What does a coastal Texan in arctic weather do?

[Halftime Hope]

On 2/13/2021 at 6:14 PM, JHLWTM said:

Every branch, every leaf is encased in ice here in central Texas! Many large limbs have broken off. I told my kids not to walk under any trees... not that we are going out very much...

My son in Central TX has a big truck for work.  He is 27.  He has been pulling people out of ditches and using a chainsaw to clear driveways for sport the last few days.  Oh, to be young.  I told him to stay away from power lines, too. 

[Halftime Hope]

On 2/13/2021 at 8:08 PM, Hillcottagemom said:

This is actually really interesting for a Midwesterner who's looking forward to -20 degrees tonight and hadn't thought anything of it! It's so funny how people have different reactions to weather in different parts of the country. Are you expecting an ice storm? 

We had ice on Thursday -- 100 car pileup with multiple fatalities. Sigh.  Worst that I can remember and I've been here 28 years. 

Edited February 16, 2021 by Halftime Hope

[Sdel]

11 minutes ago, Selkie said:

Oh no, I hope you can get enough water for your horses! We have harsh winters and I'm paranoid about making sure my horses drink enough, because impaction colic is such a risk. I hope your well is working again soon.

They are fine for now, still have half.   We filled three troughs to the top before all of this and I’ve seen them eating the snow too.  My riding instructor had to get the volunteer firefighters come out and fill a tank for her (she has almost 50 horses at her place) since their ice was to thick to break.

And we’ll, for one, I think this was going to be the last spring anyway.    

[Kassia]

23 minutes ago, RegGuheert said:

That brings up a good question in my mind:  Which is more traumatic to our college students these days: losing heat in 20F weather or losing the internet?

Internet for my dd.  She's freaking out about assignments and midterms to study for.  Everything is online.

[Bensmom]

The stray cat stayed dry and reasonably warm all night. I put food at the entrance on the box he was hunkered down in at 6:00 a.m. When I checked my “kitty cam” (security camera where I have been keeping an eye on him) he was gone. I didn’t worry because I thought he must have had to go potty. He never came back. Windchill was -3 at the time. It is just now up to 3 degrees. No sign of him. He doesn’t come when called but this is his home territory. He usually doesn’t leave my yard. My husband thinks he went off to die🥺

[Hillcottagemom]

10 minutes ago, Halftime Hope said:

We had ice on Thursday -- 100 car pileup with multiple fatalities. Sigh.  Wort that I can remember and I've been here 28 years. 

Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear this.😥 

[Big Buckin' Longhorn]

Yeah, we’re at 13+ hours without electricity. Like @ktgrok said, our house is all electric. So no oven, no hot water, no fireplace, no way to get warm. Looks like our electric company may restore power tomorrow evening. Maybe not. Spouse will probably barbecue on the patio for dinner, but we’ve all been pretty still and quiet today. It’s very cold. It can be hard to imagine, but I’ve lived here over 30 years and never experienced anything like this. We all adapt to our environments. My adaptation usually includes switching from canvas tennis shoes to leather ones to keep my feet a little dryer. I live in chanclas.  

[RegGuheert]

7 minutes ago, Kassia said:

Internet for my dd.  She's freaking out about assignments and midterms to study for.  Everything is online.

Doesn't she have a cellular backup of some sort?  If not, can she hop onto a friend's cellular hotspot?

[bibiche]

On 2/13/2021 at 6:53 PM, wintermom said:

 Just wondering how often you wear parkas and toques in Texas? 

Toque! I learned a new word in Canadian, cool! (And apparently it’s “tuque” in French Canadian, so make that two new words.) Thanks. 
 

eta to return the favor, in French French “toque” is usually used for a chef’s hat. And toqué means nutty. IME they are related. 😉

Edited February 15, 2021 by bibiche

[Bootsie]

47 minutes ago, RegGuheert said:

That brings up a good question in my mind:  Which is more traumatic to our college students these days: losing heat in 20F weather or losing the internet?

