crimsonlonghorn

This kind of thing is so rare - the last time this happened was 40 years ago - the cost of planning for it, or retrofitting, is way too high relative to the risk. One night in 40 years. That's 1 in 14,600 compared to the A/C running maybe, 7,000 of those nights? I'm not an engineer, but this is a common problem... how much deviation do you plan for relative to your budget? We could make every house gas with a backup propane tank and a backup generator. but it would raise the cost of the house by another $50,000. Is that "worth" it for one night in 40 years? Most people would say "no" and those affected tonight will probably forget about it in a few weeks. And that ignores the added expense of buying all the propane and laying all of the gas lines, etc etc. Utilities do this kind of planning all the time. Someone else mentioned as well that most madd built new construction homes are engineered to last through the 1-3 year warranty period and that's it. They're not going to put more money into a tract home than they have to. And most of the buyers are fine with that because they get granite counter tops and "wood" floors and that new home smell. (Not making a judgment at all, just an economic observation about preferences) The bottom line is that we could seriously prepare for this, but is it really worth the money or could that money be better spent relative to the rarity of the circumstances?

Because the power profile of a hot summer day is different than that of a cold winter night. Electric space heaters are extremely inefficient and draw a shit ton of power. Most people running them at night at probably still using more power than they normally do during the day with all the lights and televisions on. And some houses, even without space heaters, are still running electric forced air heaters, which are still more inefficient than cooling systems. Also, during hot summer days, you have wind and solar providing a lot of capacity in Texas. You have neither during a cold winter night because the sun isn't shining and the turbines can freeze up. So you have extra demand and reduced supply. That adds up to shortages. If these types of nights were more common they'd adjust the system to be able to cope with better, but these types of event are extremely rare so instead of spend the money for something that happens once in 40 years, they just say, "tough it out" and deal with it for the 24-48 hours it lasts and then they get back within the normal bounds they have prepared for. EDIT - quoted the wrong post for response, now fixed

I'll say.

Avery, arithmetic would like a word please. There is no “snow” exception to math.

Same. I’d die if it were that hot in my house.

In the last 30 minutes or so here in Sugar Land the sleet picked up and now everything is coated in a layer of ice. I successfully made it across the glazed pool deck and around the side of the house to flip the pool motors back on for the night, but now I feel guilty for using that electricity.

Centerpoint confirms. Rosenberg and Tomball, too. EDIT: And Sealy.

Crossposted from the Big Green Egg thread. Making smoked chili while waiting for the snow here in Sugar Land. Farm wells have been shut off and drained. Chickens have food and coops are turned out of the north. Sprinkler system here at the house has been drained. Going to shut off and drain the house plumbing tonight before bed. Also plan to turn the pool pump on to run overnight too. Now we just wait and eat chili and drink.

Doing chili today while we wait for the snow. I used to like cooking in the cold and snow when we lived up north. Tomorrow I will do spareribs because why the fuck not if it's a holiday and no work and can't leave the house?

We drove through there going to Colorado over Christmas and had lunch at the "Red Baron Cafe" inside the airport. It was actually very good food. No atmosphere at all and off the beaten path, but definitely worth the extra 10 minutes detour off of 87. Dumas is a lot nicer, imo.

That is indeed pretty douchebaggy. I can understand why they think it's necessary, but it's dumb and not as necessary as they think.

Yeah, rereading now. "T=tight to the ceiling." Not M. My bad.

My regular place in Aliana (Richmond) was booked up yesterday so I went to a different HEB that actually had free slots. HOLY SHIT it was a goddam clusterfuck. Literally 26 spaces and every one was occupied and a line of cars just stopped waiting for someone to back out. The curbside at my regular store is on the side and not in the middle of the main parking lot. At this other place the curbbside spaces are right in the middle of the parking lot, so the wait to get into curbside was backing up traffic in the entire parking lot. But... so glad I got my groceries yesterday instead of today. I bet today is 100x worse.

Wait... Don't you just mean, an "icicle"?

Don't forget that Austin energy also spends a lot of money on really green really green electricity and other initiatives, money that could be spent on cheaper sources of power and the portion saved could then applied towards infrastructure. There is a lot wrong with Austin Energy itself. Don't blame it all on the City Council (although they are the boss, I get it)

You should have asked to get your cut of the grift or you're going to raise hell with the HOA about their incompetent maintenance guy.

This is 7:00 Tuesday morning. Brutal. Single digits in Harris County. Only the extreme southern coastal RGV and far west Texas stay above freezing. Everywhere ranges from damn cold to ridiculously below zero. My kids are excited about the possibility of a snow day on Monday. They'll probably get a snow WEEK due to the disruptions this is going to cause.

I've heard the weather models always struggle with extreme cold in Texas because the average is usually biased to the high side. So when really cold air comes in, they tend to ignore it and come in higher than the actual turns out to be.

Makes sense. Refineries are affected by the cold too. They use electricity and natural gas to run, so their costs are way up, as is the risk of getting shutdown from the weather themselves and the risk that product can't be delivered on the roads in some places to replenish the stations. But another big part is that traders and marketers see the gas an power guys having fun so they want to get in on it, too. LOL

Some - most - of these gas prices for the weekend are simply unreal. EDIT: for point of reference, "Normal" in most of these places is $2-4.

The other component of the power outages is that - get this - wind turbines can freeze up. Doesn't matter if the wind is blowing if the turbines can't move. Same with solar. If it's cloudy and covered with snow, those panels don't work. The central part of the state is very reliant on renewable power coming from the west. If there is no power from the west, the resources in the east have to work that much harder to power East Texas AND Central Texas and there might not be enough to go around. Joe Bastardi was saying in an update last night that it could be like a "statewide hurricane" with all the power outages everywhere. I happen to live pretty near (< 10 miles) the Parish power plant south of Houston, which runs on coal. We probably won't lose power unless some lines fall or something. But the further you are from a reliable fossil generating station, the more likely you are to possibly have issues. It's the same reason Henry Hub NG is trading ~$6 this morning but it's over $100 in the upper plains. The few wells they have up there are all frozen up and there's not enough capacity (or transmission) down here to get more up to them.

Yes, you will still need to drain the pipes in the house after you cut it off. Just run the water in a downstairs sink until it stops. I am debating doing the same thing just to be 100% safe during our 24-36 hour deep freeze coming Monday. Normally, I'd just say to leave some faucets and hose bibs dripping and you'll be fine, but the houses here (Sugar Land) have absolutely NO cold protection and I'm worried that 24+ hours in the 20's is just too cold for all of the pipes in my attic. The other stuff that needs to be done is cutting off and draining the sprinkler system and setting the pool pump to constant on. I will also go out on Sunday and drain the pressure tanks on my two farm wells and turn the pumps off.

"Weapons of War" LOL. Anytime I see that I know that the person saying it has no personal experience with a MSR and instead just thinks they look scary. Same with "assault weapon". The rest of that stuff is the same kind of hyperbole, but I'll say again that the most likely one of these is the ban of online ammo sales, or at the very least home delivery and you have to go to an FFL just like for a gun. My MIL, god bless her, is a rich white liberal lady so she believes all of the nonsense she is told and she thinks it's absolutely horrifying that ammunition can be delivered in the mail.

Some would say that primers are even harder to find than powder.