Thursday, March 7, 2024

Weather reports and mobility: two important things to survive oncoming weather

The more I think about how people can survive the coming weather onslaughts of all kinds the more I return to "Weather reports and mobility".

Even though often with the "NEW" Weather the Weather people cannot fully predict what can happen it is helpful to hear what they have to say regarding where you want to be and where you don't want to be when the weather occurs.

For example, last weekend they said, "Don't travel over the Sierras on I-80 or 50 because you won't make it."

And sure enough I-80 closed for over 24 hours from about Friday night until possibly Sunday. So, getting warned so you don't have to stay in your car or truck overnight stuck in the snow is one way to stay alive.

Then later, there was no warning about how bad showers were going to be because they didn't know that the showers would be so hard or so long without the clouds moving and then I saw on TV that Prunedale and Salinas Flooded and I watched a guy kayaking down his street in Salinas which was really surprising because that is extremely unusual or completely something we never have ever seen before.

But, the point is to be able to be mobile to get away from Blizzards, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, heat waves, anyway you can especially if you are in an all electric home and your power goes out.

When I lived in Mt. Shasta most of the locals had Wood heat for the times when losing power could cost you your life. This is just one of the ways to survive a blizzard in places like Mt. Shasta and Tahoe.

I remember staying in a hotel in Mt. Shasta when the power went off for several days. NO Heat, no lights and about 4 to 6 feet of snow came down in town (I removed 3 feet of snow twice from my truck). I was just visiting with my wife but we were really glad we brought down sleeping bags so we could stay warm in our hotel room without heat. We went to a hardware store and bought lamps to read with during the storms. And I couldn't even drive out of the parking lot where my truck was parked unless I was in 4 wheel drive with my truck. Many people didn't have 4 wheel drive staying in this hotel then.

Note: The reason we stayed in a hotel through all of this is that Interstate 5 was closed both directions so we couldn't get to Redding or Ashland where things might be better than in Mt. Shasta. So, when you get snowed in and the roads close and you are in an all electric place like all hotels and motels tend to be you could actually freeze to death during times like these if you don't have wood heat to keep you warm and alive.

The point is to be mobile enough to survive whatever kinds of storms you face.

Recently, (as strange as this sounds) we got a tornado warning here on the Northern SF Coast and when the windows rattled and the flue in the fireplace banged we decided we needed to take it seriously. Even though later through texting I found out from a friend that the tornado was 9 miles away in another town not where we were. But, in the meantime as a precaution my wife and daughter and I moved into our hallway bathroom that doesn't have an outside window so we would be protected from flying glass which is very common in tornadoes when your windows all blow out from changes in air pressure.

Being mobile enough to get in your car or truck or camper might be the difference between life and death as these storms of one kind or another become more and more extreme. Or I suppose you could move underground too to get away from the storms sort of how prairie dogs survive all sorts of weather too. Rabbits and even wild dogs survive storms this way too by the way and even bears.

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