Iowan wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 12:04 pm

I'm at a bit of a loss as to how Texas is so much more severely taxed by this weather than the massive chunk of America to the north of it that deals with this shit every year.

I don't mean that as snark, either. Their windmills are iced over, but we have endless stretches of windmills in Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska that have been in not just cold weather, but well below zero for the past 10 days with no ice issues. We get ice storms every year.

The pipes are bursting in homes. We have water pipes, and they don't freeze and burst unless you lose heat. Is it that much more expensive to put them inside walls? It can't cost much more than what this disaster will.

I feel really bad for the people who are endangered by this thing, but so much of this seems really preventable. I hope that some lessons are learned and precautions are taken in the future. I definitely can't wrap my head around this power grid scenario.

I haven't followed the story much beyond the headlines so I too don't get the crazy power grid problems, but unless this insanity is the new reality, there is no way building codes in TX will ever be similar to those in the North when it comes to pipes, insulation and the like. Why should they? The expense of compliance is considerable and the risk (let's call it once in a 100 years) is minimal. It would be like MA building to CA's earthquake standards. MA is technically in a fault zone but as is obvious the real life experiences of the 2 states have been quite different.

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 12:13 pm

Iowan wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 12:04 pm

I'm at a bit of a loss as to how Texas is so much more severely taxed by this weather than the massive chunk of America to the north of it that deals with this shit every year.

I don't mean that as snark, either. Their windmills are iced over, but we have endless stretches of windmills in Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska that have been in not just cold weather, but well below zero for the past 10 days with no ice issues. We get ice storms every year.

The pipes are bursting in homes. We have water pipes, and they don't freeze and burst unless you lose heat. Is it that much more expensive to put them inside walls? It can't cost much more than what this disaster will.

I feel really bad for the people who are endangered by this thing, but so much of this seems really preventable. I hope that some lessons are learned and precautions are taken in the future. I definitely can't wrap my head around this power grid scenario.

I haven't followed the story much beyond the headlines so I too don't get the crazy power grid problems, but unless this insanity is the new reality, there is no way building codes in TX will ever be similar to those in the North when it comes to pipes, insulation and the like. Why should they? The expense of compliance is considerable and the risk (let's call it once in a 100 years) is minimal. It would be like MA building to CA's earthquake standards. MA is technically in a fault zone but as is obvious the real life experiences of the 2 states have been quite different.

There are three power grids in the US...East, West and Texas. From what I understand, this is just a 'perfect storm' (forgive the turn of phrase). The power grid and infrastructure isn't necessarily the problem, it is more that...well...we just weren't built for this. Walking outside today, I realized I'm inside a beautiful natural disaster.

- we can't get rid of the snow! We got 7" or so in Austin. We don't have snowplows or salting equipment. This will be the longest stretch under freezing in a long, long time.
- the energy demand was hard to predict...it's never been like this
- Hard for services to get around to fix broken mains and lines and stuff
- We use a lot of wind energy...but all of the turbines are frozen and turned off

Still have power here, but no hot water...smell ya later!

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 12:13 pm

Iowan wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 12:04 pm

I'm at a bit of a loss as to how Texas is so much more severely taxed by this weather than the massive chunk of America to the north of it that deals with this shit every year.

I don't mean that as snark, either. Their windmills are iced over, but we have endless stretches of windmills in Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska that have been in not just cold weather, but well below zero for the past 10 days with no ice issues. We get ice storms every year.

The pipes are bursting in homes. We have water pipes, and they don't freeze and burst unless you lose heat. Is it that much more expensive to put them inside walls? It can't cost much more than what this disaster will.

I feel really bad for the people who are endangered by this thing, but so much of this seems really preventable. I hope that some lessons are learned and precautions are taken in the future. I definitely can't wrap my head around this power grid scenario.

I haven't followed the story much beyond the headlines so I too don't get the crazy power grid problems, but unless this insanity is the new reality, there is no way building codes in TX will ever be similar to those in the North when it comes to pipes, insulation and the like. Why should they? The expense of compliance is considerable and the risk (let's call it once in a 100 years) is minimal. It would be like MA building to CA's earthquake standards. MA is technically in a fault zone but as is obvious the real life experiences of the 2 states have been quite different.

Is it? That's kind of my question. This seems like it's going to be incredibly expensive to deal with this.

pearlbeer wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 12:32 pm

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 12:13 pm

Iowan wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 12:04 pm

I'm at a bit of a loss as to how Texas is so much more severely taxed by this weather than the massive chunk of America to the north of it that deals with this shit every year.

