This weather is awful!! 2008-2021

[ls99]

Once again in south western PA we there was several days of "winter storm advisory" with this morning about 20 minutes of some scattered snow like granules floating down from a grey sky.
Temp was about 30F, this morning.
Seems the forecast missed by a bit over a thousand miles.


Hope the southern folks can put on several layers of clothes to get through their global warming.


Edit add: They still have not give up on mayhem.
Issued: 11:43 AM Feb. 15, 2021 – National Weather Service
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM EST TUESDAY... * WHAT...Heavy mixed precipitation. Additional snow accumulations of 1 to 3 inches and ice accumulations of a tenth to one quarter inch. * WHERE...Portions of southwest and western Pennsylvania, east central Ohio and northern and the northern panhandle of West Virginia. * WHEN...Until 1 PM EST Tuesday. * IMPACTS...Power outages and tree damage are likely due to the ice. Travel could be nearly impossible. The hazardous conditions could impact the morning or evening commute.

 

[Koolau]

We are on the same grid as the three hospitals one mile away. We never lost power here during Harvey. So far, so good.

If we lose power, I have to figure out a way to give a continuous oxygen supply to my DW who needs 4 litres per minute constantly. We have a portable unit as a "traveler" and about 10 hours worth of batteries, but those will need to be charged at some point in time. We also have 6 O2 canisters for another 10 hours.

Do you have access to a small inverter? Maybe a neighbor has one? I keep a 150W (output) inverter handy just so I can use a charger to keep batteries going. It has a male fitting for the cigarette lighter/utility port on my cars. As long as I have gas in the car, I can keep my cell phones and rechargeable aaa, aa, C and D rechargeable batteries going. It's a bit of sledge hammer for a gnat, but it does work. Maybe call the manufacturer of the portable O2 concentrator and ask if there is a jury-rig to use alkaline batteries instead of rechargeable. I was able to do that with a portable camera flood light. God bless.

 

[NW-Bound]

You've got to quit watching Snowpiercer before you go to bed.

Never heard of Snowpiercer, so I looked on the Web, and it appears to be an interesting show. However, instead of wandering the globe, the protagonists could just head to the US Southwest where they could bask in the "warm" 120F air.

There are power outages all over Houston. My daughter has not had power since 3 am. We are still on. This is especially bad because most people heat with natural gas and the furnace won't run without electrical power.

Even with a good capacity portable generator it may not help unless you have a transfer switch and can fire all the circuits.

If this power outage continues, many unheated homes will end up with frozen and busted water pipes like what happened in 1989 around here.

And it's currently 17 F with tonight going down to under 10 F.

What a mess!

I hope you will not run into trouble with the oxygen supply for your wife.

Wholesale electric rate just reached $9/kWh, as reported on Bloomberg Web site.

 

[W2R]

We are on the same grid as the three hospitals one mile away. We never lost power here during Harvey. So far, so good.

If we lose power, I have to figure out a way to give a continuous oxygen supply to my DW who needs 4 litres per minute constantly. We have a portable unit as a "traveler" and about 10 hours worth of batteries, but those will need to be charged at some point in time. We also have 6 O2 canisters for another 10 hours.

If you lose power, you might be able to get those batteries re-charged at one of the nearby hospitals. Just go over there and look pitiful. After all, they're supposed to be humanitarians and to care about those with life endangering health issues like your DW.

 

[aja8888]

If you lose power, you might be able to get those batteries re-charged at one of the nearby hospitals. Just go over there and look pitiful. After all, they're supposed to be humanitarians and to care about those with life endangering health issues like your DW.

Yes, that's my fallback position. I also have a friend nearby that has a whole house generator and I can go to his house, if he is here.

 

[NW-Bound]

Speaking of whole house generators, I used to think that using nat gas as the fuel source would be the way to go (not that I have access to it at my homes), but I now read that even nat gas supply may be cut.

So, in order to be safe, one will need a large ground-mounted propane tank to go with that generator.

 

[Car-Guy]

Well that wasn't too bad, just a little over a four hour power outage....(This time) But that was long enough for about half my water pipes to freeze up... The water dripping trick only works to a point I guess... Homes just aren't built for this in Texas... Neither am I

 

[aja8888]

Speaking of whole house generators, I used to think that using nat gas as the fuel source would be the way to go (not that I have access to it at my homes), but I now read that even nat gas supply may be cut.

So, in order to be safe, one will need a large ground-mounted propane tank to go with that generator.

Our gas company sent an email this morning asking customers to lower their gas use and set there home temperature to 60 - 65 F. I'll bet that went over well.

 

[Katsmeow]

Well, it was 6 degrees here in the DFW area in Texas. We have about 5" of snow. We have not lost power yet. Oncor says on its website last time a look that almost 1/3 of its customers are affected by outages -- that is over a million people.

