2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on

[MoJames 8241]

17 minutes ago, Somnio said:

Just got back from HEB.  Absolute insanity.  30 minute wait outside.  Once inside chaos.  Barren shelves.  No water or bread.  Lines to the back of the store.

 

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

My brother had the valve on his pool fill pipe bust. Not a big deal, so we went to Home Depot. Big line to get in and once we were inside it seemed sort of empty. I told my brother everyone would be in plumbing. This was half the aisle:

[troph 24562]

3 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

One thing they have not drawn a distinction to is extreme weather. Polar vortexes have been mentioned since the 1700s and it was first named in 1830 so it's not like this is some phenomenon. What is unusual is the great majority of them go well to our East and only affect the northeast. About three or four years ago we had a series of Two or three vortexes that threatened us but slid East so we only got a glancing blow. This one came exactly straight for us, really the worst case scenario for texas. We are absolutely in the bullseye while the east coast is cold but not this cold.

I'm not saying that this is not linked to climate change but there's no real definitive proof that it is - yet.

I don’t know I was just wondering. I get super cold - I was here for the 80s storms you mentioned.  But that alone suggests every couple of decades (in this case 40 years apart) not 70, right?  
 

It’s really interesting to me when we can talk about what is because of CC and what isn’t under the common understanding that CC is a major factor in many instances.  It would be nice to know as bad as this is, it’s not a dinosaur extinction moment for humans. 

[Somnio 751]

4 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

My brother had the valve on his pool fill pipe bust. Not a big deal, so we went to Home Depot. Big line to get in and once we were inside it seemed sort of empty. I told my brother everyone would be in plumbing. This was half the aisle:

Trying to find the part you need at Home Depot during average times is a crap shoot.  They don't keep shit in stock.  Best of luck.

[Deej 76546]

34 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

What the heck is even left after those horrendous line videos?

COVID

[phdhorn 6224]

13 minutes ago, troph said:

I don’t know I was just wondering. I get super cold - I was here for the 80s storms you mentioned.  But that alone suggests every couple of decades (in this case 40 years apart) not 70, right?  
 

It’s really interesting to me when we can talk about what is because of CC and what isn’t under the common understanding that CC is a major factor in many instances.  It would be nice to know as bad as this is, it’s not a dinosaur extinction moment for humans. 

Of course there are people that come out with stuff like this and try to tell you why it's related to CC but their theories aren't supported by science. Doesn't mean that they might not be true but the science of extreme weather is still very young.

Polar vortexes begin some 100,000 feet up in the stratosphere, way beyond most weather.the mechanisms that break down the polar low and allow some of it to spill South are still not fully understood. This particular one has met up with a stubborn oscillation over the great lakes,which is why it headed straight for us instead of the usual path Southeast across the Northeast us. So it's not the extremity of this it's where it's gone which is in an unusual direction. I honestly don't think there are more instances of vortexes, but maybe where they end up going is unusual. That's what they'll study for sure

[Beantown Express 2.0 6554]

So I got power for 30 minutes and went on Facebook.  Some family that live in my neighborhood are posting pics of them in FL in the sun and water at the beach saying they are so lucky to be stuck there and not in TX. A bunch of people responded to the post how lucky they are and how cool they are for not being here.  Am I wrong to want to respond that there is a natural disaster going on in TX with people dying so maybe don’t post pics at the beach right now?  I mean I am as big of a prick as anybody but this seems so insensitive.  

[Helobious 9480]

There’s always something terrible going on in the world. Maybe don’t log into social media if you don’t want to see something upsetting. Fwiw I don’t have FB but I’d definitely never post a pic of me on vacation, for burglary purposes. 

[phdhorn 6224]

2 minutes ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

So I got power for 30 minutes and went on Facebook.  Some family that live in my neighborhood are posting pics of them in FL in the sun and water at the beach saying they are so lucky to be stuck there and not in TX. A bunch of people responded to the post how lucky they are and how cool they are for not being here.  Am I wrong to want to respond that there is a natural disaster going on in TX with people dying so maybe don’t post pics at the beach right now?  I mean I am as big of a prick as anybody but this seems so insensitive.  

I would, but you'll still probably get a bunch of crap from people.

[Pancho 44456]

4 minutes ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

So I got power for 30 minutes and went on Facebook.  Some family that live in my neighborhood are posting pics of them in FL in the sun and water at the beach saying they are so lucky to be stuck there and not in TX. A bunch of people responded to the post how lucky they are and how cool they are for not being here.  Am I wrong to want to respond that there is a natural disaster going on in TX with people dying so maybe don’t post pics at the beach right now?  I mean I am as big of a prick as anybody but this seems so insensitive.  

