It’s So Effing Cold

[ЭPiKUilyam]

This is insane. Dozens of my friends here in Houston have been without power for three days. I've never lost power. I have my heat cranked up to over 80 degrees in case it finally goes out, and I am uncomfortably hot and have to go outside to cool down. I'd post it on FB but then I'd be the most hated person in Houston.

 

[Vash01]

This is insane. Dozens of my friends here in Houston have been without power for three days. I've never lost power. I have my heat cranked up to over 80 degrees in case it finally goes out, and I am uncomfortably hot and have to go outside to cool down. I'd post it on FB but then I'd be the most hated person in Houston.

You have just given a new meaning to “Stay warm” LOL

 

[Vash01]

In all my almost 50 years, the coldest place I have EVER experienced in the US was Cleveland. In fact it was Cleveland Nationals in 2000, and I'd hail a cab from my hotel to the sports center which was only like four blocks away, but I'd tell the driver to drive me around for ten minutes until I warmed enough to get out and be prepared for the cold arena! Was that winter exceptionally cold for Cleveland, Tony? I've been to Chicago many times in January and there was never that bone chilling, instant-freezing feeling. I grew up on the east coast and would ride my bike to school in -10 weather and think nothing of it. But now being in Houston for 30+ years I am much more sensitive to freezing temps like you are.

I have been to Alaska in winter and waited outside to watch the northern lights. However the coldest place I remember is Chicago with a wind chill of 58 below zero. I could not feel my feet when I tried to go for a walk. Now in Arizona even 58 over zero feels like freezing temperature.

Going back to the topic, I am sure the people living in south part of Texas are not used to dealing with snow, cold, and power outages. The last one has to be the toughest. The pictures shown on tv are heartbreaking - people wrapped in blankets, at food banks, melting ice to get water, no heat, no food.

Can someone living in Texas Right now suggest local volunteer organizations that are helping there right now? Not big organizations like Red Cross. Small, local ones.

I googled and found a couple of organizations in Austin. Couldn’t find anything in Dallas or Houston.

I made a small donation to one organization in Austin.

 

[Vash01]

My cousin and his wife live in Chicago. They flew to Austin last Saturday to visit their daughter. The weather was ok then. Today I sent him a txt to see how they were coping. He wrote they have rotating blackouts for 90 seconds after every 3 hours of full power, but downtown Austin has been without power for two days.

Sadly the poor always get the brunt of any disaster.

 

[mjb52]

Downtown Austin isn't where people struggling economically live really, at least not traditionally.

 

[ЭPiKUilyam]

You have just given a new meaning to “Stay warm” LOL

I know, right? hehe. I'm lying here in bed sweating and can't sleep because I'm so hot. I'm not really complaining, I'd rather it be this way than freezing with no ability to warm up. I am without water (pipe broke) and am brushing my teeth with Pellegrino. Bizarre.

 

[Vash01]

I know, right? hehe. I'm lying here in bed sweating and can't sleep because I'm so hot. I'm not really complaining, I'd rather it be this way than freezing with no ability to warm up. I am without water (pipe broke) and am brushing my teeth with Pellegrino. Bizarre.

Sorry to hear that. I hope you have some bottled water.

 

[Vash01]

Downtown Austin isn't where people struggling economically live really, at least not traditionally.

I don’t remember. It’s been decades since I left Austin.

 

[ЭPiKUilyam]

I don’t remember. It’s been decades since I left Austin.

Austin is so expensive now. Real estate is insane all over, even the 'ghetto' just east of downtown across I-35. You wouldn't even recognize it now, it has grown so much. The small town vibe is over and traffic sucks. DH has property on one of the lakes and he always planned to retire and build his dream home there but he detests it now. He's just holding on to the property because it's only increasing in value exponentially. You might not like the new Austin. I don't.

 

[once_upon]

Perspective on why Texas is ill prepared for extremes in temperatures.

Perspective | Texas seceded from the nation’s power grid. Now it’s paying the price.
By Julie A. Cohn

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/02/17/texas-power-winter-storm/

 

[taf2002]

The problem in Texas is that years ago money was supposed to be used to beef up the grid for this very reason. IIRC it was a bond issue. Where the money went is a question for (Republican) Greg Abbott & his cronies. Where some of it was spent is in the alley behind my house. We lost power during a really hot snap during the summer. I recalled last night that a ground mounted transformer was put in which is probably why I have power.

ETA: BTW even with this situation I doubt if the majority of Texans want us to join the national grid. We just want our money to make our system to work like promised.

 

[Judy]

I have been to Alaska in winter and waited outside to watch the northern lights. However the coldest place I remember is Chicago with a wind chill of 58 below zero. I could not feel my feet when I tried to go for a walk. Now in Arizona even 58 over zero feels like freezing temperature.