My son and daughter live in Houston in an elevated house near the Bayou. They lost power during the night and have no idea when they will get it back.

Supposedly the rolling outages that were supposed to be 15 to 45 minutes aren't doing much rolling and the earliest to get power back is mostly tomorrow. And, Oncor said that some may not get power back until this weather event is over (we are not forecast to get above freezing until Saturday).

It is supposed to be 3 degrees tonight late but get up to the mid-20s by Tuesday afternoon. But, then more snow on Wednesday.

For us, we are OK since we have power, but I do worry about losing that as it gets colder tonight.

 

[MRG]

Well that wasn't too bad, just a little over a four hour power outage....(This time) But that was long enough for about half my water pipes to freeze up... The water dripping trick only works to a point I guess... Homes just aren't built for this in Texas... Neither am I

Its debatable but there's a legend hot water tends to freeze first. Might keep both on a little faster. Hopefully the pipes didn't burst?

 

[W2R]

The water dripping trick only works to a point I guess... Homes just aren't built for this in Texas... Neither am I

Uh oh. They probably aren't built for this in Louisiana, either. I've got the water dripping but it's so cold out there! It was down to 31F at 1 PM, which is 4 degrees colder than the insanely extreme cold that was predicted at that hour. It's 29F now. Our low tonight was predicted to be 26F, but now my guess is that it might be more like 21F.

And then, just now I just went into my little laundry room and realized it is quite cold in there. Not freezing, yet, but I had better go open the door to it so it can warm up. For years I have closed that door by habit in order to not waste money on air conditioning it but that's not so smart right now.

This is going to be quite a storm.

 

[Golden sunsets]

And there is another storm coming in now from the west coast down to the gulf and then swinging up the Atlantic coast. We haven't even had the first storm hit yet -tomorrow for us in the NE, and the 2nd storm Thurs through Friday.

 

[W2R]

Our gas company sent an email this morning asking customers to lower their gas use and set there home temperature to 60 - 65 F. I'll bet that went over well.

It sure wouldn't go over well with me! I didn't get an email like that, but I have my thermostat set to 72F as always.

I'm trying not to drip too much water, though, to do my share in helping to keep the water pressure up.

 

[Car-Guy]

Its debatable but there's a legend hot water tends to freeze first. Might keep both on a little faster. Hopefully the pipes didn't burst?

Actually I do/did both... Maybe not enough of a drip on some though.... The house was built over a decade ago using PEX throughout, which they "claim" withstands bursting better than PVC, copper and galvanized pipes even when frozen solid.... I won't know for several days or longer..

 

[ABQ2015]

Uh oh. They probably aren't built for this in Louisiana, either. I've got the water dripping but it's so cold out there! It was down to 31F at 1 PM, which is 4 degrees colder than the insanely extreme cold that was predicted at that hour. It's 29F now. Our low tonight was predicted to be 26F, but now my guess is that it might be more like 21F.

And then, just now I just went into my little laundry room and realized it is quite cold in there. Not freezing, yet, but I had better go open the door to it so it can warm up. For years I have closed that door by habit in order to not waste money on air conditioning it but that's not so smart right now.

This is going to be quite a storm.

Are you glad you and Frank did not move to Springfield? It's supposed to be -7 degrees tonight and some areas much colder with the wind chill factor.

Around noon, I had a large steady stream of water going from the roof down a gutter. Since it was only 23 degrees, I did not think the snow on the roof could melt that fast so was concerned that something was happening up there although don't believe there could be any pipes. After a couple of hours, it stopped. Guess the southwestern sun can melt snow at any temperature. Also got my outside hose disconnected from the faucet (tried last night but no luck) and covered the faucet with one of those insulating foam covers.

 

[FreeBear]

I feel for all of you folks enduring ice, snow and subzero temps, esp. in areas with normally moderate winters. This got me thinking again about weather and places to live. One somewhat unspoken assumption I have been operating under was to avoid "high impact" yet somewhat infrequent undesireable events in favor of more consistent, but predictable seasonal misery.

I justified enduring dark, cold winters up north because the challenges are seasonal, hence well-mitigated. Down here in SE AZ, the summers last for over half the year, but the local utility grid seems prepared for this certainty. I keep a couple widow AC's for if/when the main unit goes down in July, as happened to my neighbor. Trouble in terms of heat and water issues may grow worse over the decades, but this is no surprise and folks and utilities are gradually coping.

At this point, I take off any place with big hurricane or forest fire risk. They may be somewhat rare, but fear the super-distruptive potential if I get unlucky.

 

[FreeBear]

Not in Phoenix. On the hottest summer days, the lowest temperature of the day occurs right before sunrise. It's 90F! It takes all night to cool down to that temperature, and as soon as the sun comes up, the onslaught begins anew.

