Major weather heading towards Tennessee!

We are typically prepared as best as can be for a severe storm, but I saw a clip last night that covered a couple things I hadn’t thought of, primarily concerning power going out for a few days.

1. Have a supply of paper plates and cups and plastic utensils. If pipes freeze you’re going to have a mound of dirty dishes and will eventually run out with no way to wash them up.

2. If circumstances prevent cooking, it’s a good idea to keep a supply of shelf stable protein on hand, things like beef sticks and protein bars, milk that comes in boxes, cans of evaporated milk etc.

3. Get your laundry caught up. If you’re without power for a week and your laundry is already backed up, you’ll be accumulating a whole lot more before you get power back.

4. If you’re a camper/have camping supplies, they can be pushed into service if you lose power.

5. Put fresh batteries in all your flashlights/make sure you have replacement batteries on hand

6. If you’re a smart phone user like me, make sure all your backup battery packs are fully charged, or at least make sure you have plenty of gas in your vehicle so you can run it to charge your phone from your car.

If any of you have other tips, I’d love to hear them!
 

Been There said:
If you’re expecting powder, it’s unlikely you will lose power. Powder is usually light in weight. I lived in NE Ohio myself until I was 9 and then I was moved to SE Ohio. I remember getting some big snows that would come in from Lake Erie. My dad never missed a day of work. My mom was a school teacher and we seldom got a day off from school because of snow. It almost had to be a blizzard before we had a snow day. I remember when we had back to back storms and ended up with over 4 feet of snow. We went skiing a lot in the winter.
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They are calling for widespread ice also.
 

Ronni said:
We are typically prepared as best as can be for a severe storm, but I saw a clip last night that covered a couple things I hadn’t thought of, primarily concerning power going out for a few days.

1. Have a supply of paper plates and cups and plastic utensils. If pipes freeze you’re going to have a mound of dirty dishes and will eventually run out with no way to wash them up.

2. If circumstances prevent cooking, it’s a good idea to keep a supply of shelf stable protein on hand, things like beef sticks and protein bars, milk that comes in boxes, cans of evaporated milk etc.

3. Get your laundry caught up. If you’re without power for a week and your laundry is already backed up, you’ll be accumulating a whole lot more before you get power back.

4. If you’re a camper/have camping supplies, they can be pushed into service if you lose power.

5. Put fresh batteries in all your flashlights/make sure you have replacement batteries on hand

6. If you’re a smart phone user like me, make sure all your backup battery packs are fully charged, or at least make sure you have plenty of gas in your vehicle so you can run it to charge your phone from your car.

If any of you have other tips, I’d love to hear them!
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Get your shower and wash your hair tomorrow, Friday, in case it’s your last chance until the middle of next week, then do the laundry.

Have plenty of Bottled water.

Get your prescriptions filled ahead.

I am in Tennessee’s dark red zone for heavy ice. I pray not only for all of us but the linemen who might have to work in this.🙏🙏.

Duck River Electric has always done a great job but they have their limits. When we had that last big horrendous ice storm a few years back and my road lost power for 106 hours intermittently, the lineman who were doing repairs on my road were from Alabama. Bless all of them for being out there and risking their own lives.🙏🙏
 
Ronni said:
We are typically prepared as best as can be for a severe storm, but I saw a clip last night that covered a couple things I hadn’t thought of, primarily concerning power going out for a few days.

1. Have a supply of paper plates and cups and plastic utensils. If pipes freeze you’re going to have a mound of dirty dishes and will eventually run out with no way to wash them up.

2. If circumstances prevent cooking, it’s a good idea to keep a supply of shelf stable protein on hand, things like beef sticks and protein bars, milk that comes in boxes, cans of evaporated milk etc.

3. Get your laundry caught up. If you’re without power for a week and your laundry is already backed up, you’ll be accumulating a whole lot more before you get power back.

