Weird weather
- Thread starter strawman
- Start date
That is why I said I was sorry for anyone north of here. Morning low this morning was 5. 10 was the forecast.
figmentPez
Staff member
Another cold night for me, but I'm more fortunate than a lot of my friends. My best friend since high school lost power at ~3am Sunday, and just got it back about a half-hour ago. His apartment (with wife, teenage son, and cat) got down to near freezing last night. They still don't have water. A lot of my friends, and the rest of my immediate family in two locations, don't have water.
figmentPez
Staff member
I live it in the part that is run by Louisiana. We get fucked every time they face a power issue. Like this summer I lost power because LA got hit by a hurricane. It was 200-300 miles away from me. But they kept their power on. And we wait at least twice as long to get restored.
Same happened yesterday.
Same happened yesterday.
GasBandit
Staff member
I still haven't lost power. Prevailing theories among my neighbors and relations is that as I am on the same power section as a hospital and fire station, my segment never gets a rolling blackout.
My grandfather on the other side of town has been getting 1 hour of power every 6 hours.
My grandfather on the other side of town has been getting 1 hour of power every 6 hours.
Almost 24 hours of no internet, no cell service for at least 12 hours (since I've been awake today), but at least we never lost power down here
We lost power Monday around 2am or so. Around noon we decided to abandon for my parents house. My brother, his wife and kid did the same today. 7 people 4 dogs and a snake.
Luckily my parents live in a very rich, very white neighborhood so no one has "randomly lost power due to rolling blackouts"
Luckily my parents live in a very rich, very white neighborhood so no one has "randomly lost power due to rolling blackouts"
That's humorous to me, because it was pretty much the same for us. I am in a housing area between a hospital and a fire station. The fire station used to actually be in the same neighborhood as us, literally on the edge, but they recently updated to a new station one block farther south, inside a shopping area. We are also a block away from a hillside with a water tower and the other direction is a railway junction, so we seem to be surrounded by critical infrastructure. We have yet to lose power, thankfully.
My mother was not so lucky. Her power went out early Monday morning before she woke up, was off all day, then only came back online this afternoon.
figmentPez
Staff member
" Of about 70,000 megawatts worth of gas, coal and nuclear plants, as much as 30,000 megawatts has been offline since Sunday night, said Jesse Jenkins, an electricity expert at Princeton University. "
Why A Powerful Winter Storm Caused Blackouts In Texas
More than 10 times as much power shortfall was from the failure of gas, coal, and nuclear plans than from failure of solar (1 GW) or wind (1.5 GW). - source
EDIT: A lot of the numbers I'm finding just don't add up. Forbes says ~25% of Texas electrical power comes from wind, but the EIA says Texas has nearly 30 GW of wind power, and the Texas Comptroller says that Texas has a peak power generation capacity of just over 80 GW. Last I checked, 30 is a lot more than 25% of 80. I'm sure reality is a lot more complicated, because output varies by season, but there's a lot of disparate numbers out there, and a lot of obvious attempts at obfuscation.
And no one is outright saying how much power generation Texas has from fossil fuels. But still, about as much power from fossil fuel and nuclear power went offline as Texas has total wind power. Think about that.
Why A Powerful Winter Storm Caused Blackouts In Texas
More than 10 times as much power shortfall was from the failure of gas, coal, and nuclear plans than from failure of solar (1 GW) or wind (1.5 GW). - source
EDIT: A lot of the numbers I'm finding just don't add up. Forbes says ~25% of Texas electrical power comes from wind, but the EIA says Texas has nearly 30 GW of wind power, and the Texas Comptroller says that Texas has a peak power generation capacity of just over 80 GW. Last I checked, 30 is a lot more than 25% of 80. I'm sure reality is a lot more complicated, because output varies by season, but there's a lot of disparate numbers out there, and a lot of obvious attempts at obfuscation.
And no one is outright saying how much power generation Texas has from fossil fuels. But still, about as much power from fossil fuel and nuclear power went offline as Texas has total wind power. Think about that.
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Parto f the difference in numbers comes from "how much power does Texas produce of each type" vs "how much power does Texas consume from each type". There's a good chance Texas is exporting a bunch of "dirty" energy on one hand and importing a bunch of "clean"energy on the other hand, and such fun. State A produces 100% coal, and State B prodcues 100% green energy. State B sells all their power to State A, and vice versa. A can claim they're green, because they're using 100% green energy! And State B can clai mthey're green, because they're producing 100% green energy. And as long as you don't take a good hard look at both together and such, both are true, and sound good.
GasBandit
Staff member
Also I just remembered last night that I HAVE A GAS FIREPLACE
#brainfart
In my defense, I've never had reason or inclination to use it.
When we lost power in the middle on winter last year we discovered that our fireplace can heat the whole friggin house. It was astounding.
GasBandit
Staff member
Huntsville, the next sizeable town to the east, just got put under a boil water advisory. Much of houston has already been that way since yesterday. I got a feeling B/CS won't be far behind, as they're already worried about low water pressure and are asking people to conserve water for the sake of firefighting.
