This weather is awful!! 2008-2021

[Poopycat]

Thank goodness, a warmer, sunny day! It got to 41 degrees here. My windshield wiper fluid finally thawed out so now I can at least see through my windshield better! My car is covered in salt and who knows what else; I’ll need to find a car wash around here.

 

[eytonxav]

Real life lessons for me... Two backup generators are better than one, you can never have too much gasoline, have plenty of clean buckets to store water while you can, "halogen work lights can work pretty well as alternate heaters, etc, etc. BTW, on the fly engineering (being politically correct here) can be dangerous, so be extra careful when being creative. And finally, it absolutely amazes me how little some people in my family know about how systems work in the home....

I noticed you left out ammo and their delivery mechanisms.

 

[Car-Guy]

I noticed you left out ammo and their delivery mechanisms.

Silly me of course. But, I consider guns and ammo just another staple (necessity) of life, like breathing or wearing pants.

 

[Nick12]

You realize that as hard as we try, they are still coming . Most are going to Austin so maybe we can let them have that city if they leave the rest of Texas alone?

Like it or not, the TEXODUS has been and will continue to come go the Lone Star state. There are so many people from CA moving to Austin TX, there is a name for them - Austinfornians

 

[Nick12]

People need to take matters into their own hands and prepare themselves for the next weather event with a back-up generator. You don't need a whole house generator. A portable 2800 watt Honda generator will do for most emergencies. Homes with modern appliances and LED lighting do not draw the same amount of current as homes in the past. Don't wait for your state to winterize their power plants. It's not likely to happen any time soon as this event will quickly fade from memory.

Or one can stay at a hotel. Some Houston hotels are charging $1K per night . Price gouging at its best.

 

[Exchme]

Wind turbines also work in the Antarctic where it can drop to -72 with much more than two inches of snow.

https://www.antarctica.gov.au/antar...s-and-operations/renewable-energy/wind-power/

As for solar panels, they are much more efficient in cooler weather than hot weather.

It was sleeting, snowing and night when the big drop-off occurred, so much for solar. It was also 100% humidity, wind turbines iced up, exactly like airplane wings do. They work in cold dry climates much better than ones full of water that's right on the edge of freezing. The ERCOT data shows wind dropped from 15-20 GW on Feb 7 (as close to a base case as you can get with something so variable) to <1 GW on the nights of the 16th and 17th. The WSJ reported it fell 93%.

Natural gas generation went from 7 GW on Feb 6-7 up to 45 GW, but eventually a lot of wells, production facilities and pipelines froze and it fell back to around 30 GW. I worked on a project to winterize some of those years ago, but it cost more than the owner wanted to pay so nothing happened.

Even nuclear had some problems as the STNP lost a train due to freeze ups and coal also dropped off a little too.

I think the underlying issue is that in the odd way the system is partly regulated/partly not, there were no economics for anyone to winterize anything, so they didn't.

 

[eytonxav]

Like it or not, the TEXODUS has been and will continue to come go the Lone Star state. There are so many people from CA moving to Austin TX, there is a name for them - Austinfornians

I think the CA exodus is not only hitting Texas, but also AZ, CO, and NV and possibly a few other states.

 

[MRG]

I think the CA exodus is not only hitting Texas, but also AZ, CO, and NV and possibly a few other states.

+1
Our house that we paid 370 in 2016 for is estimated at 550. The realtors here are having a really good time.

 

[aja8888]

Like it or not, the TEXODUS has been and will continue to come go the Lone Star state. There are so many people from CA moving to Austin TX, there is a name for them - Austinfornians

I sure hope when all those well heeled immigrants from Ca get situated here they start pushing up house prices significantly as Texas, in most areas, has not seem the "value creation" in home prices as many other states. I'd love to cash out with a cool $Mil for my 2000 square foot home that I paid $200 K for 5 years ago!

 

[Nick12]

I sure hope when all those well heeled immigrants from Ca get situated here they start pushing up house prices significantly as Texas, in most areas, has not seem the "value creation" in home prices as many other states. I'd love to cash out with a cool $Mil for my 2000 square foot home that I paid $200 K for 5 years ago!

That is very possible. For the working family born and raised in Austin for example that I know, has noted prices are just too expensive to buy. A family living in a 2 bed/ 2 bath in the Bay Area, CA can sell their little condo for more than $1M in certain parts of SF, move to TX and live like a king.

 

[REWahoo]

A family living in a 2 bed/ 2 bath in the Bay Area, CA can sell their little condo for more than $1M in certain parts of SF, move to TX and live like a king.

Until the electricity goes out and the water shuts off.

I've seen recent articles comparing living here to living in a "third world country". It was almost unlivable when our utilities worked and now that they have proved to be unreliable, why anyone would want to move to TX totally defies logic.

 

[Music Lover]

Until the electricity goes out and the water shuts off.

I've seen recent articles comparing living here to living in a "third world country". It was almost unlivable when our utilities worked and now that they have proved to be unreliable, why anyone would want to move to TX totally defies logic.

Third world country is a bit of a stretch, but I suppose someone moving from a $1 million house in California can buy in Texas for a fraction of the price and install a generator and dig a well.

