2022-2023 Winter Weather Thread

[Homercles 10206]

2 hours ago, crash_davis said:

My apologies to Austin Water. They have their shit together. It's Travis County Water's turn to be fucking idiots.

 

Edit: I am fucking amazed that people who manage public utilities are incompetent as fuck. I'd like to hear why they can't get power to District 10 plant. No generator? Why the fuck not? Have generator and not working? Why the fuck isn't it working. Don't you asshats perform routine testing and maintenance? It's fucking mind blowing.

Get your ass down there and straighten them out, soldier.  Tell them DickButt sent you

[utee94 16078]

In other news I'm back from my journeys throughout NW Austin, delivering generators like some half-drunken Santa Claus, just slinging them from the bed of my pickup to all I pass by (sorry brisket you weren't on my route),

I avoided overpasses, surface roads are fine, but wow so many downed limbs.  Canceling school is the right call, if everyone tried to go to school/work tomorrow morning in that shit, it'd be an absolute mad house.

Hopefully my travels are done for the evening because I'm now two Live Oak Primus down and about to get friendly with some Lagavulin.  Kids are making chicken and dumplings for dinner, so Bon Apettit mofos.

 

 

Edited February 2, 2023 by utee94

[Wally Pryor 5406]

Neighbors all out and about late this afternoon just waiting for more snap, crackle and pop. Fairly frequent.

Trees have been laboring now for 18 or so hours with ice. Accuweather says we're above freezing after midnight and at 37 by 8A. Damn sure hope that's the case. 

[Pato del Muerto 53438]

8 minutes ago, utee94 said:

In other news I'm back from my journeys throughout NW Austin, delivering generators like some half-drunken Santa Claus, just slinging them from the bed of my pickup to all I pass by (sorry brisket you weren't on my route),

I avoided overpasses, surface roads are fine, but wow so many downed limbs.  Canceling school is the right call, if everyone tried to go to school/work tomorrow morning in that shit, it'd be an absolute mad house.

Hopefully my travels are done for the evening because I'm now two Live Oak Primus down and about to get friendly with some Lagavulin.  Kids are making chicken and dumplings for dinner, so Bon Apettit mofos.

 

 

[Steel Shank 9552]

17 minutes ago, utee94 said:

In other news I'm back from my journeys throughout NW Austin, delivering generators like some half-drunken Santa Claus, just slinging them from the bed of my pickup to all I pass by (sorry brisket you weren't on my route),

I avoided overpasses, surface roads are fine, but wow so many downed limbs.  Canceling school is the right call, if everyone tried to go to school/work tomorrow morning in that shit, it'd be an absolute mad house.

Hopefully my travels are done for the evening because I'm now two Live Oak Primus down and about to get friendly with some Lagavulin.  Kids are making chicken and dumplings for dinner, so Bon Apettit mofos.

 

 

cold blooded

[Underdog 29161]

ABC News was showing video of Metroplex area, HS football field in Godley completely iced over... Hockey anyone? 

DIL had to stay overnight at the hospital she works at, her boss let her sleep in their office using a bed topper for a mattress. 

Edited February 2, 2023 by Underdog

[Gatorubet 30710]

8 minutes ago, Underdog said:

DIL had to stay overnight at the hospital she works at, her boss let her sleep in their office using a bed topper for a mattress. 

“Doctor says to get you out of that horrible bed and enjoying the beauty of nature right outside the window of the hall in that closed unit for the next eight hours. I’ll give you a can to pee in.”

 

[Cap33 407]

At this rate, I question whether Austin Energy even has a plan other than "get in line." After 13+ hours of no power (and checking the family into a hotel because we've learned our lesson), we just got a text informing us that "there may be an outage affecting our address," and asking us to report if the power is still out.  Oh, wait... 

So I'm thankful that the family is safe and warm in a hotel room for the night, but I know many are not as fortunate. WTF are we doing? It's 2023, and we can't proactively mitigate tree limbs crippling the city? We can't expect accurate and timely information from the utility that has many of us by the balls? 

I'll return to my hotel wine and see myself out.

