2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on

[justhookit 4180]

We look to be getting the last band of snow right now down here in Pprt A. We got maybe 1/10 inch freezing rain and then maybe 1/2 inch of snow. Streets are white and iced over. Nothing will be open tomorrow and we don’t even have an HEB.

[NorthLoop 14093]

2 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Logical people:  Turn your thermostats down, stop doing shit with your laundry/stove/whatever in the hopes that it also helps keep your place warm.

Austinites:  FUCK WE BETTER CRANK THE HEAT WAY UP IN CASE WE LOSE POWER, SO IT'LL BUY US SOME TIME WHILE WE WAIT FOR THE POWER TO COME BACK!

to be fair, change "Austinites" to "Americans" ... we are a selfish society. The thing is... now that we know about the ERCOT thing... is it really bad to turn up your heat when almost everyone else won't because they're already asleep? 

[Halohal 498]

[Radical Larry 28529]

My thermostat is at 68.

[atomheartbevo 89449]

 

[atomheartbevo 89449]

 

[atomheartbevo 89449]

 

[NorthLoop 14093]

1 minute ago, Radical Larry said:

My thermostat is at 68.

[Somnio 751]

Here in 78744 it has certainly surpassed the snowfall from a few weeks back which was already impressive by Austin standards.

It looks like 6" already, and is still coming down.

Freaking awesome, except for the frozen pipes and rolling blackouts...

[washparkhorn 9935]

Stay safe Texas.

For the less prepared (not any of you):

Spoiler

 

Get the gloves/hats/blankets/sleeping bags and layer your clothes. 

Feet with boots inside and out (to protect from cold) and thick socks.

Gloves on outside always and inside when idle.

Hat always on. You lose a lot of heat. through your head. Use that hat like a Fremen using a Stillsuit on Dune.

Hot chocolate, hot food, hydrate. 

Good luck.

 

 

[mchookem 16224]

speaking of rolling blackouts - are those a thing right now?

just lost power for about 15 mins, back on - was that what that was? (central austin)

we've got a gas fireplace...basically will just camp out in the living room regardless - big picture window to the front street through which to watch developments in wonderment, landscape of unmarred bright white at the moment.

it occurred to me earlier this evening, this is yet another in the longest consecutive list of 'firsts' we have encountered in the last 12 months...

i mean, it's kind of been a lot guys.  

Edited February 15, 2021 by mchookem

[Updawg 2261]

I just turned mine down to 68. Wife will be bitching in the morning.

[NorthLoop 14093]

2 minutes ago, Somnio said:

Here in 78744 it has certainly surpassed the snowfall from a few weeks back which was already impressive by Austin standards.

It looks like 6" already, and is still coming down.

Freaking awesome, except for the frozen pipes and rolling blackouts...

Pretty sure the snowfall doesn't really affect the frozen pipes and blackouts as much as the whack ass temperature. 

[justhookit 4180]

My north facing deck iced over about 8 tonight but now my south facing deck is not navigable. I didn’t sign up for this.

[NorthLoop 14093]

1 minute ago, mchookem said:

speaking of rolling blackouts - are those a thing right now?

just lost power for about 15 mins, back on - was that what that was? (central austin)

probably

[atomheartbevo 89449]

1 hour ago, Updawg said:

Pipes and power are the problem.

This is what I miss about our place up north - it had a full-length basement - bathroom, small bedroom, office, shit-ton of storage, large game room, furnace room.

All of the pipes and power were all accessible.  The basement actually stuck out of the ground like a foot and a half or so (so the first/top floor was raised), and there were windows/window wells along one side.  We'd put these bubble covers over the window wells when it started snowing.  We could turn off the water to the outside faucets from inside the basement, and drain them from the turnoff to the outside faucet.

Shitload of room for us kids to not be in each other's hair. 

And it was built really well.  Well insulated and everything.

But it was really fucking cold for 7 months out of the year.  So don't miss that.   I could handle New England cold, but not that fucking prairie shit blowing sub-zero temperatures right off of Canada/Montana cold.

[NorthLoop 14093]

1 minute ago, washparkhorn said:

Stay safe Texas.