Don't forget that California can't make reliable power even when the weather isn't a factor. How many thousands would die if they had a deep freeze?

 

[Nick12]

Until the electricity goes out and the water shuts off.

I've seen recent articles comparing living here to living in a "third world country". It was almost unlivable when our utilities worked and now that they have proved to be unreliable, why anyone would want to move to TX totally defies logic.

That's what a Generac 16KW whole house generator is for. We paid approx $12K for it several years ago. Last summer some trees fell during a lightning strike on power lines. The neighborhood was out of power for 8 days. We were not affected.

 

[Car-Guy]

why anyone would want to move to TX totally defies logic.

You'd get my vote if you ran for office and promoted that view.

 

[W2R]

It was above freezing for two hours today, but just 33F most of that time. The official high was 34F but that was for about five minutes. And now it's 30F and dropping like a rock.
Brrrr.....

At least my house is warm, and I've got power and water.

Today's high is supposed to be 69F, and it's already 65F (with no rain). It's shorts and sandals for me today. I guess New Orleans is one of those places where, if you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes.

Amazingly I never lost power and never had to boil water. Maybe that is our compensation for having been in the cones of 7-8 hurricanes a few months ago.

 

[NW-Bound]

... sell their little condo for more than $1M in certain parts of SF, move to TX and live like a king.

Not all kings had an easy life. Examples include Louis XVI of France.

Until the electricity goes out and the water shuts off.

You forgot the heating and cooking gas which was also cut off.


By the way, a cousin of mine and her husband sold their house in Orange County right at the peak of the housing bubble of 2006, and bought a big home somewhere near the DFW area. Had plenty of money left over to buy new furniture and upgrades. More than a year later, sold the Texas home and moved back to CA. Said they missed the hubbub (my word) of the LA area.

They made out OK, because they were able to buy back cheaper after the bubble burst.

 

[eytonxav]

Hit 73 in DFW this afternoon, yet we still have ice on our pond.

 

[Walt34]

Twelve degrees this morning, but by Wednesday the forecast is 58°.

We won't be affected but that means some places will be flooded from the melting snow.

 

[Car-Guy]

Hit 73 in DFW this afternoon, yet we still have ice on our pond.

You made me go look... About the same highs here today but all the ice in the ponds is gone...

 

[eytonxav]

You made me go look... About the same highs here today but all the ice in the ponds is gone...

Think it might stick around for another day or two:

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I sure hope when all those well heeled immigrants from Ca get situated here they start pushing up house prices significantly as Texas, in most areas, has not seem the "value creation" in home prices as many other states. I'd love to cash out with a cool $Mil for my 2000 square foot home that I paid $200 K for 5 years ago!

You might have to...the amount of property taxes on a $1MM house in TX is nothing to laugh about. I didn't like the bill on our $200K house when we lived there.

Austin isn't the only place growing like mad. We lived in San Antonio from 2006-2012. We visited some friends last year and didn't recognize much of the west side of town. The "sleeply 'ole airport" I hangered my plane is surrounded by cookie cutter houses. I was really blown away at how FAST the growth has been. My DW was quite the successful Realtor when we lived there and there were a lot of Californians moving then, too. I couldn't imagine how much $$$ she would be making had we stayed. Nonetheless, I am very happy to have gotten out when I did. Ya'll can keep Texas!

As far as our neck of the woods, almost all of the 12" 'ish of snow melted last night with some warmer than expected temps and a nice southerly breeze. It was warm enough today that I was out cleaning/tending to the pool in shorts and flip flops.

 

[aja8888]

)

As far as our neck of the woods, almost all of the 12" 'ish of snow melted last night with some warmer than expected temps and a nice southerly breeze. It was warm enough today that I was out cleaning/tending to the pool in shorts and flip flops.

60 F yesterday,85 F today and my tee time tomorrow is at 11:30 AM. Back to normal here. We never lost power, water or heat (gas).

 

[Car-Guy]

Think it might stick around for another day or two:

It's amazing to me how many of these ponds look alike. The two I have close to the house are about the same size as yours and one is even boarder by trees like the one in your picture... I don't have a fountain in mine but that maybe a future project.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

60 F yesterday,85 F today and my tee time tomorrow is at 11:30 AM. Back to normal here. We never lost power, water or heat (gas).

Never losing water, power, or heat ought to be a great selling feature.
The price just went up!

 

[audreyh1]

Maybe I shouldn't post this as more people will want to come here!

There's plenty of food and water, and everything else for that matter. I'm right in the middle of what happened and it feels like back to normal around here. Everything is open, people are out running around, etc.

The snow and ice are gone!

It's 65 F outside and sunny. My golf game is set for Monday afternoon. We are going out to dinner tonight with my daughter and her husband.

I was at Walmart a bit ago and got everything I went in there for.

I bought gas for my van for $1.99 at Walmart.

Boy, the MSM is just sensationalizing everything these days.

(the plumbers are busy too)

It’s not back to normal here yet! Grocery stores still have many empty shelves. I was very lucky to score some eggs this morning. There had been no milk, eggs, bread or water for quite a few days.

We had a lot of power outages and some water outages in our area.