NBC Action Communities

Drain all your garden hoses, and if your leaving town for the holiday leave some water dripping to avoid frozen pipes

Well, I plan on checking my hose bibs and hoses, and make sure they are are drained and disconnected.  also need to make sure the garage door is kept closed to keep the cold air from freezing the pipes inside the garage.

How about:  If you normally park your car outside, DON'T wash it...your locks will most likely freeze up...

1.  Fill the bird feeder

2.  Fill up your washer fluid reservoir!

3. Get the car washed only if you park it in a garage otherwise it might be hard to open Saturday night or Sunday morning!

4. If your car is more then 5 years old you should check the antifreeze freezing point.  Pick up the necessary tool at your local auto parts store.  

5.  If you have a humidifier make sure it is adjusted to the right outside temperature

6. If you have any suspect pipes in the house prepare them for the cold!

check on the elderly, the are especially vulnerable to the frigid temps

Go to the store and get all the fixin's for chili! Go to the movie rental place and stock up on movies and popcorn!

Build a Snow Machine and start using it!! :D lol

I thought of more!


Make sure and bring pets inside!
If you can't bring them inside make sure they have plenty of warmth and water (not ice!)

Donate to the shelters such as City Union Mission--this is a difficult time of year for the homeless.

Besides not washing your car as I mentioned earlier, how 'bout bringing some hot chocolate to any one of the Salvation Army "bell ringer" volunteers?

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but if you have a bathroom or kitchen sink facing an outside wall of your home, open the cabinet doors underneath, it will let heat in and help keep water lines from freezing. Oh yeah, one more thing if you're planning on going to the Chiefs game Sunday... cancel plans! Do ya think the Miami Dolphins will even get off the plane?

--------------

They aren't going to like it.

Gary

1. Get your Christmas shopping done early in the day.
2. Get a big cover to snuggle with your best friend.
3. Make sure your hoses are disconnected.
4. Set a couple of faucets to a very slow trickle.

I'm already cold thinking about tomorrow night and Sunday!

DL

...WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT SATURDAY NIGHT TO
12 PM CST SUNDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PLEASANT HILL HAS ISSUED A WIND
CHILL ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT SATURDAY NIGHT
TO 12 PM CST SUNDAY.

BITTERLY COLD AIR WILL OVERSPREAD EASTERN KANSAS AND WESTERN MISSOURI
SATURDAY AFTERNOON...WITH TEMPERATURES PLUMMETING INTO THE LOW SINGLE
DIGITS BY SATURDAY NIGHT. NORTHWEST WINDS OF 20 TO 25 MPH WILL
COMBINE WITH THE COLD TEMPERATURES TO PRODUCE WIND CHILLS BETWEEN -15 AND
-20 DEGREES BY SUNDAY MORNING. ONLY MINOR WARMING CAN BE EXPECTED ON
SUNDAY...THOUGH ENOUGH SUCH THAT WIND CHILLS WILL INCREASE TO AROUND
-10 DEGREES.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS
WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS. THIS WILL RESULT IN
FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.
IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS...MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT AND
GLOVES.

$$

Somebody beat me to the anti-freeze, check tire pressure and be sure you have hot cocoa would be next best.

I hate to admit this, but we still have a few lights to put up on the house.  Cold air really has a strange effect on a strand of lights and makes it hard to work with.  So make sure your lights are hung before the cold blast!  

    Like the new page Gary, sorry I couldn't see it earlier. What do you think the fronts that are coming through would be like in the January? Too cold to think about?
    We just had our first out of 5 Christmases this year, I got a lot of stuff, never this much before! Of any year for that to happen, it certainly isn't 2008, LOL! Bundle up and Happy Holidays everyone!

It appears that most people buy milk, bread, & batteries before a snow storm...

so I guess I should do that tomorrow, even though it's just cold air, if it works for hurricanes and snow storms, then it's got to work for cold weather.

Im going to finish my Christmas shopping and grocery shopping tomorrow morning.  Im also going to take LBF1958's suggestion and get the movies.  Then I shall stay home until I must get out for work on Monday.

Andrew I would like to borrow the snow machine please.

Make sure your pets are safe from the cold!  Make sure they have a warm place to hunker down in.