I don't mean that as snark, either. Their windmills are iced over, but we have endless stretches of windmills in Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska that have been in not just cold weather, but well below zero for the past 10 days with no ice issues. We get ice storms every year.

The pipes are bursting in homes. We have water pipes, and they don't freeze and burst unless you lose heat. Is it that much more expensive to put them inside walls? It can't cost much more than what this disaster will.

I feel really bad for the people who are endangered by this thing, but so much of this seems really preventable. I hope that some lessons are learned and precautions are taken in the future. I definitely can't wrap my head around this power grid scenario.

I haven't followed the story much beyond the headlines so I too don't get the crazy power grid problems, but unless this insanity is the new reality, there is no way building codes in TX will ever be similar to those in the North when it comes to pipes, insulation and the like. Why should they? The expense of compliance is considerable and the risk (let's call it once in a 100 years) is minimal. It would be like MA building to CA's earthquake standards. MA is technically in a fault zone but as is obvious the real life experiences of the 2 states have been quite different.

There are three power grids in the US...East, West and Texas. From what I understand, this is just a 'perfect storm' (forgive the turn of phrase). The power grid and infrastructure isn't necessarily the problem, it is more that...well...we just weren't built for this. Walking outside today, I realized I'm inside a beautiful natural disaster.

- we can't get rid of the snow! We got 7" or so in Austin. We don't have snowplows or salting equipment. This will be the longest stretch under freezing in a long, long time.
- the energy demand was hard to predict...it's never been like this
- Hard for services to get around to fix broken mains and lines and stuff
- We use a lot of wind energy...but all of the turbines are frozen and turned off

Still have power here, but no hot water...smell ya later!

Maybe the biggest thing I'm struggling to wrap my head around is why your wind turbines are iced over.

Everywhere between Texas and the north woods is covered with windmills. Those places get more snow and cold. We've never had windmills shut down because of ice.

Iowan wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 1:38 pm

Everywhere between Texas and the north woods is covered with windmills. Those places get more snow and cold. We've never had windmills shut down because of ice.

Dunno. I would expect we don't need/have de-icing equipment or heaters or something. Sounds like a bunch of the sub-stations are having issues as well. 40% of Austin without power now...they are trying to keep juice flowing to areas with critical infrastructure like hospitals. Schools cancelled for the week. It is a mess.

I'm burnt the fuck out on shit to deal with. I'm tired of being shocked and/or surprised.

Here is a much smarter take on it than I have offered.

(but I was right about the turbine heaters) Go me!

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/16/clim ... lures.html

pearlbeer wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 1:50 pm

Iowan wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 1:38 pm

Everywhere between Texas and the north woods is covered with windmills. Those places get more snow and cold. We've never had windmills shut down because of ice.

Dunno. I would expect we don't need/have de-icing equipment or heaters or something. Sounds like a bunch of the sub-stations are having issues as well. 40% of Austin without power now...they are trying to keep juice flowing to areas with critical infrastructure like hospitals. Schools cancelled for the week. It is a mess.

I'm burnt the fuck out on shit to deal with. I'm tired of being shocked and/or surprised.

That makes sense. It does make me wonder how much more expensive this infrastructure is and if this event changes the way people deal with it. I would have to think the extremes of climate change make this kind of weather related chaos more likely to repeat, but what do I know?

Sorry you guys are having to deal with this. I'm oddly glad to live in a place with an intense 4 season climate. Our infrastructure is built (as much as it can be) to handle with every kind of extreme weather, because, well, we get all of it. We even had a land hurricane this year!

Iowan wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 2:12 pm

pearlbeer wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 1:50 pm

Iowan wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 1:38 pm

Everywhere between Texas and the north woods is covered with windmills. Those places get more snow and cold. We've never had windmills shut down because of ice.

Dunno. I would expect we don't need/have de-icing equipment or heaters or something. Sounds like a bunch of the sub-stations are having issues as well. 40% of Austin without power now...they are trying to keep juice flowing to areas with critical infrastructure like hospitals. Schools cancelled for the week. It is a mess.

I'm burnt the fuck out on shit to deal with. I'm tired of being shocked and/or surprised.

That makes sense. It does make me wonder how much more expensive this infrastructure is and if this event changes the way people deal with it. I would have to think the extremes of climate change make this kind of weather related chaos more likely to repeat, but what do I know?

