2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on

[4th&Five 41525]

Every smoke alarm in my house just went off. This needs to fucking end!

[Francisco 2.0 32389]

4 minutes ago, Message Board User said:

Mr Scott!

 

 

[texhorn 351]

Looks like from the ercot graph something just came online. 

Not seeing it on the ERCOT app, my capacity line basically looks horizontal since midnight

[Shaddie 1651]

49 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

31 hours straight. I’m into laughing so I don’t kill someone territory. 

Jail probably has heat. 

[Biff Tannen 45674]

5 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

Every smoke alarm in my house just went off. This needs to fucking end!

Man fuck that noise.

[Hpara759 1778]

Just now, Shaddie said:

Jail probably has heat. 

sure it does...its close to the Governor's house

[Post Oak 20210]

Ok, Quick question, can I burn old cedar fence pickets in my fireplace.  Like 10 year old fence posts.

 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

Just got our power back after 20 min. We’re on rolling black outs until further notice.

[Pancho 44757]

After nearly 31 hours with nothing, I finally have power in 77044.  Not sure for how long.  We shall see. 

[DaysOff 7947]

Ok, Quick question, can I burn old cedar fence pickets in my fireplace.  Like 10 year old fence posts.
 

I would not do that in the house.

[Radical Larry 28584]

My “rotating blackout” is at 32 hours. Power should be back any minute now.

[phdhorn 6224]

I have this wonderful feeling that I'll be one of the last to get back on today or tomorrow, since I was one of the last to go off early this morning. On my 10th hour now.

if anyone ever says to me in the near future "rolling blackout," I will punch their teeth out and then piss on their knocked out teeth, laughing hysterically.

[Grade of D as in David 13253]

13 minutes ago, texhorn said:

Not seeing it on the ERCOT app, my capacity line basically looks horizontal since midnight

I think he was referring to the future capacity line which jumps about 5000 MW. Except that the forecast line keeps getting pushed back. Meanwhile, the demand keeps falling, now under 44000 MW.

My guess is they are still shedding load and the capacity bump is nothing more than a hope at this point.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Grade of D as in David

[vicerous 169]

34 hours with no juice. Pipes seem to have made it and the house is well insulated. All said it could be much worse but fuck PEC for this

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

[Telegraph_it 3357]

Power is back in 77389. That was a nice 33 hour rolling blackout. 
 

Still no water but I prefer my heaters heating the house. 

[Parliament 14255]

Just got our power back after 20 min. We’re on rolling black outs until further notice.

If you wanna come north and stay with us, you're welcome to do so. You can stay as long as you want so long as you're...openminded...about trying new things.

And bring whatever drugs you have.

[BrickHorn 18218]

Anyone know if it’s safe to use a propane camping stove indoors?

[wildcat09 29349]

1 minute ago, Parliament said:

19 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Just got our power back after 20 min. We’re on rolling black outs until further notice.

If you wanna come north and stay with us, you're welcome to do so. You can stay as long as you want so long as you're...openminded.

I hope you mean so long as he sacrifices you to the god of winter as penance for your thread title.

[Pancho 44757]

So...who we suing? Agbott?

[Errestaurants 2570]

4 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

Anyone know if it’s safe to use a propane camping stove indoors?

Yea as long as you have a window open

[GhostOfTomJoad 9324]

Our friend is the executive chef at the Driskill. He's stayed on site the last 2 nights because it was too risky for him to drive back up to CP. It's just him and one other cook in the kitchen. They had a borderline record day for breakfast yesterday. Last night they had 400 rooms filled, the most since COVID hit. They're running out of supplies at a rapid pace.

[Errestaurants 2570]

1 minute ago, Pancho said:

So...who we suing? Agbott?

No. Per this morning we are going down to Austin and pushing him out into the snow. 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

If you wanna come north and stay with us, you're welcome to do so. You can stay as long as you want so long as you're...openminded...about trying new things.

And bring whatever drugs you have.

Our blackout lasted 20 min. But I’m certain it’ll be all night and day. We have power back at work again.

Gonna crank the heat at home

[Trey3216 15346]

Well the weatherman’s predicting

a cold ass winter storm. 
 

and we all went to work that day to a cold February morn. 
 

and then the front blew in, everyone was runnin round.  
 

the temperature kept droppin and the snow came fallin down.  
 

power’s in demand , you see.

cause these are desperate times.  

[Pancho 44757]

7 minutes ago, Errestaurants said:

No. Per this morning we are going down to Austin and pushing him out into the snow. 

[Jiggy-Z 3432]

58 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Well, it’s ranging from 39-41 inside the house. Rough nights sleep in front of the fire, lots of blankets. Animals even got under the covers. They never do that. They are cold and miserable.

My daughters fish tanks some stairs died. All of em. She’s gonna be sad. Well tell her later.

We can’t keep this up. We’re going to shut down here. Turn off the water, drain all the pipes. Putting frozen jugs of water in the fridge to keep things cool.

