OT{ Its Colder than a Eskimo Party

[hillcountryhorn63697005]

I've got all of my exposed pipes and faucets protected and plan on dripping water from the inside faucets overnight. As of now, it's 33F and a cold rain in Deer Park. Supposed to be 16F in the morning.

We are at 16° and getting lower, at Cedar Creek Lake.Plumber told me to go from drip to steady stream.

 

[clob94]

It's 23 in gruene. Went to HEB on 306 at 4pm because HEB said they were going to close at 5.
Ran in and got some beers, grabbed a couple of steaks, then walked back to the SUV. I was planning on going back home but was too enthralled watching the people that don't know how to walk or drive on ice, trying to walk and drive on ice. I sat there for an hour just laughing my ass off at people falling on their ass and watching their cars slide into random abandoned shopping carts.
I know it's not very Christian of me, but it was 45 minutes of gut busting laughter.

 

[LonghornMM]

clob, I saw that The Whale is going to be closed tomorrow. What are you going to do, lol?

 

[Oldmanastro]

16 and flurries now. Maybe half inch, but it’s all sticking since been below freezing for 3 days now. Wind has picked up which could be a problem with all the frozen trees.
Guess it’s time for a Tito’s martini. Dirty.

 

[2300 Nueces]

Supposed to be -2 in granbury in the morning. 4-5 inches of snow on the ground. Burning through my woodpile pretty fast.

 

[RoboCocks21]

10 degrees now feeling like -9

 

[Belldozer1]

It's 23 in gruene. Went to HEB on 306 at 4pm because HEB said they were going to close at 5.
Ran in and got some beers, grabbed a couple of steaks, then walked back to the SUV. I was planning on going back home but was too enthralled watching the people that don't know how to walk or drive on ice, trying to walk and drive on ice. I sat there for an hour just laughing my ass off at people falling on their ass and watching their cars slide into random abandoned shopping carts.
I know it's not very Christian of me, but it was 45 minutes of gut busting laughter.

I was there yesterday and you would have thought is was March of 2020 during the covid hoax overboard shopping craze. People were literally lined up all down the aisles for the checkout lines, it was pure chaos. I was just there to buy a couple valentines cards so I was able to use the self checkout thank God

 

[LonghornMM]

Freezing rain and a solid coat of ice on the cars and roads here.

 

[clob94]

No power in Gruene since about 5am-ish. Starting to get a little chilly in the house. Called NBU and got the computer, not a real person of course. I figure the best way to stay warm is to burn something large and wooden-- and the power pole on my street seems to be the best bet. It would accomplish two things-- the old people on my street would have something warm to huddle around and NB utilities would get cracking on getting the power back on.

 

[Oldmanastro]

Got 7-8 inches inches of snow last night. It's actually very pretty. It is 7 now. Lost power around 2:30 to 6:30.

 

[RoboCocks21]

Got 7-8 inches inches of snow last night. It's actually very pretty. It is 7 now. Lost power around 2:30 to 6:30.

You and me both power outages have came and gone through the night three actually. And now off for good. 7 degrees feels like -15 outside. I have a onsie that looks like long johns and let me tell you it's warm as he[[ in this thing.

 

[StrangerHorn]

I was there yesterday and you would have thought is was March of 2020 during the covid hoax overboard shopping craze. People were literally lined up all down the aisles for the checkout lines, it was pure chaos. I was just there to buy a couple valentines cards so I was able to use the self checkout thank God

Buncha Damn Yankee SnowBirds and your town dumbiest...lol

 

[StrangerHorn]

No power in Gruene since about 5am-ish. Starting to get a little chilly in the house. Called NBU and got the computer, not a real person of course. I figure the best way to stay warm is to burn something large and wooden-- and the power pole on my street seems to be the best bet. It would accomplish two things-- the old people on my street would have something warm to huddle around and NB utilities would get cracking on getting the power back on.

Shoulda bought you a Genertor long time ago, and ya would not be having problems, all the money ya spent on pussy and steaks...Well it is what it is...

 

[StrangerHorn]

Got 7-8 inches inches of snow last night. It's actually very pretty. It is 7 now. Lost power around 2:30 to 6:30.

Generates for Sale! .....Good for all bad weather and Hurricanes and snow...good investment...see Clob! for a hellva deal

 

[clob94]

Shoulda bought you a Genertor long time ago, and ya would not be having problems, all the money ya spent on pussy and steaks...Well it is what it is...

I live in a condo you old fart. Where the fvck ima put a generator? Go drink some fish and catch some shiner.