Kristi

So I'm interested to know if the storm you mention for Tuesday into Christmas Eve in the update is going to be a big deal, or just a minor event.  Unfortunately, we get off early from work on Christmas Eve, but we still have to go...and I do not want to drive in snow!!
If you could just move that Christmas Eve into Christmas, THEN I'll be happy about it!

Accept free tickets to the Chiefs game! <-- uh..yep, did that.

Hide in my nice warm basement and work on my railroad. :-D
http://www.flickr.com/photos/midwestrr/sets/72157600209119820/

I'm going to have to figure out how to simulate clouds on this thing one of these days. :)

Might I also add that if your water pipes outside are wrapped, check on the wrapping. Also, if you are using heat tape, make sure it is still on. Last year our would turn off with no reason. So it is a good thing to check.

Everyone has given lots of good ideas and I think I will do a couple of them tomorrow, like detach the hoses from the hose bibs. I can and will check on my heat tape again then just to be sure.

Also if anyone looses power and decided to use a generator for power, please remember to put it outside and use an extention cord that is in good shape. Carbon Monoxide is called a silent killer for a reason.

Darkwolfe,
Email me at audra@gatrworks.com and we can talk model railroad. We are into N scale. Be sure to put model RR in the subject line so I don't throw your email away.

Get a big stack of wood close to the back door so you don't have far to go when you run out of wood in the fireplace! Get all your grocery shopping done for Christmas dinner. Fill up the bird feeders and make sure the woodpeckers have suet. =)

weatherfreak01 said:
Darkwolfe,
Email me at audra@gatrworks.com and we can talk model railroad. We are into N scale. Be sure to put model RR in the subject line so I don't throw your email away.
--------------------------
With a little luck I'll remember to do that when I get home. About to wrap up the shift here.

Cool Darkwolfe! I look forward to it.
Audra

Even though we have had a lot of activity weather wise, the precip with these disturbances is really mild.  What makes the one for Christmas eve different?

Hoping for a good snow.

Firewood...get plenty of firewood up close to your house. Also clean the grate before it gets cold!

I love what the gfs shows for x-mas eve.

I can't believe they canceled 38 Sports Spot now!! :( First KC Live and now this!!

Just wondering? How much effect does the topography of a certain area have on the weather? For example it seems that in the Sedalia area temperatures often vary to that of locations nearby especially when associated with storms. There may be  snow all around us but we only get rain. (just one example)

Of course blame the economy on this one!

Well the GFS is OK for Christmas eve.  Again at this time not that big of a deal in my opinion.  Then again, it doesnt take much here in KC for it to be a big event.  Have a look:

http://weather.unisys.com/gfs/4e/gfs_pres_4e.html

Not that broad of an area either so it could really miss us as most  do.  Sorry to sound like such a pessimist!  

here is the latest GFS snowfall map



http://204.2.104.196/gfs/WINTER_GFS0P5_SFC_ACCUM-SNOW_120HR.gif

As other people have mentioned, please, please make sure any pets that must stay outside have shelter from the weather as well as fresh water that will not freeze. A proper shelter for outside pets means a dog house facing away from the wind that is lined with hay or straw to help them keep in the warmth. If possible, hanging a blanket up over the door will help keep the warmth in, too. I have a very spoiled basset hound that doesn't have to worry about the weather, all she has to worry about it is whether she will end up sleeping on the bed or the couch! She has no idea how good she has it!

Andrew I am also not happy about them canceling the Sports Spot.  Every company in the world is blaming everything on the economy.  Well at least 41 Action News didn't  stop the weather dept update and blame it on the economy.

Has anybody noticed the NWS forecast?  Vastly different than Garys.  The Topeka NWS doesn't even show a below zero temp.  Good thing they don't have a temp gaurantee, those guys are going to be way off again.  Maybe someday they will give Gary credit for the LRC, but he isn't a bureaucrat so probably he will never get it.

I'm not Christian, Jewish. But I have always wanted a white christmas here and I still have not seen one. I hope this year we get one. One year like 15 years ago we had Hoar Frost on Christmas morning which was really cool. But I would love to see a white christmas. GO SNOW!

Living on a farm my list is long!
1. Fill stock tanks and check stock tank heaters.
2. Blanket the old horses (2) and bring all 5 into the barn - feed extra hay
3. Plug in heated water buckets.
4. Plug diesel dually truck in.
5. Turn on small heater in LQ horse trailer.
6. Fill barn cat heated water bowl and feed lots of cat food.
7. Fill dog heated bucket and then bring all 3 inside garage tomorrow afternoon.