4. If you’re a camper/have camping supplies, they can be pushed into service if you lose power.

5. Put fresh batteries in all your flashlights/make sure you have replacement batteries on hand

6. If you’re a smart phone user like me, make sure all your backup battery packs are fully charged, or at least make sure you have plenty of gas in your vehicle so you can run it to charge your phone from your car.

If any of you have other tips, I’d love to hear them!
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Excellent tips Ronni.
 
We are in northern Alabama, so that storm is coming right through here as well. The storm seems to have moved fRutherford north a little bit, and now they are saying me might not get as much snow (or maybe none), and some ice, but not as bad as they thought with ice either, especially right here in Huntsville, where we live. It is on both northern edges, but not right here in the middle of the north part of the state.
We are as prepared as we can be , too. Fuel tanks full, propane tanks full, briquettes in case we need to use the bbq out on the porch if we do lose power.

We have a small inverter that can power up the fan for the gas wall heater (which can run without power), and would also work on the electric blanket to heat up the bed.
We have simple foods we can eat without cooking, lots of protein bars, etc, and water to drink.
 
Ronni said:
Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel is covering the newsworthy event, so you know it’s gotta be bad! 😉

Seriously though, we are under a Winter Storm Watch, and getting predictions of record breaking snowfall and ice events beginning Friday and extending through the weekend.

“All signs and forecasts are pointing towards Nashville getting hit by Winter Storm Fern this weekend– a weather system that is expected to move through much of the Midwest and southern United States (then into the north east) from late in the week and through the weekend. It’s set to leave behind freezing rain, ice, and plenty of snow, depending on how far south you go. For Nashville, it’s looking like it’s going to get mostly snow – and a lot of it.”

View attachment 481396

Nashville is entirely unprepared for this kind of weather event. Our infrastructure just won’t support it. Not enough snow ploughs, salt, experience.

There will be runs on the grocery stores starting today. The bread, milk, water aisles will be bare. Won’t be able to find salt anywhere. People will stock up on everything “just in case”

We have a generator so Ron will be prepping it, my pantry and fridge are well stocked, and we’re prepared to hunker down for as long as needed.

Ron’s from up North so has plenty of experience with this kind of weather and what our needs will be, which is a good thing because I have none, hailing as I do from Australia, then New Zealand and California before arriving in the South.

We’ll see what happens as the week and the weather evolve!
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I think we will get something similar this weekend too. I'm already tired of Winter, ugh.
I hope we at least get an Early Spring.

Btw I live in Ohio which is considered Midwest.
 
Ruthanne said:
I think we will get something similar this weekend too. I'm already tired of Winter, ugh.
I hope we at least get an Early Spring.

Btw I live in Ohio which is considered Midwest.
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My brother lives in NE Ohio, right on the cusp of Lake Effect weather. 🥶🥶

I will never understand why Ohio is considered Midwest🥸

I am also sick of winter. This was supposed to be a mild winter —- what happened to that…….
 
Imogene said:
I am from the Ohio/PA border originally, so I know how to deal with all this stuff, but it doesn’t mean I like it.

I would much rather have the 6 inches to 8 inches of snow they are predicting Nashville might possibly get, than the I’ve storm my area is more likely gto get.

I am a good hour southeast of Nashville. That means it will take a Hail Mary weather event for me to not have the ice storm they are predicting for my end of the state. I still remember and shiver over the horrendous ice storm we had several years back when the trees falling up on the ridge sounded like a war zone, and we lost power for 106 scattered hours inside of a week. We had so much ice I had to shut my horses out of the main pasture.

I have a generator big enough to run the furnace on this house and what I hope is enough gasoline for it and one of the four wheelers. My car is full of gas even though it’s not coming off this hill if we get ice in. The worst hairpin curve peaks on a hill on this road that is covered with trees. That area will stay layered in ice 48 to 72 hours longer than the rest of the road.

I am also retired and I don’t have to go anywhere. I just need all my equipment to work.….
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My generator just got serviced this week so hopefully it can withstand a lot of ice and snow. I'm pretty sure mine runs by battery but I'm not positive. All I know they just replaced the battery this week. My precious neighbors has a portable generator should mine fail me. I'm like you. I live on a ridge with windy roads to get down it. I'm staying put if we get the weather they predict.
 
