Cold over there

[atr]

we were lucky...only a foot of snow and that only shut things down for 2 days. Warm rain came along and now 95% of the snow has melted away. It did get and stay cold for a good week and both passes over the mountains were closed for a time due to avalanche danger. All-in-all not too bad!

[abunaitoo]

My sister in Tennessee said it wasn't bad for her.
4" of slow and icy roads, but power didn't go out.
She let the water drip so pipes wouldn't pop.
Sent some pictures.
Sure looks nice.

[David2011]

Cell phones don't work in my part of Texas, We are in the sticks so to speak.
I do think the lack of internet connection might have been upsetting for some.
No mail for a week was different too????? I thought the mail always ran.

I don’t think it mattered where you were. We’re 25 miles from downtown Houston and didn’t have usable cell signal for at least four days. Comcast TV and Internet was down for about 2-1/2 days total but part of that time we didn’t have electricity either. They continued to have lengthy outages through Saturday.

[Idaho45guy]

we were lucky...only a foot of snow and that only shut things down for 2 days. Warm rain came along and now 95% of the snow has melted away. It did get and stay cold for a good week and both passes over the mountains were closed for a time due to avalanche danger. All-in-all not too bad!

Same over here on the East side. Foot and a half of snow, no power outages, no shutdowns. Just a normal week of winter weather for us. Now it's 45 degrees and windy and the beautiful snow is gone.

[ryanmattes]

It was 70 in Dallas today. Texas weather...

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[Winger Ed.]

It was 70 in Dallas today. Texas weather...

Yep. 70, no wind, clear skies, and dry roads.
Back to a normal winter in Texas.

[Idaho45guy]

I'll be in Yuma, AZ in a week, doing some off-roading, mine exploring, and desert shooting.

Supposed to be 82 degrees tomorrow, and 75 when we roll into town. Will be nice to see the sun, again. it comes out here every couple of weeks or so this time of year. Suicide rates are skyrocketing in the area due to Covid lockdowns and miserable weather for months.

[shampine]

crazy how conditions in Texas make it look like a 3rd world country on news reports in one week--crazy
a lesson to be learned from, like Boy Scout be prepared, you never know what will come next.

You nailed it, they turned out to be pretty weak in reality.

[ryanmattes]

You nailed it, they turned out to be pretty weak in reality.

Honestly, I don't know who all the complainers are. There are some entitled people in every state, but I don't personally know any of them. Everyone I know was fine, if a little chilly for a couple days. My parents lost heat for a full day, but they were fine, didn't complain about something needing to be done. The complainers might be recent Austin imports from California.

I would never minimize anyone's death. Any death is a tragedy. But of the just over a dozen or so deaths attributed to the weather in Texas, 6 were homeless who didn't seek shelter and 6 were in that 133 car pileup prior to the snow. Both are awful situations, but it's not like people were dying because of the power situation or lack of government planning, and it's certainly not like a 3rd world country. In a metroplex of 8 million, a few thousand in D/FW were caught unprepared and had to struggle a bit; wrap up in blankets and boil some water. With the combined weather, a once in a lifetime traffic accident, and some very vulnerable people, there were casualties. But again, not 3rd world country stuff. Just a tragic sequence of unusual events.

The streets were largely plowed between the snowfalls, much faster than I expected. Stores were open. I made it to the post office to ship some molds and loading gear, bought a new 1911, and took it to the (indoor) range, right in the middle of it all. My usual outdoor range was open the whole time, didn't even shut down for the power outages, I just didn't feel like going when the wind chill was -12F.

My point is, it was only a big deal because it was unique. We're not snow people this far south, so it's weird and crazy to see that kind of snowfall. Everybody ooohd and aaahd over it for a couple days, and we're back to business as usual. Yes, one startup power company got caught overcharging people for power, and they'll likely be chapter 11 soon. There was probably mismanagement at some of the other power companies, but they didn't kill anybody, just made some people uncomfortable. Windmills and power plants spec'd to operate at 110F didn't do so well in a negative wind chill; big surprise. Might as well blame the city and state management from 80 years ago for only requiring pipes to be buried at 18" instead of 3' like they do up north. We've never been prepared for that kind of weather, and we never will. And we shouldn't prepare for it extensively, as a state or city. It only happens once every few decades, the cost simply isn't worth the actual risk. We have sand/salt trucks, we have (a surprising number of) plow attachments, emergency vehicles have tire chains... What more do you want from a place with a mean temperature of like 88F?

There's honestly very little blame to go around. It was all handled reasonable well, for an entirely unusual situation, and very few people have legitimate reasons to complain. Sometimes life is uncomfortable. Have a backup plan for yourself and your family.

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