Going back to the topic, I am sure the people living in south part of Texas are not used to dealing with snow, cold, and power outages. The last one has to be the toughest. The pictures shown on tv are heartbreaking - people wrapped in blankets, at food banks, melting ice to get water, no heat, no food.

Can someone living in Texas Right now suggest local volunteer organizations that are helping there right now? Not big organizations like Red Cross. Small, local ones.

I googled and found a couple of organizations in Austin. Couldn’t find anything in Dallas or Houston.

I made a small donation to one organization in Austin.

I’ve never experienced -58 wind chill. -40 is bad enough. It would be brutal.

 

[skategal]

The temperature variation is hard to take here.

Tuesday was well above freezing even going up to 7C, yesterday was a seasonal -1C, and this morning is a freezing -14C which is about the coldest it ever gets here.

Friday we are getting a bunch of snow which means it will warm up again to allow that to happen.

My heart goes out to those affected by the storm in the USA.

 

[Aceon6]

Southerners rarely experience power outages in the winter, and rarely have cold weather lasting more than 3 days, so I’m not shocked at the lack of preparation. It’s like expecting the Northeast to be prepared for a tsunami. Technically, it could happen, but it’s not something we think about. We‘re really good at winter power outages, though.

 

[taf2002]

The prediction was that this area was supposed to get electrical service today but now they are saying maybe Friday. The DFW area has reported 18 deaths from cold. We didn't get any new snow or rain last night as expected but Dallas got a little which refroze all the freeways. There are stranded cars, multiple wrecks, & burst water pipes all over the place in both cities. We need a thaw but it's not expected to get above freezing until Saturday.

 

[SpeedySucks]

This is insane. Dozens of my friends here in Houston have been without power for three days. I've never lost power. I have my heat cranked up to over 80 degrees in case it finally goes out, and I am uncomfortably hot and have to go outside to cool down. I'd post it on FB but then I'd be the most hated person in Houston.

This is unbelievably selfish and dangerous. There are people in Texas who are literally dying because they don’t have electricity and therefore are either freezing or don’t have access to critical devices they need for their health. People turning their heat up to 80 is partly why the grid is failing. No one should have their heat set that high.

 

[katmari]

World Central Kitchen, the organization founded by Chef Jose Andres has been serving meals in different parts of Texas:

This are some of the sites @WCKitchen team has been feeding; tomorrow we will update more sites and a map of other cities like Dallas, San Antonio, Austin etc were we have active teams already...many other grass root organizations etc helping too! Proud of all of them.. #ChefsForTexas

map

 

[taf2002]

This is unbelievably selfish and dangerous. There are people in Texas who are literally dying because they don’t have electricity and therefore are either freezing or don’t have access to critical devices they need for their health. People turning their heat up to 80 is partly why the grid is failing. No one should have their heat set that high.

Or brag about it. We've been living in the partial dark, using as little electricity as possible. I really need to wash clothes but won't until everyone has power. Since I'm living in layers, the outer layer can be the dirty clothes.

 

[skategal]

When I was young, we had a huge ice storm that knocked the power out for 3-4 days.

It was brutal and we are used to dealing with power outages and harsh winter weather.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Not El Paso and the rest of the 10% of Texas that isn't part of ERCOT:

Electricity primer: Not being connected to rest of Texas helped El Paso in cold wave

El Paso Electric upgraded winterization of power plants after the 2011 freeze-induced power outages.

www.elpasotimes.com

 

[Simone411]

As of yesterday around 4p.m. our city was without water. Several city water lines busted because of the freezing temperatures. Because of that, all the residents including me lost water pressure, and without water pressure, there is no water coming out of the faucets and we can't even flush our commodes. The city workers are already out working on the water lines.

My city never lost power, and I'm thankful for that. Cleco has done an awesome job on maintaining the power grids and have reported we're in no danger as of losing power. That is for now.

My cousin is an alderman in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He reported on Facebook that the city workers are working on busted water lines there, and hopefully, they'll have water soon.

This is the problem the majority of cities in the southwestern, southcentral and southeastern states are having. This is the first time in a generation that this type of problem has occurred. We've never experienced below freezing temperatures for several days (around a week now) and none of our states were prepared for it. It's a very rare occurrence, and I know the state of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi have declared a state of emergency.

The hurricanes were bad enough, and that began in 2005 with Rita for my parish. My town had never received 85 MPH winds before. In other words, a category 1 hurricane had never reached that far into northwestern Louisiana. With the last one during the summer (I believe it was Hurricane Laura) we had 65 MPH winds and it caused the shingles on the back of my home to blow off the roof.

So now, we've had our first arctic weather, an unnatural occurrence, and we weren't prepared for it. The high today will reach 34F, but there will be a low tonight of 19F and 14F tomorrow night. The high for tomorrow will be 42F, the 50's for the next three days and finally a high of 67F Wednesday of next week and a high of 71F for next Thursday. Talk about weird a$$ weather! If this isn't a sign of climate change, I don't know what is.

