Hang in there

[Mark Biggerstaff]

Well I can tell you us guys on the Texas coast aint use to what is happening here. Give me a Hurricane over this cold icy crap. Where I am we been with out running water since Saturday night. Power comes and goes. On maybe 4-8 hours. Off 10-12 hours. I do have gas stove and gas heater. But it was 14 degrees Monday morning and 15 this morning. We are not used to this crap.

 

[Jeff Garcia]

My drive today from central Washington to Idaho for work

 

[WebleyGreene455]

I don't deal with high humidity very well. Even though the summer here gets hot as hells blazes, even during the monsoon season, we don't get the oppressive humidity that other states will have during the summer.

I deal with it pretty well, but I'm used to it. It's probably a bit worse in Florida, and farther south of course. One wonders how the Spaniards and Brits dealt with it during the early days. Must've been hell with wool uniforms and quilted doublets and whatever the fashion was four hundred years ago.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Well I can tell you us guys on the Texas coast aint use to what is happening here. Give me a Hurricane over this cold icy crap. Where I am we been with out running water since Saturday night. Power comes and goes. On maybe 4-8 hours. Off 10-12 hours. I do have gas stove and gas heater. But it was 14 degrees Monday morning and 15 this morning. We are not used to this crap.

It does depend on what we are used to and prepared for. You keep those bugs, snakes and hurricanes. I'll keep chilling the rum on the porch and dressing up to go to the car.

 

[Brent in Az]

I deal with it pretty well, but I'm used to it. It's probably a bit worse in Florida, and farther south of course. One wonders how the Spaniards and Brits dealt with it during the early days. Must've been hell with wool uniforms and quilted doublets and whatever the fashion was four hundred years ago.

I was in Atlanta for a few days in August some years back for a trade show. Stepping outside from an air conditioned building felt like a steam bath. LOL.

 

[Whacker]

You know that’s a really brutal temperature. But many of us here are prepared for something less than that, but the poor bastards down in Texas and south in general, don’t have the homes insulated or water pipes protected to deal with this cold. I really feel for them?

That is the biggest obstacle we are facing right now. We are not set up in our homes and farms for weather this cold or snow like this either. 2000 was the last year it was this cold here and we were 2.5 weeks without power then with no generators. We had to pull all the animals into one barn and fill it with heaters to keep them warm, water pipes have to stay constantly running to keep from freezing, and we have wood stove running at full blast right now...we are all electric but this thing has it toasty in here right now lol. With the generator going it’s kinda like camping...the family is spending a lot more time together.(the only phone chargers working are in the living room power strip off the generator lol.) All in all we don’t have it that rough...long as everyone keeps the pipes from freezing...you really have to stay on top of it with kids cause they tend to go pee at 2am and turn the water back off when they wash their hands.

 

[wipartimer]

I'm from Wisconsin, but have been working in Dallas since September. My hotel room is up in Plano and there was no power yesterday. A little cool but not bad. Rather than make the drive back tonight I just got the air mattress out of the truck and am camping in the job trailer tonight. My crew had been asking almost hourly since Sunday if we're still working. I tell them yes, but use good judgment on coming in. So far I haven't had more than half a crew here this week, and some are calling in for tomorrow already. Can't blame them.

 

[WebleyGreene455]

I was in Atlanta for a few days in August some years back for a trade show. Stepping outside from an air conditioned building felt like a steam bath. LOL.

Atlanta might be worse than the coast, come to think of it. No breeze coming in from offshore and all the pollution and waste heat. I know for sure that being in Prague in the summer wasn't like being here. Narrow streets, tall buildings. No airflow at all in those medieval cities when the cobbles are baking under the sun and the heat's bouncing off the walls at you.

 

[Brent in Az]

It's been 10 years since I last felt the icy blast of Montana winter, wishing for the Arizona summer when it was 20 below zero. During the Arizona summer, I'm wishing for the icy blast of Montana winter, when it's a 110 in Tucson.

Funny how that works.

 

[C.W. Richter]

'Happens all the time in the N. USA and Canada. Winter as usual (and so far, lesser than many other years-although we got a break for the last 2. We've gotten 6' of snow and 0.5" of ice so far this winter.) Backup generator, woodstove/fireplace, plenty of firewood/food/water, home office-no need to go anywhere! I did think about shipping a load of snow tires (pronounced <sno-ti-urz> down to TX!) The MSM likes to puff up all stories...People shouldn't drive in this weather. That's the main issue. Ice storms snap powerlines. It happens, and people must be prepared to be a bit more self-sufficient.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Agreed. I have a brother in Oklahoma City, 8 of the buildings where he works are flooded from burst pipes. Brutal is right.

Yep, it’s not when the pipes are frozen, but when the higher temperatures start to melt the frozen water in the pipes. I lived in a “manufactured “ home here for 12 years and it had plastic/polypropylene water pipes. They didn’t burst, but I had to crawl into the crawl space with a hair dryer to get the pipes thawed.