If my old 4x4 will make It up the hill, we’re heading to my parents. They still have power, and their gad fireplaces actually can keep their house warm even if they lose it.

This is beyond bad. People are going to die. I have a long rant about our profit first, profit only deregulated market, and what it has now cost us, but I’ll save that for later.

For now, this is a life safety event. I’m worried about people and pets making it through the week. You need to start thinking in those terms. Do what you can to protect your property, but things can be replaced. Lives can’t. And with freezing rain coming, you’re going to be stuck wherever you are. So make it someplace you can survive.

Good luck. Going to start shutting things down. I’ll check back in later.

Hope you didn't run out of peanut butter.

[phdhorn 6224]

Current Austin energy outage map looks like a patient with rosacea. Good lord, if they've started bringing people back online you sure can't tell from that.

[C-Man 27214]

I have a client in Southlake who reached out last night to let me know she and her husband had a major water pipe burst in the house. They shut the water off to avoid further damage. They have no power and no water. She said she's hearing Southlake may shut off water to the entire town. Is that possible?

Also, just heard the Musers report we officially hit -2 at DFW Airport around 6 AM today. Lowest recorded temp in DFW since 1949.

[TwiceHorn 31450]

1 hour ago, Grade of D as in David said:

Link?

It's ercot site. They had a huge spike but it is lesser now than it showed originally. 

[South Austin 52463]

13 minutes ago, Errestaurants said:

No. Per this morning we are going down to Austin and pushing him out into the snow. 

[SubliminalHorn 6786]

15 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

Our friend is the executive chef at the Driskill. He's stayed on site the last 2 nights because it was too risky for him to drive back up to CP. It's just him and one other cook in the kitchen. They had a borderline record day for breakfast yesterday. Last night they had 400 rooms filled, the most since COVID hit. They're running out of supplies at a rapid pace.

Is this where the rich people start hunting the poor people?

[ztejas 43418]

So we have a big Cafe-style Bunn coffee maker. Which still kind of works without power if you just pour boiling water through it. But the machine retains so much cold that the coffee that comes out is both shit ass weak and tap cold. I needed something stronger and actually hot so I rigged this up. Worked like a charm. 

[Foosters 17850]

17 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

Our friend is the executive chef at the Driskill. He's stayed on site the last 2 nights because it was too risky for him to drive back up to CP. It's just him and one other cook in the kitchen. They had a borderline record day for breakfast yesterday. Last night they had 400 rooms filled, the most since COVID hit. They're running out of supplies at a rapid pace.h

My sister is at a hotel in Houston. Just were told that after they serve breakfast this morning the hotel will be out of food

[DCA_HORN 725]

Every smoke alarm in my house just went off. This needs to fucking end!

Battery died on one of mine last night. Thank God it was on the lower hanging ones.

[Hefeweizen 5311]

1 minute ago, C-Man said:

I have a client in Southlake who reached out last night to let me know she and her husband had a major water pipe burst in the house. They shut the water off to avoid further damage. They have no power and no water. She said she's hearing Southlake may shut off water to the entire town. Is that possible?

Also, just heard the Musers report we officially hit -2 at DFW Airport around 6 AM today. Lowest recorded temp in DFW since 1949.

The water system, believe it or not, is not required to have redundant power under state standards; especially if they have elevated storage.  As a result, prolonged outages could result in loss of pressure and widespread boil water notices.  If they cannot safely pressurize the system that would be a big deal.  Any kind of pressure drop below 20 psi is treated as a serious potential breach, requiring bacteriological testing to ensure no contamination.  Shutting the system off can't be done without a coordinated plan to bring it back on safely and without contamination.  Honestly, I can't even fathom the logistics in doing that and I design water and sewer systems for a living.  It would be a catastrophe and have a really long tail of consequences for consumers.

I suspect they may implement some kind of draconian restrictions on use to prevent loss of pressure, but beyond that, no clue.

[Longhornfan1024 1707]

Coming up on 36 hours without power after going 28 from Thursday to Friday. We've had about 36 total hours of power in the last 120 hours. Our house has been 45 degrees or so for most of that time. The only bright spot is that I can boil water and make warm food on my grill. We're about to try to drive to stay with a friend but there is no exit from our neighborhood with at least one step hill. Here's hoping we don't crash.

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[Gale Snoats 242]

Well, it’s ranging from 39-41 inside the house. Rough nights sleep in front of the fire, lots of blankets. Animals even got under the covers. They never do that. They are cold and miserable.

My daughters fish tanks some stairs died. All of em. She’s gonna be sad. Well tell her later.

We can’t keep this up. We’re going to shut down here. Turn off the water, drain all the pipes. Putting frozen jugs of water in the fridge to keep things cool.

If my old 4x4 will make It up the hill, we’re heading to my parents. They still have power, and their gad fireplaces actually can keep their house warm even if they lose it.