Ronni said:
Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel is covering the newsworthy event, so you know it’s gotta be bad! 😉

Seriously though, we are under a Winter Storm Watch, and getting predictions of record breaking snowfall and ice events beginning Friday and extending through the weekend.

“All signs and forecasts are pointing towards Nashville getting hit by Winter Storm Fern this weekend– a weather system that is expected to move through much of the Midwest and southern United States (then into the north east) from late in the week and through the weekend. It’s set to leave behind freezing rain, ice, and plenty of snow, depending on how far south you go. For Nashville, it’s looking like it’s going to get mostly snow – and a lot of it.”

View attachment 481396

Nashville is entirely unprepared for this kind of weather event. Our infrastructure just won’t support it. Not enough snow ploughs, salt, experience.

There will be runs on the grocery stores starting today. The bread, milk, water aisles will be bare. Won’t be able to find salt anywhere. People will stock up on everything “just in case”

We have a generator so Ron will be prepping it, my pantry and fridge are well stocked, and we’re prepared to hunker down for as long as needed.

Ron’s from up North so has plenty of experience with this kind of weather and what our needs will be, which is a good thing because I have none, hailing as I do from Australia, then New Zealand and California before arriving in the South.

We’ll see what happens as the week and the weather evolve!
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we are forecast for about half that amount of snow and dangerous cold. not looking forward to it. hope you can stay in and stay warm and safe.
 
I covered our most vulnerable plants today with tarps I ordered from Amazon. It has taken 5 years for them to grow back from our last 3-day freeze in 2021. I also wrapped our outdoor faucets. During any freeze, we always leave our faucets dripping and open cabinet doors.

Hard to believe, but Dallas has never had a winter without snow so we're more used to it than people think. It just doesn't last very long. I keep hearing on our local news that the ground temps are still 50+ degrees so that should help the ice melt faster. For anyone who is also in an area that has seen above-average temps it will prove to be a good thing.
 
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I'm going to ask the dumb question. Do states such as KY, TN, TX (basically southern states) have anything much in the way of plows? Do you store salt? I know in the past many, if not most, southern states didn't have salt and would put down sand for traction and I thought (?) there were few 'dedicated' plows and basically, plows were put on garbage trucks plus using 3rd party people. Am I all wrong about that?
I'm up north where we have 'endless' salt and plows/salters to handle heavy snow.
 
TeePee said:
My generator just got serviced this week so hopefully it can withstand a lot of ice and snow. I'm pretty sure mine runs by battery but I'm not positive. All I know they just replaced the battery this week. My precious neighbors has a portable generator should mine fail me. I'm like you. I live on a ridge with windy roads to get down it. I'm staying put if we get the weather they predict.
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It starts w a battery but likely runs on propane or nat gas.
 
retiredtraveler said:
I'm going to ask the dumb question. Do states such as KY, TN, TX (basically southern states) have anything much in the way of plows? Do you store salt? I know in the past many, if not most, southern states didn't have salt and would put down sand for traction and I thought (?) there were few 'dedicated' plows and basically, plows were put on garbage trucks plus using 3rd party people. Am I all wrong about that?
I'm up north where we have 'endless' salt and plows/salters to handle heavy snow.
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Kentucky has plows, salt, etc. However, with temps near zero, which will be most of next week in my area, the effectiveness of salt is diminished. In my area, the forecast is anywhere from 12" to 18+", with little to no ice. South of me is expecting ever increasing amounts of ice, up to possibly 1".

There will likely be power lines down in those areas, which should not really impact me, but there are a lot of transmission lines that may snap. The latter could run into several days or weeks to repair.

Further, the widespread nature of this storm will limit the outside electrical restoration assistance, that normally occurs in more isolated events, imho.

