To Members in the Southern US

[Debater Slayer]

I just read today that parts of the Southern US are experiencing severely cold weather and a storm, both leading to power outages and dangerous road conditions:

CNN — Authorities in Texas responded to hundreds of accident-related calls Tuesday as an ice storm wreaks havoc on the roads and threatens parts of the South and central US with ice and sleet for at least another day.

The icy weather disrupted daily life for thousands across parts of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee, with freezing rain making roads slick, sending cars sliding and prompting officials to urge residents to stay home. School districts shut down classes in parts of Mississippi and Tennessee, and at least one healthcare system in Texas closed down its clinics amid the dangerous conditions.

Freezing rain, sleet and accumulating ice over the coming day are likely to not only make the roads more dangerous, but also cause tree damage and power outages across the Mid-South, the National Weather Service warned.

More rounds of freezing rain and ice expected across the South after already deadly road conditions | CNN

Also:

Winter weather updates: Ice storm slams Texas, power outages pile up

I hope all RFers who live in the South are safe. I know we have multiple members here who live there. Take care, and please let us know how you're faring when you can!

 

[Viker]

We had an ice storm but seem to be fairing well. It wasn't as rough on us around here as others. Kinda missing the 60 degree weather, although.

 

[Aštra’el]

An EF3 tore though my city a week ago, along with several smaller tornadoes.

Natural disasters are nothing new to us.

Thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, heat waves, freezes, etc… it’s happened all before and it will all happen again eventually. People understand that. It can be awesome, and exciting. It can be… fear inducing. It can be tragic, and catastrophic. People deal with it, people adapt, and people move on with life.

 

[Debater Slayer]

An EF3 tore though my city a week ago, along with several smaller tornadoes.

Natural disasters are nothing new to us.

Thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, heat waves, freezes, etc… it’s happened all before and it will all happen again eventually. People understand that. It can be awesome, and exciting. It can be… fear inducing. It can be tragic, and catastrophic. People deal with it, people adapt, and people on with life.

I haven't been in any natural disasters, so I can't comment on experiencing them first-hand. However, regardless of one's perception thereof, I hope everyone remains safe.

 

[pearl]

Here in NE we haven't had any severe weather as yet, but are expecting below zero with high winds this Fri and Sat. Watched some of the news clips from Texas, what a mess.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I just read today that parts of the Southern US are experiencing severely cold weather and a storm, both leading to power outages and dangerous road conditions:



More rounds of freezing rain and ice expected across the South after already deadly road conditions | CNN

Also:

Winter weather updates: Ice storm slams Texas, power outages pile up

I hope all RFers who live in the South are safe. I know we have multiple members here who live there. Take care, and please let us know how you're faring when you can!

First sure. Ice is worse than snow.

Hoping the worst is over for the season.

About a month an a half till spring.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Here in NE we haven't had any severe weather as yet, but are expecting below zero with high winds this Fri and Sat. Watched some of the news clips from Texas, what a mess.

It's 17 here in Ny. -8 c for you Canucks.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

It’s so odd to me when I hear these stories of cold and snow hitting the south that there are often power outages. While i live in the north and there hardly ever is.

 

[Rachel Rugelach]

I just read today that parts of the Southern US are experiencing severely cold weather and a storm, both leading to power outages and dangerous road conditions:



More rounds of freezing rain and ice expected across the South after already deadly road conditions | CNN

Also:

Winter weather updates: Ice storm slams Texas, power outages pile up

I hope all RFers who live in the South are safe. I know we have multiple members here who live there. Take care, and please let us know how you're faring when you can!

I'm sure the kindness of your concern will be appreciated by my neighbors down South. Where I live in New York, we had a light dusting of snow overnight. We don't seem to have had, for a number of years now, the brutal snowstorms that I remember (often with joy because the schools would be closed and we kids could make snow forts and snowmen outside in our neighborhoods).

 

[Orbit]

It’s so odd to me when I hear these stories of cold and snow hitting the south that there are often power outages. While i live in the north and there hardly ever is.

It's because the TX energy infrastructure has been allowed to defer maintenance to increase profits.

 

[Viker]

It’s so odd to me when I hear these stories of cold and snow hitting the south that there are often power outages. While i live in the north and there hardly ever is.

Lack of preparation and not enough experience.

 

[Clizby Wampuscat]

I just read today that parts of the Southern US are experiencing severely cold weather and a storm, both leading to power outages and dangerous road conditions:



More rounds of freezing rain and ice expected across the South after already deadly road conditions | CNN

Also:

Winter weather updates: Ice storm slams Texas, power outages pile up

I hope all RFers who live in the South are safe. I know we have multiple members here who live there. Take care, and please let us know how you're faring when you can!

I appreciate the thought. Texas learned a lot after the winter storm of 2021. ERCOT (the organization that controls our electrical grid) has been revamped and new procedures and additional capacity has been added. Also, more technology has been added to gas transportation systems to keep them from freezing. The biggest threat is above ground power distribution systems. The ice can bring them down.

This has not been bad except you cannot get around. Stuck at home. Tomorrow the temps will get above freezing here and everything will thaw quickly.

 

[Windwalker]

It's because the TX energy infrastructure has been allowed to defer maintenance to increase profits.

It's because of Ted Cruz, I believe, or is it the governor of Texas? One of those two, or both.

 

[Clizby Wampuscat]

It's because of Ted Cruz, I believe, or is it the governor of Texas? One of those two, or both.

How so?

 

[Windwalker]

How so?

