weather.
I noticed the forecast in my area changed dramatically over time, a good example of how hard some types of systems are to predict within certain parameters.
Lover of the US Constitution Wile E. Coyote School of DIY Disaster
January 26, 2026, 03:08 AM
rat2306
It's 4:00 a.m. my time, and someone is out in the parking lot digging out their car. I think we had about 12 hours of sleet total, but it wasn't heavy much of that time. Perhaps five to six inches of snow, then the sleet kicked in.
January 26, 2026, 06:06 AM
LouieH
I live 35 miles from my work, and aside from lawnscrapers, we are snow contract. I came into work Saturday after the Blues got beat again, just to make sure that I could make it in, slept in the office. Plowed snow all day Sunday until 10:00pm. Slept at the shop again. All but one of the companies we clear for are shut down again today. Its to cold really for the salt to do much, but sunshine will help. I just cleared the snow off of the salt pile (what a strange thing to say), and I'm waiting for the truck and loader to warm up, so I can rush out and see how bad the refreeze is. It's a touch nippy out this morning.
I want to live were the only salt that needs spread is around the rim of a glass, not on the roads.
January 26, 2026, 06:49 AM
h2oys
January 26, 2026, 07:29 AM
chongosuerte
Very fortunate in the Charlotte area. Ice accumulation happened but not nearly as bad as feared. Very minimal power outages. And above freezing already this morning.
Knowing what one is talking about is widely admired but not strictly required here.
Although sometimes distracting, there is often a certain entertainment value to this easy standard. -JALLEN
"All I need is a WAR ON DRUGS reference and I got myself a police thread BINGO." -jljones
January 26, 2026, 07:44 AM
trapper189
quote:
Originally posted by h2oys:
56 isn’t bad.
January 26, 2026, 07:46 AM
h2oys
^^^It’s a heat wave
January 26, 2026, 08:04 AM
SIG4EVA
Like Chongo said, we got a very enjoyable mix of snow and sleet. Little to no freezing rain. Now everything is melting, but we'll have black ice tonight as it dips back down to 14 tonight.
We made the best of it. Neighbor got the golf cart end of last year. It was a hoss in the snow. We did a bunch of rounds around the neighborhood.
SIG556 Classic P220 Carry SAS Gen 2 SAO SP2022 9mm German Triple Serial P938 SAS P365 FDE P322 FDE
Psalm 118:24 "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it"
January 26, 2026, 08:24 AM
chellim1
Post-Winter Storm, Deep-Freeze Pushes Power-Grids To Brink As Feds Move To Avert Blackouts
The major winter storm that dumped heavy snow and ice across much of the eastern US is finally over, but the cold-weather danger is far from over.
Roughly 185 million Americans remain under winter alerts today as Arctic air continues to pour deep into the central and eastern states. Wind chills are dropping into the minus 20s and minus 30s in some areas, with temperatures running 10 to 40 degrees below seasonal averages.
This prolonged cold - expected through the week - will continue to pressure major natural gas production hubs with freeze-offs, send pipeline volumes sliding, and push already-strained power grids to the brink.
The latest on grids:
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas projected a record demand of 86 GW on Monday, above its prior summer peak.
PJM Interconnection warned it faces days of extreme winter demand, an unprecedented stretch for the grid spanning the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic.
Grid operators are paying large customers to curb usage to avoid widespread rolling blackouts.
Power prices spiked to crisis levels, with PJM on peak prices averaging about $639 per MWh and ERCOT North hub prices jumping more than 1,200% day over day.
On Sunday, the Energy Department issued emergency orders authorizing PJM to operate power plants at maximum capacity, including those fueled by coal and oil, regardless of limits set by environmental rules or state law. Similar orders were issued for ERCOT and ISO New England.
Golf clap for fossil fuels saving the grid from collapse. It wasn't solar or wind. It was oil and natural gas.
"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown
"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor
January 26, 2026, 08:24 AM
pace40
Just came in from checking the accumulation conditions. About 3" of ice on top of about 7" of powder. Snow blower mounted plow won't touch it. Guess I'll have to rip it apart and put that auger belt on I bought 4 years ago. Haven't needed it till now. Shoveled a little but its heart attack snow so enough of that.
