[Ripon]

I like to write short stories and share them with my family. My wife reads them and smiles politely. My brother is a serious prepper and enjoys most. My nephews and neices, other siblings and a few friends don't say much. They are on my email list and I don't know how much of them they actually read - my last one was about the year without a summer and I don't see it referenced here often so I thought I'd mention it. There have been posts about the Mrs., what do you want after surviving, etc. A lot of times those who question prepping will seriously disagree with financial collapse, and view tornados, storms, earthquakes and the like as temporary glitches they can survive thru. The idea of war and terrorists flooding America are as real as alien invasions they watch on hollywood movies. The "Year without a Summer was 1815" happened already once in relatively modern history. Like a Pandemic its potential is very real and there is nothing man can do about it. Because most people on our planet do not prep, most do not have ample reserves, an impact of an event like that which occured in 1815 would be serious today. I wonder how soon the public would realize it?

The event in 1815 was a simple volcanic eruption. Some scientist have recently updated the Mt. Tambora event to suggest it was a piece of the puzzle in 1815 but not the whole event. There were other climate changes which occured (freezing) that impacted the growth of food and created a state of starvation for many in 1815 thanks to a summer in the northern hemisphere that did not happen - be it due to climate change or Mt. Tambora. It is true the Mt. Tambora eruption was the worst in 1300 years so maybe we are all safe? Who knows. What if we get two at one time - that equate to more than Mt. Tambora and it blankets just California - one of the biggest food producing states on the planet?

To those who think prepping for this kind of event is a waste - I'd say why ignore history?

 

[IngaLisa]

I agree. We just think a new growing season will be there. A geological disaster with a famine is a possibility. There is nothing that guarantees Armageddon will last for one year. It could be decades.

 

[PaulS]

For those of you who live "close" to or east of Yellowstone remember that the whole park is a super volcano that is "overdue" for its next eruption.
Although it is unlikely that we will see much ash where I am it will still cause a "nuclear winter" event that will drop temps and could block out most of the sunlight in the northern hemisphere for years. I wrote a lot of letters to all "the right people" trying to get them to do a hydrothermal tap to generate power and reduce the heat that it is storing but I was told it was a National Park and they weren't sure if would erupt or not. Really? They have patterned the eruptions from that hotspot and at fairly regular intervals it has erupted many times in the past. We are about 7% beyond the "due date" for an eruption and when it goes there will be a lot of dead people in just the first twenty-four hours.
There are all kinds of things that can happen and some are easier to prepare for than others but I feel the need to do the best I can to be ready. I don't think anyone is going to be ready for Yellowstone though. God help us!

 

[Ripon]

I honestly didn't know Yellowstone was. Just thought that was movie fiction. My SS was about two going off at once on the east coast of Russia. It would take about 5-10 days for such a plume to blanket the US. I wonder when our Govt would acknowledge the problem? What would the media say during the first 24-72 hours of the eruption? When would the masses figure it out? Then what I can only imagine. I'll be freezing my buns off in NW Nevada. Too dang close to Yellowstone.

 

[Moonshinedave]

I thought about the same thing, and have written about cold weather crops, which may be our only food we could still grow, with the exception of the food we stored.

 

[PaulS]

According to the studies pretty much everything within 4-500 miles will be like living a ground zero in a nuclear attack. No survivors. The plume will grow from that point and cover most of Montana and at least part of Idaho to the west but the rest of the US and Canada will be under 20 - 40 feet of ash all the way to Boston harbor. The relative safety of being out of the direct destruction will last about a year before the whole sky is blackand then the temps start to drop. The only way I can figure to survive is to go underground and use geothermal for heat to survive and have a big root cellar to store food and future generations of seeds for the three year "minimum" before it starts to warm up again - if it doesn't start a new iceage instead.
Relocating to south of the Equator could be a reasonable effort but it is going to take a lot of money to do that.

 

[Chipper]

Neighbor rents my field to plant cash crops, corn this year. He stopped by this morning to check conditions. With the last weeks late snow fall and rain my field is a mud hole. He says if he can't plant by June 1st he can't get crop insurance and has no intention to plant if he can't get the insurance.
Wonder how many others are in the same boat and how that will effect food prices. Plus gas prices because of ethanol.

 

[IngaLisa]

To me Yellowstone Caldera blowing up, is one of those kiss your butt goodbye scenarios. Just like an asteroid. I don't plan for that. I don't feel I can.

 

[Ripon]

Gosh dang it I'm 430 miles from the center of that big ole bugger - just did a google look up on it.

Guess I got dig in.