Glad I stocked up on bottled water at the beginning of the pandemic.
Glad I stocked up on bottled water at the beginning of the pandemic.
The USA really can't choose between "wealthiest and most decadent place on earth" and "this world country", can it? Or "daring frontier life" vs "weak city living" I suppose.
Anyway, over the past week we had our biggest cold snap in over a decade (admittedly, of course, not as bad or as rare as Texas), and, erm, hmmm I think my TV went out for half an hour somewhere in an afternoon as they were replacing a cable that was at risk?
Common sense precautions are common sense. It's okay that houses in the desert aren't designed for frost and I assume most houses in northern Canada aren't designed for weeks of sweltering heat, but I would expect a house in the desert to still be able to keep people warm inside and a house in Canada to still be able to provide relief from the heat. My house isn't in earthquake territory, but it'll still withstand a 5 on Richter. It obviously isn't built to withstand a 9, but still.
Anyway, over the past week we had our biggest cold snap in over a decade (admittedly, of course, not as bad or as rare as Texas), and, erm, hmmm I think my TV went out for half an hour somewhere in an afternoon as they were replacing a cable that was at risk?
Common sense precautions are common sense. It's okay that houses in the desert aren't designed for frost and I assume most houses in northern Canada aren't designed for weeks of sweltering heat, but I would expect a house in the desert to still be able to keep people warm inside and a house in Canada to still be able to provide relief from the heat. My house isn't in earthquake territory, but it'll still withstand a 5 on Richter. It obviously isn't built to withstand a 9, but still.
To be clear : I'm not saying everyone in Texas should have been prepared for a long deep freeze. Obviously not.
But some of the things I'm seeing and hearing is not being prepared for one day of freezing, and that's just stupid.
Especially essential infrastructure, like power plants, should always be built to withstand far, far more extreme conditions and disasters than are likely or probable.
But some of the things I'm seeing and hearing is not being prepared for one day of freezing, and that's just stupid.
Especially essential infrastructure, like power plants, should always be built to withstand far, far more extreme conditions and disasters than are likely or probable.
What I don't get is the fact cold snaps are not exactly an anomaly here in Texas. I mean, yes, we are not stuck in weeks of winter weather or anything (usually), but back when I moved here we often had at least two super icy "cold snap" days a year, enough to close roads and schools. We even have signs on the highways that warn of bridges icing over in cold weather.
For clarity, we have been a lot hotter during the winter the last three years, but again, that just means we were going to have one hell of a cold snap somewhere down the road, and oh, look, it finally happened.
Considering our power grid isn't connected to the rest of the US, we really should have put in the money to weatherize for all circumstances, even ones that don't happen often. Instead we decided to go cheap and our entire system farted to almost a halt, whether paying the extra few dollars to allow our wind turbines to work in freezing temperatures, to insulating our natural gas plants, we are paying for it all now with peoples lives.
figmentPez
Staff member
This photo is from Feb 15th
From last night:
Boil water? hell there is not any coming from my taps. I hope it comes back on before tomorrow night because it is going to get cold again.
Hopefully you have some backup water, but if you don't, remember you have a lot piled up outside. You just have to let it thaw first.
I've been catching melt water off my roof so I can flush my toilet.Hopefully you have some backup water, but if you don't, remember you have a lot piled up outside. You just have to let it thaw first.
figmentPez
Staff member
This thread of examples of burst pipes and other cold-related problems is heartbreaking. Spoilered because you don't want to watch this if you're not prepared for a downer.
I had a talk with my kids about how lucky we have been that our power has stayed on. Even with us running the water we have so many garage and attic pipes that without the radiant heat from the house they likely would have frozen and broke. I know there is still a chance our external pipes that run the outdoor faucets may have popped, and we just won't know until we thaw, but repairing an outdoor pipe is less destructive then one that is literally over our heads. Honestly, if the power went off, I likely would have just turned off all water to the house and drained all the pipes before the house dropped below freezing. Living a few days on our reserve water is much better then dealing with the aftermath of broken pipes.
figmentPez
Staff member
figmentPez
Staff member
Every time we get a major storm in Texas, I hear "It's a once in a century storm, there's no way we could be prepared." I've heard that at least a half-dozen times in the 28 years I've lived in Texas. Three different floods have been "once in a century" (or more), at least two cold weather events, as well as hurricanes that didn't cause flooding. If "once in a century" storms happen with such regularity, then the electrical grid and other utilities should be ready for them.
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I’ve heard it many times also, but the last time I remember it being like this was before you lived in Texas. 1983. Had snow on the ground for about a week, sub-freezing temps for almost that whole time. I take most weather people with a grain of salt, when it’s a bad storm they want to try to grab people’s attention and they start tossing around “once in a lifetime” and “hundred year event” like they’re going out of date and have to be used before the expiration date.
I think this is just the climate rebelling against TX's attempt to put it through conversion therapy.
--Patrickl