Category: Weather

Letter Re: A Different View of Alaska as a Retreat Locale

Mr. Rawles, G.T. has some very good points regarding the feasibility of Alaska as a retreat locale.  Granted, the pros and cons of Alaska are almost as varied as such classic arguments as 9mm versus .45, and if I were there when TSHTF, I would probably beat feet for the American Redoubt as quickly as I could.  However, there are a couple areas of interest that his article did not touch on that may be relevant to the topic. First is the feasibility of gardening.  It is true that for most of the state the summer is very short, as …


Letter Re: Earthquake Resistant Residential Architecture

Hello James: Attached is an e-mail I sent to my daughter.  Her boyfriend is from Honduras and she dreams of doing missionary work there.  I thought it may be of interest to some of your readership.  I left out a great deal of information on building site selection (her boyfriend already owns five acres) and foundations.  There seems to be differences in opinion regarding firmly anchored and sand-bed isolation between footings and walls.  Most of my information was gleaned from the book Technical Principles of Building for Safety (Building for Safety Series) by Coburn. Dear X.: I did a little …


Experiences Prepping in Florida and Texas, by Scott B.

I’ll start this by saying I’m a single 33 year old. I’ve been into preparedness long before I knew there was a word for it.  I don’t really know where it came from in the beginning, though my mother was my Cub Scout leader in elementary school. Some of my best memories were sitting on the floor underneath the dining room table tying knots around the table legs. I also remember reading The Hardy Boys Handbook: Seven Stories of Survival in elementary school, which was a mix of survival stories and information. It is worthwhile to find a copy for your …


Trial by Snow, by Bill S.

To say we have had a mild winter here in Iowa is an understatement to say the least. That was until recently. It would be safe to say that with temperatures in the 50 degree range I have gotten a little complacent this winter. Like many who read SurvivalBlog I spend time watching the news and trying to keep an eye on the big picture. At least in this case it came at the expense of some of the details. Like everything in life I would like to remind myself as well as all my Brothers and Sisters out there …


Letter Re: Surviving The Cold

Dear Mr. Rawles: n reference to the recent SurvivalBlog article “Surviving The Cold”, by The Other D.B.: It is never repeated enough: wet cold kills.   The advice to test your rain gear with a garden hose is priceless. A piece of kit that I have found invaluable exercising or working in the cold is the Neck Warmer / Head Wrap. This is a simple tube of stretch polypropylene or polyester fleece or wool.  Critical to better protect the vascular area where you lose the most heat–our head and neck. You can see some examples at these three vendor sites: SpecOps …


Surviving The Cold, by The Other D.B.

Most of us take for granted the fact that if were cold we can find someplace warm to retreat to. In the event of a catastrophe that luxury is going to be one of the first things that goes by the wayside. Animals adapt to their environment or they perish, survival of the fittest. I’ve talked to a few folks that have a couple tons of food and ammo stashed that have never even thought about the clothes situation.  So, What can we do as smart animals to prepare for that day? Unfortunately a lot of people have no clue …


Preparing for Inclement Weather, by Russ X.

I am not trying to offend anyone or represent myself as an expert. I know there are many preppers on this forum that will see none of what I am writing here as new. However, some people may need this information or have not thought of it. As for me a lot of this was learned over 13 years in the active Army and seven years as a policeman. I was placed working and living in some of the most inhospitable weather situations someone could find themselves in. Enough of my ranting and I will get to the point. As …


Two Letters Re: Lessons From an Ice Storm

Dear Mr. Rawles, I have been a daily visitor to your site for about three years now. I want to drop you a line regarding our experience in the big Pacific Northwest ice storm–wit effects still being felt. I live with my wife in a suburb of Tacoma, part way between the city proper and the farm country. The television and Internet news sites all warned of a “massive” and “record breaking” storm that would move into our area this past Monday. We are on PSE power and have our own water well. We consider ourselves pretty well prepared (we …


Adaptation to Cold Environments, by D.W.

The human body can do little to adapt to a cold environment. This is in contrast to the body’s ability to adapt and become more efficient when exercising in a hot, humid environment. Cold, wetness, and wind challenge the body to maintain core temperatures above 35oC (94oF). Heat loss or inadequate heat production elevates the risk of physical discomfort, hypothermia, or surface injury such as frostbite. Blood flow bears principal responsibility for maintaining peripheral temperature in cold weather and is the metabolic vehicle for the transportation of oxygen and generation of heat. The one adaptable characteristic that can contribute to …


Letter Re: 2011 Connecticut Power Outages

JWR; I am 69 year old Connecticut native, grew up on 100 acre farm in Eastern Connecticut during the 40’s and 50’s. [The late October 2011 snowstorm caused a lot of damage and the lengthy power failures upset a lot of people. See: Tempers flare over six days of Connecticut power outages.] I know most of the hardest hit areas, and am also a prepper!  Like most of New England, our state was clear cut during the 1700s and 1800s.  I have seen old photos of our rolling hills with nary a tree to be seen.  As a child on our …


Environmental Emergencies, by K.G. EMT-P

One of the most often overlooked and underestimated issues regarding first aid are environmental related injuries.  In the event that ambulance services and advanced medical personnel are unavailable, there are measures that a person can take to alleviate symptoms, prevent organ damage, and possibly save a life.  From my own personal experience as a paramedic, I have found that these emergencies are usually unexpected even in people who are in relatively good medical condition. Environmental injuries are problems we don’t usually encounter on a regular basis in our daily lives.  While our bodies can usually compensate for extreme environment exposure, …


Prepping: It’s Not Just for TEOTWAWKI, by Choctaw Prepper

In this day and age of being able to go to a store and get practically anything you would ever need or want, the concept of preparing for a disaster escapes some individuals.  The time of “Victory Gardens” and canning your surplus vegetables and fruits have fallen by the way side in our current culture.  Our society sees people storing vast amounts of food and supplies as paranoid because they are simply not accustomed with the practice, nor do they see the need.  Most people cannot conceive the idea that they can be left without food or water, or that …


Letter Re: Hurricane Irene Lessons Learned

James, Thanks to the information presented in your book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” we were able to “weather” Hurricane Irene without much difficulty. It was amazing to the pandemonium at the super markets; people were waiting for water to be brought out from the stockroom and wondering whether they would “die of thirst”. If they had only looked over their shoulder they would have seen a pallet filled with cases of soda (on sale: four cases for eleven dollars). The same goes for D-cell batteries; people were lamenting that they didn’t have …


Two Letters Re: Hurricane Irene Lessons Learned

Jim, I thought I’d share with you some thoughts and experience I’ve had with Hurricane [later Tropical Storm] Irene. I live in southwest Connecticut in a city slightly less than 100,000 population.  We are about 50-65 miles from New York City. As of this evening, I am still running my generator five days after being hit by Tropical Storm Irene on Saturday evening.  As of this evening, the power company said they will restore power “by middle of next week”.  If that ends up happening, we will be without power for around 10 days.  We shall see.  A few details …


Six Letters Re: Hurricane Irene Lessons Learned

Dear Mr. Rawles: We’ve been without power for 3-1/2 days and Internet even longer, so I’m late in writing, but I wanted to say that the grace of God and deep preps won the day, here as hurricane Irene blew through. When the power went out, we went to our generator, so we had water for ourselves and less prepared neighbors.  Those votive lights, the ones in the tall glass containers that often have saints’ picture on them were perfect for our windowless bathrooms, and they’re fairly cheap.  They burned safely almost the whole time and there’s still a day …