This is what I was recalling from last year's wreckage:

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Gets His Own Grid-Related ‘I Did That’ Meme

It is entirely fair and accurate to say that the Texas Republican Party has presided over the creation of this grid every step of the way. By the time Mr. Abbott was sworn in as Governor on January 20, 2015, the critical problems impacting the stability of the Texas grid had already been readily apparent to anyone paying attention for four years. That’s because, when a major winter storm similar to 2021’s Winter Storm Uri blew across the state in February 2011, the grid suffered blackouts caused by the very same failures in the system that caused the deadly blackouts ten years later.

Gov. Abbott had been in office for six years before Uri came through, but neither he, his appointees at the PUCT and ERCOT or the Republican-dominated legislatures had chosen to take the actions they all knew were needed to correct the variety of weaknesses impacting the grid. It was always more politically expeditious to keep kicking the can down the road and hope ERCOT could continue holding things together with its figurative duct tape and bailing wire.

But all the tape and wire fell apart during Uri, right in the middle of the 2021 legislative session, and Gov. Abbott famously promised in a statewide televised speech that he would keep calling the legislature back into as many special sessions as necessary to ensure all of those weaknesses had been addressed.

Abbott didn’t follow through on that promise, and this week’s multiple conservation warnings by ERCOT highlight the one big problem area that still has yet to be addressed. That problem area is a chronic shortage of dispatchable reserve thermal capacity, which becomes crucial on days like the state has seen this week when the wind in West Texas tends to die as the temperature rises past 100 degrees. That weakness was starkly obvious on July 11, when ERCOT’s models anticipated having just 8% of wind generating capacity actually delivering power during the course of the day.

​

 

[Brickjectivity]

I hope all RFers who live in the South are safe. I know we have multiple members here who live there. Take care, and please let us know how you're faring when you can!

I'm Ok. Tonight there will be lows of around 24F=-4C. Not bad. I'm in a somewhat temperate region, so the cold rarely reaches 0C; however all homes have some insulation. Usually we have fiberglass or foam insulation, and we often have double pane glass windows. My trailer does not, however I insulate the windows in other ways.

The wind is also not high, so there is not much of a 'Chill factor'. The chill factor is a term which refers to the effective temperature due to wind. If a cold wind blows on you, you will cool down faster than normal. This is calculated and is given by the weather service, so you can take the expected temperature and subtract the chill factor to predict how cold the weather will feel. Lets suppose the actual temperature is -4C, however there is a chill factor of -8C. Then it will be as if the temperature were -12C. That is how quickly things will cool when touched by the cold air.

 

[Stevicus]

I just read today that parts of the Southern US are experiencing severely cold weather and a storm, both leading to power outages and dangerous road conditions:



More rounds of freezing rain and ice expected across the South after already deadly road conditions | CNN

Also:

Winter weather updates: Ice storm slams Texas, power outages pile up

I hope all RFers who live in the South are safe. I know we have multiple members here who live there. Take care, and please let us know how you're faring when you can!

It's been cold here in southern AZ, but not too bad.

 

[VoidCat]

It's been cold where I am aint seen no ice or snow tho.

 

[Subduction Zone]

How so?

I have a hypothesis about politicians vacationing in Cancun, but I am going to have to take a break there myself to confirm. Does anyone have some extra airline tickets?

 

[Clizby Wampuscat]

This is what I was recalling from last year's wreckage:

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Gets His Own Grid-Related ‘I Did That’ Meme

It is entirely fair and accurate to say that the Texas Republican Party has presided over the creation of this grid every step of the way. By the time Mr. Abbott was sworn in as Governor on January 20, 2015, the critical problems impacting the stability of the Texas grid had already been readily apparent to anyone paying attention for four years. That’s because, when a major winter storm similar to 2021’s Winter Storm Uri blew across the state in February 2011, the grid suffered blackouts caused by the very same failures in the system that caused the deadly blackouts ten years later.

Gov. Abbott had been in office for six years before Uri came through, but neither he, his appointees at the PUCT and ERCOT or the Republican-dominated legislatures had chosen to take the actions they all knew were needed to correct the variety of weaknesses impacting the grid. It was always more politically expeditious to keep kicking the can down the road and hope ERCOT could continue holding things together with its figurative duct tape and bailing wire.

But all the tape and wire fell apart during Uri, right in the middle of the 2021 legislative session, and Gov. Abbott famously promised in a statewide televised speech that he would keep calling the legislature back into as many special sessions as necessary to ensure all of those weaknesses had been addressed.

Abbott didn’t follow through on that promise, and this week’s multiple conservation warnings by ERCOT highlight the one big problem area that still has yet to be addressed. That problem area is a chronic shortage of dispatchable reserve thermal capacity, which becomes crucial on days like the state has seen this week when the wind in West Texas tends to die as the temperature rises past 100 degrees. That weakness was starkly obvious on July 11, when ERCOT’s models anticipated having just 8% of wind generating capacity actually delivering power during the course of the day.

​

Do you credit the republicans for making necessary changes in Texas since Uri? The main issue during Uri was freezeoffs at natural gas facilities limiting the supply and limiting electrical energy production. Uri was a storm that we all thought we were ready for but we were wrong. It became longer and colder than forecasted. Texas was unprepared on all levels for multiday near 0F temperatures with copious amounts of snow and ice.

Texas has made good progress in increasing the reliability of the entire electrical energy supply system since. ERCOT released new winterization requirements and as of today over 95% of the facilities are in compliance with the new standards. Also, operational changes as to when they bring on reserve capacity and such have changed. It is a complex system and many things have been changed based on a root cause report ordered by the governor after Uri.

During this current storm there has always been enough reserve capacity and the electrical outages are a result of ice taking down overhead power lines. Texas has improved the reliability of their electrical system, we will see if it needs more improvement if we get another superstorm.

I am not saying the Texas electrical grid is 100% reliable but it is much more reliable that it has been in the past.