 

[2300 Nueces]

It's down to 50 degrees in my house. There is steam rising when I take a leak.

 

[StrangerHorn]

I live in a condo you old fart. Where the fvck ima put a generator? Go drink some fish and catch some shiner.

Out on patio where you think dummy if you ain't got a patio then you got a bad deal there

 

[clob94]

Out on patio where you think dummy if you ain't got a patio then you got a bad deal there

Against the law to have a generator on your damn porch. Fire hazard because of stupid people that don't know how to run a generator.

 

[outhereincali]

I don't know if the people on here who've lived in San Antonio for awhile remember this.

On 1/12/85 it snowed 16 inches in one day. Nothing like that ever happened before or since. I couldn't believe it. I went to some friends house to hang out we rented a bunch of movies and had fun. And the snow stuck for a few days. It made the national news. Of course San Antonio is not Chicago in the winter time. They don't have the equipment to clear the highways of snow. So Loop 410 was closed and I had to take the access roads. Took 45 minutes instead of the usual 15 😂 Back then I had a '63 Mercury Meteor but I learned how to drive on very ice roads that night. Does anyone who was in San Antonio around that time remember this. If so what are your memories?

And that massive pileup in Dallas last week was a terrible tragedy.

 

[hillcountryhorn63697005]

I don't know if the people on here who've lived in San Antonio for awhile remember this.

On 1/12/85 it snowed 16 inches in one day. Nothing like that ever happened before or since. I couldn't believe it. I went to some friends house to hang out we rented a bunch of movies and had fun. And the snow stuck for a few days. It made the national news. Of course San Antonio is not Chicago in the winter time. They don't have the equipment to clear the highways of snow. So Loop 410 was closed and I had to take the access roads. Took 45 minutes instead of the usual 15 😂 Back then I had a '63 Mercury Meteor but I learned how to drive on very ice roads that night. Does anyone who was in San Antonio around that time remember this. If so what are your memories?

And that massive pileup in Dallas last week was a terrible tragedy.

At that time, we lived in Taylor. I drove to Lexington to work. Remember the drive home, on a FM road on a snow covered road with nothing but a tree line and barbwire fences as boundaries. No other tire tracks to follow. 20-30 drive took an eternity, but w the grace of God, I made it safely home.

 

[Belldozer1]

At that time, we lived in Taylor. I drove to Lexington to work. Remember the drive home, on a FM road on a snow covered road with nothing but a tree line and barbwire fences as boundaries. No other tire tracks to follow. 20-30 drive took an eternity, but w the grace of God, I made it safely home.

What kind of work were you doing in Lexington and did you ever eat at Snow’s BBQ? Snow’s has been ranked No. 1 by Texas monthly and some New York publication ranked them No. 1 in the world at one time I believe.

 

[2300 Nueces]

Dang, expecting another 5-8 inches of ice and snow. Rotating power outages. ****ing state legislature is more focused on patting behinds than doing the right thing. They should have been working on infrastructure and WATER availability decades ago.

 

[Bevo1979]

Looks like we have more snow in the forecast for tonight. 1985 in San Antonio was so cool but snow was all gone by 1 if I remember Correctly.

 

[oldhorn2]

The wierd thing about that snow in 1985....We got 13 inches of snow and it dropped in zero wind. Every corner of my fenced in back yard got exactly the same amount of snow. It was super dry powdery stuff that my kids could not make snow balls with..

 

[oldhorn2]

I have an oddity....only in Texas.....Our power went out for good last night about 7 pm. This was after hours of 9 min on....20 min off for about 8 hours....we got down to around 55 in the house this am. I used my magic powers to get it to around 64. then we noticed that all our ice was melting in both freezers.....what to do....what to do...???
Then inspiration hit...I filled my ice ball forms with water and took em outside where it was 21 degrees.Problem solved!...

May we live in interesting times...too hot in the freezer, but just right on the back patio!

 

[clob94]

I have an oddity....only in Texas.....Our power went out for good last night about 7 pm. This was after hours of 9 min on....20 min off for about 8 hours....we got down to around 55 in the house this am. I used my magic powers to get it to around 64. then we noticed that all our ice was melting in both freezers.....what to do....what to do...???
Then inspiration hit...I filled my ice ball forms with water and took em outside where it was 21 degrees.Problem solved!...

May we live in interesting times...too hot in the freezer, but just right on the back patio!

Bought three pony kegs on Friday before all this hit. I've had them sitting outside on the patio. Rotating between them. Cold beer tastes just as good in cold weather as hot weather.

