This is apparently a no-BS Storm which is gonna hit Philly and North...
I haven't seen preparations like this for a while…we of course here in Philly are used to the breathless panic of the forecasters: Acme Markets, Giant, Shop 'n Bag, Pathmark, and others have made it a regular habit to get their shelves cleared a few times each winter but they are looking particularly concerned around here. We took a room in Center City for Monday night so maybe I can see my patients on Tuesday since most of them live downtown - it just seems to have happened that way. We also see extra emergencies during snow storms for reasons which even I cannot fathom. the French Toast Brigade - Eggs, bread, and milk - have bought out the stores. And it's only Sunday. We shall see….
As a matter of history, it all started here in 1978 when we were supposed to have a 2-4 inch event and it intensified overnight right over the Delaware Valley and finished at 22-26 inches. It was a genuine nightmare - we had never seen one come out of nowhere quite like this one did. Since then, there's been a version of Weather PTSD here…you say "snow" and people start running for cover as though it's the Apocalypse. Funny in a way…pretty exciting here.
Good luck to all in its path!
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I wouldn't get out of my car looking for spinach
by no means have we gone on a Spinach-specific quest, but those were all the stores we've been to in the last week or 2 and no spinach to be found. I found one teeny little frozen oversized block at the Superfresh today but that was it.
Mr. Heddi (who is strong to the finish cos he eats his spinach) normally buys 5lbs at Costo or BJ's. He likes it as a filler in pasta, and I sometimes use it in Smoothies.
my house was supplied by spring water, which only needed gravity to force it downhill and into the house.
Now there's a well with a pump, which runs on electricity, and if we lose power, there goes the pump.
I've tried melting snow before. Like someone said, it takes a lot of energy and for a whole potful of snow you get hardly anything once it's melted (general measurement is 10" of snow equals 1" of water).
Plus...melted snow isn't like regular water. I didn't care for the taste of it, and the viscosity was sort of syrupy. Not a lot, but enough to be different from regular water.
Then moved to 41st and Osage. I Loved living there and sometimes wonder what life would have been like if I stayed. Moved to NYC in 79.....Those were the days....
I don't think people realize just how much snow was dropped and or drifted.... but hell it was something.
I don't remember the power outage issues, except that it was out for quite a few days. I was ten years old and to this day, nothing has come close to it, no matter what any news stations says, ie snowfall inches.... nothing nothing, was like that storm.
Unfortunately... or fortunately, I won't be up in the northeast for this blizzard. I'm down south in some ways snowbirding it.
And they keep changing the snow forecasts - up, down, up, down. Clearly, they have no clue what we're actually gonna get hit with, or how the mountains are going to affect the snowfall totals in various towns.
I don't care either way -- I'm gonna hole up here with the generator and make jam until the driveway gets passable. 
>>forecasters: Acme Markets, Giant, Shop 'n Bag, Pathmark, and others have made it a regular habit to get their shelves
Can't help of thinking of Wile E. Coyote stocking up for the snow storm
Corpus Christi already has its own inflated, indignant mass named Rep. Blake Farenthold.
on how many times Fox News will use this as proof there is no global warming?
at least to me. Last I heard on Friday, there was a forecast of a couple inches Monday night into Sunday. I thought, yeah yeah whatever. Then I saw Omaha Steve's post this a.m. and was all WHERE ARE MY BOOTS!!!!!????
correct, so stock up on anything that you might be tempted to go drive out to shop for;
DON'T go driving and clog up the roads to block ambulances, firetrucks and snow plows;
Check in on any elderly/disabled neighbors;
Take it easy shoveling out at the end of the storm...
and consider building THE MOST EPIC SNOWFORT EVER with the neighborhood kids!
But the one that really blew up (and still stands as our all-time record) was the 1/7 - 1/8/96 blizzard... where earlier that week it was forecast as 1" - 3", then 2" - 4", and exploded from there as we got closer to and then into the weekend, continually being updated during the day (3" - 5", 4" - 8", 6" - 12", 12" - 24", 24" - 36"
... We ended with the single day record of 30.7" (at the airport - it was higher in other spots around the city) on top of a layer of snow from an earlier storm. I remember the Weather Channel (when it was at its geek peak) was running out of colors to put on the forecast snow maps.
A couple weeks later, it got warm and we got a couple inches of rain, causing record flooding.
Yes I was out today at the supermarket but just to get a jar of coffee and some odds and ends. The fridge & freezer are already packed. LOL I also wanted to mail some bills and get them on the road before the stuff hits.
Since it's going to be a mess for the rest of the week, I scratched this off my bucket list today
But don't forget the beer!
I figured you'd know exactly what I meant. Just what is it with the great need for lawn chairs for a blizzard anyway? Do all the stores put them on half price sale every time the forecast says it's going to snow? I've still yet to see anyone actually sitting out in their brand new lawn chairs in the middle of a blizzard with their next to their new potted plant and eating their emergency rations of ice cream.
thus the need for the lawn chair -
Although seems they are going after the lawn chair too.
I like this idea though -
Ok, I can see the reason for the lawn chair emergency buying if I lived in the city. But me and PCIntern live in the leafy 'burbs where everyone has driveways and/or 2+ car garages. Of course, the little dead end street I live on is like a tiny slice of Manayunk with the parking. Some of us here regularly park in the fitness center's lot next door anyway as long as we park close to our houses which is part of their giant lot they never have need for the customers to park there anyway.
I've seen the ironing board saver before somewhere. The funniest one I think I ever saw was someone in Manayunk that put a big plastic dog house in his parking spot with a "Beware of Dog" sign on it. Then there was the kooky lady that used to live across the street that rotated her kids in and out of her spot! She also had two cars for years and always insisted that she always get to park them both right in front of her house. She actually knocked on my neighbor's door once and asked them to move their car because they parked in one of "her" spots.
I've got to send these pictures to my brother in Boston. If he finds a place to park 6 or 7 blocks from his place he's thrilled that he got to park so "close".
"Game of Cones".... that's a riot!
It hit on the last day of my honeymoon in Bermuda, and all of the hotels there gave everyone an extra day at no charge because all of the airports on the East Coast were closed. Naturally, the partying all over Hamilton that night was epic 
(there's nothing like a party on somebody else's dime!).
Although... arriving at the airport the next day in lighter-weight coats, with the car buried under a couple feet of snow wasn't so great. 
On the whole though, being snowed-in in Bermuda is probably as good as it gets when a blizzard hits home, and it certainly made '78 a very memorable one for me.
From Maryland, where we're probably only getting a couple of inches, I hope your experience this time is a good one too (at least, safe and comfortable, and hopefully no power outtage where you are).
Thoughts with all who are dealing with this today.
