Anonymous wrote:Should we sleep downstairs so trees and branches dont topple into bedrooms??

Unless you have large trees looming over your house, no.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have a fireplace or a generator. This will be fun!

You should at least get a car battery style generator to charge your phones.

I do have one of those.

And one can always start the car for a bit to charge devices.

Should we sleep downstairs so trees and branches dont topple into bedrooms??

OP here.

Storm forecast as of Friday seems to hold at 5-10 inches of snow across our area (with more to our north-west). Some sleet will add to the totals.

In other news, we're predicted to receive perhaps a quarter inch of ice. This is concerning for power lines, but not nearly as concerning as what's going to go down in central VA.

Here is the weather alert for the following locations in VA. Please share with people you know over there.


URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Wakefield VA
216 PM EST Fri Jan 23 2026

MDZ021-VAZ048-060>062-064-068-069-075-076-082-083-090-509>522-240330-
/O.UPG.KAKQ.WS.A.0001.260124T1800Z-260126T1800Z/
/O.NEW.KAKQ.WS.W.0001.260124T1800Z-260127T0000Z/
Dorchester-Fluvanna-Prince Edward-Cumberland-Goochland-Caroline-
Amelia-Powhatan-Westmoreland-Richmond-Charles City-New Kent-James
City-Western Louisa-Eastern Louisa-Western Hanover-Eastern
Hanover-Western Chesterfield-Eastern Chesterfield (Including Col.
Heights)-Western Henrico (Including the City of Richmond)-Eastern
Henrico-Western King William-Eastern King William-Western King
and Queen-Eastern King and Queen-Western Essex-Eastern Essex-
216 PM EST Fri Jan 23 2026

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM SATURDAY TO 7 PM EST
MONDAY...

* WHAT...Heavy mixed precipitation expected. Snow and sleet will accumulate Saturday evening and overnight and then change to freezing rain during the day Sunday. Total snow and sleet accumulations Saturday night into Sunday morning between 4 and 9 inches and ice accumulations up to three quarters of an inch Sunday into Sunday night.

* WHERE...Portions of southeast Maryland and central, east central, north central, and southeast Virginia.

* WHEN...From 1 PM Saturday to 7 PM EST Monday.

* IMPACTS...Devastating impacts are expected including widespread power outages and tree damage due to the ice. Travel could quickly become nearly impossible. Due to the increasing wind on Monday, additional tree damage and power outages are possible. People should prepare for power outages to potentially last for several days along with extreme cold.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have a fireplace or a generator. This will be fun!

You should at least get a car battery style generator to charge your phones.

You don’t need a generator to charge phones. They make portable rechargeable batteries that you can buy and bring with you on trips as well as using at home. They’re small and inexpensive.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have a fireplace or a generator. This will be fun!

You should at least get a car battery style generator to charge your phones.

Anonymous wrote:Are people without generators buying wood for their fireplaces? Are we expecting major power outages?

We have 3 cords of wood plus a generator, propane camp stoves, and electric blankets. I would definitely look into fuel sources if you have a working fireplace. We enjoy fires at least 3-4 times a week as soon as the temps get below 50.

I don’t have a fireplace or a generator. This will be fun!

Anonymous wrote:Are people without generators buying wood for their fireplaces? Are we expecting major power outages?

Yes with all the ice.

Are people without generators buying wood for their fireplaces? Are we expecting major power outages?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are the grocery stores empty ALREADY?

+1! Isn’t everyone on Ozempic?

+2. I’m wondering if people are buying toms of food out of habit at this point, not realizing they’re going to throw it all away. Or maybe they’re just used to throwing food away.

Anonymous wrote:Why are the grocery stores empty ALREADY?

+1! Isn’t everyone on Ozempic?

We plan to use the snow blower and then shovel/ice melt once the precip changes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So with the expected switch to alert and maybe freezing rain-what’s the best shoveling strategy? Wait until it’s all done so there’s a snow barrier before the ice? Or shovel during the snow so there’s not 6” of heavy ice to try to break up?

There’s no winning because ice is heavy. If you wait then you’re going to have a really unpleasant time. If you don’t wait your driveway/walkway will be completely iced over. It’s probably going to ice over regardless really.

We will probably shovel mid day on Sunday depending on totals at that point. In big storms we always do at least 2 rounds. We have a snow blower so that helps.

Anonymous wrote:So with the expected switch to alert and maybe freezing rain-what’s the best shoveling strategy? Wait until it’s all done so there’s a snow barrier before the ice? Or shovel during the snow so there’s not 6” of heavy ice to try to break up?

There’s no winning because ice is heavy. If you wait then you’re going to have a really unpleasant time. If you don’t wait your driveway/walkway will be completely iced over. It’s probably going to ice over regardless really.