Two weeks without power?

Yep...some places hit by yesterday's ice storm could be without power of two weeks or more.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28873371/

Missed again.

Once again what could have been a decent snow storm has turned into a wet, cold mess. As has been the norm this winter, and to quite an extent, the past few winters, we were tight on the rain/snow line. Last evening we got a couple inches of snow. By morning, it had changes to ice pellets and freezing rain. By noon on Wednesday the surface temperature had risen above freezing so what little ice accumulation there was is melting fast. Oh, weel, maybe next time...

Two days in Bradford Co.

N3HCP decides to take advantage of the two warmest days in over a month to visit the cabin and do a little work. The coal stove got a work out, and with a little help from a kerosene heater, was able to maintain a 50 degree difference between inside and outside. There was about 8 inches of snow on the ground. It's truly amazing how quiet it is out in the woods with fresh snow on the ground to absorb the sound...especially at night! The temperature there tonight is below zero, so it good I came home when I did!!

The colderst weather so far.

It looks like we are in for the coldest weather so far this winter, and maybe the coldest we will see this season. Right now here at Radio Free Schaefferstown it's 19 degrees and dropping. The wind is holding at about 5 to 7 MPH. I'll be sure to report the coldest temperature we see here...stay tuned!

Another shameless "commercial" ---Encore Presentation

Here's the link:

Gary's Schaefferstown, Bradford and Sullivan Co, weather, and other interesting stuff Blog: Another shameless "commercial"...#links

For those of you who have seen this before, yes this is a repeat post. Hay, if it's good enough for NBC to run repeats, why not me?

Anyway, take a look. The food bank where we volunteer has fallen on the same hard times as all the rest of us. The number of clients we are called on to serve is up. At the same time donations are mostly down. We continue to receive much of our help from the local churches and we offer them our deepest thanks. At the same time some of our biggest commercial sponsors have found it necessary to cut back. The stores are more careful how much bread they bake every day, leaving less and less day-old bread for us. Other suppliers have likewise had to cut back.

The bottom line is WE NEED YOUR HELP!! If you support us at Lebanon County Christian Ministries, of some other food bank or pantry, please consider helping us out. When you buy your groceries, just add a couple cans of soup, a can of Spam (Yea..I love that stuff), or any other nonperishable stuff and get it to us. Thanks so much, from all of us!!!

Snow for the weekend?

It looks like we may be in for the first real snow of the winter on Saturday. The current predication models (Thursday evening) look like about 3/4 of an inch of liquid precipitation. If that's all snow we could be looking at 7 to 8 inches. We'll see.

Ice storm!

Things are coming together to provide Central PA with another ice storm. The exact track of the storm is still a bit up in the are, but as much as a half inch or more accumulation of ice is possible. power outages are also a real possibility.

We all have out generators checked out and fueled up...right???

Yet another blog!

I'm playing around with a new blog. It is, as always, a work in progress so suggestions and comments are welcome. Check it out at
http://prepare-now.blogspot.com/

Thanks

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all you bloggers out there!!

Cold and windy to welcome the new year.

On the back side of the cold front that came through here this morning we are seeing temperatures drop through to 30s and winds in excess of 40 MPH. Sustained winds are now in the low 20s. On the bright side, we are seeing a little sun for a change!!

Earthquake!!!

Yep...we felt it here in Schaefferstown. There was a 3.4 magnitude earthquake at 12:04 (0504UT) this morning just north of Salunga, Lancaster County, about 15 air-miles from here. We were both still up when it happened. My response was "what was that?" (I has in idea it was a tremor.) Catwoman's response was "Now what!!" It shook enough to move jig-saw puzzle pieces around on the table and slide a few things off storage shelves, but that's about it.

Ice comes to Schaefferstown.

Well, today's rain turned out to be mostly of the freezing variety. The power blinked off three times, so far, but only for a few minutes. Looking at the forecasts for the coming week, this probably won't be the last frozen precipitation we'll be seeing!!

Web page additions

We have added a new web page with, you guessed it, cabin pictures!! Some have been posted here, some are new. The new page is:
http://n3hcp.com/Cabin_pictures2.htm

Just a reminder, the main web page is:
http://n3hcp.com/

Ice storm in Bradford Co.

So I decided that since the weather looked warmer for Monday, 12/15, that would be a good time for a quick work trip to the cabin. I went up Sunday after Church and breakfast at Risser's Restaurant. I expected to see snow at least part of the way up based on NOAA's Interactive Snow Information. There was a little snow in the higher elevations, but very little...until Sullivan County. From Sonestown north on Rt.220 as far as I went there was anywhere from 2 to 6 or 8 inches of snow and up to a half inch, or more, of ice on everything. The dirt road to the cabin had been plowed and treated, but was still an "interesting" drive.

When I finally arrived, the trees, under the weight of the ice, blocked the driveway! The first order of business was to clear the ice to get the car in. I really didn't want to haul 50 pound bags of coal over 100+ feet of icy driveway. Second order of business (after calling home , of course) was to shovel a path to the privy! This was the first attempt to stay at the cabin under true winter conditions. The temperature when I got there was 34 degrees outside...28 inside!! By 11:00 PM the cabin was a comfortable 72 degrees. After banking the fire for the night, I lost only 4 degrees overnight.

By Monday morning the ice was gone from the trees, along with a fair number of branches and power lines. The initial plan had been to stay 2 nights, but after studying the updated weather forecasts for Monday night and Tuesday, we decided a strategic withdrawal on Monday afternoon was in order. Even so, the dirt roads that had been snow the day before were ice by noon on Monday.

It was a strange trip and a good learning experience. Now I know how to open the cabin under winter conditions and be able to hole up there, if necessary. Kinda cool, realty!

