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Curious about how many of BITOG patrons are in the East portion of the US, and how you are doing in these dang winter storms.
Winter Storms Back East (from me)
- Thread starter zhaarnak02
- Start date
Why limit it to the East? Now that it's over, I'd love to see the unaffected regions / snow / ice / rain map.
In northern NJ our 12" of extremely light and fluffy snow was compacted by a bit a sleet or freezing rain.
The picture above is representative.
I shoveled the fluffy snow twice Sunday. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it warmed up my aged frame.
Monday morning everybody was outside digging out....including our fine neighbor with the big snow blower.
We bake him things and bring in his garbage cans the year 'round.
In northern NJ our 12" of extremely light and fluffy snow was compacted by a bit a sleet or freezing rain.
The picture above is representative.
I shoveled the fluffy snow twice Sunday. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it warmed up my aged frame.
Monday morning everybody was outside digging out....including our fine neighbor with the big snow blower.
We bake him things and bring in his garbage cans the year 'round.
My 1997 Honda HS622 in action. 12-14” of light snow in Hamden CT.
Inked
$100 Site Donor 2026
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We got the snow starting Sunday afternoon into Monday. About 18 inches total.
Absolutely MISERABLE. It was easier to clean up after the 3' of lake effect snow we got in a day last year than this. Snow with moisture can at least be shoveled or snowblowed.
It's just so powdery. The 2 stage snowblower just fans it all around and makes a bigger mess. My single stage snowblower doesn't work at the moment. Can't shovel it because it just falls off the shovel when you go to throw it. If you do manage to get it in a pile, the wind just blows it right back.
Well, I got my oil tank filled last Tuesday and I've already used a 1/4 tank with the thermostats set only to 63° so that should tell ya something
We switched to gas last year. So far, I've saved $600? or so dollars. I tracked oil usage pretty closely. I know the next gas bill is going to be huge , but not as much I'd be spending in oil. We're also heating the house to 68/66 this winter opposed to 64/58 like we did with oil heat.
This cold snap, I bet my savings will be up to $1000 or so. I do NOT miss the oil furnace. We had an outside tank and had to run non-standard heating oil. The local suppliers are all owned by one company so kerosene runs close to $8 a gallon, blended is $6-7 a gallon and straight heating oil was near $5 a gallon. It was cheaper for me to fill up 55 gallon drums of highway diesel and dyed kerosene and fill my tank than it was to have it delivered.
Absolutely MISERABLE. It was easier to clean up after the 3' of lake effect snow we got in a day last year than this. Snow with moisture can at least be shoveled or snowblowed.
It's just so powdery. The 2 stage snowblower just fans it all around and makes a bigger mess. My single stage snowblower doesn't work at the moment. Can't shovel it because it just falls off the shovel when you go to throw it. If you do manage to get it in a pile, the wind just blows it right back.
Well, I got my oil tank filled last Tuesday and I've already used a 1/4 tank with the thermostats set only to 63° so that should tell ya something
We switched to gas last year. So far, I've saved $600? or so dollars. I tracked oil usage pretty closely. I know the next gas bill is going to be huge , but not as much I'd be spending in oil. We're also heating the house to 68/66 this winter opposed to 64/58 like we did with oil heat.
This cold snap, I bet my savings will be up to $1000 or so. I do NOT miss the oil furnace. We had an outside tank and had to run non-standard heating oil. The local suppliers are all owned by one company so kerosene runs close to $8 a gallon, blended is $6-7 a gallon and straight heating oil was near $5 a gallon. It was cheaper for me to fill up 55 gallon drums of highway diesel and dyed kerosene and fill my tank than it was to have it delivered.
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I paid $2.71 a gallon last week so bad, but not too bad? My tank is in the basement so no special mix.
I have no public utilities out here, so I would have to go propane. The initial setup and new boiler would definitely take a while to recoup my cost. Current boiler is 24 years old so I guess I'll have to cross that bridge eventually.
Ask and you shall receive.
Our niece in Houston slept over at work...and no storm came.
Our niece in Houston slept over at work...and no storm came.
East? How about SOUTH East? I shoveled about 3/4" of ICE off of the driveway yesterday. I do NOT do well with winter storms. In fact, we still have signs that say bridge freezes before roadway so I know that I'm not far enough south 
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22" Where I am in NY .. not far from Taconic/I-84. I thought it would be a difficult one (my driveway is twisty and has a little elevation) when it started with freezing rain. When it was all done, it was largely fluffy and light, easy to throw a long way, kinda snow! My Airens is about 13 years old and I use Mobil 1 0w40 or Pennzoil Platinum 0w40! OCI is yearly!
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Had ice on top of lots of snow. Very few power outages in my service area, according to BGE outage map. Car is fine except for some ice on rims throwing off wheel balance. Roads are the worst I have seen since 2010. Most people at my work are at work today (because we never close), but since government is closed and lost of people staying home traffic was very light. I expect to not have the driveway completely clear for at least another week, as it's not even going to get above freezing until then and I don't feel like breaking up any more ice for now.
Yup, the forecast was grossly over rated by the media but that is standard fare. Sure is was big, VERY big in some areas but nowhere close to what they were predicting for all areas.