I think just praying they return home to busted pipes would help.

[Neonmoon 38127]

Any chance in hell we get power back tomorrow?

[MNLonghornFUKM 8799]

So I got power for 30 minutes and went on Facebook.  Some family that live in my neighborhood are posting pics of them in FL in the sun and water at the beach saying they are so lucky to be stuck there and not in TX. A bunch of people responded to the post how lucky they are and how cool they are for not being here.  Am I wrong to want to respond that there is a natural disaster going on in TX with people dying so maybe don’t post pics at the beach right now?  I mean I am as big of a prick as anybody but this seems so insensitive.  

I’d say the disaster would be the Texas preparation. Nothing about this is describes a natural disaster. There’s places like Chicago where it’s colder, and a lot more snow... or Tennessee that saw a lot more ice. We can’t shame people taking selfies on planes after numerous plane crashes. There’ll be loss of life...that will be completely unnecessary. Definitely a learning experience for the next go around.

Granted Chicago is much more suited to take this on, but none of us 7 days ago was hedging bets of 48 hr blackouts in Texas of all places....the energy capital of the country. Oklahoma and Arkansas of all places seem to be handling it ok


Long story short- hope what pancho says

[tx 3 putt 76315]

35 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Frito scoops?

You can’t chili without Fritos !!!!!

[MNLonghornFUKM 8799]

You can’t chili without Fritos !!!!!

Regular Fritos!

[utexas8 1433]

COVID

They still have power in the hospitals right?

I also don’t even know what day it is anymore. Luckily here in west Texas the grocery lines aren’t that bad. Fast food lines are.

I saw someone post that your home insurance could reimburse you for food lost in power outages. I’m sure when this is all done with, the food will be the least of my priorities when talking to the insurance.

[TwiceHorn 31265]

3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Power is back! 

And iff again.  Got not quite four hours, which got the heat up to 70ish.

Rinse repeat. 

[Nicole44 22027]

Just took a whore’s bath. Feel like a million dollars. Lmao! 

[phdhorn 6224]

So my update:

Things are a little on the bleak side. But we'll manage.

- water was working great all through the big storm did a good job tenting my outside well pipes. But with the power cut off, my wheel stopped running. So I cut off the water to the house and depressurized the well plumbing. Not going to even try to get water until temps go up. We have enough to drink for a few days.

- likewise my has furnace blowers are electric so no heating, but everybody's in that boat.

- it's obvious that after 16 hours without power I won't be getting it again I'm sure until well into tomorrow if I'm lucky. I'm grateful that they didn't cut me off during the storm and then I got most of yesterday with power, but house's getting cool now, around 52°. Spending quite a bit of time in the cars warming up. Which at least is awesome.

-usually great gas fireplace flicker than went out friday, have not been able to restore it, will try again tonight.no way to warm except candles in the house. Cars are our salvation.

- food running short, although we wisely bought a bunch of things on Friday, before we knew what would happen with the power. will be feasting on junk food into Thursday probably Either that or cold meat (electric stove, don't worry yes I'm changing that and we do read your kitchen in a year).

- I live on the top of two steep hills which are pretty much undrivable and will be at least through tomorrow afternoon. probably not going anywhere for at least two more days.

So at least I had a good first half of this mess, now I'm stumbling along trying to make it to Thursday.temperature actually supposed to go up a little bit after the storm tomorrow and then go down briefly on thursday, then finally up for good. Seems like an eternity to then.

[Brisketexan 104561]

Just took a whore’s bath. Feel like a million dollars. Lmao! 

Pics of bathing whore?

Asking for a friend.

[TwiceHorn 31265]

2 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

Just took a whore’s bath. Feel like a million dollars. Lmao! 

I took an actual shower in the house at 55 and with hot water circulation pump off so water only warm.  But yeah it did feel good. 

[Guest Lobo]

2 hours ago, TonyTexas said:

Mattress Mac has always been on the front line,  helping out during every tough spot that Houston has encountered. Why throw out comments like that on something you know absolutely nothing about?  Plus he’s a longhorn football letterman. Maybe you should think about cutting down on your prodigious post count and focus a little more on making quality posts. 

