Chill Factor of -13 in Dallas

[JclInAtx]

Thanks for thinking of them - they are both from down on the border, and other than a year in Lubbock driving in snow is a foreign concept. They’ve resisted heading to a hotel.

The city is opening warming shelters around town with cap metro bus service for transportation and no one will be denied transportation. Palmer event center is the largest served by bus routes 1, 7, 10, 20, 801, 30. 512-305-4233 is a 24/7 hotline for info.

I don't blame them for not wanting to drive. Yesterday I headed out for a last minute trip to pick up a few last things. I knew it was slick and downhill so I was driving slow. Anti lock brakes kicked in and I slid right through the first intersection. Was going t o turn around but I couldn't make the turn on the next side street and slid past. Finally leveled off and I slowed enough to turn around and head home by the third side street. I'm in the northwest hills but I think its bad all over.

[Shotgun]

Day Two.

It's 3 degrees in Dallas this morning. To satisfy our resident Alaskan , that temperature is also the chill factor. There is no wind at the moment. The rolling blackouts aren't rolling, they are random. At least here, whole blocks have been without power for up to a day, while some others saying they only have power for 30 minutes once every few hours; not near enough to keep a house warm.

Trying to work from home, but cannot connect to office server, which means power at the office four miles away is out, or has gone out at some point.

Wish I had a big generator that could run the entire house. Some down on the coast have those so that they have power during/after hurricanes (the ones they don't evacuate for).

Obviously, weather like this was never planned for. Relying on 20 to 25% of your power coming from wind turbines, and then having up to half of those freeze of all things is a recipe for, well, this clusterpf-- of no power.

[RoyGBiv]

The power generation issue is not about wind. Coal, Nuke and Gas plants all went TU. Likely line issues or issues related to the freeze affecting controls/sensors. Not in my lane, just internet quarterbacking.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021...nder-the-cold/

Since wind in Texas generally tends to produce less during winter, there's no way that the grid operators would have planned for getting 30GW from wind generation; in fact, a chart at ERCOT indicates that wind is producing significantly more than forecast.

[RoyGBiv]

FYI for folks in the DFW area, from NWS this morning...

No significant changes have been made to the foreacst. The system is still forecast to begin moving in from the west this afternoon. Areas along and north of the I-20 corridor may begin to see light snow by mid-afternoon. As we progress through the evening, additional precipitation will begin to develop. I'd like to highlight the significant ice accumulations that will be possible across Central Texas tonight. The expected ice will add additional stress to the region's infrastructure. Across the I-20 corridor, some light freezing rain can't be ruled out, leading to a thin glaze of ice tonight and tomorrow morning. The expectation, however, is that much of the precipitation along and north of I-20 will be in the form of snow. Expected additional accumulations haven't changed much compared to last night. 4-8" north and east of the DFW Metroplex. 2-4" from roughly a Jacksboro to DFW to Corsicana line. Lesser amounts of snow are expected across Central Texas.

NWS is reporting that it's been a century since DFW has seen this kind of cold.

[Shotgun]

The power generation issue is not about wind. Coal, Nuke and Gas plants all went TU. Likely line issues or issues related to the freeze affecting controls/sensors. Not in my lane, just internet quarterbacking.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021...nder-the-cold/

Good post. That article is an interesting read.

[TheNewbie]

FYI for folks in the DFW area, from NWS this morning...



NWS is reporting that it's been a century since DFW has seen this kind of cold.

One water pipe froze up on me, and the power comes and goes. Are you having any isssues?


I have to work tomorrow. It is not something I am looking forward too.


Took my wife to work today, roads are nasty but doable. On the way home from when I pick her up, I am hoping to pick up some Mexican food. Almost nothing is open, so the prospects of that actually happening seem to be hovering around zero.

[Borderland]

I talked to my brother who lives near San Angelo yesterday around 5pm. He works for a rancher who has about 200 head of cattle. He's having to feed cattle with a tractor (no heater) and trailer instead of a truck. Also trying to keep up with taking 3" of ice off of water troughs throughout the day. I think he's too busy to worry about a power outage, at least he didn't seem to concerned about the outages they were having.

We had a period here where the temps dropped down to 10° or so a few years ago. It killed a lot of dairy cattle.

[RoyGBiv]

One water pipe froze up on me, and the power comes and goes. Are you having any isssues?


I have to work tomorrow. It is not something I am looking forward too.


Took my wife to work today, roads are nasty but doable. On the way home from when I pick her up, I am hoping to pick up some Mexican food. Almost nothing is open, so the prospects of that actually happening seem to be hovering around zero.

Fortunately, we've not lost power yet. Lots of reports from the area (via Nextdoor) about outages that started around 0230 Monday, some rolling, some totally out with inside temps reaching the low 40's now. We invited several friends to stay with us if they get too cold waiting it out. Not sure if they're worried about covid or about not being home when a pipe freezes but, they know they have an option as long as our power holds out.

Going out to Walmart (currently open) for some miscellaneous items. Roads were not bad yesterday PM. We'll see how things go today.

We got a "Boil Water" notice from our City. The North side of FTW water treatment lost power and shipped out unprocessed water on Monday. Joy. We have bottled water but will pick up a few gallon jugs if not already sold out. Or, we can melt snow. Very glad I took a shower yesterday.

Mexican food isn't so great for my low carb diet. We did try the new Mission yellow corn tortillas this week. 4 tortillas, 90 calories. Pretty decent. Stuffed them with pulled pork and roasted Anaheim peppers. Mmmm.

[JclInAtx]

Got an email from Texas gas service saying they are experiencing shortage due to gas wells freezing. Asking all to conserve or there will be outages and if that occurs it will be an extended time before gas service can be restored.

Think the street next to us had a water main break as there was a lot of water running under the ice at the bottom of the hill. My wife as the citizen app and it's been notifying all morning of burst or frozen pipes. Hoping covering our outside faucets was enough.

More mixed precipitation forecast for tonight, but at least it will start to warm up. 7 degrees this morning and 14 when I walked the dog. She was in heaven again, but occasionally would get spooked think it was sounds she was hearing but not sure. She still didn't want to come inside at the end of our walk.

[TheNewbie]

Got an email from Texas gas service saying they are experiencing shortage due to gas wells freezing. Asking all to conserve or there will be outages and if that occurs it will be an extended time before gas service can be restored.

Think the street next to us had a water main break as there was a lot of water running under the ice at the bottom of the hill. My wife as the citizen app and it's been notifying all morning of burst or frozen pipes. Hoping covering our outside faucets was enough.

More mixed precipitation forecast for tonight, but at least it will start to warm up. 7 degrees this morning and 14 when I walked the dog. She was in heaven again, but occasionally would get spooked think it was sounds she was hearing but not sure. She still didn't want to come inside at the end of our walk.

What kind of dog? My healer, collie, mut mix loves this. She would stay out in this all day if she could, it’s the first time she’s experienced this kind of snow.