These forecasts are always changing.
I would just be prepared as we should always be.
I am making a trip from Detroit to Long Island on Thursday, right across Pennsylvania. Just yesterday evening they were calling for 1-3" of snow for Thursday for here. As of 9am today, just snow showers.
Snow for Thursday night on into Friday are now much more likely. 3-5" are called for. The lows are forecast for Friday and Saturday to be around 9 degrees but this whole snow event seems to have been pushed back 12-16 hours.
We will have to see what they say for tomorrow. These severe changes seldom speed by up.

Good news though, sunset as started to get a minute later every day but sunrise continues to be later everyday. That will change shortly.

Yep, almost to the solstice. In 4 days the days will start to get longer again.

purpleinopp said: Yep, almost to the solstice. In 4 days the days will start to get longer again.

As of today, they're predicting a high of 28 Friday and a low of 16. 😫

think i will turn off my water at the meter ....
Thursday night 12° - Friday night 17° - Saturday night 18°

few days without water will be like camping ..... no problem

James, best luck & wishes getting through this. We're nervous too, no insulation in our house, no heat in some of the rooms.

I put a bunch of plants in a borrowed space that is not enough to keep them above freezing. Thursday I'll be carrying all of them back down the stairs and into my office. Then I'll take 'em all back up there on Wed. After this, I hope we have normal winter temps for the rest of the freezin' season.

Today my forecast says
57/17 Thurs.
28/16 Fri. Seriously?!
32/18 Sat. Salt in the wound
37/20 Sun. Seeking treatment for frostbite
45/26 Mon. Hope my eyes still work to see this
48/31 Tues. Internal thermostat re-set, this now feels warm
57/39 Wed. Salvation
64/52 Thu. PTSD garden inspection

Thanx .... yeah ....know where you're coming from ...

squeeze as many as you can inside 4 walls and a roof ....some plants probably wouldn't mind being stuffed in a closet ....

after stuffing every nook & cranny as mentioned above ....how many ice chests can you get your hands on ? .....not for ice ...for plants

and if ice chests aren't available .... a family sized tent with a light bulb will work

I plan to bring all potted plants into the garage. It will get cold, but since there is a fridge and freezer in there, they generate some heat. I also plan to cover the Fatsia Japonica planted in the garden with empty plastic trash bins. I have hydrangeas budding out green - I'm sure 7 degree will change their minds! I expect to see instant die off of the LA Iris and Species Iris leaves, but my fingers are crossed they will rebound.

Thank you! My office is big enough, but there isn't much light. It should be OK for a week. I'll take a little leaning and stretching over frozen to death. : )

I plan to cover a big split leaf Philo that is usually fine over winter, with a couple of sheets. It's too big to dig up, has been in the ground for 10 yrs.

Do you have anything iffy outside, Ham?

Good luck, Lori! This will be a challenge all the way down to about Orlando. I hope no oranges are harmed in this. ; )

Just wondering if the temps get that low will the freezer and fridge in the garage even cut on to generate any heat?

I have a schflerra cutting my neighbor gave me, two bromelaids, my ruellia cutting (potted), and my phlox cutting (potted).

The bromeliads have overwintered outside before (they're up against the house on the back patio near a corner (the kitchen juts out some from the house and is right next to the back patio so it makes a corner). If it freezes, I usually throw a frost blanket on them and they're fine, but given the lows this week, I'm going to put them in the garage and cover them with the frost blanket for extra measure (since the garage isn't insulated or heated).

I also think I'm going to cover my dwarf ruellia out front in my ring garden with a frost blanket (since it is out in the middle of the yard, I think it's more exposed). I'm unsure if that's necessary but it wouldn't hurt either, I don't think. I'm concerned about ice since they're predicting rain Thursday and I remember the owner of a a local plant nursery here saying she had a customer that lost one a few years back during an ice storm we had. Not that I don't have a bunch of seeds to replace it if need be though.

I also want to cover a fern in my shade garden since it seems to take a really long time to make new fronds and it does lose them if it gets too cold. It's my Japanese holly fern. It took all year to look good again after a hard freeze we had back in April this year. I didn't cover it, thinking it's be fine.

Seedfork said: Just wondering if the temps get that low will the freezer and fridge in the garage even cut on to generate any heat?

I guess it depends on what they're set to and if you open them at all.

Today my forecast says
57/17 Thurs.
28/16 Fri. Seriously?!
32/18 Sat. Salt in the wound
37/20 Sun. Seeking treatment for frostbite
45/26 Mon. Hope my eyes still work to see this
48/31 Tues. Internal thermostat re-set, this now feels warm
57/39 Wed. Salvation
64/52 Thu. PTSD garden inspection [/quote]



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Good luck to all of you, but you know all my plants had to come in a month ago...

I'll do what I can for the plants, but at those temps, I'm worried about my toes. The floor is carpet, then wood, then outside. Getting cheated out of having any snow is really unfair. If it's going to be cold enough, I want some.

deepsouth said: think i will turn off my water at the meter ....
Thursday night 12° - Friday night 17° - Saturday night 18°

few days without water will be like camping ..... no problem

Ok... as good as this sounds... you will also need a way to drain all the lines and then leave all the taps open... and... I've still had faucets tear up when they froze...

It's more than temp... it's all that wind.

someone mentioned charge up devices too

Our wind chill for Saturday morning is predicted to be 3.

stone said: Ok... as good as this sounds... you will also need a way to drain all the lines and then leave all the taps open... and... I've still had faucets tear up when they froze...

It's more than temp... it's all that wind.

already have my outdoor faucets covered (that is more for wind protection on exposed pipes) ....once i cut the water off at the meter .... will open the *cold* side of the kitchen sink faucet (the furthest, "end of the line" outlet from meter) .... that will relieve any water pressure on the lines ...water still in the lines, will have room to expand - if and when pipes freeze....

We are forecast for 72 hours below freezing, and a low in single digits. Don't know if we can save the more tender plants, but we are going to try. Hubby and granddaughters put plastic trash bins over fatsia japonica plants. Triple layer cover over Japanese ferns.