My university closed all in-person classes and asked professors to teach online synchronously if at all possible for today--I had a 9am class.  A number of my students were without electricity.  I had a couple who planned to go sit in their cars and watch class on their phone.  I told them NOT to do that when the wind chill was -18--I would record the class.  By the time I was finishing class the university sent an updated message saying to poles teach ASYNCHRONOUSLY, if at all possible through Thursday and to move any due dates and exams to another week because of the power outages.  Of course I had an exam scheduled for Thursday... I have had more things in the past year of teaching than in all of my previous years (which goes back to the mid 1980s...)

[Kassia]

Another winter storm warning issued for Tuesday into Wednesday:

https://www.facebook.com/petedelkus/photos/a.127955303946093/5202200299854876/

 

[prairiewindmomma]

29 minutes ago, Kassia said:

Internet for my dd.  She's freaking out about assignments and midterms to study for.  Everything is online.

Definitely internet here.  We have about 200K people here without electricity.  Ds's university called off remote classes because it's midterms week and people were freaking out.  Some people have been without power since Friday, so likely the internet towers in their area are also down at this point having gone through their battery backups.  Several of dh's coworkers had been calling in to work meetings but now their battery backups to recharge phones are also almost depleted.

 

 

[RegGuheert]

8 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

I have had more things in the past year of teaching than in all of my previous years (which goes back to the mid 1980s...)

Our daughter started her first professorship in the Fall of 2019.  We were just commenting over the weekend that it was good that she did not start teaching THIS year.

I have similar feelings about students starting out as college freshmen this year.  What an awful way to start college!

[mommyoffive]

Wow, I am so worried about everyone down there now.  I had no idea everyone would be without power.  There isn't much you can do in that situation unless you have a fireplace.  I hope that everyone is safe and that there are not people using their ovens as heat sources.  

[math teacher]

2 hours ago, RegGuheert said:

Is she still your friend after running off with your husband? 🤪

Haha-great catch, Mr.

That would be "My teacher friend and her dh went to Galveston." LOL

 

[RegGuheert]

1 hour ago, Sdel said:

We lost our well water.

I hesitate to write this, but I will in case you or someone else does not already know this:

Once your pipes freeze, they are likely already broken.  Unfortunately, you do not find out about the damage until they are thawed and water sprays everywhere.

I hope this is not true in your case, but it is usually the case.

[Kassia]

30 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

. I have had more things in the past year of teaching than in all of my previous years (which goes back to the mid 1980s...)

My close friend has been a professor for about the same period of time (and is now dean) and said that the past year has been by far the most stressful in her entire career.  Tough times for everyone.  😞  

[Sdel]

19 minutes ago, RegGuheert said:

I hesitate to write this, but I will in case you or someone else does not already know this:

Once your pipes freeze, they are likely already broken.  Unfortunately, you do not find out about the damage until they are thawed and water sprays everywhere.

I hope this is not true in your case, but it is usually the case.

The pipes aren’t frozen yet...just constricted so no pressure and no power to run the pump.  

[RegGuheert]

6 minutes ago, Sdel said:

The pipes aren’t frozen yet...just constricted so no pressure and no power to run the pump.  

Oh, good!  I read your post to mean that power had been off for a couple of hours and then you had no water when it came back on.  I guess your pressure tank has simply lost pressure.

Good news!

[Lucy the Valiant]

1 hour ago, RegGuheert said:

Oh, good!  I read your post to mean that power had been off for a couple of hours and then you had no water when it came back on.  I guess your pressure tank has simply lost pressure.

Good news!

I was surprised to learn (as an adult) that when power is out, homes on well water cannot get water, either. Learned that one the hard way. I grew up in a city, and this was not the case there.

Edited February 15, 2021 by Lucy the Valiant

[Shoeless]

I'm not sure if it was part of the rolling brown outs or the power company redistributing load, but every 45 minutes, our power went down for a few minutes.  It was like that all night long. We stayed warm, but it kept waking everyone up (including the dog), because all the electronics would beep when the power came back. 

We got 2 inches of snow and some much deeper drifts (drifts!) in parts of the yard. Some of the snow has melted a bit, but that just makes things worse for tonight. All that water will now freeze and the roads will be a sheet of ice. There are zero plows or salt trucks her, and even if the county had them, they'd be prioritized for the highway and not out here. Yet I hear people zooming down the road without a care in the world.  It's going to be a long night. 

The dog, however, is living his best life. 

Edited February 16, 2021 by MissLemon

[Starr]

9 minutes ago, MissLemon said:

The dog, however, is living his best life. 

