Weather

[DT]

Holy smokes, we had two severe storms blow through (I mentioned it in the WAYDT thread ...), both with tons of cyclonic motion, hail, tornado sirens, emergency weather notifications, it blew by slightly north so we only got two rounds of super heavy rain, lots of electrical activity, and a couple of short bursts of very high winds.

And now, it's beautiful and sunny, with a slight temp drop ...

 

[Joe]

I lost power 2am Monday morning. I woke up at 5am this morning and it was back on. I went 24 hours without power in this freezing weather. It was chilly, but bearable inside my home. I slept with 4 blankets on top of me. I don't wanna do that again.

 

[Alli]

Good luck. I don’t think the cold incursion is equal across the South based on latitude. Texas seems to be at the center of it. Right now it’s 14F with a high expected of 33.

It actually went down to 21 last night. Good grief! The biggest problem is, like most homes on the gulf coast, our house is built on pillars so all the pipes are exposed. We remembered to let water drip in the sinks last night, but I forgot my fancy tub, and there's no way to let the toilet run...so guess what's frozen this morning. Ugh.

Holy smokes, we had two severe storms blow through (I mentioned it in the WAYDT thread ...), both with tons of cyclonic motion, hail, tornado sirens, emergency weather notifications, it blew by slightly north so we only got two rounds of super heavy rain, lots of electrical activity, and a couple of short bursts of very high winds.

I heard about that! My sister-in-law spent the morning in the closet with the dog. My brother is actually down here selling the Alabama store.

 

[lizkat]

Unfortunately we in the north are all too used to watching people in states like Texas skid wildly out of control on a half inch of snow because they’re not used to driving on the stuff like we are.

We might even allow ourselves to feel superior when the worst result is some dented car bodies. But freezing rain and black ice are a bitch no matter where you live. I say that as someone who’s experienced personal physical injury because of it. This—this is horrible. Horrible and sad.

Yeah there was a time most people living in the northeast thought "BFF" meant Bridges Freeze First, although interstate ramps and slopes facing north come a close second..

I remember my first voyeur's experience with black ice... fortunately saw it happening before my own vehicle was caught up. I was about to exit to an upsloping ramp off an interstate at night in weather that was alternating between rain and sleet, and there wasn't much traffic. To my complete befuddlement, just as I had slowed to take the exit, I saw that a ways ahead of me on the exit ramp, taillights were turning into headlights and then into spinning tops like the strobes at a dance club. I had enough space left to just pull over on the interstate shoulder and watch the ensuing show as cars slid back down to nearly where I'd have been if I'd taken the exit. It was indeed horrifying, and it took almost an hour for the 10 or so cars to get extricated from their jumble at bottom of that hill.

My only personal meetup with black ice was on a little bridge one night about 8 miles from here. As I crossed it I had that sinking feeling you get when you realize your steering wheel means nothing... so i took foot off gas in hopes I'd glide straight until traction was regained but alas there's an upslope there and then a curve so I knew I was in for an adventure... I went round and round and round, seeing the same couple of sheds of a farm there go past me quite a few times, coming closer as the spin spiraled off road center towards the edge but still on ice. I ended up with the back end landing in crunchy snow at the shoulder... but my car back then was rear-wheel drive, so I was able to drive out. For the next 20 years of crossing that bridge even in daylight and summer, my brain wanted me to take foot off the gas despite my knowing there was an upslope there before the curve.

 

[Huntn]

I lost power 2am Monday morning. I woke up at 5am this morning and it was back on. I went 24 hours without power in this freezing weather. It was chilly, but bearable inside my home. I slept with 4 blankets on top of me. I don't wanna do that again.

Where are you? Sorry if I should know that. On NPR this morning they are talking about rolling power outages due to the demand for natural gas because of the cold. Homes heated with natural gas, like mine, and power companies using natural gas to generate electricity for the grid.

 

[Huntn]

It actually went down to 21 last night. Good grief! The biggest problem is, like most homes on the gulf coast, our house is built on pillars so all the pipes are exposed. We remembered to let water drip in the sinks last night, but I forgot my fancy tub, and there's no way to let the toilet run...so guess what's frozen this morning. Ugh.

I heard about that! My sister-in-law spent the morning in the closet with the dog. My brother is actually down here selling the Alabama store.

Understood, have seen many houses in South Texas with crawl spaces under the house, and the pipes are supposed to be wrapped, but I suppose wrapping only helps for a brief time. We are supposed to be below freezing until Wed, although briefly it will hit 33F today. Our friend who lives in Tulsa in a fairly new house on a concrete slab wondered if she should let her faucets drip (she’s from Texas) and I told her that if it made her feel good, but that with a house like hers, it was not necessary.

 

[Huntn]

Been several years since we had real snow in portland. But then we end up more frozen rain then anything else. Left ice on everything. Waking where cars have not gone is esy up I don’t sink in but where cars have been it’s like loose sand. It got down to 24 degrees and lots of wind all night you heard the ice bouncing off the windows.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

What kind of weeping ? tree? Or is that just cause of the ice on it?