Sorry you guys are having to deal with this. I'm oddly glad to live in a place with an intense 4 season climate. Our infrastructure is built (as much as it can be) to handle with every kind of extreme weather, because, well, we get all of it. We even had a land hurricane this year!

Thanks, brother. We are surviving.

I think all of our infrastructure is changing. Hurricane Harvey certainly showed us that our past Hurricane plans are useless. Extreme weather that breaks all models puts the whole system at risk. Hell...didn't you guys deal with historic flooding up that way recently? We are just going to have to collectively suck it up and plan for our planet changing.

pearlbeer wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 5:51 pm

Iowan wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 2:12 pm

pearlbeer wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 1:50 pm

Dunno. I would expect we don't need/have de-icing equipment or heaters or something. Sounds like a bunch of the sub-stations are having issues as well. 40% of Austin without power now...they are trying to keep juice flowing to areas with critical infrastructure like hospitals. Schools cancelled for the week. It is a mess.

I'm burnt the fuck out on shit to deal with. I'm tired of being shocked and/or surprised.

That makes sense. It does make me wonder how much more expensive this infrastructure is and if this event changes the way people deal with it. I would have to think the extremes of climate change make this kind of weather related chaos more likely to repeat, but what do I know?

Sorry you guys are having to deal with this. I'm oddly glad to live in a place with an intense 4 season climate. Our infrastructure is built (as much as it can be) to handle with every kind of extreme weather, because, well, we get all of it. We even had a land hurricane this year!

Thanks, brother. We are surviving.

I think all of our infrastructure is changing. Hurricane Harvey certainly showed us that our past Hurricane plans are useless. Extreme weather that breaks all models puts the whole system at risk. Hell...didn't you guys deal with historic flooding up that way recently? We are just going to have to collectively suck it up and plan for our planet changing.

Yeah, we've had multiple rounds of historic flooding over the past decade. You're probably thinking about the bomb cyclone that fucked things up along the Missouri River a couple years ago. That was bad. We had the derecho/land hurricane this summer, and plenty of nasty tornadoes and flooding events the past 10 years or so. Throw in the blizzards and ice storms in the winter, and plenty of summer humidity, and it's a real treat.

God (or whatever) has been trying to remove humans from this place since our species got here, as far as I can tell.

Personally, I've had to do a lot of work at my house to get water away because we started getting 5"+ rains on a regular basis a few years ago, and prior to that it was a big deal to see an inch of rain at one time. Our infrastructure just wasn't built for this shit because it never happened. Twice (in '16 and '18) our city's storm water system overloaded the sewer, and water backed up into our basement through our sewer pipe.

on a somewhat lighter note, i hope Pearlbeer knows this guy (read the entire thread, it's worth it):

Amazing.

Just like our Governor, who has been in charge for 7 straight years is outraged at the energy department that he leads. Now, he's trying to make it the Lib's fault, because green energy got us here. However, from ground zero, I can report the the wind continues to blow and the sun still shines! pumping and transporting oil and gas isn't possible right now.

But, i suppose technically this was all the Snowflake's fault.

Ted Cruz is not a leader and Texas is better off with him in Mexico. Lounging around and talking shit is all these fuckers do not named jimmy carter.

Pearl, I hope you and the fam are staying safe. I gotta warm place at 9000 ft for ya if you feel like Cruzing.

boyyourself wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 19, 2021 2:48 pm

Ted Cruz is not a leader and Texas is better off with him in Mexico. Lounging around and talking shit is all these fuckers do not named jimmy carter.

Pearl, I hope you and the fam are staying safe. I gotta warm place at 9000 ft for ya if you feel like Cruzing.

that's a great point re: Carter. He's probably had the most successful post-presidency period of anyone i can think of.

i also saw him pop up in the recent HST documentary i watched... if you have Kanopy, search for Gonzo. it was great.

boyyourself wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 19, 2021 2:48 pm

Ted Cruz is not a leader and Texas is better off with him in Mexico. Lounging around and talking shit is all these fuckers do not named jimmy carter.

Pearl, I hope you and the fam are staying safe. I gotta warm place at 9000 ft for ya if you feel like Cruzing.

Thawing out. I think my family avoided any major damage, but we are going to be dealing with plumbing issues across Texas for a while. No idea when schools will open, as there appears to be a ton of water main damage.