I love this.

 

[Bootsie]

Fortunately, we have not lost power.  Even with that, we have ice on the INSIDE of our windows.

[Bootsie]

And now part of the city is under a boil water order after a water plant lost power...

[Shoeless]

.

 

Edited February 16, 2021 by MissLemon

[Terabith]

11 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

And now part of the city is under a boil water order after a water plant lost power...

How are people supposed to boil water without power???

[Bootsie]

3 minutes ago, Terabith said:

How are people supposed to boil water without power???

I was wondering the same thing.  This is from the announcement:

"Customers who are unable to boil their water should use bottled water or another safe source. "

HMM?  Where Is all of that bottled water going to come from?  And the boil order will be in place at least until Wednesday.

And a previous announcement said that if your power goes out, drink lots of water to stay warm. 

[ktgrok]

19 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

I was wondering the same thing.  This is from the announcement:

"Customers who are unable to boil their water should use bottled water or another safe source. "

HMM?  Where Is all of that bottled water going to come from?  And the boil order will be in place at least until Wednesday.

And a previous announcement said that if your power goes out, drink lots of water to stay warm. 

We always plan to boil water on our gas grill during outages with hurricanes. 

[Bootsie]

15 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

We always plan to boil water on our gas grill during outages with hurricanes. 

When its 5 degrees, and a wind chill of -18, I don't know how easy that would be...

[wintermom]

3 hours ago, bibiche said:

Toque! I learned a new word in Canadian, cool! (And apparently it’s “tuque” in French Canadian, so make that two new words.) Thanks. 
 

eta to return the favor, in French French “toque” is usually used for a chef’s hat. And toqué means nutty. IME they are related. 😉

It's an efficient word. You could say knitted hat, but it's quicker to say toque. 😉  We never use the word beanie.

[Lucy the Valiant]

1 hour ago, Terabith said:

How are people supposed to boil water without power???

Camping stove? Do you know any Boy Scouts? Grill? (We use a wood stove when it's cold, but a little propane camping stove when our wood stove's not running.)

Don't bring the gas / propane stoves or grills inside, though!

[Acorn]

1 hour ago, Lucy the Valiant said:

I was surprised to learn (as an adult) that when power is out, homes on well water cannot get water, either. Learned that one the hard way. I grew up in a city, and this was not the case there.

I grew up on a rural farm with a well before moving to a small city in Ohio. Awhile ago, we had  a Jan. ice storm and lost power for 6 days. I knew that we would have water, but a few days in I was surprised to discover that our gas water heater did not have any electric parts.  We took extremely hot showers and all slept inside a tent in the living room.

[Acorn]

Around here, some people boil maple sap on backyard campfires or grills. I made syrup a couple of times, and it really helps to do most the evaporating outdoors.  We would boil water the same way.

[goldenecho]

So, I'm not in Texas anymore, but here's my top tips.

First, if you don't have snow boots or anything else waterproof like rain boots, put on your socks and then wrap plastic wrap around them, sort of like a cast.   I took a trip to the mountains recently and forgot one of my snow boots (oops)...so I stopped at a small store, got some plastic wrap, and wrapped my other foot over the sock, them put my thin canvas tennis shoe over it.   We played for hours in 2 foot deep snow, and my foot never got wet.   It was just as warm as my foot in the boot too. 

For gloves, try thick leather garden gloves if you have them.   You can put a double layer of socks over your hands to make make-shift mittens, but they will get wet pretty wet soon if you're playing in the snow.   Dish gloves keep out the wet but don't help much against the cold.   If you have those thin little knit gloves and large dish gloves you might be able to fit those inside the dish gloves, or you could cut the toe off a sock and make a hole for the thumb and and least line the glove up to the palm. 

If you don't have a knit hat, go search your Christmas stuff for Santa hats.   A scarf would work too wrapped around the head (but I figure if you don't have a knit hat, a scarf is unlikely).   You could I suppose wrap a towel around your head like you do after taking a shower...it would look silly but I bet it would work.  A strip  of towel or a t-shirt cut up and wrapped around the the head over the hears like a "Karate Kid" headband would help keep your ears warm too and would look slighly less silly. 