If you wouldn't selectively edit my post, I went on to praise what he's doing in the same paragraph.  I have a couple of concerns about him politically but I kept it off the post.  I'll cut down on my post count just to please you sir, you seem like you could use a win in life.  

[dimyh 1874]

1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

And iff again.  Got not quite four hours, which got the heat up to 70ish.

Rinse repeat. 

Almost the same here. Been up a total of 4 hrs today...2hrs early morning and rest finished up a few mins ago. Actually had enough time to get some work done and upper mgmt finally made call to shut down office for rest of the week. Which is great for one of my guys who was worried about trying to commute from FW to Richardson. No need for him to risk all of that.

[TexasEd 8064]

ahem....Not thread police but there are other threads on here to discuss causes, effects, responses, and politics. 

I'm monitoring this thread to see if anyone in my area needs help I can provide. Firewood, water, propane tank, etc.

 

 

[SubliminalHorn 6673]

My MIL lives off Southwest Parkway and has had power this whole time. My roomie and I went over there today to charge up everything we have, eat some hot food, and take a hot shower. Felt so good. Got an email from our complex that power was restored. Yay! We see lights back on on S. Lamar but no power to our building *womp womp*. Our apartment people told us that building are on different grids or whatever and to contact Austin Energy. That sounds like it would be in vain.

Definitely starting to get chilly in here 🥶 

[Francisco 2.0 32318]

9 minutes ago, utexas8 said:

I saw someone post that your home insurance could reimburse you for food lost in power outages. I’m sure when this is all done with, the food will be the least of my priorities when talking to the insurance.

 

 

In 2007 we had an 8 day power outage from an ice storm.  Called my agent and they didn't want an itemization; they just gave me $500 for the conents of the fridge, plus $500 for contents of the freezer in the garage. YMMV.

 

 

[tx 3 putt 76315]

9 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

Just took a whore’s bath. Feel like a million dollars. Lmao! 

Is there room for two ???

[Gourmand 7774]

Just had our power come on in Round Rock north of 79/Red Bud Ln near Dell Diamond! We were without power continuously since 2am late Sunday night/Monday morning. I feel blessed to have heat on again, but more importantly I feel blessed that our home built in 2006 protected us well from the brutal cold outside. And having a gas stove is everything. I can't imagine having no heat, no lights, no internet connectivity or LTE AND no way to cook food indoors as well. 

If there are any surly folks near me in Round Rock who need a place to charge phones and warm up with a beer or six, feel free to PM me. 

[UnivTex34 1763]

South Austin checking in with Power since 11 after no power for nearly 36. We are absolutely stunned we have had this much time, looking at the outage map, my neighbor behind me is still out. I’m sure we will be the first to lose tonight, but the gas furnace has us to 70 and we put the emergency insulation back up on every window again about an hour ago to help trap heat (blankets, unused coach cushions, every throw pillow in the house). Was able to get out and secure at least two more days of fire wood, so we are ready to go. We were loading the car this morning when power came back on. Had this happened last year, the wife and I would just tough it out under blankets, but the 7 month old who just sprouted his first tooth yesterday is making in interesting. 

[tx 3 putt 76315]

Houston 2nd ward -no power and water went out earlier. I shut off the main valve. Filled the tub last night. 

[Nicole44 22027]

And power off again! Fabulous! 

[texhorn 351]

ERCOT capacity dropping again, guessing lost solar? As far as I can tell, no significant gains in production today. Insane. Going to be another long night folks.

[Bevo&Pevo 5026]

13 minutes ago, TexasEd said:

ahem....Not thread police but there are other threads on here to discuss causes, effects, responses, and politics. 

I'm monitoring this thread to see if anyone in my area needs help I can provide. Firewood, water, propane tank, etc.

 

 

keep 'em on point. 

[Pato del Muerto 52340]

18 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Pics of bathing whore?

Asking for a friend.

I’m shocked you didn’t inquire as to the cost to own the unwashed washcloth. 

[Pancho 44456]

Lake Houston (nawf of Summerwood)

8 hrs of power and it just went out again. Based on the tweets from centerpoint/ABC13, kinds like this was coming and I probably shouldn’t expect power the rest of the night 

[washparkhorn 9935]

13 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

Just took a whore’s bath. Feel like a million dollars. Lmao! 

