Letter Re: Observations on a Major Midwest Snow Storm

Hello JWR,  
I would like to post a brief observation from the most recent snow storm here in Minneapolis this past weekend as it relates to the “Golden Horde“.  A very large storm system that started Friday evening and ended up dumping 18 inches of snow till Saturday evening.  It will go down on record as the fifth largest in the history and as you probably know it caused the Metrodome’s roof to collapse.  I am a daily reader of SurvivalBlog and have been for some time now.  I have been making my preps for a few years now after finally waking up to what’s going on and reading your books.   

On Saturday, I woke up to a good 12 inches of snow on the ground with it coming down pretty hard.  I decided to go out in my bug out vehicle (BOV) and have some fun because I wanted to see how bad the storm really was, how well my BOV handled in extreme winter conditions (granted I already knew this from hunting every weekend), and I also wanted to see how other people were reacting to this same situation.  I do live right smack dab in the “urban Jungle” of downtown Minneapolis.  (I know it’s not recommended but for work and many other reason I have too)  Based on the social differences I have noticed of people living “downtown” I was not surprised at all how ill prepared everyone was.  I helped pull many cars out of the snow banks along the snow emergency routes so people would not get towed and the plows could get through.  Just about everyone I was helping dig out their cars were poorly dressed for winter weather.  I had even made a point of asking everyone I came across if they had basic winter weather clothes?  The answer was no.  Of course this really surprised me because the vast majority of the people had the money to spend on really nice cars and expensive condos but don’t even own snow pants?  This is Minnesota!   

Just based on these minor observations, including many conversations asking multiple questions “survival situations in a lite tone, if/when a SHTF scenario happens during the winter months I believe there could possibly be a few extra day lead time to bug out of the city just for the simple fact that so many people are truly un-prepared even to spend a few hours outside during the winter months.  I think most will shelter in place at first and “Hope” someone comes to help.  After they figure out that FEMA or no one else is coming to help, then all bets are off.   – K.J.