 

[DT]

I lost power 2am Monday morning. I woke up at 5am this morning and it was back on. I went 24 hours without power in this freezing weather. It was chilly, but bearable inside my home. I slept with 4 blankets on top of me. I don't wanna do that again.

Last night, during the peak of the 1st storms, there was a massive flash and boom, I mean, like a very close lightning strike, the power, bounced off for a few seconds ...


... when it came back on, the little G had just sort of appeared on the sofa downstairs (she was up in her room), with a wide eyed look, hahahaha ....

 

[fooferdoggie]

just ice.

 

[shadow puppet]

Texas is known for it’s blizzards on occasion.

My brother has lived in Austin over 30 years. He's never shared photos and info of weather on this scale.

 

[lizkat]

Seen in a letter to the editor in our local paper, one that serves four counties in upstate New York... signaling to longtime residents just the return of traditional winter at least for this year, thanks to the polar vortex slipping its usual bounds, but also pointing out to newbies having bought property up here during the Covid pandemic what that sort of traditional winter is actually about:

ON WINTER: “To all our new friends and neighbors, welcome to mid-winter upstate New York. It will be followed by late winter and soon enough by next winter. For future reference, anything less than 6 inches of snow is a flurry, and if you mention that it’s 15 degrees outside make certain to clarify above or below zero.”

 

[Huntn]

just ice.

When living in Tennessee, we feared ice worse than snow.

My brother has lived in Austin over 30 years. He's never shared photos and info of weather on this scale.

I’d say snow in West Texas is more common. Last time we got snow just a little in Houston was like 3 years ago. Last year we had several frosts. This time, I’m curious to see how the covered plants faired, and also the huge Elephant Ear out front to see if it survived, or just got knocked back. That is easy to replace. I won’t uncover the plants until Saturday when the lows are back up in the 40s.

 

[Alli]

It’s now up to 36F. Pipes under the house were flowing until hubby turned off the main line. Hopefully a plumber will show up. Ugh. I did not move south for this!

 

[shadow puppet]

Today's update from my brother in Austin.

"Found out that half the neighborhood uphill from us has been without power for 34 hours. That means no lights, no heat and no cooking food. Maybe even no water if the pipes freeze up. People are running their cars outside to keep their cellphones charged. We've been without cable/internet for two days now. Can still "surf" with our phones, but that consumes data without the house Wi-Fi being available."

Not sure how far buried these plants are!

 

[SuperMatt]

Today's update from my brother in Austin.

"Found out that half the neighborhood uphill from us has been without power for 34 hours. That means no lights, no heat and no cooking food. Maybe even no water if the pipes freeze up. People are running their cars outside to keep their cellphones charged. We've been without cable/internet for two days now. Can still "surf" with our phones, but that consumes data without the house Wi-Fi being available."

Not sure how far buried these plants are!

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We have a word for such weather in Western NY:

Spoiler

April

 

[JayMysteri0]

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1361757992123727873/

 

[lizkat]

^^ Been the equivalent of there, yep... walked out of a diner licking a soft ice cream cone after lunch one day and had it turn to something with the consistency of granite before I got to the parking lot, because it was twenty below zero. I was surprised how fast that happens.

 

[JayMysteri0]

What... the... F...

Elsewhere...

In Athens, rare snow blankets Acropolis, halts vaccinations

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Heavy snowfall blanketed the Acropolis and other ancient monuments in Athens, caused power cuts and halted COVID-19 vaccinations in the Greek capital on Tuesday as the weather brought many services across the country to a standstill.

apnews.com

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1361898920763301897/

And...
https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1361825228201066498/

 

[lizkat]

What... the... F...

There was a tweet from some official account in Canada to Texas, to effect of "We're right there with you"...

I was thinking that was pretty much tongue in cheek since the weather in TX came from up there.

But hey, maybe it was a charitable gesture and offer of help, ya never know.

 

[Huntn]

Houston, Texas, what seems to be an extreme weather event for Texas and other Southern States, we lost elec power at 11pm central Tuesday night when temps dropped to 13F. Fortunately we have a gas fire place, and a gas water heater with a permanent pilot light. My understanding it was turned off so power could be restored to other areas hit before us.

My impression is that it was a combination of record cold temps and the demand for natural gas by homes heated with it (bunches of them) and electrical utilities that are using natural gas for electricity generation, failed generators and a shortage of natural gas.

Just got it back 22 hrs later. Apparently a huge mess. Lots of nightmarish burst pipes In homes. Gov Abbott went on Fox and complained about wind turbines shutting down, but got egg on his face when he was reminded that some operators of Texas located windmills opted not to put deicing on them. The corporation that controls the grid, http://www.ercot.com/ apparantly catching heat because it is not accountable to State or Local governments. So I have to wonder how this came about and what demands for changes will be insisted upon. For example, I would think if windmills are not considered reliable for winter conditions, you would need to have a proper excess of available power capacity available.

My understanding is that Windmills up North, Minnesota, Iowa, run through out the winter. When the power came on at 9pm, outside 35F and House temp was 60F. The 2’ of cellulose insulation in our attic helps. When we moved in we had barely 4” of fiberglass batting. It was a challenge managing battery power of our iOS devices.