 

[4th&Five 41457]

42 minutes ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

So I got power for 30 minutes and went on Facebook.  Some family that live in my neighborhood are posting pics of them in FL in the sun and water at the beach saying they are so lucky to be stuck there and not in TX. A bunch of people responded to the post how lucky they are and how cool they are for not being here.  Am I wrong to want to respond that there is a natural disaster going on in TX with people dying so maybe don’t post pics at the beach right now?  I mean I am as big of a prick as anybody but this seems so insensitive.  

We have a friend who flew to Hawaii on Friday and keeps posting pics and laughing at those of us back in Austin. I hope she comes home to a flooded house. 

[4th&Five 41457]

23 minutes ago, SubliminalHorn said:

My MIL lives off Southwest Parkway and has had power this whole time. My roomie and I went over there today to charge up everything we have, eat some hot food, and take a hot shower. Felt so good. Got an email from our complex that power was restored. Yay! We see lights back on on S. Lamar but no power to our building *womp womp*. Our apartment people told us that building are on different grids or whatever and to contact Austin Energy. That sounds like it would be in vain.

Definitely starting to get chilly in here 🥶 

I’m in lantana and we’ve been out the whole time. I guess we’re right on the line. 

[troph 24562]

Sorry I lost track of which thread I was on. Yeah obviously need to make sure folks are ok. 

[Francisco 2.0 32318]

 

 

[FORTY NINE TO ZERO 2630]

9 hours ago, gyroprotagonist said:

downstairs temp was 48 this morning and that was with power and central heat going last night.  our ancient house can't take this artic shit.   All the vents are in the floorboard downstairs with the air ducts running through the crawlspace from the furnace in the basement.  the air temp coming from some of the vents furthest away from the furnace is ~82F at best.  The ducting (or whatever you call it) is fairly new as we had the unit replaced 2 years ago, but i guess the crawlspace is just so freaking cold it does not matter.  upstairs is at least OK as it has a separate unit.

- Is insulating the crawlspace a thing with the spray on shit?  we basically just have the hardwood floors between the living area and the crawlspace and that's it.  

for those w/o power hang in there and godspeed.

 

 

Are you me, but with power?  Lol 

 

ps dont use spray foam in old houses down here. It isnt design for it and will create issues. Source: numerous spray foam patents have my dads name on them. 

[The Ace of Aces 5106]

My brother near Pearland has his upstairs mostly downstairs. Busted pipe brought down the ceilings. Brutal.  

[Trey3216 15325]

@SimonBolivar@Post Oak @El Diablo

hearing some rumblings that we’re next on the boil/water shutoff list.   

[Fudge Nuggets 19146]

53 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

And iff again.  Got not quite four hours, which got the heat up to 70ish.

Rinse repeat. 

My power came back on around 9:00 this morning and the heater has been running full stop ever since.  Pushing a nice balmy 67* right now... but fuck it feels like 58*.

[UnivTex34 1763]

And just like that we are off. Wife has a pretty decent theory actually. We had power 11-6. We are very close to the H‑E‑B at Slaughter and Manchaca which was open 12-5. Coincidence?

[MNLonghornFUKM 8799]

 
 

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

I mentioned that earlier today we got out and cleared the drive. We were going a little cabin crazy and with the sun out, it dried completely after lunchtime. Weather forecast calling for about half an inch of ice but no rock salt to be found and I had used up the sand when I built a retaining wall this fall. Oops. 
I think we have a box of kosher salt my husband uses when he grills; in a pinch that might work right? We can’t go out the garage without power so I want to make sure the walkway is safe. 

[TexPx 2313]

 
 

All the liquor stores are on the Arkansas side.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Fudge Nuggets 19146]

51 minutes ago, Lobo said:

If you wouldn't selectively edit my post, I went on to praise what he's doing in the same paragraph.  I have a couple of concerns about him politically but I kept it off the post.  I'll cut down on my post count just to please you sir, you seem like you could use a win in life.  

It's ok to admit you're wrong for once, you fucking cunt.

[Trey3216 15325]

4 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

I mentioned that earlier today we got out and cleared the drive. We were going a little cabin crazy and with the sun out, it dried completely after lunchtime. Weather forecast calling for about half an inch of ice but no rock salt to be found and I had used up the sand when I built a retaining wall this fall. Oops. 
I think we have a box of kosher salt my husband uses when he grills; in a pinch that might work right? We can’t go out the garage without power so I want to make sure the walkway is safe. 

Kitty litter will work in a pinch, but don’t mess with a man’s cookin’ salts.  

[Dahobbs 17437]

Ordered powerwall today. I'm not getting stuck like this again. Probably a poor snap decision, but I'm comfortable with it.