As Final Answer said last night on CHS, we’ve got a recent tradition of big storms around the beginning of Hanukkah. It was just two years ago that we got the huge wind storm that knocked out power for days here in the neighborhood.
And now our occasionally-accurate weather folks are saying that there’s a big one coming today that could bring ice, up to 8 inches of snow, and damaging winds with gusts around 30 mph. The right combination of those could mean downed power lines and outages with sub-zero temperatures outside. The winds should start in the early afternoon, with snow coming later in the early evening.
So what to do if you lose power? How about first, what not to do:
- Don’t bring propane or charcoal grills indoors. People died from carbon monoxide poisoning in 2006 due to that
- If you have a generator, never bring it indoors, not even into the garage. Leave it outside
- Be careful with candles. There was just a candle-caused apartment fire in Belltown this morning
What if we’re out of power for an extended period and it gets too cold to stay in the house?
- Get in touch with friends and family within walking distance and make a deal to share space if one of you has power and the other doesn’t. And the homes closest to a hospital or the City Light substation at 23rd & Pine will generally be the quickest to get power back.
- We think that Garfield Community Center could be turned into an emergency shelter if things get bad. They have a generator, but so far we haven’t found anyone who can confirm for sure that it will be available.
Other tips? Leave a comment below. We’ll update this periodically as we get more info too.
Update: 3:00pm – There’s a light snowfall starting, but the wind seems to be behind schedule. Anyone else getting tired of snow?
Update: 3:37pm – Still small flakes, but there’s more of them now. And do you have a hummingbird feeder? Misty asked that I link to this WSB thread about how to make sure your tiny hovering friends can still get their meals.
Reliable info about the weather, that is, from Cliff Mass’ blog:
http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/
Cliff is the U-DUB atmospheric scientist whom you often hear on KUOW. His new book about Pacific NW weather would make a great last minute gift. And, yes, you can get me one….
PS: Carbon Monoxide is BAD, BAD, BAD. The life of a colleague of mine at the Hutch was tragically ruined by carbon monoxide. Be careful. Be very careful. Get a CO Monitor from Lowes: a dull but practical gift (got one, thanks).
I use http://www.noaa.gov/ and enter seattle,wa to get a narrower perspective.
seattle.gov has front paged phone numbers and info.
Lots of info (more for future reference) at:
http://www.seattle.gov/emergency/
Wow, Cliff Mass’ blog is a great Seattle weather resource–thanks for posting that link!
IF the power goes out, it’s going to be a bad situation, as so many of the streets are either impassible, or will be extremely difficult for the line crew trucks to navigate. If you are planning on using a generator, please check out this webpage
http://www.seattle.gov/light/neighborhoods/nh4_gen.htm
And for general info on outages, check this one out:
http://www.seattle.gov/light/neighborhoods/nh4_pout.htm
Remember, downed power lines are dangerous! You can’t tell if they are dead or not, so just keep away from them.
The outage hotline is 206.684.7400. Good Luck!
Please be aware of the elderly, disabled or needy on your block. If the power is out for an extended period of time they may need a hand from the community. This is agreat time to introduce yourself and exchange information, before the storm happens.
I would like to pass along the the Cinema stays open during the bad weather. Two years ago during the big wind storm we never lost power. I think it is because we are so close to the substation. It is one of the nice things about living close to work that we can keep the doors open and the heat on.
This week we have Bette Davis in All About Eve at 7:00.
Escape from New York then plays at 10:00. It is a super ’80s sci-fi dystopian thriller with Kurt Russell, Issac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton….
Yay!! if i only loved closer to you.
daytime kids movie???????
11am? noon? 4pm? 5pm?
we’ll take anything…
climbing the walls in the cd
All About Eve is great to see in a theatre w/an audience (saw it when it was at the Egyptian years ago). It’s a blast when everyone cheers the great lines!