Winter from Hell

[Vanimal46]

What a week it's been... Record cold temps and the most snow in the last 35 years here in Austin. I just got power again after 18 hours of not having it. And it doesn't look like we're done yet. More freezing rain tonight with an extremely strained power grid. 

[MMMordabito]

I have friends in Arlington and many co-workers in Round Rock, and they've echoed your statements. 

 

I saw the video of that pile up on I-35 a few days ago.  That was straight up scary watching those semis come barreling into piles of stopped vehicles.

 

Hang in there.

[Vanimal46]

I have friends in Arlington and many co-workers in Round Rock, and they've echoed your statements.

 

I saw the video of that pile up on I-35 a few days ago. That was straight up scary watching those semis come barreling into piles of stopped vehicles.

 

Hang in there.

We had a 20+ car pileup on our of our main highways too. Not nearly as bad as the one in Fort Worth. People really didn’t take any precautions for this storm. The only things I was woefully unprepared for were going completely offline yesterday, and not getting enough beer at the grocery store.

[Dodecahedron]

I lived in Texas for many years, and frankly how they respond to bad weather is maddening.

 

They don't want to pay for deicer for the roads. We saw what happened in Fort Worth, but this happens routinely. A bigger pileup happened on I-35 in Austin in 1998* and again a few years later. There were other pileups on I-35 in Waco, San Antonio, etc., in the past. I-35 is designed in a way to where water sits on it, so even in the rain the road is dangerous, which contributes to its icing up.

 

Texas utilities don't want to pay to weatherize the power grid. They even try to blame "Green Power" -- or wind farms. For those who have travelled through Illinois, you know the heartland of the state is full of wind farms. Like in MN, IL has seen temps near zero for a few weeks. I'm not aware of any forced blackouts or other power outages in IL (though I'm sure there were some power outages).

 

One thing to point out is that rolling blackouts are also routine in Texas when in the heat of summer, so it's not just about the cold weather. Texas is known to be hot, and the utilities can't handle that either.

 

What's also "interesting" is Texas always claims they haven't had rolling blackouts for years every time they have rolling blackouts ... which again happen nearly every year, if not every year.

 

This is what a "No regulations!" atmosphere in government gets you. I'm glad that national media is finally reporting on this heavily. It's good for Texas to have a stable power grid and interstate freeways that are not covered in invisible ice for miles at a time! It would be a completely different thing if this were truly a "new" situation, but Texans know about this stuff and government does not address it.

 

*The 1998 pileup was so bad, they closed I-35 from Round Rock to downtown Austin. Cars could see the pileup on the horizon but still could not stop in time, so they just shut it all down, miles away from the pileup.

[Vanimal46]

 

I lived in Texas for many years, and frankly how they respond to bad weather is maddening.

 

They don't want to pay for deicer for the roads. We saw what happened in Fort Worth, but this happens routinely. A bigger pileup happened on I-35 in Austin in 1998 and again a few years later. There were other pileups on I-35 in Waco, San Antonio, etc., in the past. I-35 is designed in a way to where water sits on it, so even in the rain the road is dangerous, which contributes to its icing up.

 

Texas utilities don't want to pay to weatherize the power grid. They even try to blame "Green Power" -- or wind farms. For those who have travelled through Illinois, you know the heartland of the state is full of wind farms. Like in MN, IL has seen temps near zero for a few weeks. I'm not aware of any forced blackouts or other power outages in IL (though I'm sure there were some power outages).

 

One thing to point out is that rolling blackouts are also routine in Texas when in the heat of summer, so it's not just about the cold weather. Texas is known to be hot, and the utilities can't handle that either.

 

What's also "interesting" is Texas always claims they haven't had rolling blackouts for years every time they have rolling blackouts ... which again happen nearly every year, if not every year.

 

This is what a "No regulations!" atmosphere in government gets you. I'm glad that national media is finally reporting on this heavily. It's good for Texas to have a stable power grid and interstate freeways that are not covered in invisible ice for miles at a time! It would be a completely different thing if this were truly a "new" situation, but Texans know about this stuff and government does not address it.

 

Yep, like everything in Texas, they want it made in the cheapest way possible, or built from the lowest bidder. Their idea of "rolling blackouts" yesterday was a joke. All they did was shut off the power in several areas of town and waited until the people that still had power to cut back on their consumption. The result was a majority of people being without power for over 24 hours. Some still do not have it back. I'm sure I would still be sitting in the dark if I didn't live within 3 miles of a Samsung High-Tech Lab Facility. 

[Vanimal46]

A PSA list to have handy in case if you do unexpectedly go offline...

- I wish I had a battery powered radio to at least hear some updates. LTE was shut down too and I assumed that would still be operational to look at a webpage. Phone connection for calls was bad, so all I could do was text. My brother was nice enough to send me updates he was seeing online. 

- Save a movie or two on a device, or some podcasts just in case. I had a Spotify playlist from my last flight, but other than that, nada. 

- Have external batteries charged up and handy. Even without mobile data, my phone was sucking battery like I was back sitting in the MetroDome on a 3G network. 

- Conserve as much heat in the house as possible. Towels under the doors, closing the blinds in the evening, sitting in an interior room, etc. 

[Mike Sixel]

We also collected flashlights and candles. If you have a hot water heater, you can drain it and put the hot water in a small room (in a bowl or bucket).

[Vanimal46]

We also collected flashlights and candles. If you have a hot water heater, you can drain it and put the hot water in a small room (in a bowl or bucket).

I never thought the freebie LED flashlights from Harbor Freight would be needed, until last night!

[Vanimal46]

More freezing rain last night through this morning with below freezing temps. It's an ice rink outside. And more snow expected tomorrow. I am praying my lights, and most importantly, my heat stays on. I have friends that haven't had power since 2 AM on Monday. This storm is no joke... 

[Squirrel]

Stay away from trees in and after an ice storm. Limbs break from the weight and come crashing down.