About 14 years ago there was an ice storm in McAlester, OK that left the place powerless for THREE WEEKS! And this was, of course, in winter.

The railroad that runs through town started buying generators to run the crossing signals. Then people started stealing them.

One guy drove to Dallas and bought five generators. He came back to McAlester and parked by the side of the road. He sold four generators at enough profit to pay for his trip and his generator.

So the next polar vortex everyone should not just buy some generator company stock but some actual generators. If the power goes out they will sell quickly.

AND...... I was traveling through Oklahoma recently after their big ice storm. No hotels for 50 miles in any direction since so many people had lost power and moved into all the rooms.

I had to push on until I had outrun the power outage area.