Not much to report in SC and NC ...
Pennzoil Platinum 10W-30
Last time my mom bought fuel oil for her old house it was pretty cheap. She was out in the middle of nowhere , too. But the fuel suppliers weren't owned by the same company so there was competition to keep the price normal.
If we were able to consistently use fuel oil that was under $3 a gallon and didn't have a tank that was full of sludge, we probably would have stuck with oil heat and replaced the old furnace as needed.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Well where we are, we get to experience the 4 seasons some times in the same week. I stepped outside at sunrise Saturday in a tee shirt and shorts. It was HOT. I went back in and put ceiling fans on. About 09:30am later I went out again and it was (to me) freezing cold and it had already dropped over 25dg. I bet just nice & 
cool to a lot of you northern BITOG folks!
We are having the coldest I expect to see this year right now. But it is nice sun shine n blue skies now while it is in the low 20s. Thank the Lord it is dry. I can not deal with those damp/wet cold days. Every time I get to wanting to move north, these type cold fronts (few as we see) remind me I can not live in the cold. These bones can not handle much of it at all.
Stay warm up there in the North you guys! It appears 3/4 of North America is trying to at this time.
I am glad to hear my son in Nashville had their power restored last night after over 24-26 hours. Lucky he has a big fireplace. He told me he is gonna convert it to natural gas or propane for future cold weather events. Said he was going thru the firewood so fast he was getting nervous at one point. He says half the Nashville & many Tennessee areas are still without and thinking it may be several days longer to get it all back.
cool to a lot of you northern BITOG folks!We are having the coldest I expect to see this year right now. But it is nice sun shine n blue skies now while it is in the low 20s. Thank the Lord it is dry. I can not deal with those damp/wet cold days. Every time I get to wanting to move north, these type cold fronts (few as we see) remind me I can not live in the cold. These bones can not handle much of it at all.
Stay warm up there in the North you guys! It appears 3/4 of North America is trying to at this time.
I am glad to hear my son in Nashville had their power restored last night after over 24-26 hours. Lucky he has a big fireplace. He told me he is gonna convert it to natural gas or propane for future cold weather events. Said he was going thru the firewood so fast he was getting nervous at one point. He says half the Nashville & many Tennessee areas are still without and thinking it may be several days longer to get it all back.
Much of the last 20 years I had Natural gas. and also growing up in my parents house Natural Gas. About 5 years within-between those two I had oil, and it was ok, more troublesome but ok. Also I could deal with the oil companies competing on Long Island for an ok price.
Than for the least 18 years or so until 2023 we had a first floor HVAC with Natural Gas for heat and heat pump on the second floor. Because heats rises, come winter we didnt need the second floor heat pump often.
Now in our new home of 2 years, we have a heat pump for house heat and propane for hot water, stove top, fireplace.
I H-A-T-E them both the propane and heat pump compared to Natural Gas. I do think I would put oil at the bottom of the list though. I wouldnt want it again.
Thing is, with a heat pump on super cold days like now in the Carolina cost is takes FOREVER to warm up the house from our night time setting. The unit just runs endlessly and I am sure that also shortens the life of the unit. It will take hours and hours to go from a night time setback of 64 degrees to 73 daytime like today when it went down to a rare 19 degrees last night. In extreme cold it will run 15 hours maybe more in a day. Record is 21 hours in Dec.
WIth propane I am STUCK with Suburban and between the delivery charge, transportation fuel surcharge and safety fees. I can get gas for my BBQ grill for less money per gal sometimes.
Example, got topped off in October 2025 of last year, total bill was $118 for 26 gallons, roughly $4.50 a gallon
Feb 2025 $187 for 45 gallons roughly 4.20 per gallon actual payment
I dont know but seems pricey to me.
Heat pump run time Dec and most of Jan
Than for the least 18 years or so until 2023 we had a first floor HVAC with Natural Gas for heat and heat pump on the second floor. Because heats rises, come winter we didnt need the second floor heat pump often.
Now in our new home of 2 years, we have a heat pump for house heat and propane for hot water, stove top, fireplace.
I H-A-T-E them both the propane and heat pump compared to Natural Gas. I do think I would put oil at the bottom of the list though. I wouldnt want it again.
Thing is, with a heat pump on super cold days like now in the Carolina cost is takes FOREVER to warm up the house from our night time setting. The unit just runs endlessly and I am sure that also shortens the life of the unit. It will take hours and hours to go from a night time setback of 64 degrees to 73 daytime like today when it went down to a rare 19 degrees last night. In extreme cold it will run 15 hours maybe more in a day. Record is 21 hours in Dec.
WIth propane I am STUCK with Suburban and between the delivery charge, transportation fuel surcharge and safety fees. I can get gas for my BBQ grill for less money per gal sometimes.
Example, got topped off in October 2025 of last year, total bill was $118 for 26 gallons, roughly $4.50 a gallon
Feb 2025 $187 for 45 gallons roughly 4.20 per gallon actual payment
I dont know but seems pricey to me.
Heat pump run time Dec and most of Jan
Wow on snow ! My daughter goes to college there but is abroad this semester.
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