Storm prep?

I can't figure it out either, although I remember when living in an area that got more snow during the winter that people seemed less inclined to stock up (or maybe I just didn't notice it as much). In areas that don't get a lot of snow, the sight of it maybe elicits a hibernation reflex... hunker down for months... the snow is coming, the snow is coming!!

I think weather forecasters often encourage this trend. People are indoors, so they turn on the tv and see weather people all bundled up telling the rest of the world not to go anywhere, "just stay indoors and boost our ratings and eat your bread and drink your milk" (okay, they don't say that, but I have to wonder if that's the message we're supposed to get...also if they have some kind of kickback arrangement with grocery stores... but I digress).

That always makes me wonder. I remember the blizzard of 93- the worst ever to date. We were "stranded" for 1 day. Yet people bought ALL the milk from a local store. People were stocking up on everything.

I have been stranded for 3 - 4 days.

We once had a series of 3 - 4 snow storms, grocery stores couldn't get trucks in, shelves were completely >bare< after 2 days. There is little/no "stock" in a modern grocery stores - what you see on the shelves is all there is until the trucks come in at night. No delivery = no food.

The same happened to gasoline - the trucks couldn't get in due to the snow and gasoline couldn't be delivered for nearly a week, then it took another week to get gasoline to all of the stations. The station near my house was without gas for almost a week.

You won't act so tough if it ever happens to you.

"Just in case" never hurts and the people that criticize will someday ask to borrow from you.

Modern weather forecasters (especially broadcast meteorologists) are known to be Weather Terrorists. They like to talk up the next storm as the second coming of Noah's Flood. They get people all hot and bothered for little reason. Yes, it's good to be prepared - of course. But, the Weather Terrorists are out there, and they love to scare the hell out of us. This, do not doubt.

Bingo!

cgtgh wrote:

You won't act so tough if it ever happens to you.

"Just in case" never hurts and the people that criticize will someday ask to borrow from you.

OK, it was a realllllllly long time ago (20 years?) but we were snow stormed in for nearly 7 days once. I remember the doors wouldn't open because there was so much snow. My sister and I had to do a trek to the store. We hadn't stocked up... walking through the snow... store was closed. So it does happen. My family was stuck inside because of a hurricane for a week once also (about 15 years ago) and there was no electricity for almost a week. We all survived OK but it would have been better with ice cream or something.

dpmrunner wrote:

I can't figure it out either, although I remember when living in an area that got more snow during the winter that people seemed less inclined to stock up (or maybe I just didn't notice it as much). In areas that don't get a lot of snow, the sight of it maybe elicits a hibernation reflex... hunker down for months... the snow is coming, the snow is coming!!

Yup, when I lived in the upper midwest teh people I lived near had never heard of this stocking up phenomenon and thought it was hilarious. When I've lived in the South everybody stocked up and bought all the eggs, bread and milk in the store every time the weatherman predicted more than an inch. I personally always just stocked up on beer--bonus, you can just throw the beer outside in a snowbank instead of using up all your fridge room for it.

Reminds me of when I was a youngster - hurricane, no electricity for 4 weeks. We had a well which ran off of an electric pump - no water, no toilet. Electric stove ... no hot food, used charcoal for a month. Cleared trees and debris away from the house - no water = no shower, for a month.

N0 SLEEP TILL BROOKLYN wrote:

My family was stuck inside because of a hurricane for a week once also (about 15 years ago) and there was no electricity for almost a week.