• Ongoing coronavirus / COVID-19 discussion: how is the pandemic affecting your community, workplace, and wellness? 🦠

    Working from home? So are we. Come join us! Cyburbia is a friendly big tent, where we share our experiences and thoughts about urban planning practice, planning adjacent topics, and whatever else comes to mind. No ads, no spam, no social distancing.

NEVERENDING ♾️ The NEVERENDING Weather Thread

Doohickie

Doohickie

Cyburbian
Messages
3,585
Points
46
WSU MUP Student said:
What's the story with that block in the middle with power?
Click to expand...
This is Texas right now. Who has power and who doesn't is just totally random. I found out this is Garland, Texas (a Dallas suburb), the poster grabbed the pics from reddit.

In my immediate neighborhood we have power, but a friend who lives on the other side of the hood, less than a mile away, was without power for 50 or 60 hours. He finally got it back yesterday. Then his neighbor across the street who came on same time he did, lost it again. It's that spotty.

They claim the "rolling blackouts" (blackouts controlled by the power company) are over and people without power are due to downed wires and such. I saw a report that here in North Texas is down to 81k customers without power (down from over a million earlier in the week).

The next challenge is water. Several water treatment plants have had problems due to the cold and water is either off or hasn't been treated properly, leading to boil water orders for a lot of communities (hard to do when you don't have power). Then over the last 24 hours or so, restoration of power has led to rising temps in homes and broken pipes so now the pipes are leaking and lots of water is being lost out of the system, stressing the already tenuous supplies.
 
Doohickie

Doohickie

Cyburbian
Messages
3,585
Points
46
And... they're also saying that the next shortage will be gasoline, since the weather affected several refineries and the deliveries to retail.
 
Salmissra

Salmissra

Cyburbian
Messages
6,192
Points
34
We might get to freezing today! But temps overnight will be lower due to lack of cloud cover.

So more ice in the morning, I bet.
 
The Terminator

The Terminator

Cyburbian
Messages
1,696
Points
23
Been late to say this because I have been so insulated in the my bubble/dealing with my own sh*% the past few weeks, but "thoughts and prayers" to everyone in Texas and elsewhere affected by the storms right now.

Donate to mutual aid funds if you can! Helpful link of Texas based aid funds can be found on this post
Here in Montreal, we are a snowfaring city! If any burbians are in the need of any winter gear that may be hard to get right now because of short supply or price gouging, let me know!
 
mendelman

mendelman

Unfrozen Caveman Planner
Staff member
Moderator
Messages
15,006
Points
59
TOFB said:
Yessir! Sunny and no wind too. Now we get to deal with a little daytime melt and black ice at night.
Click to expand...
Homer-woohoo.png
 
Doohickie

Doohickie

Cyburbian
Messages
3,585
Points
46
The Terminator said:
Been late to say this because I have been so insulated in the my bubble/dealing with my own sh*% the past few weeks, but "thoughts and prayers" to everyone in Texas and elsewhere affected by the storms right now.

Donate to mutual aid funds if you can! Helpful link of Texas based aid funds can be found on this post
Here in Montreal, we are a snowfaring city! If any burbians are in the need of any winter gear that may be hard to get right now because of short supply or price gouging, let me know!
Click to expand...
By the time you could send anything here, the temps will be in the 70s. Seriously.
 
TOFB

TOFB

Cyburbian
Messages
2,848
Points
37
Doohickie said:
This week in Fort Worth:
Sunday High: 20, Low: 7
Monday High: 12, Low: 3
Tuesday High: 18, Low: -1
Wednesday High: 25, Low: 18
Thursday High: 30, Low: 21 (and dropping)
Click to expand...
I won't compare temps as we were much lower than that but at least prepared for it. I feel for you brotha.
 
WSU MUP Student

WSU MUP Student

Cyburbian
Messages
10,986
Points
51
I've got a massive ice dam that has formed along the north side of my house in the section along our family room. I know it's backing up under the eaves and into the soffits because there are now icicles forming and hanging down from the middle of the soffits and there are areas where ice is forming on the outside of the walls where melt is dripping along those walls. Thankfully all of that ice and water is still on the outside but I'm keeping an eye on it and it's a good thing we don't have any stretches of warmer days coming... just a gradual warm up so hopefully there's a slow thaw and that water stays outside.
 
