I started watching Ryan Hall about a year ago when a particularly STRONG storm front moved through central tennessee spawning several tornadoes one of which touched down just a handful of miles SW of where I live (Summertown) and another hit my friend’s house NE of Columbia where he lives off Bear Creek (?) parkway/412 near I-65. Took out houses near him, all the trees in his house and only stripped siding off ONE side of the house. Whole family was inside. I couldn’t get anywhere near him to help for several days and by then I was on my way back to Maryland.
We lived in MD just 15.5 miles North of the Washington monument (street numbers were based decades ago on distances from that reference point) and I recall digging out of the storm of 1995 - close to 3 feet fell. Got trapped in our development that only had ONE entrance as a salt truck/plow slid on some ice and got wedged between trees/curb/cars and the county had to wait 3 days to get some equipment to haul it out. I walked two miles to Safeway for bread milk and toilet paper (stuff) uphill both ways in two+ feet of snow and was AMAZED at how empty the shelves were. Bought a Jeep the following week. POS, sold it six months later.
I recall the “Snowmageddon” of 2010, measured 23” on our driveway. There was another one in between, 2003?, neighbors helped dig out our drive but we couldn’t go anywhere until plows got to us 3 days later.
We had an ice storm hit us there in 1996, lost power for five days, burned every scrap piece of lumber, some old chairs and all our firewood and bought a FIREBOX shortly after that, ran 2 cords a year through it for the next 25 years or so until we sold this house this past June 2025.
Moved into our place here in central TN in May, I have an MEP -803A genset I’ll get wired in this coming year, several smaller gensets (MEP 802) and gas ones too, kerosene and propane heaters and a Morso 1123 firebox, going to finish cutting firewood (nice deadfall I cut up a while ago to season), we’re expecting ICE. Lots and lots of ICE.
Ryan Hall is the man. While those straight-line winds of 70+ mph were hitting last year I watched his youtube channel and that’s how I knew my friend’s house got hit by a tornado.
Gotta go Gotta get batteries charged, check on emergehcy suppplies, figure out how I’m going to wire the well pump if we lose power (don’t have the well solarized yet - that’s this year). Older neighbors I need to check on. Will probably take my HMMWV around to check but, don’t have chains for it or any of my vehicles so maybe I’ll be walking, who knows.
Praying this isn’t a repeat of the winter storm of ‘94. Old timers still talk about the TEN days they were without power. Didn’t bother the Amish none.
North Mississippi. 1994.
I was ten years old back then but remember it clearly. We were lucky, though. Only three days without power because our circuit powered the community water well for water supply, and it was a priority to get that up and running.
Some neighbors were less so. I have relatives that were without power for 21 days. It was an absolutely devastating ice storm for the area.
For the past three days I’ve been hearing echoes of 1994. That’s normal with every snow or ice event. Less common is when the more serious weather people are talking that way. Those conversations began to float today from them.
Needless to say, we good folks in north Mississippi covet your prayers for the next few days.