For the less prepared (not any of you):

  Hide contents

 

Get the gloves/hats/blankets/sleeping bags and layer your clothes. 

Feet with boots inside and out (to protect from cold) and thick socks.

Gloves on outside always and inside when idle.

Hat always on. You lose a lot of heat. through your head. Use that hat like a Fremen using a Stillsuit on Dune.

Hot chocolate, hot food, hydrate. 

Good luck.

 

 

My wife hates beanies. It's a thing. Dunno why. When we moved in together I probably owned 4. Today I dug out the last one and was like "HAHA I found the last one you didn't throw away." 

I got tone. 

[Somnio 751]

1 minute ago, atomheartbevo said:

This is what I miss about our place up north - it had a full-length basement - bathroom, small bedroom, office, shit-ton of storage, large game room, furnace room.

All of the pipes and power were all accessible.  The basement actually stuck out of the ground like a foot and a half or so (so the first/top floor was raised), and there were windows/window wells along one side.  We'd put these bubble covers over the window wells when it started snowing.  We could turn off the water to the outside faucets from inside the basement, and drain them from the turnoff to the outside faucet.

Shitload of room for us kids to not be in each other's hair. 

And it was built really well.  Well insulated and everything.

Lot's of homes like this in the St. Louis area.  A friends family had their basement finished out like an efficiency apartment.  Very cool.

[atomheartbevo 89449]

13 minutes ago, Somnio said:

Damn, it's not warming up much for a while either.  Crazy for Central Texas.

 

This gives me a little hope - Weather.com says this is the coldest it's going to be right now.  

We've been in the teens since yesterday evening, and now we've hopefully bottomed out.

[Gourmand 7774]

Our power in Round Rock by Dell Diamond just went out.

[SimonBolivar 10932]

35 minutes ago, LABEVO said:

Fuck. None of my hot water works. 

 

How fucked am I 

Hello brother luckily at least my power just turned back on.

[atomheartbevo 89449]

17 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

to be fair, change "Austinites" to "Americans" ... we are a selfish society. The thing is... now that we know about the ERCOT thing... is it really bad to turn up your heat when almost everyone else won't because they're already asleep? 

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

Daughter, fat little rescue chihuahua, and me are in an uninsulated cabin on the lower San Bernard down by Sweeny in southern Brazoria County. It's 21 and the wind is whipping through blowing ice crystals. There's a crust of mixed ice and sleet on the ground about 1/4" deep. We have a decrepit window unit heater, a $20 space heater from HEB, a 1960s space heater on the screened in porch to protect the laundry room pipes, and a stove I've cranked up to 400 degrees and left slightly open. All good so far. We are one fallen tree branch from the Shackelton Expedition, however. 

[hornfan785 554]

So, we took a trip to Galveston for the weekend and left the inside faucets slowly dripping, but just used those styrofoam covers for the 2 outside faucets, no drip. We were planning on driving back to Austin tomorrow (Monday), but I'm starting to plan on staying here another day in hope that the roads get a bit better by Tuesday.

Really hoping that I don't return home to a flooded house or something like that. It's a new construction and just moved in last July. Stressing me the hell out.

[Constant 6722]

Wife texted power is out in Midlothian. Part of the blackouts, i’m sure. 
 

It is cold as fuck outside. 

[gsoda3 3236]

Pocket beer is a thing. It works. Try it.
I am a gd hero with the heaters. People give you shit for having heaters for your deer blind but when the world is ending and your family needs to be warm, they fucking work. We might survive this.

I've been inside a deer stand for 4 hours starting predawn when it was 11 degrees. Would've killed for feet warmers more than anything else.

This gives me a little hope - Weather.com says this is the coldest it's going to be right now.  
We've been in the teens since yesterday evening, and now we've hopefully bottomed out.

It's going to be even colder tmw night going into Tuesday morning.

[F250 28691]

9 minutes ago, Updawg said:

I just turned mine down to 68. Wife will be bitching in the morning.

I was surprised to see that they are asking people to lower the thermostat to 68. I keep mine at 66 anything higher and the air gets too fucking hot.