 

[bibiche]

39 minutes ago, wintermom said:

It's an efficient word. You could say knitted hat, but it's quicker to say toque. 😉  W

e never use the word beanie.

Definitely more efficient. In French it’s called a bonnet. 

[Sdel]

I swear if I hear my kid whine one more time about not being able to play in the snow or attempt to play in the snow after being told no....I’m going to snap.  We do not have the proper clothes for snow....and no way to warm up from getting wet in snow and I’m not finding it cute that my teenager is pretending to be dumb about the lack of power.

[KungFuPanda]

On 2/14/2021 at 1:53 AM, vonfirmath said:

Yes. we always have to drip when weather gets cold. But for extended below freezing, they are telling us to stream water (overnight. Not so much during the day if people are home using the water occasionally) in plumbing that is on outside wall.  Usually we put those foam things over outside faucets but now we're being recommended to drip them.

 

Texas is also concerned about capacity of electricity to handle all the electric heating during this cold snap since it is effecting EVERY county in the state!  (Also rare)

 

It has now dropped below freezing and is not supposed to rise ABOVE freezing until Thursday afternoon.  On Monday, the temperatures are forecast to be single digits.  (Our local school district was supposed to be IN SCHOOL Monday to make up for an earlier snow day in January.  There is great speculation whether we will be virtual instead or end up taking another snow day that will have to be made up in the future.

 

This was also the week for the regional science fair -- and they have postponed it even though it was going to be all virtual. Due to the likelihoods of electrical outages and potential rolling blackouts over the week.

I understand power outages due to ice on the lines wreaking havoc, but I don't understand it based on usage?  I live where it's cold in the winter and I generally have higher power bills in the summer because I live with people who like the cold.  Do your heat sources really use that much more electricity than your ACs? 

On 2/14/2021 at 11:13 AM, Ellie said:

Turns out.... 🙂

In my whole life, I don't think I've ever been in temps this cold.

Our poor homeless population. 😞

I hope some of those huge churches down there have opened up some emergency warm weather shelters.  Churches around here rotate this service in the winter when shelters can't meet the cold-weather demands.

On 2/14/2021 at 6:57 PM, mommyoffive said:

We turn our outside faucets off in winter.  Is this because everything is not insulated? 

 

In the last 15 years our city  has only had us drip faucets one time.  THat was a few years ago when the temps were I think -60 for a long time.  

Turning off/draining the faucets is part of my routine for putting the garden to bed for the winter.  The handles for those outside spigots are weirdly hidden and not as easy to see as the shut-offs for my washer.  So if people don't see them right away, don't automatically think they're not there.  Trace your pipes near the outside faucets into where they enter the house.  The handles might be just inside the building.  I have to climb on a chair and contort a bit to get to mine.

6 hours ago, Dreamergal said:

Oh no, should I fill my bathtub ?? There is not enough snow outside to melt for water  !

If you have a top loading washing machine, you can fill that too.

6 hours ago, RegGuheert said:

That brings up a good question in my mind:  Which is more traumatic to our college students these days: losing heat in 20F weather or losing the internet?

The internet.  You just know those college kids are creating massive puppy piles to stay warm.  There will be ten kids under a single blanket for heat, but if their wifi goes out it'll be tragic.

5 hours ago, Bensmom said:

The stray cat stayed dry and reasonably warm all night. I put food at the entrance on the box he was hunkered down in at 6:00 a.m. When I checked my “kitty cam” (security camera where I have been keeping an eye on him) he was gone. I didn’t worry because I thought he must have had to go potty. He never came back. Windchill was -3 at the time. It is just now up to 3 degrees. No sign of him. He doesn’t come when called but this is his home territory. He usually doesn’t leave my yard. My husband thinks he went off to die🥺

Do you have any extra coolers or styrofoam coolers on hand.  There are plans online to turn these into stray cat shelters for cold weather.  I'll bet you could even mimic this with a couple boxes and a layer of plastic bags or paper between them for insulation.

5 hours ago, RegGuheert said:

Our daughter started her first professorship in the Fall of 2019.  We were just commenting over the weekend that it was good that she did not start teaching THIS year.

I have similar feelings about students starting out as college freshmen this year.  What an awful way to start college!

