Storm Checkin

orbital · Feb 22, 2026

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Just kinda wintery/coldish here, not like the previous week where it rained twice between lots of sunshine & warm.
anyway, one of the local meteorologist online was talking more about the blizzard on the east coast.

tons of wet snow and high wind,,,,,,,,,,, HARD PASS!

added

PhotonWrangler · Feb 22, 2026

TPA said:
A relatively modern kitchen fridge doesn't use a lot of electricity while running. Only about 150 watts or so. The problem is if the fridge tries to defrost. Then you're looking at up to 800w, to melt frost you just paid money to create! When fuel is limited, this is quite a threat to your fuel supply.

I've often thought I should manually wire a defrost disconnect on my fridges for hurricane scenarios, but I've just learned to only run them on generator for a short period of time. Long enough to keep things cold, but not long enough to let the defrost cycle start. If I heard it kick into defrost, it gets disconnected immediately.

A kill switch for the defroster sounds like a great idea.

PhotonWrangler · Feb 22, 2026

Monocrom said:
For now, the blizzard is cold, wet, icy, rain. Not too intense.
I pray it stays that way.

Just saw that schools in NYC as well as other cities along the NE corridor are closed Monday. I hope the storm winds up being a paper tiger.

Monocrom · Feb 22, 2026

Looked out the window. It's looking closer to the mild side, for a blizzard.

IMA SOL MAN · Feb 22, 2026

IIRC, Fox news reported that Momdani issued a travel ban for NYC tomorrow. Really?! I could see going every other street to give the snow plows the right of way, and then alternate when they got those streets clean, but to outright ban ALL TRAVEL! That's not reasonable to me, people still have to get around.

Chauncey Gardener · Feb 22, 2026

IMA SOL MAN said:
IIRC, Fox news reported that Momdani issued a travel ban for NYC tomorrow. Really?! I could see going every other street to give the snow plows the right of way, and then alternate when they got those streets clean, but to outright ban ALL TRAVEL! That's not reasonable to me, people still have to get around.

That's not a good comrade mindset. You must be a Capitalist. Good man!

Monocrom · Feb 22, 2026

Well, in the last two hours things have gotten horribly worse with the blizzard. Official road closure. Police and Emergency vehicles only. Snow-plow trucks clearly can't keep up. Had to call out. That's twice this year. I haven't called out in over a decade! Manager at home, and the co-worker stuck at the client's site were both very understanding when I gave each of them a call to let them know I physically can't come into work. Not happy about losing out on a night's pay. But obviously nothing I can do about that.

Chauncey Gardener · Feb 22, 2026

@Monocrom, Your safety is more important.

Monocrom · Feb 22, 2026

You're absolutely right. Thank you, my friend.

Chauncey Gardener · Feb 22, 2026

Please be aware, if you're going to sign up to shovel snow in New York, you'll need to present ID. Not to vote, but to shovel snow. You can't make this

up.

Monocrom · Feb 22, 2026

Chauncey Gardener said:
Please be aware, if you're going to sign up to shovel snow in New York, you'll need to present ID. Not to vote, but to shovel snow. You can't make this up.

Heck, you literally need a license to braid hair for a living in NYC.
You can do it for free, but if you're getting paid; you better have that license.
It's just so ridiculous out here.

jtr1962 · Feb 22, 2026

jtr1962 · Feb 22, 2026

Time to shovel. If I wait until it's finished it'll be a major ordeal. Better to do it as it comes down.

jtr1962 · Feb 22, 2026

IMA SOL MAN said:
IIRC, Fox news reported that Momdani issued a travel ban for NYC tomorrow. Really?! I could see going every other street to give the snow plows the right of way, and then alternate when they got those streets clean, but to outright ban ALL TRAVEL! That's not reasonable to me, people still have to get around.

And when people invariably get stuck and block the plows, what then? It's not like much is going to open tomorrow anyway. Besides that, subway is the best way to travel in inclement weather. Most people have some stores within walking distance. The beauty of NYC is that many people don't need to drive at all, much less in awful weather like this.

Vehicles that are exempt from the travel ban include:

Government and emergency response vehicles
Public transit, including MTA buses and Access-A-Ride
Vehicles delivering food, fuel and medical supplies
Utility vehicles performing emergency repairs
Transportation for essential workers traveling to workplaces, including health care facilities, pharmacies, grocery stores, gas stations, media outlets, hotels and laundromats
Transportation to hospitals and court facilities
Nonprofit and private organizations providing emergency relief

jtr1962 · Feb 22, 2026

Monocrom said:
Heck, you literally need a license to braid hair for a living in NYC.
You can do it for free, but if you're getting paid; you better have that license.
It's just so ridiculous out here.

Hence the major underground cash economy.

Monocrom · Feb 22, 2026

Stay safe out there when shoveling. It looks brutal outside.

jtr1962 · Feb 23, 2026

Monocrom said:
Stay safe out there when shoveling. It looks brutal outside.

Yes, very windy although thankfully not very cold. I'm done for now.

tech25 · Feb 23, 2026

Thank god I was able to make it back home safely. Visibility wasn’t great but the roads were ok. Ready to go back to work in a few hours. It was nice having the streets pretty much to myself.
Kudos to the sanitation department keeping the streets pretty easy to drive on.

Stark contrast when under Mayor Bloomberg when I was working EMS driving past a sanitation depot and seeing the plows all ready and the crews just standing by.

Thank goodness we had 4 wheel drive ambulances but it made for rough going.

Monocrom · Feb 23, 2026

In ancient times, the Uber wealthy would get themselves chosen as Pope.
Obvious bribery. It was a status symbol thing to distinguish themselves among other Uber wealthy individuals. Fast-forward to the Modern Age, now those same types of individuals get themselves elected as Mayor of major cities. For the same reason.