It's been 10 years since I last felt the icy blast of Montana winter, wishing for the Arizona summer when it was 20 below zero. During the Arizona summer, I'm wishing for the icy blast of Montana winter, when it's a 110 in Tucson.

Funny how that works.

Back in the mid ‘80s, I went on a 4 wheel drive trip on the “Mojave Trail” trail through the California Mojave desert from Barstow to Needles in February. Anyway, we camped in the desert along the way in my canvas tent. I had, up to that point, never been so cold in my life. We actually had some light snow and the temperatures must have been in the teens. The desert can get VERY cold in the winter.

 

[WebleyGreene455]

It's been 10 years since I last felt the icy blast of Montana winter, wishing for the Arizona summer when it was 20 below zero. During the Arizona summer, I'm wishing for the icy blast of Montana winter, when it's a 110 in Tucson.

Funny how that works.

 

[Wheels]

Yeah, I was reading where 20 percent of Texas’ power comes from wind turbines and most of them are frozen useless. Need a new plan?

Post I saw today.



A helicopter running on fossil fuel spraying a chemical made from fossil fuels onto a wind turbine made with fossils fuels during an ice storm is awesome.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Yep, it’s not when the pipes are frozen, but when the higher temperatures start to melt the frozen water in the pipes. I lived in a “manufactured “ home here for 12 years and it had plastic/polypropylene water pipes. They didn’t burst, but I had to crawl into the crawl space with a hair dryer to get the pipes thawed.

Back in the mid ‘80s, I went on a 4 wheel drive trip on the “Mojave Trail” trail through the California Mojave desert from Barstow to Needles in February. Anyway, we camped in the desert along the way in my canvas tent. I had, up to that point, never been so cold in my life. We actually had some light snow and the temperatures must have been in the teens. The desert can get VERY cold in the winter.

when i visit 1 of 2 ancestral farms (now vaca/hunting places,) i have to turn on the heat/get the fire ripping and wait about 20 min until water will flow in winter (all PEX tubing as most others would snap-and did long ago). it's that or pay rediculous utility bills when you're not even there. yes, people who have hunted desert sheep in AZ were quite surprised to experience sub-freezing temps (high winds and snow) each night in their desert camp!

 

[Wheels]

From a news article.

Doesn't look like Austin hedges for extreme weather. They are probably committed heavily to green energy and are susceptible to a "Black Swan" events.

Feel for the ordinary Austonian whos electricity bill breaks the budget for February.



"As evening sets in Texas, power prices in Austin are exploding higher. In the last 145 minutes, prices have jumped 1,346% to $1,600 per MWh."

 

[lwaters]

We have a bunch of wind turbines out west of Salina Kansas. I haven't heard if they are frozen up. I think the power they generate leaves the state. We had 23 below this morning and my well pit stayed above freezing. I put a small heat lamp in it and covered the lid with straw bales. We burn wood when it gets cold and my house stayed right at 75. There has been some controlled power outages but none has hit us yet. My generator will run the whole house if we loose power. So we are prepared for the worst.

 

[Mwag]

Here in NW MO, burning alot of wood to keep indoor temp 90degrees above outside temp of -21 this morning.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Here in NW MO, burning alot of wood to keep indoor temp 90degrees above outside temp of -21 this morning.

Through some coal in there, I’ll make the wood go farther.

 

[Chukar]

Yep, it’s not when the pipes are frozen, but when the higher temperatures start to melt the frozen water in the pipes. I lived in a “manufactured “ home here for 12 years and it had plastic/polypropylene water pipes. They didn’t burst, but I had to crawl into the crawl space with a hair dryer to get the pipes thawed.

Back in the mid ‘80s, I went on a 4 wheel drive trip on the “Mojave Trail” trail through the California Mojave desert from Barstow to Needles in February. Anyway, we camped in the desert along the way in my canvas tent. I had, up to that point, never been so cold in my life. We actually had some light snow and the temperatures must have been in the teens. The desert can get VERY cold in the winter.

Oh yeah, those 30+ degree temperature changes are a killer.

I can remember when I was at scenic 29 Palms Ca. and the September daily average was pushing 100F and then the nighttime low was about 65F. "We" decided to do a night hump in all of our wonderful heat trapping gear, full flaks, helmet, 782 gear and full pack and guns. The standard Marine route of march is 3 miles in 50 minutes with a 10 minute rest every hour. Jeebus, the poncho liner went to the top of the pack after the first pit stop.

When you are used to working 100F, 65 is downright cold....

The suck used to do operation Hi-Lo/Lo-Hi. A march from Death Valley, the lowest point in CONUS to the peak of Mt. Whitney, the highest point in CONUS.

 

[lwaters]

Wish I knew where you could buy coal. My wood furnace will burn coal.