A lot of people are about to be hit with a big winter storm who are not used to this kind of weather. Here are some tips from a Minnesotan:

Keeping warm:

  • avoid cotton fabrics.

  • Use layers, take them off if you start to sweat.

  • I like tight gloves with thick mittens, which allows use of your hands sometimes without skin exposure.

  • A face mask works as a scarf or another layer in a pinch

  • Warm up your home in case you lose power. Power outages may happen after the snow/freezing rain stops

Snow removal:

  • Lift with your legs, not your back.

  • Don’t save all of the shoveling for the very end of the storm, it’ll be more difficult and will start to create an ice layer (especially where walked on)

  • if you have a car, lift up the windshield wipers before it starts snowing/freezing rain

  • Completely clean your car soon after the storm. In most places, it’s illegal to drive with a lot of snow/ice on your car and super dangerous.

  • If you’re parked on a street, move the car to a plowed area when possible so they can plow where you were parked

  • If you have a driveway, clear off part of the street in the direction the plow will come from, so that doesn’t end up blocking your driveway

Driving

  • stay home until streets are plowed if possible (thank you healthcare workers and emergency responders!)

  • Turn on ABS brake and traction control settings, if available

  • accelerate and take turns slowly

  • Have more time/distance to brake

  • Speed up before going up an incline, getting stuck and sliding back down is not fun

Sliding on ice:

  • If walking, keep your feet underneath your center of gravity

  • If driving, switch to neutral and steer in the direction that the back of the car is sliding, but don’t overreact on steering. Slamming brakes will make sliding worse.

Car stuck in snow:

  • turn off traction control

  • don’t just let the tires spin out

  • try shoveling, sand/kitty litter, and rocking back and forth

  • Once you get moving again, don’t stop

Edit: if you do lose power, have a faucet or two drip water to prevent the pipes from freezing and bursting

Edit 2: if you see ICE, follow these steps

  • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.worldEnglish
    14·
    1 day ago

    If you’re in a location that will get a significant amount of snow, 8” or more, find the fire hydrant closest to your house and clear an area around it to at least a couple feet.

      • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        19 hours ago

        Because if your house catches fire with you in it, you want the firemen to be inside your house putting the fire out with an established water supply, not outside pissing away time digging the hydrant out of the snow/ice.

        • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
          4·
          19 hours ago

          It would take over 2 ft of snow to get close to the hydrant outlet around here. I was curious why was 8" set as a trigger.

          • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.worldEnglish
            6·
            19 hours ago

            The common standard for the height of the center of a fire hydrants outlet is about 18 inches from the ground. The radius from that center point to the bottom of the outlet is 2.5 inches which is where body of the coupler will be, plus some room for the 3-4” handles attached to either side of the coupler body to be able to turn to thread the coupler onto the outlet. So that’s about 11” of clearance wiggle room you have for snow you’d need plus a few extra inches of some extra room added for your hands/arms or the fact that over time hydrants can kinda “sink” into the ground diminishing the clearance further.

            If your local fire department uses a 4 way hydrant valve to connect to the hydrant for uninterruptible in-line boosting like this one

            Then that’s a bunch of extra clearance you’ll need.

            And then there’s just the fact that the less snow there is, the easier it is for them to just clear away themselves.

            8” isn’t an exact number as much as it is a ballpark for when snowfall around a hydrant goes from being a minor pain in the ass to becoming a potential safety issue.