Supermarkets in parts of Texas and Arkansas are seeing their shelves stripped almost bare by people preparing for a CATASTROPHIC Winter Storm, beginning tomorrow, Friday January 23.
Weather forecasters are making slight adjustments to their forecast, but the heart of the story is this: A MASSIVE winter storm will develop in Texas and Louisiana tomorrow, fed by warm, moist air from the gulf.
That air will meet, head-on, with a MASSIVE Arctic Cold Front streaming-in from Canada. The results will be catastrophic electric power loss, perhaps for a MONTH in some places, complete inability for Emergency Services to operate in some locations which are now expected to get three inches of ICE over a narrow, but long 2,000 mile stretch of the southern USA.
As Ice accumulates on trees and power lines, they will come down. Think of Texas back in the year 2021: some people didn't have electric power for a MONTH:
. . . . this storm will be worse.
By 9:00 PM Saturday, after the storm develops all day Friday, and spreads all day Saturday, this is what the United States weather map will look like on Saturday night around 9:00 PM Eastern time:
Areas in Blue will be all snow. Areas in purple will be a mix of sleet, ice and snow. Areas in red will be ICE. Some areas shown on this map will see ice accretions to THREE INCHES. Green areas will see only rain.
FOOD RUNNING OUT
Supermarkets in Texas and now in Arkansas are seeing "very heavy" consumer shopping, as people rush to try to make sure they will survive the storm. Many store shelves in Texas and Arkansas are already STRIPPED BARE.
This panic buying will begin repeating itself in EVERY state shown on the storm watches and warnings image at the top of this story.
As I drove back to New jersey from Pennsylvania today, I had to get 1,000 pounds of Calcium Chloride for the salt spreader on my snow plow pickup truck. The usual place I get that Calcium Chloride is a store name Reuthers Building Supply on Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen.
SOLD OUT
Earlier this week, they still had 50 pound bags of Rock Salt. Those bags are now SOLD OUT. They can only now offer Bulk salt by measured by the cubic yard, for Contractors with sump truck sized salters.
So we called our fallback supplier, Continental Trading off Routes 1&9 in Newark, NJ. At 10:00 this mornings, they reported only having "a couple pallets left." I left my house in northeastern PA around 11:30 and by the time I got through the Delaware Water Gap on Route 80 (about 1.5 hours) and called them, they too were SOLD OUT.
My son then reached out to Beacon Building Supply on Union Blvd in Totowa, which I would have to go past anyway on my way home. They told him "We've got plenty." An hour later, he went there and bought ten 50-pound bags for our Condo Association. I arrived about 45 minutes later . . . . . they only had FIVE fifty-pound bags left. I bought all five.
The guys at that Totowa Store then called their store in East Rutherford, which I had to also drive past on my way home. That store reported having 59 fifty-pound bags. I BOUGHT TEN MORE BAGS while at the Totowa Store . . . . paid the money in Totowa, which would force the East Rutherford store to hold them.
In the twenty or so minutes it took me to get to East Rutherford, they had maybe twenty bags remaining after they put mine aside. That's how fast Calcium Chloride and Rock Salt are selling out in northern New Jersey TODAY.
So if you don't have Rock Salt or Calcium Chloride, you better haul yourself to the store right quick and get it.
And as evidenced by stories coming out of Texas and Arkansas, if you haven't shopped for food and water yet, you better get out there right now and do it.
This a a major ice and snow event that will extend over a huge swath of the US. And getting help will take longer because it wont be thawing immediately.
