GREENSBORO, N.C. — Could there be power outages? Will the wintery mess make it difficult for you to get out of your house? What about when you need to get on the road?
Staying warm is most important, but do-it-yourself solutions like bringing a gas grill inside for heat is deadly. I’ve seen people do it. We had an ice storm in the early 2000s and a family without power for nearly a week was desperate. They brought the grill inside the house.
To stay safe, huddle everyone in one room, set up a tent or a blanket fort and roll up towels, and put them along the bottoms of doors and windows to cut down on cold drafts.
TRICKS FOR USING ICE MELT
Ice melt can be your friend and keep you from slipping and falling right outside your front or back door. Experts say two layers is best, one before anything starts falling, one layer after it's all over with.
The only issue for this storm is the timing of rain turning over to freezing rain. If it happens quickly, your ice melt works. If it doesn't, the rain washes it all away.
DRIVING IN ICY CONDITIONS
From the sounds of it, many of us will have to worry about icy conditions and black ice. It can form on the roads, curbs, drainage areas, or any other path due to melting snow.
Black Ice is more often seen at night when temperatures drop, but it is also a real danger in the morning.
“If you start going into any spin or slide, turn your wheel just slightly in that direction. A lot of people want to overcorrect, and that sends them spinning even more,” said Fritzi Shreffler, PennDOT.
The other natural instinct is to slam on your brakes. That makes it worse, so simply take your foot off the gas pedal.