[atomheartbevo 90629]

57 minutes ago, Catpfish said:

Maybe so. I can tell there has been no Oncor truck in our area (in the country but not that far so not a high priority, I guess) and there is a line on the ground across the driveway of the house 2 driveways down. There are about 90 houses on our lines route, but I'm not sure how many are without power.

Tell them you and the boys have been drinking and thinking, and they don't need to send anybody out, because you've got some really tall ladders, and you're going to cut up some old tires and use them to insulate the ladder and make a rubber suit for one of you, and y'all think you can get the line fixed yourself because Larry took welding in high school shop class while you took home electrical systems.

They'll get somebody out there.

Edited February 2, 2023 by atomheartbevo

[YGIFS 19458]

In hindsight, I should have requested the conflict -free Austin Energy repair crew who arrives by bicycle for more efficient repair assistance.  
 

Holy shit though, I offered to help friends with downed branches tomorrow.    But took a loop through my own little handful of streets in the hood, we are gonna be plenty busy.  Let’s all stay safe pulling down this frozen crap 

[Blotto 24010]

I think it was around 7am for me when I lost power. I keep my thermostat set at 65 in the winter, so I'm pleasantly surprised it's still reading  54 currently. Old place is better insulated than I thought. 

Crazy how dark the block is, guess not many generators in use (one house). Still hearing the occasional imposing hum of electrical gear, but now the entire sky glows blueish white for a couple of seconds. Kinda cool looking. 

Time to commence Operation Bourbon & Bud, so I can hopefully be asleep a couple hours earlier than usual, and wake up refreshed to some power. 

[atomheartbevo 90629]

55 minutes ago, utee94 said:

I avoided overpasses, surface roads are fine, but wow so many downed limbs.  Canceling school is the right call, if everyone tried to go to school/work tomorrow morning in that shit, it'd be an absolute mad house.

Multiple schools and facilities are without power, as are a shitload of families, so it's the right call.  Here's hoping they have some damn good freezers/fridges, because I can't imagine what the kitchens would smell like with that much food going bad.

17 minutes ago, Cap33 said:

At this rate, I question whether Austin Energy even has a plan other than "get in line." After 13+ hours of no power (and checking the family into a hotel because we've learned our lesson), we just got a text informing us that "there may be an outage affecting our address," and asking us to report if the power is still out.  Oh, wait... 

So I'm thankful that the family is safe and warm in a hotel room for the night, but I know many are not as fortunate. WTF are we doing? It's 2023, and we can't proactively mitigate tree limbs crippling the city? We can't expect accurate and timely information from the utility that has many of us by the balls? 

I'll return to my hotel wine and see myself out.

This was quite a bit different than past freezes/apocalypses (snow doesn't accumulate like ice, and we had a shitload of rain with temps in the upper 29s-32 for hours on end), so I can cut them some slack.

They were cutting tree limbs in my area last year, even though neighbors bitched like mad that they didn't want their trees cut back too much.  Shame we don't have lists of people who complained about their trees being cut back from the lines.  They should get a lot more aggressive about cutting the trees back though, I've seen several that they left alone because the branches were massive, that have fucked over people in our area.

Their system is not holding up well - multiple friends a few blocks away from us have power out, but have gotten texts that it was restored when it wasn't.  I'm guessing anybody with a pulse that isn't qualified to be out in trucks working on lines or whatever, is probably. manning telephones, etc., but still.

Then again, they have well over 100,000 addresses without power, so they were never going to have enough crews to handle that.

[Cap33 407]

Yes, I'm willing to cut them some slack (talking management, not the line workers who should get all the praise). I get that you can't identify every branch that could possibly affect a power line. And I get the cost prohibitive ideas to bury power lines. 

But I'm exhausted by the predictability of it all and the waiting for someone to take charge. For example, the line that runs behind our house for four blocks routinely loses power -- either a transformer that blows or some other age-related excuse. Sometimes AE fixes it within an hour with what appears to be a band-aid; many times it's days. The neighborhood association asks AE and our Council Member for help getting trees trimmed and equipment updated.  Sure, we'll look into it, they say.