____________ Pace
January 26, 2026, 08:28 AM
trapper189
Pace yourself, that’s the advice I was give doing hurricane cleanup.
January 26, 2026, 08:30 AM
chellim1
I don't know what to think about all of this geoengineering stuff...
This Massive Winter Storm Is COMPLETELY ENGINEERED! – Dane Wiggington
The Jimmy Dore Show
In this segment Jimmy is joined by journalist and geoengineering expert Dane Wigington to discuss how elites at the World Economic Forum and military-linked programs are secretly conducting large-scale climate engineering, including aerosol spraying and chemical ice nucleation, while publicly framing extreme weather as “climate change.” Using undercover footage attributed to James O’Keefe and commentary from geoengineering researcher, the segment argues that cloud seeding is being conflated with far more extensive military-grade operations capable of shaping storms and temperature patterns.
Wigington also alleges that current U.S. winter storms and temperature anomalies are engineered through atmospheric manipulation and then politically leveraged to control public perception. The two contend that these programs are hidden under national security, coordinated internationally, and pose serious health and environmental risks.
"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown
"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor
January 26, 2026, 08:33 AM
Mars_Attacks
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
____________________________
Eeewwww, don't touch it! Here, poke at it with this stick.
January 26, 2026, 08:37 AM
egregore
Are you serious, chellim1? Never mind.This message has been edited. Last edited by: egregore,
January 26, 2026, 09:11 AM
229DAK
Where's my tinfoil hat?
_________________________________________________________________________ “A man’s treatment of a dog is no indication of the man’s nature, but his treatment of a cat is. It is the crucial test. None but the humane treat a cat well.” -- Mark Twain, 1902
January 26, 2026, 09:22 AM
joel9507
quote:
Originally posted by egregore: Are you serious, chellim1?
Given the " " at the end of the first line of his post, I think not.
January 26, 2026, 09:46 AM
tatortodd
quote:
Originally posted by chellim1: Golf clap for fossil fuels saving the grid from collapse. It wasn't solar or wind. It was oil and natural gas.
There is a standard data format fed by the power plants to EIA and it includes distillate and residual fuel oils, jet fuel, kerosene, waste oil, and beginning in 2011, propane.
Geography and population center locations play into it. Concentrate most of the population on the coast or along rivers and the logistics for petroleum liquids is easy via barge and tanker.
Geology plays a part in it. Much of the area has solid rock under a thin layer of topsoil. The most efficient way to build natural gas pipelines through rock takes explosives (literally drill, set charges, synchronized detonation, and dig out the spoils) and the NIMBY and BANANA folk's attorneys will tie them up in courts for years.
Other than propane, it's easy to store on-site long-term in large quantities.
The usage peaks in the winter months. I took a quick look at the EIA's underlying data and month to month is pretty flat consumption, but either every January there is a peak. I didn't do any correlation with heating degree days, but I suspect if someone were to overlay the data it'd line up.
Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity
DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.
January 26, 2026, 09:46 AM
egregore
Here, at least, it looks like "Snow-mageddon" is going to be a snow bust. Just barely enough to cover the ground and cars.
"The Almighty, He put some livin' things on this earth so a man can eat." - Festus Haggen, Gunsmoke
January 26, 2026, 10:02 AM
chellim1
quote:
Originally posted by joel9507:
quote:
Originally posted by egregore: Are you serious, chellim1?
Given the " " at the end of the first line of his post, I think not.
Do I believe everything Jimmy Dore puts out?, of course not. Still, I'm glad he does what he does. He's provocative but he brought up some things no one wanted to talk about during Covid. Do I completely trust our government not to put chemicals and metal particulate stuff in the atmosphere without our knowledge and consent? No, I don't. DARPA has done some weird shit.
"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown
"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor
January 26, 2026, 10:03 AM
rizzle
quote:
Originally posted by egregore: Here, at least, it looks like "Snow-mageddon" is going to be a snow bust. Just barely enough to cover the ground and cars.
They seem to hype the storms big time, definitely brings viewers. Mississippi appears to have got it pretty hard.
I remember back in the 70's in Western NY, we had a 2 hr notice for the blizzard of '77 and then in 1978 or so, no notice for a ice storm that killed power for 5 days.
So, if they predict a bad storm and you don't get it, it's all good.