I sold my goats and chickens, so less work now. :)

I can't use my wood stove if the winds go over 35 MPH. Backdraft problems. So it's heat pump or full electric if I get cold.

I just sealed my new Pella sliding door that still leaks air tonight!! I just used masking tape to go around the edges. Has anyone found a good sliding door that doesn't leak air???

I'm going to put plastic up on the NW kitchen window that is a bay window Sat. morning. Air leak coming somewhere around it too - casement windows. Then caulk under the bay window again.

I put those wall outlet insulators on after the last artic blast and they work surprisingly well.

I will never again have a home with large windows and tall ceilings. Way to hard to heat and cool. This spring I'll be looking for a small ranch home and try to sell this behemoth of house. I married into this home! Nice, but not practical.

Darkwolfe and weatherfreak01....

I am starting to get into "rebuilding" some sets from my Dad's era. We have 8-10 complete sets of Lionel "O" gauge that belonged to he and his two brothers from the 1950's and 1960's. I am so glad they kept all their old sets. When I say rebuilding, I mean just setting up a good layout, etc.

Do you know of any place online where there might be good layouts of the "O" gauge tracks? My dad could never decide on a plan growing up, so I have recently decided to do it instead. My oldest son is almost 5, so he would be thrilled if I were able to get something going in the basement.  :)   This particular gauge is a little bigger than the smaller ones (which you know), so that's a drawback as far as space goes. I am looking for something efficient that will get the job done, but also maximize space. Thanks in advance!  :)

Ross, don't wimp out.  Just dress warm.  The last Giants' game I went to in the Meadowlands was the first weekend of December, 1989.  It was colder than the Giants-Packers game last year.  Air temp was 12, but the wind chill was 30-plus below the entire game with the wind blowing off of the ocean.  There were about 500 no-shows.  My buddies made me sit on the end.  They got the tickets.  Since I was the biggest of the three, I got to block the wind.  For a Giants' game, I'd do it any time.

Gary, here are some other tips:
1)  Make sure all cell phones are fully charged in case your main phone lines are taken down and you lose power
2)  If traveling, check the antifreeze in advance.  Also, keep some blankets or sleeping bags in the car in case you go off the road due to ice.  It's actually a good idea to do that anyways in the winter.

To all of the train lovers, go to the Atlas Trains web site.  It has a free downloadable track planner.

My plan is to go fishing in the morning, before the river freezes over :)

I'm so glad to see people writing about caring for your pets.  All 3 of my dogs will be inside, safe and warm but I can't help but say a little prayer and worry about all the dogs still outside, freezing.  Please do whatever you can to spread the word to take care of pets in the cold.  As for the rest of the lists I have learned quite a few things and am going out to check and make sure hoses are disconnected and put away and I'm going to get some of those socket insulators, thanks for the tip Farmgirl!  I might also add to have a plan to prevent "cabin fever" as I love to be outside and being cooped up inside is difficult for me.  I have a stack of books, a jigsaw puzzle and the scrabble board all out and ready to keep me occupied.  Try and keep warm everyone and remember the little animals.
--deb

Davidmcg,

I dont know what forecast your looking at but here the international airport:

Sunday: Mostly sunny and cold, with a high near 9. Wind chill values between -10 and -18. Blustery, with a northwest wind between 17 and 23 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around -5. Wind chill values between -11 and -16. Northwest wind between 5 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.

Not that much different. You sure do throw around alot of blind accusations. I'd say if you don't like their forecast why look at it and why bring it up?

Good cloudy chilly morning to The Weather Team!!!

Currently sitting at 26 degrees this morning with a slight SE breeze-it is really pretty nice but man, it is quite-even the rabbits are sitting tight this morning. I did however hear the old hoot owl hooting it up this morning!!
A few random thoughts on this chilly Saturday morning before the Polar Express blows through!! This is a very long and rambeling Blog as I have been thinking about this for a while-if someone deems it should be deleted, please do so!!!! Save me from myself!! LOL

1. Looking at the 11Z surface charts, it looks like the wind shift line is already through Manhattan, Kansas and the single digits are present in Central Nebraska. The really cold air is lagging behind the wind shift line but the arctic intrusion is getting close!! Is that Valdimir Putin I see on Polar Express??

