Do you pay attention to the weather?

[papaof2]

The hourly forecast has a 55% chance of showers at 6:00PM but at 3:30PM we already have showers. To be followed by a 90% or greater chance of rain until 1:00AM, followed by 75-95% chance of thunderstorms until at least noon tomorrow. Did I mention the flash flood watch or that there's a wind advisory (40MPH gusts) until 7:00AM tomorrow? And I know from previous experience this week that the ground is very soft: pawfiction.proboards.com/thread/984/needed-visit-friends-less-miles

What are the odds of some portion of the County being in the dark?

How many of those people are aware that they could be without power?

How many of them know where a working flashlight is? :-(

[9idrr]

Weather is something I check on the computer at least twice a day, in addition to whatever we hear on the radio. Don't really bother to keep the scanner on, but we can still get alerts on any of the three CCRadios in the house. Also have a few smaller AC/DC portables that have AM/FM/SW/WX, even some with built-in LED emergency lights and a couple with the little hand cranks. Sittin' here with at least a pair LED flashlights within reach. Can always lay my hands on at least one light in each room. I guess that if power went out and it was rain' or snowin' I might whine a bit about gettin' wet while startin' one of the generators, but I'm sure my wife would be quick to remind me that she's glad she married somebody with the forethought to have three or four of them.
Then again, there's a widder lady across the road whose husband passed away about five years ago and doesn't even want me to check out their 5K Briggs generator.

[papaof2]

9idrr - Having backups to backups seems the logical thing to me but some people don't have batteries beyond the ones that came with the flashlight they bought when power was out 4 years ago.

More than one generator? Check. My solar gen, 1600 watt inverter gen, 3000 watt gen, 5000 watt Generac (big, heavy, loud, thirsty and it can run my 7 1/4" circular saw and the 10" table saw - what it's most likely to be powering during an outage that involves damage).

Multiple heat sources? Check. Furnace can run on solar gen or gasoline gen (have 20 gallons of treated gas) plus natural gas logs in the fireplace and a kerosene heater with 20 gallons of kero.

Light? Check. LED light in my pocket (Fenix E12 most of the time or the NiteCore on the keychain for dress wear ;-) and squeeze/crank LED lights scattered through the house. Kero lamps & lanterns (with scentless lamp oil and 1-K kero and red kero to fall back on). Coleman dual mantle lantern plus an on-the-cylinder propane lantern. Plus candles.

Cooking? Check. Gas stove, spark lighter, Coleman fuel camping stove with several gallons of fuel plus an aftermarket propane adapter for 1lb cylinders and the 20lb tank hose and regulator for it. Always keep the "next" tank of propane by the grill so I'll have one when needed.

Food? Should be obvious if I have multiple ways to cook. I also have a copy of the rare underground publication "The Conservative's Cookbook" which includes ways to make meat from the large herds of stupid people and the flocks of sheeple safe to eat. Nothing about tasty, plus there are lists of the parts you must avoid (contaminated brains [often obvious from their shriveled state caused by disuse], hearts, etc).

The S.A.M.E. weather radio is plugged into an outlet that gets power when any backup gen is in use and the batteries in that radio are changed regularly.

[9idrr]

Yeah, we have all this good stuff, but it ain't 'til the power goes out that we realize that there's always one more little thing we could've stashed away. Well, for me that's usually the case.
We had very little warning when we had to evacuate for the Camp Fire, but my darlin' bride has several of the square kitty litter buckets with supplies and most of the necessities in easy to reach spots. Those and the battery/jump starter all have small, highly reflective stickers on 'em so even at night with the power out one just needs to shine a flashlight around the room to see what to grab. At least when we left home it was still light so we were able to take a thorough look around and make sure we had most everything.

[papaof2]

Reflective stickers on the "Take Me" items is a vary good addition.

[rep1270]

First I live in northern Vermont (about 20 miles from the border). I have some emergency (plugged into the wall), removable lights, in the kitchen and a couple down stairs. They are plugged in and come on when the power goes out. I know where at least 4 flash lights are and I have a spot light near the back door. I will not bug out (unless it is real bad). I have food water and water. I have meds for me but my wife only can get her pills every month I am still working on a replacement. I do not have a second source of heat but I have ideas for that. I do have a propane stove so that can be a heat source if needed. I keep an eye on the weather but have found that the Canadian is more accurate for this area. I always watch the sky because the weatherman is not correct very often. Ralph

[papaof2]

Always good to know whose forecast is most accurate. For us last year. the NWS "1/2 to 1 inch on grassy surfaces" and a local TV meteorologist laughing at the model predicting 8 inches of snow were not nearly so accurate as weather.com's hourly forecast of "snow" for hours and hours. I measured 7" here just before phone, TV and internet went out, followed by power going out 20 minutes later (phone, etc. out 30 hours, power out 12 hours).

Several years ago, I used a Canadian pharmacy to buy extra of the afib medication so I now have a couple months of cushion if there's a problem with my normal 90 day refill schedule. Having had only one episode of afib and that at a time I was under great stress and somewhat dehydrated, I might be OK if that couldn't be resupplied - but would need to watch hydration and stress levels. If resupply weren't available, I'd probably cut the dosage in half and then in half again to try to wean myself from it and not do an abrupt stop.