As a side note, although the power to the area had been out for most of a day just after the storm, Sullivan County Rural Electric did a commendable job getting it back and keeping it on under difficult, icy, conditions. The power remained on for the time I was there, but I was prepared to do without it. While the TV was nice to have, I did have a gook book and gas lights to see by. A coal stove requires no electricity and provided warmth, hot water, heat for cooking and a pleasant, warm glow.

Most of the food didn't require refrigeration and what did would have survived for several days in an unheated part of the cabin. A zero degree L.L. Bean sleeping bag provided all the night time warmth one could want without electric heaters or blankets.

Don't say I didn't warn you!

Yesterdays little snow and ice storm put some one and a quarter million people out of power from Pennsylvania to Maine. Some will be out for several days. There are already reports of fights over gas and other resources.

There is no reason that anyone in the affected area should have been caught with their pants down. This was called a good 48 to 72 hours ahead, but all most of the people did was make the obligatory bread and milk run to the corner store (fat lot of good that did).

It's either the head-in-the-sand it can't happen to me mind set, or they think the government will rush to the rescue. Yea-right...the government...that's the ticket!!

After a couple days in their dark, cold houses eating nothing but take-out from the Chinese place down the block (who had the foresight to have a generator and plenty of gas), or worse, stuck in some refugee shelter in the local high school gym with 2 or 3 hundred other unwashed families, there will be calls for investigations into why the power went out in the first place and why it wasn't back before Desperate Housewives was on!

Meanwhile, the few that were truly prepared are comfortably watching all this unfold on their satellite equipped TVs with a nice cold beer and a fresh bowl of microwave popcorn.
We've been on both sides of this type of situation and we seem to like the second solution best.

How about you???

First real winter storm...are we ready??

The next day or so could bring the first ice/snow/freezing rain storm of the season. While this looks to be a relatively minor event, it brings up the important question...are we ready for a really big one?

Most of us can remember at least a couple times when winter storms have left us in the dark. Sometimes for a few hours, sometimes for a few days, sometimes longer. Just last year in December we here at Radio Free Schaefferstown were without power for about 3 days. We were able to continue to operate with very little disruption. Battery and generator power kept us on the air, and kept the freezer, refrigerator, furnace, TV, and yes, the DirecTV satellite receiver running.

It would be unrealistic to believe this sort of thing won't happen again...it will. I believe that everyone should be prepared for winter storms, or worse. In an effort to help others become more informed and prepared for emergencies, weather related or otherwise, I offer the following web links. Some are government links, some are discussion groups. Some are more useful then other, some take a somewhat more pessimistic outlook, and some are down right paranoid, but interesting, non the less.

Take a look, it's interesting at least, and life saving at most!!

http://www.ready.gov/

http://www.fema.gov/index.shtm

http://www.survivalistboards.com/

http://www.survivalblog.com/

http://www.thereadystore.com/freeze-dried-foods/individual-items Long term storage food. This stuff will keep 25 years!!

http://beprepared.com/Default.asp?bhcd2=1228973666

I have lots more good emergency/survival info. Anybody interested in more info, just send an e-mail. Always ready to help!!

Welcome to winter!

All of a sudden it's winter in PA!! Most areas got at least a little snow in the last day. Here in Schaefferstown we received about 3 inches of lake-effect snow. The temperatures took a nose dive too, resulting in highway freeze-ups and the inevitable rash of accidents.

Right now, it looks like we can expect a slight warm up toward the end of the weekend, followed by another cold snap Monday into Tuesday. There is some indication of a blocking pattern developing that would keep the cold air around for at least several days later in the week. We'll see...and, oh ya...let's be careful out there!

Closed for the season. The reason? It's freezin!!

On Monday I went to the cabin to check out the recently completed repairs and additions and to close up the cabin for winter. While I was there the temperature was in the 30s and there were a couple snow squalls, just enough to let me know winter has arrived! The weather station continues to function, showing temperature, wind speed, and rainfall. It's available at

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?call=N3HCP-3

I have to give a plug for BGE Construction from Dushore. Ben and J.R. did a remarkable job, especially in light of the awful condition the porch roof was in at the beginning! That new roof will be there long after we're not! Thanks, guys!!

Winter comes to Bradford County

Last Tuesday, October 28, the northern counties of Pennsylvania had something of a freak snowstorm. Some areas received 6 inches plus. By the time we arrived Saturday evening all but some small patches in the woods were gone.



We spent three nights in the cold north woods (the temperature at the cabin runs, on average 6 to 10 degrees lower then Schaefferstown and a least a couple degrees lower then surrounding reporting stations). It's location allows cooler air to drift down from the nearby mountains on nights with little or no wind. It's also 1600 feet higher on elevation. As a general rule, you can reduce the temperature by 3 degrees for every 1000 foot increase in elevation.




I'm not so sure about these slippers in the woods during hunting season!!






The guys from BGE Construction in Dushore have started the next round of cabin enhancements.
A new set of steps have been added and repairs to the long-neglected porch roof are underway!

Yet more work at the cabin

I just got back from 4 days at the the cabin. Some additional electrical work was needed, and a couple jack posts were installed to firm up the floor. Some minor changes to the weather station were made to improve temperature reliability. Al in all, a productive trip. The nights are starting to get a bit cool. Sunday night it got down into the mid twenties. I was burning about 50 pounds of coal a day to maintain a temperature inside of around 70 degrees. The lack of insulation and drafty construction are beginning to rear their ugly heads. These are issues that will be addressed in the future, but for now it can make for chilly nights, but, then again, that's all part of the cabin experience. A cool evening, a roaring fire, a movie on DirecTV, a bowl of popcorn, and a fuzzy blanket...what more could anyone ask??