My daughter is a first year high school teacher.  She is working so so so hard.  At least she's young enough that all of the technology demands don't phase her, but it's a rough entry into her profession.  I thought it was bad that both of my kids graduated last year and we couldn't really celebrate like we wanted to.  This is somehow worse.  At least back then we believed it wouldn't last as long as it has.  Now, people are so tired of it all.  They're gearing up to return to the buildings at the beginning of March so that piles on even more stress.  Getting vaccines here is like an episode of Survivor.

[Tree Frog]

6 hours ago, RegGuheert said:

That brings up a good question in my mind:  Which is more traumatic to our college students these days: losing heat in 20F weather or losing the internet?

Internet for sure! My son is visiting and we've had maybe 5 min of power every hour and a half ago today. He's thankful his university cancelled classes today and tomorrow, but he has several major projects due this week and early next week. Without internet or WiFi, he can't get them done. He is also starting to freak out.

We figured out tonight how he can use my phone as a hot spot, so hopefully he can get some stuff done tomorrow.

Edited February 16, 2021 by wilrunner

[Tree Frog]

This was a great day to teach my son how to drive in the snow. He drove a little when we went to Colorado and he's searched it out in northern Alabama at college, so we practiced controlled slides and quick turns in slush, on ice, and in snow so he would know how to safely correct problems. I forgot how much fun driving in snow can be!

[Bootsie]

17 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

 

My daughter is a first year high school teacher.  She is working so so so hard.  At least she's young enough that all of the technology demands don't phase her, but it's a rough entry into her profession.  I thought it was bad that both of my kids graduated last year and we couldn't really celebrate like we wanted to.  This is somehow worse.  At least back then we believed it wouldn't last as long as it has.  Now, people are so tired of it all.  They're gearing up to return to the buildings at the beginning of March so that piles on even more stress.  Getting vaccines here is like an episode of Survivor.

Unfortunately, now that everyone is used to ZOOM, there is this idea that everything can just go virtual at a drop of a hat, without thinking of the details.  No, people cannot be on ZOOM when they have no power.  No, I cannot record my lecture and post for students to watch, if I have no power.  Luckily I planned ahead and brought much of my teaching materials home from my office last week so that I can work from home.  I have received FOUR different instructions from my university today about how to handle classes this week; be synchronous, no be asynchronous, no we mean change due dates....  No my inbox is flooded with student questions...

[Bootsie]

We have been lucky enough to maintain our power all day--so many around us have not had power for hours.  We have also been very lucky to avoid COVID, but we are opening up our game room to some of DS's friends who have been without power since the middle of the night last night.  I just can't think about possible COVID exposure when I am lucky to be warm and others are SO COLD without any heat.  

[Sdel]

35 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I understand power outages due to ice on the lines wreaking havoc, but I don't understand it based on usage?  I live where it's cold in the winter and I generally have higher power bills in the summer because I live with people who like the cold.  Do your heat sources really use that much more electricity than your ACs? 

The problem isn’t a usage issue.  They just can’t generate the electricity.   The wind turbines are down because they are frozen.  The natural gas pipelines  are  down so there is less production of of electricity there as well.  All the coal plants shut down or convert red converted to natural gas.  There is just no supply of electricity.  
 

And since we don’t usually have this type of weather for more than 24 hours and our houses that are built to shed 100 degree heat aren’t built to keep in heat and keep cold out and don’t usually have alternative heat sources.

[Terabith]

44 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I hope some of those huge churches down there have opened up some emergency warm weather shelters.  Churches around here rotate this service in the winter when shelters can't meet the cold-weather demands.

The pandemic makes it much, much harder for churches to do this.  Most of the volunteers that they normally rely on for many of such things are elderly, and it's just very hard to figure out the logistics of housing lots of homeless in the middle of a pandemic.  I mean, it's hard anyway (many megachurches with space are in suburbs, not urban centers with the higher percentage of unhoused persons), but doing so in a pandemic?  It's a nightmare.  

[KungFuPanda]

24 minutes ago, Sdel said:

The problem isn’t a usage issue.  They just can’t generate the electricity.   The wind turbines are down because they are frozen.  The natural gas pipelines  are  down so there is less production of of electricity there as well.  All the coal plants shut down or convert red converted to natural gas.  There is just no supply of electricity.  
 