What kind of animals run their heater over 68?

[Hate 20103]

We were just talking about the rolling blackouts and we lost power. Hopefully it’s only for an hour or so.

[gsoda3 3236]

Snow is piling up at our front door. Last I checked an hour ago it was an inch above the bottom of the door. Glad it's so powdery otherwise we'd have problems getting out tmw.

[F250 28691]

4 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

Daughter, fat little rescue chihuahua, and me are in an uninsulated cabin on the lower San Bernard down by Sweeny in southern Brazoria County. It's 21 and the wind is whipping through blowing ice crystals. There's a crust of mixed ice and sleet on the ground about 1/4" deep. We have a decrepit window unit heater, a $20 space heater from HEB, a 1960s space heater on the screened in porch to protect the laundry room pipes, and a stove I've cranked up to 400 degrees and left slightly open. All good so far. We are one fallen tree branch from the Shackelton Expedition, however. 

[justhookit 4180]

It’s snowing again in Port A and wind chill is 6. Actual temp of 22. Never seen that here in 16 years - obviously - but this is fucked. Pretty much every house here is pier and beam. 30 more hours of below freezing to go.

[bolverk 29402]

My power has been out for about 15 minutes now. Since then, I've received 2 text messages about the rolling blackouts, saying they typically last between 15 and 45 minutes based on need.

[bolverk 29402]

Are y'all getting the same anonymous PSA texts?

[4th_and_18 687]

Are y'all getting the same anonymous PSA texts?

Yep. It’s the 911 reverse system.

[J-Mart 60]

Power went out about 30 minutes ago in 78702, neighborhood just east of the Erwin Center. 

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

2 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Are y'all getting the same anonymous PSA texts?

No but FB is full of rolling blackout bulletins

 

[J-Mart 60]

Haven’t received the courtesy of a PSA. 

[gsoda3 3236]

Are y'all getting the same anonymous PSA texts?

Yes. Got two in english and one in espanol.

[NorthLoop 14093]

My internet just went out but power is fine.  Provider must've been hit with a blackout 

[atomheartbevo 89449]

7 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

It's going to be even colder tmw night going into Tuesday morning.

Not by much - I'm seeing we will drop another degree or two over the next few hours.  If we can make it through this and into the morning (go sunshine!), it will warm up rapidly into the 20s, and we should be fine for tomorrow night (even if it hits the teens, it won't be as bad as now) - hell Tuesday is showing us getting above freezing.

But I will still probably join #TeamStream, soon to be #TeamFlow, tomorrow evening.

I'm hating these forecasts though. 

And I've totally given up on Dark Sky.  It was my go-to for so long.

[atomheartbevo 89449]

3 minutes ago, J-Mart said:

Haven’t received the courtesy of a PSA. 

What about a reacharound?

[bolverk 29402]

3 minutes ago, 4th_and_18 said:

Yep. It’s the 911 reverse system.

Thanks. I'm kind of curious if they're sophisticated enough to coordinate the texts with the actual areas experiencing blackouts.

[Halohal 498]

Garbage day is today. Doubtful they'll swing on by. Mail hasn't been picked up since Friday. Doubtful they stuff more bills. 

[shadetree 66]

30 minute rolling blackout in Allen. Power just kicked back on.

[Halohal 498]

Late but I'll allow it...

 

 

[F250 28691]

3 minutes ago, Halohal said:

Mail hasn't been picked up since Friday.

[atomheartbevo 89449]

3 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Thanks. I'm kind of curious if they're sophisticated enough to coordinate the texts with the actual areas experiencing blackouts.

They probably are.  Otherwise a shitload of us would be getting the texts but no blackouts - I have friends who have had them in Austin, and some are fairly close, but we did not get the warning.

[miguelito 11220]

I have very little water pressure inside the house.  I'm on a well, and have a cistern. 

What's fucked?

[atomheartbevo 89449]

Earlier this evening.....

 

[atomheartbevo 89449]

Just now, miguelito said:

I have very little water pressure inside the house.  I'm on a well, and have a cistern. 

What's fucked?

Ask your wife how deep the pipe was laid.