 

[BittyBug]

If this isn't a sign of climate change, I don't know what is.

That's exactly right. The poles are heating up faster than the rest of the earth and that is causing our highly erratic, extreme and violent weather. Right now there is a warm air mass on top of the polar vortex which is warming it up, and when it warms it loosens, so rather than stay compact and tight over the Arctic, it's slipping down and the jet stream isn't strong enough to contain it.

But rest assured that idiots and climate deniers who are in the pocket of fossil fuel companies like Jim Inhofe will point to the extreme cold to say there's no global warming. Emphasis on idiots.

 

[Judy]

My heart is with all of you in Texas. It reminds me of the Ice storm in Canada. I lived downtown but the outlying areas in Ottawa for eg went through a horrible ordeal. My lights flickered once but that was it.

January 1998 North American ice storm - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[skategal]

Southerners rarely experience power outages in the winter, and rarely have cold weather lasting more than 3 days, so I’m not shocked at the lack of preparation. It’s like expecting the Northeast to be prepared for a tsunami. Technically, it could happen, but it’s not something we think about. We‘re really good at winter power outages, though.

In case you are interested in some history, the Newfoundland tsunami of 1929.

https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/tsunami-1929.php

A super rare occurrence.

 

[Judy]

My heart is with all of you in Texas. It reminds me of the Ice storm in Canada. I lived downtown but the outlying areas in Ottawa for eg went through a horrible ordeal. My lights flickered once but that was it.

January 1998 North American ice storm - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I know

Or brag about it. We've been living in the partial dark, using as little electricity as possible. I really need to wash clothes but won't until everyone has power. Since I'm living in layers, the outer layer can be the dirty clothes.

I really feel for you. I can only make a donation but I wish I could send you warm coats and clothing. Texas really, really, shouldn’t be getting this. ?

 

[ЭPiKUilyam]

This is unbelievably selfish and dangerous. There are people in Texas who are literally dying because they don’t have electricity and therefore are either freezing or don’t have access to critical devices they need for their health. People turning their heat up to 80 is partly why the grid is failing. No one should have their heat set that high.

It's back down to 68/70 overnight. I just didn't want the power to go out at night and then freeze in my house because I had only kept it at 70 and had no reserve heat to sustain me. I am assuming you are also dealing with this power outage? Or are you just some obnoxious know it all with strong opinions who feels superior typing away from your soap box in a comfortably warm home? Give me a break. So zip it. I don't want or need your expert advice or scolding. Mmkay? Thx.

And whoever it was (I don't feel the need to scroll up and waste my energy), I was not "bragging". I am very sorry you are experiencing this. I will cut you some slack for being oversensitive and irritable. Everyone is here, including me.

 

[Aceon6]

For those who do get intermittent power and haven't lost water service, keeping a large pot of water heating on the stove will improve the humidity level and make it feel a bit warmer. And my 1950s side remembers heating bricks in the oven to place at the foot of the bed. My grandmother had a wood stove, so we never had to do without when the power went out which was every freaking storm back in those days.

 

[taf2002]

It's back down to 68/70 overnight. I just didn't want the power to go out at night and then freeze in my house because I only kept it at 70 and had no reserve heat to sustain me. I am assuming you are also dealing with this power outage? Or are you just some obnoxious know it all with strong opinions who feels superior typing away from your soap box in a comfortably warm home? Give me a break. So zip it. I don't want or need your expert advice or scolding. Mmkay? Thx.

If your power goes out at night you will probably still be warm with blankets on you. This know-it-all has strong opinions that you were the obnoxious one who bragged about your thermostat set at 80 while others froze. Have a little humanity please.

 

[Aceon6]

For those experiencing this for the first time, with average insulation, the temp in the core of your house is unlikely to drop below freezing. What will freeze is your water inlet and any pipes running through outside walls of your house. The inlet is most likely to freeze at the junction point where the water line comes in. If you can keep that area warm, it helps.

 

[Judy]

It's back down to 68/70 overnight. I just didn't want the power to go out at night and then freeze in my house because I had only kept it at 70 and had no reserve heat to sustain me. I am assuming you are also dealing with this power outage? Or are you just some obnoxious know it all with strong opinions who feels superior typing away from your soap box in a comfortably warm home? Give me a break. So zip it. I don't want or need your expert advice or scolding. Mmkay? Thx.

And whoever it was (I don't feel the need to scroll up and waste my energy), I was not "bragging". I am very sorry you are experiencing this. I will cut you some slack for being oversensitive and irritable. Everyone is here, including me.

If your power goes out at night you will probably still be warm with blankets on you. This know-it-all has strong opinions that you were the obnoxious one who bragged about your thermostat set at 80 while others froze. Have a little humanity please.

Where are you in Texas?