Winter Ice Storm in Texas

[Utar]

Whoo, a balmy 8F?
Time to break out the flip-flops and shorts....lol...I'm near the Gulf Coast, it's rarely below freezing here, for days and days...I'd rather it be 98F and 80% humidity, I can deal with profuse sweating while just stepping outside...it's how I was raised

I agree we live close enough to each other. During Hurricane Harvey, I lost power and water for over a week. But at least I wasn't freezing my behind off in 15° weather.

 

[eatyourpeas]

I hope you all stay safe and warm. No fun, this weather

 

[Slaphppy7]

I hope you all stay safe and warm. No fun, this weather

Thank you!
So far, so good for me, besides near zero water pressure, we have power and heat, which many of those around me went without...a coworker a few towns away had no power for around 12 hours, and lows in the teens...nice thing for the both of us is we are on paid leave from work, and the rest of the work week is cancelled.

Getting texts from the city about the water pressure slowly coming back up, if everyone will finally turn off their dripping sinks...supposedly, near freezing tonight, not a pipe-buster like last night, but then 25F again for Friday AM....

 

[FishGuest5123]

I AM DONE WITH THIS COLD WEATHER STUFF! Low water pressure and 12 hours with no power today. Having to boil our water now. Spent the day topping off tanks to keep them warm and adding battery operated bubblers to all of the tanks. Wrapped them all tight like babies. All faired well in the end. Was a little worried about the bettas but they never missed a beat. Kept the fry tank plugged into generator so they had filter and heat. I thought my first power outage would be from a hurricane not an Artic Freeze and storm. Please, bring me my Texas weather back. I will NEVER ask for snow or complain about humidity again. I need my flip flops, sweet ice tea, and hot sand in my toes. I am definitely a Southern gal! One more day if I can make it! You Northerners are like crazy aliens. Who wants to live in ice and snow? Nope! No more! Ever!!! Sorry! Not me! Ain’t gonna happen! Not for all the tea in China. You couldn’t pay me to do this again. No way! Nope! This is it! I’m buying a bigger generator!

 

[eatyourpeas]

Thinking of all of you and hoping it ends soon. The news look frightening.

 

[snailaquarium]

Some I have seen on sky news it looks pretty bad and they got power cuts in a variety of places.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

We received an extra 2 inches or so:

At least the birds are happy...

 

[madmark285]

I AM DONE WITH THIS COLD WEATHER STUFF!

Much sympathy to all of you in Texas. At first I thought this was an issue with downed power lines but that's not the major problem, lack of generation is causing your woes.

Texas needs to eliminate the independent ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas, how ironic) power grid. There is plenty of spare generating capacity in the USA to keep the lights on in Texas, you got to connect to the national grids.

Texas needs more regulation such as, natural gas turbines need to ability to run in -20 degrees F temperatures. That's just ridiculous that you can't keep power plants running in cold weather. Of course Governor Greg Abbott is blaming renewable generation such as wind turbines. From CBS,

But the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which supplies about 90% of the state with its power, said Tuesday that wind power is responsible for just a fraction of the loss. Of the 45,000 megawatts of power offline during the peak, 30,000 megawatts stemmed from natural gas, while 16,000 megawatts were from wind turbines.

"Of the power shortfall that hit Texas, over 80% was due to problems at coal- and gas-fired plants," PolitiFact reported.

The ability to backup intermittent renewable generation is the primary justification for fossil fuels generation, a major fail in this case.

OK, no more ranting.....

 

[FishGuest5123]

Much sympathy to all of you in Texas. At first I thought this was an issue with downed power lines but that's not the major problem, lack of generation is causing your woes.

Texas needs to eliminate the independent ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas, how ironic) power grid. There is plenty of spare generating capacity in the USA to keep the lights on in Texas, you got to connect to the national grids.

Texas needs more regulation such as, natural gas turbines need to ability to run in -20 degrees F temperatures. That's just ridiculous that you can't keep power plants running in cold weather. Of course Governor Greg Abbott is blaming renewable generation such as wind turbines. From CBS,



The ability to backup intermittent renewable generation is the primary justification for fossil fuels generation, a major fail in this case.