 

[Oldmanastro]

Bought three pony kegs on Friday before all this hit. I've had them sitting outside on the patio. Rotating between them. Cold beer tastes just as good in cold weather as hot weather.

What flavor are they and do you accept visitors (mask off of course) or do you deliver?

 

[2300 Nueces]

Getting the ****ing green weenie for sure. Little electricity and now the water pressure is going down at my house. I have other friends with no electricity and water since Sunday night. If I didn't know the results of stupid liberal policy my family may have frozen to death. I save firewood because every time I see one of those worthless windmill blades blocking the highway, I am reminded that liberals kill. I have a warm house because of my wisdom. The ****ing libs would kill my family in worship of their mother earf. I filled 3 5 gallon buckets full of water 2 days ago in anticipation of the stupid mother ****ers killing the water treatment plants. Next, no gasoline for a week. I found a small gas station close to the house with a little gas. The lines were building when I left.... they aren't getting a truck til maybe sunday. The libs are shoving the green weenie up everyone's ass except china because well they are to be envied. **** you liberals.

 

[clob94]

What flavor are they and do you accept visitors (mask off of course) or do you deliver?

Faust Brewing 1/6 of Polka Pilsner, 1/6 keg of Stella, and a 5L keg of hofbrau original with another 5L keg in reserve. It's been a good winter break.

 

[StrangerHorn]

I am warm and got some Shiners going, all neighbors have no Elect for last 2 days, got my Gen running plenty of gas, of all my neighbos hat have pools and no Generator...sad, such thing as being dumb and being smart

 

[outhereincali]

Tim Boyd mayor of Colorado City, Texas social Darwinism at its finest.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/16/ercot-texas-electric-grid-failure/

That's right keep blaming it all on us liberals and windmills.

 

[outhereincali]

I am warm and got some Shiners going, all neighbors have no Elect for last 2 days, got my Gen running plenty of gas, of all my neighbos hat have pools and no Generator...sad, such thing as being dumb and being smart

That's right keep telling yourself that.

 

[2300 Nueces]

View embedded media

Tim Boyd mayor of Colorado City, Texas social Darwinism at its finest.

View embedded media

When it gets really cold, it can be hard to produce electricity, as customers in Texas and neighboring states are finding out. But it’s not impossible. Operators in Alaska, Canada, Maine, Norway and Siberia do it all the time.

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What has sent Texas reeling is not an engineering problem, nor is it the frozen wind turbines blamed by prominent Republicans. It is a financial structure for power generation that offers no incentives to power plant operators to prepare for winter. In the name of deregulation and free markets, critics say, Texas has created an electric grid that puts an emphasis on cheap prices over reliable service.

It’s a “Wild West market design based only on short-run prices,” said Matt Breidert, a portfolio manager at a firm called Ecofin.


And yet the temporary train wreck of that market Monday and Tuesday has seen the wholesale price of electricity in Houston go from $22 a megawatt-hour to about $9,000. Meanwhile, 4 million Texas households have been without power.

One utility company, Griddy, which sells power at wholesale rates to retail customers without locking in a price in advance, told its patrons Tuesday to find another provider before they get socked with tremendous bills.

The widespread failure in Texas and, to a lesser extent, Oklahoma and Louisiana in the face of a winter cold snap shines a light on what some see as the derelict state of America’s power infrastructure, a mirror reflection of the chaos that struck California last summer.


Edward Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston, said the disinvestment in electricity production reminds him of the last years of the Soviet Union, or of the oil sector today in Venezuela.

“They hate it when I say that,” he said.

Power outages plague Texas, other states amid deadly cold, snow

The immediate question facing the Texas power sector is whether its participants are willing to pay for the sort of winterization measures that are common farther north, even for a once-in-a-decade spell of weather.

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) called Tuesday for reform of the state’s electric grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT.

“Far too many Texans are without power and heat for their homes as our state faces freezing temperatures and severe winter weather,” he said in a statement. “This is unacceptable.”

He said he would work with the legislature to find ways to “ensure that our state never experiences power outages like this again.”

The Republican speaker of the Texas House, Dade Phelan, announced immediate hearings into “what went wrong.”

Fossil fuel groups and their Republican allies blamed the power failures on frozen wind turbines and warned against the supposed dangers of alternative power sources. Some turbines did in fact freeze — though Greenland and other northern outposts are able to keep theirs going through the winter.