Now we need to asses the damage. I've been getting friends and family calling asking if the actual situation is as bad as reported on the national news. It isn't. It's worse. All systems essentially failed. Our infrastructure fundamentally failed. Our Government fundamentally failed. We have to fix our broken pipes and our broken Senator.

If anyone wants an accurate picture of what happens when you elect people to govern that don't like the government, give me call.

That sucks man. Cruz and abbot crumple when the shit hits the fan, because they were limp dicks all along.
I nominate James Mcmutry and Tom Russell to take over.

The calendar says April 16th; the view from my window says it's fucking snowing outside.

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 16, 2021 10:34 am

The calendar says April 16th; the view from my window says it's fucking snowing outside.

75 here in Seattle yesterday, pushing 80 today. Record setting territory for April.

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 16, 2021 10:34 am

The calendar says April 16th; the view from my window says it's fucking snowing outside.

In 2013, we got 12” of snow on May 3. 6 days later it was 100.

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 16, 2021 10:34 am

The calendar says April 16th; the view from my window says it's fucking snowing outside.

i got a facebook memory from last year when it snowed on this day...

it's going to be 110 in Seattle today. yesterday it was 104, which was the highest temperature in Seattle history. pretty ugly. it's to the point where many restaurants & other businesses are closed today. supposed to cool off by 20 degrees tomorrow which will still be plenty warm.

What's going on in the PNW is just blowing my mind. Isn't 80 degrees hot for you guys?

Iowan wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:08 pm

What's going on in the PNW is just blowing my mind. Isn't 80 degrees hot for you guys?

Yep. It has been creeping up past few years. More days of 90 than there used to be. This is ridiculous though.

chuckrh wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:19 pm

Iowan wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:08 pm

What's going on in the PNW is just blowing my mind. Isn't 80 degrees hot for you guys?

Yep. It has been creeping up past few years. More days of 90 than there used to be. This is ridiculous though.

Ridiculous is just the word that comes to mind. And scary, too. Stay cool. If you don't have a/c please find somewhere that does even if it means being in a bigger crowd than you'd like (e.g. a movie theater - the new Summer of Soul movie sounds awesome). I remember the days when one of the main attractions that movie theaters advertised was their air conditioning, especially the big banners hanging from the marquees of the famous Times Square theaters (before they all went porn. After that too, come to think of it).

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 28, 2021 3:56 pm

chuckrh wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:19 pm

Iowan wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:08 pm

What's going on in the PNW is just blowing my mind. Isn't 80 degrees hot for you guys?

Yep. It has been creeping up past few years. More days of 90 than there used to be. This is ridiculous though.

Ridiculous is just the word that comes to mind. And scary, too. Stay cool. If you don't have a/c please find somewhere that does even if it means being in a bigger crowd than you'd like (e.g. a movie theater - the new Summer of Soul movie sounds awesome). I remember the days when one of the main attractions that movie theaters advertised was their air conditioning, especially the big banners hanging from the marquees of the famous Times Square theaters (before they all went porn. After that too, come to think of it).

I don't have AC but am managing to keep the apartment tolerable. Supposed to drop 20 degrees tomorrow, which will still be toasty. I have to go downtown for a COVID test tomorrow (even though vaccinated) for Friday's test/procedure. Thank God isn't today, still really unwell. Drinking plenty of non alcoholic beverages although its quite possible a shot of infused lemonade may have gone down. Definitely helps with nausea haha. 1 of my mottos: sometimes unconscious is best.

Welcome to northern California. Hang in there Bovine & WWCD.

LBRod wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 05, 2021 8:58 pm

Hang in there Bovine & WWCD.

x2

The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for Hawaii, predicting up to 12 inches of snow and winds of up to 100 mph.

Will the last person out please remember to shut the lights?

Hoping that all our Colorado peeps are ok. "Wildfire" and "populated area" are three words that should never go together. And what's the deal w/ 100+ mph winds not from a hurricane? All in all, some scary shit.

From our mayor:
This one could be a doozy.

Newton is likely to get 2+ feet of snow (and our forecast shows a 20% possibility of more).

Snow is expected to begin sometime early in the morning on Saturday. The blizzard conditions extend for most of the daylight hours tapering off in the evening between 8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. During the height of the storm mid-day on Saturday, we expect severe blizzard conditions, with potentially 2-4 inches of snow falling per hour, up to 50 mph wind gusts and thundersnow.