Doohickie

Doohickie

Cyburbian
Messages
3,585
Points
46
Ways in which Texas was not ready:
  • Homes built without regard to severe winter weather
    • Plumbing in unheated crawl spaces
    • Plumbing in unheated attics
    • Outdoor faucets not freeze-proof
    • Homes with electric heat
    • Homes with heat pumps only
    • Bursting pipes puts stress on strained water systems
  • Electric grid unprepared for winter weather
    • Independent Texas grid isolated from neighboring states
    • Because it does not cross state lines, federal regulations for such things as required over-capacity and winterization were not followed
    • Deregulated grid was more about providing good profit to grid members than about providing adequate infrastructure ($ over reliability)
  • Water systems not prepared for winter weather
    • Equipment not winterized
    • Too close to the surface- many water main breaks this week
    • As houses with broken pipes thawed, strain on the water supply.
 
WSU MUP Student

WSU MUP Student

Cyburbian
Messages
10,986
Points
51
It's currently 35º. This is the first time we've been above freezing since February 5th.

In related news...

WSU MUP Student said:
I've got a massive ice dam that has formed along the north side of my house in the section along our family room. I know it's backing up under the eaves and into the soffits because there are now icicles forming and hanging down from the middle of the soffits and there are areas where ice is forming on the outside of the walls where melt is dripping along those walls. Thankfully all of that ice and water is still on the outside but I'm keeping an eye on it and it's a good thing we don't have any stretches of warmer days coming... just a gradual warm up so hopefully there's a slow thaw and that water stays outside.
Click to expand...

It leaked.

I've got water leaking into the garage at a pretty good rate of flow. The drywall in one corner of the ceiling is clearly damaged. I guess I'll be calling USAA later today.
 
HomerJ

HomerJ

Cyburbian
Messages
1,134
Points
18
Doohickie said:
Ways in which Texas was not ready:
  • Homes built without regard to severe winter weather
    • Plumbing in unheated crawl spaces
    • Plumbing in unheated attics
    • Outdoor faucets not freeze-proof
    • Homes with electric heat
    • Homes with heat pumps only
    • Bursting pipes puts stress on strained water systems
  • Electric grid unprepared for winter weather
    • Independent Texas grid isolated from neighboring states
    • Because it does not cross state lines, federal regulations for such things as required over-capacity and winterization were not followed
    • Deregulated grid was more about providing good profit to grid members than about providing adequate infrastructure ($ over reliability)
  • Water systems not prepared for winter weather
    • Equipment not winterized
    • Too close to the surface- many water main breaks this week
    • As houses with broken pipes thawed, strain on the water supply.
Click to expand...

I admittedly don't know enough about the details of Texas' electric grid, but it seems crazy to me that the state's leadership thought then (and apparently many still think now) that it would be better to avoid federal regulations and subsequently operate off of an energy network isolated from the rest of the country. I get all of the politics in Texas around being independent, but this seems like the type of decision that could never stand up to a basic risk assessment.
 
M

MD Planner

Cyburbian
Messages
2,840
Points
45
Hey Rick Perry says that Texans would rather deal with the situation they've got instead of having the feds burden them with regulation. Of course he was actually the Secretary of Energy so what would he know about national policies? :r: I always thought it was interesting that before he was the Secretary he called for that department to be abolished. Seems consistent . . .
 
Planit

Planit

Cyburbian
Messages
13,924
Points
55
No city in NC made the list ... & I ain't complaining!


I think its very telling that Abilene, Texas got more than twice the snow Colorado Springs, Colorado received.
 
Maister

Maister

Chairman of the bored
Staff member
Moderator
Messages
29,469
Points
73
yeah, it got over 50 this weekend. Melted most of the snow in non-shaded areas.
 
WSU MUP Student

WSU MUP Student

Cyburbian
Messages
10,986
Points
51
Most mornings over the past few months I usually see just a couple other runners when I am out on my run early in the morning, many mornings that number is 0, even if I run through the downtown and the more dense neighborhoods around it. Yesterday morning I ran 15+ miles and never saw a single soul out there.

Today, it was still chilly (about 33º at 6:00 a.m.) but I saw a bunch of other runners out there, including a group run of 6 or 7 people. Maybe March 1st marks the point in the winter where we're just tired of staying inside, regardless of the temps.
 
Top