But wind accounts for just 10 percent of the power in Texas generated during the winter. And the loss of power to the grid caused by shutdowns of thermal power plants, primarily those relying on natural gas, dwarfed the dent caused by frozen wind turbines, by a factor of five or six.

As the cold hit, demand for electricity soared past the mark that ERCOT had figured would be the maximum needed. But at a moment when the world is awash in surplus natural gas, much of it from Texas wells, the state’s power-generating operators were unable to turn that gas into electricity to meet that demand.

In the single-digit temperatures, pipelines froze up because there was some moisture in the gas. Pumps slowed. Diesel engines to power the pumps refused to start. One power plant after another went offline. Even a reactor at one of the state’s two nuclear plants went dark, hobbled by frozen equipment.

“At a time when the need is the greatest it’s ever been, it’s a strain on the system like we’ve never seen,” said Tom Seng, director of the School of Energy Economics, Policy and Commerce at the University of Tulsa.

See how covid-19 is reshaping the electric rhythms of New York City

Throughout the Southwest, he said, there has been a scramble for gas as sources have gone offline. Most surplus gas is stored underground, he said, and bringing it to the surface becomes more and more difficult in such prolonged low temperatures. March futures for natural gas are selling for $3 per million BTUs in Oklahoma, he said, but the spot price hit $600 over the weekend.

In Texas, production of natural gas Tuesday fell 6 billion to 7 billion cubic feet per day from earlier in the month, Anne Swedberg Robba, head of American gas and power analytics for S&P Global Platts, wrote in an email. Nationally, production has dropped by about 14 percent.

“But this is not the first time we’ve had this issue in Texas,” said Hirs, of the University of Houston.

There was a severe cold spell in the Southwest in 2011, and frigid weather in 1983, 1989, 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2010. A study by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corp. of the 2011 event, which also led to widespread blackouts for much the same reasons, found that “the massive amount of generator failures that were experienced raises the question whether it would have been helpful to increase reserve levels going into the event. This action would have brought more units online earlier, might have prevented some of the freezing problems the generators experienced, and could have exposed operational problems in time to implement corrections before the units were needed to meet customer demand.”

On Tuesday, both agencies announced that they would now investigate the causes of this year’s failure.

Energy won’t be the same when this is over

Texas shares with California an unwillingness to compensate generation companies for maintenance, Hirs said, unlike most of the rest of the country. He said that what happened to California in the heat last summer has now been reflected in Texas’s winter.

“Both Texas and California have failed spectacularly this year,” he said. “There’s a tremendous human cost. People died in California. People died in Texas.”

Texas is unique among the states in having a grid all its own that is almost entirely cut off from the rest of the country. That has prevented Texas from importing much electricity as its power plants went down, but Hirs said that the cold is so widespread across the heart of the nation that no one has any electricity to spare anyway.

Bill Magness, chief executive of ERCOT, said in an interview with the WFAA TV station in Dallas that he thought the state grid was better prepared for winter than it once was.

“In 2018 we had some very cold winter times, but we saw the generation fleets performed very well through that,” he said. “I think we really made some progress getting ready for these winter times. And this storm has been extraordinary. We are seeing a whole lot of units coming off for reasons that have to do with the weather, so certainly winterization is something that constantly needs to be looked at.”

Although temporary, one factor that may have hurt was that the sudden high wholesale price of electricity may have caused ERCOT’s computers to order companies to “shed load” — that is, cut off customers — rather than deal with the spike in costs.

The state’s Public Utilities Commission ordered ERCOT on Monday to allow for those high prices. They almost certainly will not last long, as temperatures are already rising. The cost of that electricity, at least in the short run, probably will fall most heavily on the retail utilities.

That's right keep blaming it all on us liberals and windmills.

Raise prices, taxes, food costs, everything. The people are only serfs after all. Commynism for all!! This dude does not explain the "greening" of the grid. We have been replacing gas generators for electric generators which caused the failure of many of the piplines.

How much gasoline is refined in Texas that is exported to the rest of the country? Be careful smartass, you might get what you deserve.

Conservatives in the Texas house have been trying to address this concern but the libs continue to calendar the bill and ignore it. They took the money earmarked for the grid and paid off the teacher's unions last year.

The owners of ERCOT are going to be exposed. NAMES pls....

https://brazosjournal.com/2021/02/16/texas-power-failure-highlights-systemic-corruption-episode-105/

 

[Oldmanastro]

That's right keep telling yourself that.

Did he say something offensive or smart alec? I don’t see it.

 

[westx]

I hear schools are closing Thur/Fri to conserve energy