Like many of life's ills, the best medicine is prevention. Yet it feels like this is mostly just a slowly reactive agency. Yes, budget. Yes, staffing. But no vision or plan. 

[mchookem 16764]

4 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

Assume that it is live oak.

well it's dead oak now 😒

[TKthunder2 5058]

Been without power near Spicewood/183 since 10am. Tree limbs snapping every 20 minutes or so it seems. Helped clear some limbs with my chainsaw this morning for some elderly neighbors (they were trying to do it themselves with a hand saw),

Later in the day I hear a chainsaw in my front yard. One of my down the road neighbors is standing in the back of his jacked up pick up taking a chainsaw to one of my oaks trees that is over hanging the road but still had a good 8ft of clearance and multiple car have been able to pass through. And mind you, it was not just a small limb but basically the whole main trunk of the tree so he could get his big truck out.

I would have helped prune or lift the tree, but this guy didn’t come up to my house and ask just started hacking away at it.

I yelled at him and he probably hates me now, but that’s the kind of inconsiderate shit that I can’t just take a live or let live attitude.

[atomheartbevo 90629]

So the Camp Mabry weather station is the nearest official weather station to us, and it still shows 32 (and hasn't gotten above 32 in a few days it looks like).  Weather.com is saying we are at 33 and will be 33 all night until about 4-5am, with more rain coming later on.

And winter weather warnings are being pushed until late tomorrow morning.

Not blaming the weather forecasters - they had it pegged within a few degrees, and we had plenty of warning that something was coming, because it's just one of those things that if the temp was a few degrees warmer, possibly no ice, and a few degrees colder and possibly snow (and so little accumulation on the lines/trees).

[atomheartbevo 90629]

8 minutes ago, Cap33 said:

Yes, I'm willing to cut them some slack (talking management, not the line workers who should get all the praise). I get that you can't identify every branch that could possibly affect a power line.

We do need to rethink this a bit - there's been some clear cases where we all knew of problematic trees/branches, and some groups have fought hard in the past against the trimming.  We ain't going to bury all of these lines, so we need to accept that and deal with what we know are problems.

Although shit, this ice storm may have taken care of a lot of overhanging branches for us.

On a side note, apparently this was not as bad as 2021, but it is different since those problems were caused (in part) outside of the immediate city.  And at least we in theory will be warming up tomorrow and back to "normal" Friday.

 

[Anastasis 23714]

Moving stuff from the fridge  out side in coolers. This is fun and really third world. Even worse is trying to explain to my wife that it is colder outside than it is in the fridge compartment on a good day. 

[Anastasis 23714]

Lol. And power just came back on. 

[Anastasis 23714]

And like that. It’s gone. Kaiser sioze. 

[4th_and_18 709]

Lol. And power just came back on. 

Thank you for your service.

[UTexasFight 9794]

1 minute ago, Anastasis said:

Lol. And power just came back on. 

I look forward to your edit in 1 minute”

”….aaaand now it’s back off “

[4th_and_18 709]

And like that. It’s gone. Kaiser sioze. 

Shouldn’t have been talking shit

[UTexasFight 9794]

Just now, Anastasis said:

And like that. It’s gone. Kaiser sioze. 

There it is.

[Anastasis 23714]

1 minute ago, 4th_and_18 said:

Shouldn’t have been talking shit

we have some neighborhood kids starting the night. I may have made a bit of spectacle out of it. And then the lights went off. I am not a particularly proud man right now. 

[Anastasis 23714]

Back on now. Not saying shit. Out on the patio with a cigar. 

[4th_and_18 709]

Back on now. Not saying shit. Out on the patio with a cigar. 

What you smoking? I just lit a Laranja Azulejo. It is excellent.

[Anastasis 23714]

1 minute ago, 4th_and_18 said:

What you smoking? I just lit a Laranja Azulejo. It is excellent.

Padron 64

[RMac5 1557]

That’s a great stick!

[Blotto 24010]

Power back on for me by Hancock. Ice still frozen in freezer, shits still cold in fridge.....I'll take it.

[austingirl 2194]

FML

 

[Armybrat 41373]

Power here in Brushy Creek just came back on after almost 15 hours off. 
We were in bed with double layers of clothing on and six blankets on top of the sheet. It was damned uncomfortable since we always sleep in the raw.