2. One thing I think is for sure known is that arctic air is going to blow in here today and there is going to be a storm in the plains in the Tuesday/Wednesday time frame. How it all plays out I think is going to be quite interesting to follow and again will provide some excellent learning opportunities!!!

3. The LRC has first and foremost in my mind nailed this pattern-I have said that and I honestly believe that. It has also shown us that one key word for this winter is volatile-the weather is up and down and we get into this active pattern it becomes very extreme. A quick look would make one think that nothing stays put very long-cold comes in, we warm up, cold comes back in-that happened in November and October and with Thursday, one thinks the same things is occurring now. However, I have been thinking about something: I wonder if we are not seeing now that with this part of the pattern, the cold air does not have a little more staying power. Lawrence is going to go from last Sunday until possibly early next week if not longer with a grand total of 5 hours above freezing-that is not too shabby for this area. Unfortunately that time above freezing coincided with a strong short wave but the cold air has held on pretty tight.

4. If one really thinks about Thursday, I think it is telling that the cold air lasted as long as it did-that was a 4 day old cold air dome that really was never fully reinforced-if one believed the models as late as last Wednesday, we should have been in the 50’s by Thursday afternoon. That didn’t happen-did we finally warm up-yes but it was close and some areas just to the North of Lawrence to KCI line barely made it. If that Thursday storm had come in on Tuesday or Wednesday or if the atmosphere had saturated sooner things might have been different-but even with a 4 day old cold dome over us, it still took almost 16 hours for that cold air to be eroded from the surface.

5. I think therefore that early next week is still very much up in the air as far as what happens. If one really looks at it, the cold air has held its ground pretty well and if we get moisture beginning Tuesday, this new cold air dump is going to be much fresher than what we had on Thursday. For sure, we could go into the warm air sector and this could track just like Thursday’s and that maybe would be a very safe bet. However, I think one needs to give this cold air a little more credit and maybe just maybe we get the moisture and cold air working in unison this time-we did last Tuesday.

6. I think the real thing to watch is going to be how the Arctic High sets up and where it winds up on Monday night. The 0Z Euro already has some subtle differences as the High takes a bit more of a south axis and not so much a South East path. The Euro also has this High not nearly as far East on Tuesday morning as the 0Z GFS and has the surface low digging into the Oklahoma Panhandle. This arctic front is once again clearing the playing field and until it gets in here and gets settled, I think it is going to very hard to get a real bead on what early next week (even into Christmas Day) will be like.

I know for sure this looks like I am wish casting (cue the Tale of Brave Sir Robin-Bill in Lawrence made a wish-cast…) as I do indeed love snow storms and want a huge snow dump-I cannot nor will I deny that. But in all honesty, I think we are seeing something here with this part of the pattern in this part of the year: the colder air has more staying power (master of the obvious since this is December but 8-10 days of below freezing is pretty good cold for this area)-if this were November or October, I feel we would have been back into the 40’s by Wednesday of last week-but we have stayed cold for a pretty decent period. In the end, I am probably way wrong and we will get whacked by WAA again with Tuesday’s event and maybe even so much that it tracks into North Dakota and we wind up in the 60’s by Tuesday. I might put my head through a wall if that happens LOL!!!!

These are just some thoughts I have been throwing around-do they make sense? Good question!!! LOL As I said up top, if this is too long and too far off base, please delete and save me from myself-I am honestly debating whether or not to post this but I will just because I am a fool and don’t mind looking foolish but again, if it is deemed this should be deleted, please do so!!!

Well, I’m off to KC today to spend the day and tomorrow with my parents-heading up to the Northland-my old stomping grounds where I was born and raised-yes, I am a Northlander and proud of it!!! LOL I hope to sneak away from family events and check things out-whatever happens in the next 4-5 days, it is going to be a great learning experience and fun to follow!!!

Have a great day and one more idea for the cold: if you are out and driving around this morning, maybe drop off a blanket or two and some socks to a shelter!!!

Bill in Lawrence

Sorry-just me again!!

The wind shift line is through Lawrence-winds here have now shifted to the North and the temperatures you can feel the difference!!! Not like last Sunday, but you can sure feel the change!!

Have a great day-stay warm!!

Bill in Lawrence

MattP, thanks for the tip about making sure cell phones are fully charged.  Mine is being charged NOW!

This sharing of tips to prepare for the Arctic blast was a great and worthwhile idea for this blog.  Thanks, Gary!!!

Edna