Joyce Copeland still remembers the last time a snowstorm knocked out her electricity.

&uot;We went without power and heat for seven long days,&uot; said the Carrsville woman, who was in Lowe’s Thursday morning buying a kerosene heater and rock salt. &uot;It was not an experience I want to repeat.&uot;

But with forecasters predicting that Suffolk area was likely to receive up to eight inches of snow overnight, Copeland said she intends to be prepared for the worst.

&uot;It’s been a while since we had a really bad ice and snow storm and we usually have one every 10 years,&uot; she said. &uot;It’s about time for a good one.&uot;

Apparently, people across the city shared Copeland’s sentiments.

Several local merchants said people packed their stores Thursday, clearing shelves of bad weather-related items: batteries, snow shovels, heaters, kerosene, rock salt – and groceries.

Like Copeland, Zuni farmer David Petersen has experienced his electricity being out for several days.

&uot;Ice has killed the electric lines where I’m at before,&uot; he said. &uot;I still haven’t forgotten.

&uot;I hope we don’t need all this but I’m glad knowing its there if I do,&uot; he added, gesturing to his cart filled with rock salt, a heater and a snow shovel. &uot;I’m ready this time.&uot;

Charlie Nichols, a native New Yorker and Lowe’s employee, said ice-removal products have been selling steadily all morning.

His business experienced similar sales on Thursday, said Brooke Pruden, owner of Pruden’s Hardware on Carolina Road.

&uot;We’ve sold a couple of space heaters today,&uot; Pruden said. &uot;But they have bought us out of sleds.&uot;