House got down to 56 from the usual 67 at night. 
Had to reset a bunch of clocks.

 

[Anastasis 23714]

Power back off. But the smoke was good. 

[Trey3216 15452]

[Fico 1806]

15 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

It was damned uncomfortable since we always sleep in the raw.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Fico

[Fastbreak 4042]

My 70 year old mother is sitting in central Austin without power.

A big F U to the people who keep voting to enable these fucks.

[Hate 20243]

5 minutes ago, Fastbreak said:

My 70 year old mother is sitting in central Austin without power.

A big F U to the people who keep voting to enable these fucks.

You mean nature?  Who voted for nature?

[phdhorn 6225]

Power back on after 6 hours. Not too bad.

This one's about over. It was a mothafugga, though, if you're a tree. Otherwise besides a power burp, it could've been worse.
See ya around the bend.

[TexEx15 17927]

[drt 645]

1 hour ago, Cap33 said:

I get that you can't identify every branch that could possibly affect a power line. And I get the cost prohibitive ideas to bury power lines. 

But I'm exhausted by the predictability of it all and the waiting for someone to take charge. 

Mostly with you, with the caveat that the best time to plant a tree is yesterday. The next best time is today. 
 

I’m tired of us paying to repair critical infrastructure that shouldn’t need repair. It’s wasteful, dangerous, and shortsighted. 
 

Do it right, bury the fucking lines like the rest of the goddamn 1st world. 

[Homercles 10206]

What a difference a day makes…was feeling good about my tree situation this morning but I’m losing chunks of them left/right now.  Grateful we haven’t lost power and glad I got some major trimming done last fall, but losing natural cover and beauty around my house is heart breaking. 

[Armybrat 41373]

[Armybrat 41373]

Don’t know if this pic of the Pennybacker Bridge over Lake Austin is real or not….

 

[Nicole44 22275]

49 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

 

Had to reset a bunch of clocks.

 

So that’s what you’ve been up to? 

[Anastasis 23714]

27 minutes ago, Hate said:

You mean nature?  Who voted for nature?

I think that he is talking about the people that vote for the individuals that support the Austin city council continually skimming off Austin Energy. But who really knows. 

[Wally Pryor 5406]

6 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Don’t know if this pic of the Pennybacker Bridge over Lake Austin is real or not….

 

If so, that's nightmare material. Feels like they're a bit big to be the real deal.

[Paper_jam 851]

Shit I hoped this was over, but a big oak limb just fell against the front of my house. And more precip is falling, and the ice on my trees is still very dry (not dripping). 78754.

 

[Nicole44 22275]

Jeep owners set out to rescue drivers

In a state not accustomed to heavy ice, a group of Jeep enthusiasts used their vehicles to help stranded drivers.

The Dallas-based “Carnales Off Road” group regularly supports those in need, founder Jorge Coronilla Muñiz told CNN.

“It’s not the first time we’ve done this during bad weather. We try to help as often as possible,” Muñiz said.

Several semi-trucks got stuck on Interstate 20 on Tuesday, and about 30 Jeeps helped tow them.

“Before we got to I-20, we also helped a few other cars who were stuck on the streets,” Muniz said. “We eventually came across the standstill on Interstate 20 and helped an additional 20 trucks.”

Muñiz said he and other group members helped stranded motorists from early Tuesday morning all the way until 10 p.m.

“Everyone was very grateful for our help, especially the truck drivers. Some even asked if we were going to charge them for the help, but we told them we were just there to help.”

The group is back out on the roads Wednesday and will help medical professionals having difficulty getting to and from work, Muñiz said.

 

[DalTxHornFan 3130]

14 minutes ago, Paper_jam said:

Shit I hoped this was over, but a big oak limb just fell against the front of my house. And more precip is falling, and the ice on my trees is still very dry (not dripping). 78754.

 

We just had a big oak limb fall on my workshop/shed.  Fun times tomorrow.

[atomheartbevo 90629]

1 hour ago, Armybrat said:

 It was damned uncomfortable since we always sleep in the raw.