And since we don’t usually have this type of weather for more than 24 hours and our houses that are built to shed 100 degree heat aren’t built to keep in heat and keep cold out and don’t usually have alternative heat sources.

Oh crap . . . I forgot about the wind turbines.  They have some here in the coldest part of Maryland, but I never even thought about how ice could effect them.  I can't imagine they'd have a reason to even own any de-icing equipment/supplies that exist.  Nobody needs this stress right now.  

[Bootsie]

1 hour ago, Bootsie said:

Unfortunately, now that everyone is used to ZOOM, there is this idea that everything can just go virtual at a drop of a hat, without thinking of the details.  No, people cannot be on ZOOM when they have no power.  No, I cannot record my lecture and post for students to watch, if I have no power.  Luckily I planned ahead and brought much of my teaching materials home from my office last week so that I can work from home.  I have received FOUR different instructions from my university today about how to handle classes this week; be synchronous, no be asynchronous, no we mean change due dates....  No my inbox is flooded with student questions...

Quoting myself to say, yet again another set of instructions--so FIVE.  Just as I got everything prepared and let me students know the plan, now we cannot have anything tomorrow or Wednesday and classes will be rescheduled for a weekend or some other time in the semester (because of COVID we have no slack days).  

 

[Bootsie]

55 minutes ago, Terabith said:

The pandemic makes it much, much harder for churches to do this.  Most of the volunteers that they normally rely on for many of such things are elderly, and it's just very hard to figure out the logistics of housing lots of homeless in the middle of a pandemic.  I mean, it's hard anyway (many megachurches with space are in suburbs, not urban centers with the higher percentage of unhoused persons), but doing so in a pandemic?  It's a nightmare.  

I know some of the churches are without power.  It is indeed a nightmare.

My university just sent a notice to students that they will have the Rec Center open all night for those who need a warm place and a place to charge phones--it had been opened only by appointment and at severely reduced capacity.  

[RegGuheert]

It's 2:00 AM and the Texas outage map still looks terrible.  I hope everyone is managing to stay warm somehow.

[RegGuheert]

I Duck Duck Go'ed the Texas power outages just now and one of the things I found was recommendations from the power utility in Texas (called the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas or ERCOT) on how to save electricity during this emergency.  The first item on the list was this:

Quote

Turn down your thermostat to 68 degrees

Really?!  Around here, we would have to turn the thermostat UP to get to 68 degrees.

It seems that there must be some (many?) Texans who run their houses cooler in summertime than they do in the wintertime!

If ERCOT really wants to save electricity, why aren't they recommending setting thermostats to 58 degrees instead of 68?

/rant

[Kassia]

7 hours ago, Wilrunner3 said:

Internet for sure! My son is visiting and we've had maybe 5 min of power every hour and a half ago today. He's thankful his university cancelled classes today and tomorrow, but he has several major projects due this week and early next week. Without internet or WiFi, he can't get them done. He is also starting to freak out.

We figured out tonight how he can use my phone as a hot spot, so hopefully he can get some stuff done tomorrow.

My dd is freaking out about this too. She's in the dorm and they lost power for several hours and haven't had internet/wifi at all. She has an assignment due today and hasn't heard anything from the professor so she submitted what she had last night and said it's not very good but she couldn't do any more on it with no internet.  I told her not to submit since the professor knows there is no internet on campus but she was too nervous that she'd be penalized.  I'm really upset and hope it doesn't affect her grade but there's nothing to be done about it now.  She has midterms and other assignments too.  Such a stressful time.  But at least they have power unlike so many others.

 

[TexasProud]

I have offered two of our generators to our church as they are expecting power outages because of ice in the Wed/Thurs storm and our church is a designated shelter. However, I don't know how they will get them. Our driveway ( that is 1/4 mile long) is buried under 9 inches of snow. I have not ventured to the entrance to look at the our actual road, but have not noticed any cars driving down it. It is a very curvy farm to market road. I am not sure that anyone will be able to come get my generators to use them. My husband has a 4 wheel drive truck, but he is overseas. It would probably be dangerous for me to attempt it. Plus, I only have a couple of regular shovels, not the snow shovels I see people in the North have. Not sure how to clear my driveway. And it will not be melting until probably Saturday.