I have a 2nd home in the high country of AZ, where the average high in July is 84F and the average low 55F. Sadly, we cannot use it to escape the heat in the low desert because my wife is the care taker of her mother, who does not do well at high elevation due to her COPD.

You're right, 90's as the low temp would be too much! Here in Tucson it will cool to only about 80F overnight in July & Aug, but this is much better than 90. In fact, we keep Phoenix weather on our phone app just to console ourselves on especially hot days: Look! It's 109F here, but it could be worse. It's 116F in Phoenix!

After escaping from Frozen Flyover, I'm surprised that no one seems to complain about the hot summers. I'm not talking about folks who have to w*rk outside, but rather office folks and retirees. If anything, they complain about cold winters, where it may drop below 50F for a day or two. Up north, complaints about the cold and "yucky" weather seemed more common.

 

[Time2]

Jeez Louise, This is Feb 15, we usually wait until now to take the plastic off the greenhouse just to be safe. Can't do it. Tonight is predicted 27*F in the Florida Panhandle within 1 mile of the coast, (supposed to have a moderating effect on temps)
Had a rain storm between 2:00 and 3:30, with winds blowing the rain 1/2 the width of my carport while I was cutting some lumber. But I got er done.
I'm still wet though. Back to 70* on Thursday.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Jeez louise

 

[NW-Bound]

I called my aunt who lives in the DFW area, at about 3pm her time. She said she lost power at noon. Said a friend of hers lost power at midnight, and had not had it back. Said the inside temperature was 60F, and dropping. I don't know what to say other than to wish she would get power restored soon.

The electricity shortage and resultant rolling blackouts are happening beyond Texas. A total of 14 states are affected.

... the Southwest Power Pool, which manages the electric grid across parts of 14 states, warned that demand has exceeded its electric supply, and it told its members to begin controlled outages. SPP said individual utilities will determine how to handled the outages.

“After exhausting usage of available reserve energy, SPP has now subsequently directed its member utilities to implement controlled interruptions of service to prevent further, more widespread and uncontrolled outages.” SPP said said.

SPP manages the electric grid in Kansas and Oklahoma, and in parts of New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Iowa, Wyoming, and Nebraska.

 

[NW-Bound]

And part of Mexico is also facing some power outage. An article on Bloomberg said the US has cut off nat gas pipeline flow to the generating stations in Mexico.

 

[aja8888]

I called my aunt who lives in the DFW area, at about 3pm her time. She said she lost power at noon. Said a friend of hers lost power at midnight, and had not had it back. Said the inside temperature was 60F, and dropping. I don't know what to say other than to wish she would get power restored soon.

The electricity shortage and resultant rolling blackouts are happening beyond Texas. A total of 14 states are affected.

We must be lucky with no power outage yet as all of my friends, my daughter and other relatives have no power. This outage has been since early morning. We are "supposedly" on the grid that's connected to the three hospitals one mile away.

Plus, tonight it's going down to 10 F here on the north side of Houston. Looks like a lot of water pipes will be busting by the morning.

It's one thing to have a power failure in the summer but with these low temperatures it can be deadly.

 

[NW-Bound]

I am going to buy stocks of generator makers. This is going to be how people blow the dough, unless their memory is very short. Not just Californians, but the midwesterners will be buying generators too.

Besides Generac, who else makes home generators?


PS. My aunt said her phone battery was running low. Said she would go out to the garage to charge off her car. I reminded her that if she ran the car engine, be sure to open the garage door even if it was cold.

 

[Cobra9777]

We're north of DFW in Denton County. It's been a rough day. Starting about 2am, power has been cycling on and off every 30 - 60 minutes. Temperature in the house fluctuates between 57 and 61. We have 5-6 inches of snow on the ground with more on the way. It's currently 6F and will be - 2F in the morning. This is highly unusual for us.

We are told to expect rolling blackouts to continue tomorrow. Our internet is out even when we have power. Mobile internet works but is sketchy at best. Travel is impossible, which is fine since everything is closed.

I'm keeping the fireplace going strong, which helps a little. We've got camping lanterns all over the living room. It's been weird. But we're surviving fine. Lots of others have no power at all. When the dust settles from this, there will be some tough questions for the Texas grid operators.

 

[plex]

Austin is pretty bad, 40% were cut off from power at 1:30am without any plans to actually "roll" the blackouts, with another 5-10% getting hit later in afternoon, maybe more tomorrow? I am basically surrounded by a bunch of red/orange areas on the outage map.

 

[REWahoo]

Just got an email from our electric co-op saying to expect our power outage to continue for another 24-48 hours. Which also means no water from our well.

This has moved beyond inconvenient.