OK, no more ranting.....

We have a joke circulating around about solar and wind powered energy. It states where they can stick that idea but I can’t post it on here. . This was a wake up call and many leaders will be without jobs.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Much sympathy to all of you in Texas. At first I thought this was an issue with downed power lines but that's not the major problem, lack of generation is causing your woes.

Texas needs to eliminate the independent ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas, how ironic) power grid. There is plenty of spare generating capacity in the USA to keep the lights on in Texas, you got to connect to the national grids.

Texas needs more regulation such as, natural gas turbines need to ability to run in -20 degrees F temperatures. That's just ridiculous that you can't keep power plants running in cold weather. Of course Governor Greg Abbott is blaming renewable generation such as wind turbines. From CBS,



The ability to backup intermittent renewable generation is the primary justification for fossil fuels generation, a major fail in this case.

OK, no more ranting.....

I agree 100%

 

[eatyourpeas]

Glad to see some Texans back online.

 

[Slaphppy7]

I AM DONE WITH THIS COLD WEATHER STUFF! Low water pressure and 12 hours with no power today. Having to boil our water now. Spent the day topping off tanks to keep them warm and adding battery operated bubblers to all of the tanks. Wrapped them all tight like babies. All faired well in the end. Was a little worried about the bettas but they never missed a beat. Kept the fry tank plugged into generator so they had filter and heat. I thought my first power outage would be from a hurricane not an Artic Freeze and storm. Please, bring me my Texas weather back. I will NEVER ask for snow or complain about humidity again. I need my flip flops, sweet ice tea, and hot sand in my toes. I am definitely a Southern gal! One more day if I can make it! You Northerners are like crazy aliens. Who wants to live in ice and snow? Nope! No more! Ever!!! Sorry! Not me! Ain’t gonna happen! Not for all the tea in China. You couldn’t pay me to do this again. No way! Nope! This is it! I’m buying a bigger generator!

Don't hold back Deana, tell us how you really feel! LOL, just trying to lighten your spirit a bit, don't ban me from the forum!!

Yes, this stuff has gotten old, quickly...our water pressure is SLOWLY coming back up (couldn't take a shower last night, yuck), and I'm still so blessed that we didn't lose power...2 more nights of hard freeze predicted, after that we warm back up...but everyone around here will see the HF warnings, start dripping their faucets again, and pressure will surely once again drop...c'mon, Springtime!

 

[madmark285]

We have a joke circulating around about solar and wind powered energy. It states where they can stick that idea but I can’t post it on here. . This was a wake up call and many leaders will be without jobs.

Yep, time to clean house. Wind, solar, natural gas, coal and nuclear plants are all capable of working in cold weather, except in Texas. It might be bad timing with renewable jokes, residents with solar panels on the roof have electric.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Yep, time to clean house. Wind, solar, natural gas, coal and nuclear plants are all capable of working in cold weather, except in Texas. It might be bad timing with renewable jokes, residents with solar panels on the roof have electric.

I didn't realize Texas was on it's own independent power grid until recently, though I've lived here my whole life.

"Most people aren't aware that a majority of the United States is electrically connected by three major power grids. Many of the states in each grid do not have the ability to produce enough power for their state alone. Except Texas. Texas is its own power grid independent of the rest of the United States."

 

[Slaphppy7]

I agree we live close enough to each other. During Hurricane Harvey, I lost power and water for over a week. But at least I wasn't freezing my behind off in 15° weather.

Speaking of Harvey...this was the morning after, one of the major highways through my town...I have no idea whose FB page this is, I don't do Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/kendal.batuyong/posts/10100221962224849

Nederland, Texas, less than 10 minute drive from me, holds the US record for rainfall (during Harvey), at 64.5 inches: https://www.expressnews.com/news/lo...cial-Harvey-sets-U-S-record-with-12236335.php