Toronto Icestorm of 2013

[W. K. Lis]

Where would you put a generator for a typical Toronto house - unless your one of the few with a standalone garage. Or are they designed to be all-season, and you just run them outside in the storm?

Looks like the ice storm of 2014 may give us a miss for much of the precipitation. 5:10 pm today for King City:

The standby should be able to run anytime of the year. It should do a self-test once a week.

This video shows an installation of a 20 Kw generator. Apparently, that's that enough for their whole house. Myself, I think I would go half that size. Would NOT want it run the electric stove, washer, nor electric clothes dryer.
[video=youtube_share;fLjHPKkIMWo]http://youtu.be/fLjHPKkIMWo[/video]

 

[Coltaine79]

I agree, but from what I heard they made it seem as though anyone was eligible for it. They could have easily set some requirements which would have weeded out a lot of people.

Or perhaps have distributed the GCs in a location less likely to attract the "BMW crowd"... i.e. a Food Bank perhaps?

*Someone* should undoubtedly get a lot of flak for this, but at this point I'm still not sure who.

 

[Jonny5]

The noise does sound like someone banging on the wall or in my case something falling on the roof. I was in my kitchen on my laptop Christmas eve when i heard the first boom. The first thing i did was run up stairs and see if my desk or dresser somehow fell over? Saw nothing so i went outside to check the roof, also saw nothing. The guy across the street from me also came out looking up at his roof.

My parents in Waterloo also heard it at the exact same time. Very strange.

I'm hearing them again tonight.

 

[gabe]

I'm hearing them again tonight.

We will probably be hearing more of them over the next few days as Toronto is getting hit by this polar vortex.

Another new weather word to the vocabulary "Polar vortex". Last week it was "Cryoseism" also known as "frost quake"

Now what scary winter word will be next week?

 

[Jonny5]

I'm hearing them again tonight.

The concierge of my building says 25 people have called down to him complaining about "neighbours banging on the walls" tonight. Truly a weird phenomenon.

 

[PinkLucy]

I'm hearing them again tonight.

It's banging like crazy down near the waterfront

 

[James]

Just wanted to grumble, if I may, that I went out to get some more ice salt for my driveway yesterday evening only to discover...they're sold out everywhere!

I first popped into Canadian Tire as I had to buy something else there, only to find they had no more ice salt of any brand or type. No problem, I've been meaning to pick up something else at Home Depot anyway, so away I go and drive out to the HD...only to find out they're also sold out. As a last resort, I decide to venture out to the Wal-Mart, figuring they've got to have ice salt...but nope. A Wal-Mart associate tells me people have been snatching them up like crazy even though they put a "2 per customer" limit on them.

Luckily, I still had some Alaskan Ice Melter left in my garage so I spread out what I had left all over the driveway and sidewalk in front of my house last night. Now I'm officially out of ice salt. If anyone knows what other store carries ice salt, please let me know!

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Try the local supermarkets - they might carry them as well. I have to say salting hasn't proven to be terribly effective at the temperature we're looking at.

AoD

 

[Mongo]

On a related topic, I've been without home landline phone service since the ice storm. Is anybody else in the same boat? I've tried phoning Rogers support on my mobile, but have got nothing but a run-around so far.

 

[devjohnson]

My friend lives in Casa and his balcony broke last night "due to the freezing temp"

 

[PinkLucy]

Just wanted to grumble, if I may, that I went out to get some more ice salt for my driveway yesterday evening only to discover...they're sold out everywhere!

I first popped into Canadian Tire as I had to buy something else there, only to find they had no more ice salt of any brand or type. No problem, I've been meaning to pick up something else at Home Depot anyway, so away I go and drive out to the HD...only to find out they're also sold out. As a last resort, I decide to venture out to the Wal-Mart, figuring they've got to have ice salt...but nope. A Wal-Mart associate tells me people have been snatching them up like crazy even though they put a "2 per customer" limit on them.

Luckily, I still had some Alaskan Ice Melter left in my garage so I spread out what I had left all over the driveway and sidewalk in front of my house last night. Now I'm officially out of ice salt. If anyone knows what other store carries ice salt, please let me know!

Saw something on tv the other day -- salt is sold out everywhere. Try kitty litter It doesn't melt the ice but it helps with traction.

 

[newearthling]

Just wanted to grumble, if I may, that I went out to get some more ice salt for my driveway yesterday evening only to discover...they're sold out everywhere!

I first popped into Canadian Tire as I had to buy something else there, only to find they had no more ice salt of any brand or type. No problem, I've been meaning to pick up something else at Home Depot anyway, so away I go and drive out to the HD...only to find out they're also sold out. As a last resort, I decide to venture out to the Wal-Mart, figuring they've got to have ice salt...but nope. A Wal-Mart associate tells me people have been snatching them up like crazy even though they put a "2 per customer" limit on them.

Luckily, I still had some Alaskan Ice Melter left in my garage so I spread out what I had left all over the driveway and sidewalk in front of my house last night. Now I'm officially out of ice salt. If anyone knows what other store carries ice salt, please let me know!

Do you have any beets you could juice?

In Toronto’s deep freeze, beet juice beats salt for melting ice
Molasses from sugar beets, refined and sprayed on roads, can help melt ice at temperatures as low as -32 C — with less environmental damage.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Saw something on tv the other day -- salt is sold out everywhere. Try kitty litter It doesn't melt the ice but it helps with traction.

For Sodium Chloride (NaCl) the temperature at which a solution of salt and water will freeze decreases as the concentration increases until the concentration reaches 23.3%. A sodium chloride solution at this concentration will not freeze until the temperature drops below -21[SUP]o[/SUP] C.

A 29.8% calcium chloride solution will not freeze until the temperature reaches -51[SUP]o[/SUP] C.

From this link.

 

[PinkLucy]

I lived in Northern Ontario for years. People coming up from "the south" always wondered why salt wasn't used -- simple, it was too cold! Lots of sand at corners for traction -- although when it's too cold it just sits on the ice anyway -- and most people had kitty litter for their driveways. At least in Toronto, this kind of cold is rare and doesn't last long.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I lived in Northern Ontario for years. People coming up from "the south" always wondered why salt wasn't used -- simple, it was too cold! Lots of sand at corners for traction -- although when it's too cold it just sits on the ice anyway -- and most people had kitty litter for their driveways. At least in Toronto, this kind of cold is rare and doesn't last long.

So true. Forecast for Saturday is +5°C, Sunday +3°C.