This is beyond bad. People are going to die. I have a long rant about our profit first, profit only deregulated market, and what it has now cost us, but I’ll save that for later.

For now, this is a life safety event. I’m worried about people and pets making it through the week. You need to start thinking in those terms. Do what you can to protect your property, but things can be replaced. Lives can’t. And with freezing rain coming, you’re going to be stuck wherever you are. So make it someplace you can survive.

Good luck. Going to start shutting things down. I’ll check back in later.

basically our situation. Gonna wait until warmest part of the day and try and 4WD it out of the hills and get to friends place. I’m more pissed / feel more helpless than I’ve ever been but then think about so many out there less fortunate who are truly facing life death situations. Just an amazing breakdown on so many levels.

[justhookit 4191]

2 hours ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

I’ve never been in a hurricane. How long is power out after an average hurricane makes land fall?

I live on the coast. Didn’t have power for about 3 weeks after Harvey. Right now I’m only at about 30 hours. This already seems worse.

[royiv 9287]

Lost power again in Houston after having it for a few hours. At least we got the house warmed up and a hot meal in before it went back out. 

[Red Five 40852]

I'm about to make my own snow cone, but with scotch. This is going to be great. 

Or would tequila be the way to go? I've never done this before. 

[hookemATL 11714]

Just now, Red Five said:

I'm about to make my own snow cone, but with scotch. This is going to be great. 

Or would tequila be the way to go? I've never done this before. 

Kahlua and whipped cream.

malibu and pineapple juice

schapps. 
 

so many choices!

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

1 minute ago, Red Five said:

I'm about to make my own snow cone, but with scotch. This is going to be great. 

Or would tequila be the way to go? I've never done this before. 

Do you have any sour? A whisky sour slushy sounds pretty nice. 

[immamac 42839]

Serious update:

If you live within 4-5 miles of someone you know/trust who does have heat/water you should start making plans to leave your place and head to their on foot. Bundle up, it's not "that cold" and you can survive a walk with layers that far, it's a little bit of inconvenience and discomfort that could save your life, because another night in the teens and a hard freeze without electricity and a lot of homes will be sub freezing inside. Do not wait until you are already freezing to leave your home to go somewhere that has heat and essentials.

Sleep 4 to a bed whatever, do not fuck around with basic privacy/convenience if you are sub 40 degrees inside your home with no running water, now is the time to make a break for it and on foot is going to be the safest option unless you have 4WD and are very experienced in driving in these conditions.

We have several of our friends in the dallas area coming to stay with us at the Grand Hyatt in the DFW airport because we were lucky enough to secure the room for another night, we literally do not have room to sleep on the floor or I'd invite more folks. 

[Pato del Muerto 52489]

1 hour ago, 4th&Five said:

Every smoke alarm in my house just went off. This needs to fucking end!

Networked smoke alarms are great, in a real emergency. But false alarms are just that much more irritating. 

[ZB'Tejas 593]

Our friend is the executive chef at the Driskill. He's stayed on site the last 2 nights because it was too risky for him to drive back up to CP. It's just him and one other cook in the kitchen. They had a borderline record day for breakfast yesterday. Last night they had 400 rooms filled, the most since COVID hit. They're running out of supplies at a rapid pace.

I was close to booking a room there yesterday but ultimately chose to stick to my house and trying keeping it from freezing over.

However having a warm meal prepared for you sounds real nice right now.


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[Pato del Muerto 52489]

34 minutes ago, C-Man said:

I have a client in Southlake who reached out last night to let me know she and her husband had a major water pipe burst in the house. They shut the water off to avoid further damage. They have no power and no water. She said she's hearing Southlake may shut off water to the entire town. Is that possible?

Also, just heard the Musers report we officially hit -2 at DFW Airport around 6 AM today. Lowest recorded temp in DFW since 1949.

Upthread, a lot of the southlake area is under a water boil notice already because of no power at the water treatment facility. So my brother in law in his 5 million dollar westlake home, has to boil his water right now if he even has it to boil. 

[Tailgate 3021]

[Surly Bevo 24908]

Hour 30 with no power. I’m starting to be really glad I have a gas fireplace and stovetop. Temp got down to 44-45 in house this morning but with sun and more things cranked have it back up to 50. Would love a power hour just to get the temp up more before nighttime but I am not hopeful there.

Also starting to be glad I shut off water at 4:45 yesterday and drained pipes. At least I can focus on continuing my job as SS Icebreaker on our pool and not worry about some huge leak manifesting somewhere. At this point might not even try to bring any of those systems back up until Saturday or Sunday when we are back in high 40s/50s with sun.

Kids are at my in laws three miles away. They have never had a moment without power.

[Michael Knight 12977]

 

[UnivTex34 1763]

Sweet Thomas Edison, we ha e power in 78748 for the first Tim in almost 36 hours. Unplugged everything but the fans for the gas heater. Get me to 68 and I can go another couple days.