My area is also expecting another healthy blast of snow and cold air into the following weekend.
 
retiredtraveler said:
I'm going to ask the dumb question. Do states such as KY, TN, TX (basically southern states) have anything much in the way of plows? Do you store salt? I know in the past many, if not most, southern states didn't have salt and would put down sand for traction and I thought (?) there were few 'dedicated' plows and basically, plows were put on garbage trucks plus using 3rd party people. Am I all wrong about that?
I'm up north where we have 'endless' salt and plows/salters to handle heavy snow.
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Not a dumb question.

Middle Tennessee at least has come a long way managing winters, since I retired here in 2003.

The entire state has “As of January 2026, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) operates 851 salt trucks and 634 brine trucks statewide, with most salt trucks equipped as plows
. Locally, for the 2025-2026 winter season, Nashville (NDOT) has 45 snowplow trucks, while Memphis has 16, and Knoxville uses 24 plows/spreaders. “

They do a great job of keeping the interstates, main roads, secondary roads clean.

Thst said, I live on a 1-1/2 lane township road with no winter maintenance. I am retired and fine with that. I lived on a similar road in PA when I had a job and had to make it to work..

*****

30 states are affected by this current storm to varying degrees, that is going to affect how states are able to help each other this time.
 
seadoug said:
This deep freeze is dipping really low throughout the country. We are expecting ice and snow in Dallas starting this Saturday. I know it's minor compared to the rest of the country, but we are expecting to be below freezing for 3 days. Apparently our governor has implemented "emergency measures" because our last multi-day freeze was in 2021. There were rolling blackouts and 246 people died. :( Not to mention, we are never prepared for ice on the roads so driving is impossible.

We do have a good electricity provider that has been diligent about trimming trees to avoid ice accumulating and falling on power lines. We're not used to this, but I've covered all the shrubs and have done enough grocery shopping to last us through Monday.
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When the ice comes you can't drive 80 mph anymore on the freeway, slow down to 70.

I was in Dallas for an ice event, maybe 2014. Don't go near the freeways.
 
Ronni said:
We are typically prepared as best as can be for a severe storm, but I saw a clip last night that covered a couple things I hadn’t thought of, primarily concerning power going out for a few days.

1. Have a supply of paper plates and cups and plastic utensils. If pipes freeze you’re going to have a mound of dirty dishes and will eventually run out with no way to wash them up.

2. If circumstances prevent cooking, it’s a good idea to keep a supply of shelf stable protein on hand, things like beef sticks and protein bars, milk that comes in boxes, cans of evaporated milk etc.

3. Get your laundry caught up. If you’re without power for a week and your laundry is already backed up, you’ll be accumulating a whole lot more before you get power back.

4. If you’re a camper/have camping supplies, they can be pushed into service if you lose power.

5. Put fresh batteries in all your flashlights/make sure you have replacement batteries on hand

6. If you’re a smart phone user like me, make sure all your backup battery packs are fully charged, or at least make sure you have plenty of gas in your vehicle so you can run it to charge your phone from your car.

If any of you have other tips, I’d love to hear them!
Click to expand...
Heat. A fireplace or wood stove with plenty of wood is nice. If not that, there are camping heaters that are safe to use indoors. If you have a generator, get plenty of fuel for it.

Water. If water lines freeze, you will need a bare minimum of a gallon of water/day per person. Remember that you have at least 30 gallons of water in your water heater that you can drain and use if it comes to that. If you do that, be sure to turn off the power to the water heater (safety measure, even if there is no power).

Blankets. Not only for keeping your body warm, but if you have an alternative heat source, close off doorways and heat just one room. If necessary, drag a mattress into that one room for sleeping. Hang blankets over windows, too, or tape plastic garbage bags over the inside. Whatever you can do to keep warmth inside.

A way to cook and boil water. When they had the deep freeze a few years back in Texas, the water supply was disrupted (near Austin) and a boil water mandate was in effect for days. Any kind of camping stove will work, along with fuel for it.

I now live in the mountains (lifelong Texan) and feel for those who rarely experience this. Funny, y'all are getting this while our winter here in Colorado has been mild this year with little snow. Hang in there, peeps.
 
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