Stay Warm and Safe the Next Few Days

[Rafe]

This is a record-breaking cold snap and winter storm. Some cities in the plains beat their coldest record highs by over 12 degrees today.

For many parts of Texas, houses just aren't constructed with these kinds of conditions in mind. The big problem is that it isn't just a dip into bitter cold for a brief period, which is what we usually see in the lower half of Texas, but that it will be accompanied by significant precipitation and be a prolonged freeze. The Houston forecast, for example, has the rain starting early Sunday evening, and then the temperature hitting freezing by 7:00 p.m. We don't see temps above freezing until Wednesday for a few hours, and then we're back under all day Thursday until around noon on Friday. We'll be in hard freeze territory from about 2:00 Monday straight through until early Wednesday. The areas just north or west of Houston are expecting single-digit temps on Tuesday.

I talked about it with a buddy in Upstate New York yesterday, and he laughed that there they just called it "Tuesday." It's hard to explain that our neck of the woods is no more built or prepared for an event like this than his is for a Category 5 tropical hurricane. All their piping is independently insulated; they don't have near the number of elevated roadways that we do; they're equipped to treat and plow roadways; their heat is most commonly heating oil or natural gas. Ours is mostly electricity, and widespread power outages are predicted because the demand on ERCOT is going to be crazy...plus ice pulling down power lines. And there are a lot of older homes that don't have central heating that can be relied on to keep interior walls warm and, hopefully, pipes in the walls from freezing.

Take precautions. Be prepared. I'd even recommend, if you think your house might be vulnerable, filling a bathtub and storing potable water good for a couple of days, just as if you were preparing for a hurricane. Busted pipes could force you to turn off your water supply at the meter, and it might be days before you can get it fixed. I guarantee we're going to have some busy plumbers.

Stay off the roads if you possibly can. We saw the disaster yesterday in Ft. Worth. We have freeway flyovers in Houston that are over 120 feet high...and I guarantee we'll see people driving on them. If you have neighbors you think might be vulnerable, give 'em a call or pay 'em a visit; see if you can help.

[Daddio-on-patio]

Our County EMS has received a request from the North Texas Task Force for deployment due to the expected weather. I don't know any specifics. Only know they are activating the Task Force.

[philip964]

I hope it’s not as bad as they are saying.

1989 was bad, I had pipes break in my home in Houston.

1983 was bad as well. Sprinkler pipes broke indoors in commercial buildings in Dallas.

We left all the lights on in buildings because the heaters were not enough. Plants froze indoors in Public spaces.

In 1989 your had to have a best friend plumber to get your water back on.

[Ed4032]

I went to the range today... 34 degrees. 100 rounds of 45acp and I was done. Last chance for a while as it was the warmest in several days and the warmest for several to come. Had the place to myself.

[philip964]

https://www.click2houston.com/weather/2 ... n-houston/

5 degrees coldest in Houston

[wil]

some tips for the inexperienced.

1. turn a kitchen faucet on so the water runs slowly, this will keep water moving in your pipes and help prevent them from freezing.

2. heat tape around water pipes. Not sure if you can find heat tapes down here.

3. a 60 watt lightbulb set next to outside hose bibbs and wrapped with a rag will keep them from freezing, no more than 60 watt bulbs.

4. a 12V single filament tailight bulb connected to a 12V wall charger, such as a phone charger, set inside the foam covers for hose bibbs will keep them from freezing down to below zero temps.

sylvania tail light p/n 1156 at most automotive supply stores.

5. extreme conditions , put a stick of wood in the toilet, it will keep it from freezing and cracking. MAKE SURE THE STICK PROTRUDES OUT OF THE WATER OR IT WILL NOT WORK.

[03Lightningrocks]

; their heat is most commonly heating oil or natural gas. Ours is mostly electricity, and widespread power outages are predicted because the demand on ERCOT is going to be crazy...plus ice pulling down power lines. And there are a lot of older homes that don't have central heating that can be relied on to keep interior walls warm and, hopefully, pipes in the walls from freezing.

Most of the heat in the Houston area is natural gas with pockets of homes that utilize heat pumps here and there. Either way, no matter what kind of fuel the heat uses, if the power goes off, you have no heat. Natural gas and oil fired furnaces require electricity to run the blower.

What is an issue for Houston and Dallas area as well, is that the homes are not equipped with the size heating required to keep the home warm in these extreme cold temperatures. This is especially true for those with heat pumps and electric heat. People with heat pumps/electric heat will likely find their system running non-stop and still not keeping up. Get ready for some real high electric bills if you are one of these folks.

Most homes in Texas are also not insulated for the extreme cold so they will lose the heat from inside the home quicker than folks up north. I will say that many newer homes, under 10 years old, are insulated much better than they use to be. Mostly to reduce cooling bills but it will also result in less heat loss.

Like you said, it is going to be a rough one. I am in the Dallas area and it started for us a couple days ago. We are getting some heavy snow right now. So much for global warming... LOL.

[03Lightningrocks]

Well now we have it! They just shut off the power for Plano area.My daughter just texted me that she called and they have a recording saying they are shutting off power for an hour at a time. I assume it is a rolling thing. She and my sil live 5 minutes from me. If you live in Plano and your opower isn't off yet, get ready. Your turn is coming.

Mine was off maybe 15 minutes and just came back on so I don't know what they mean by an hour at a time. It must be a rolling thing. Just found out the recording says 15 minutes to an hour at a time. I must have been on the fifteen minute cycle. The next one may be an hour.

I live in Texas because of freedom but my secondary reason is I hate cold weather.

[Flightmare]

Well now we have it! They just shut off the power for Plano area.My daughter just texted me that she called and they have a recording saying they are shutting off power for an hour at a time. I assume it is a rolling thing. She and my sil live 5 minutes from me. If you live in Plano and your opower isn't off yet, get ready. Your turn is coming.

Mine was off maybe 15 minutes and just came back on so I don't know what they mean by an hour at a time. It must be a rolling thing. Just found out the recording says 15 minutes to an hour at a time. I must have been on the fifteen minute cycle. The next one may be an hour.

I live in Texas because of freedom but my secondary reason is I hate cold weather.

145AM: Power Emergency Level 3 from ERCOT due to demand nearly outpacing production. Rotating blackouts in progress. Rotating outages primarily affect residential neighborhoods and small businesses and are typically limited to 10 to 45 minutes before being rotated to another location.

[03Lightningrocks]

Well now we have it! They just shut off the power for Plano area.My daughter just texted me that she called and they have a recording saying they are shutting off power for an hour at a time. I assume it is a rolling thing. She and my sil live 5 minutes from me. If you live in Plano and your opower isn't off yet, get ready. Your turn is coming.

Mine was off maybe 15 minutes and just came back on so I don't know what they mean by an hour at a time. It must be a rolling thing. Just found out the recording says 15 minutes to an hour at a time. I must have been on the fifteen minute cycle. The next one may be an hour.

I live in Texas because of freedom but my secondary reason is I hate cold weather.

145AM: Power Emergency Level 3 from ERCOT due to demand nearly outpacing production. Rotating blackouts in progress. Rotating outages primarily affect residential neighborhoods and small businesses and are typically limited to 10 to 45 minutes before being rotated to another location.

My daughter is literally five minutes away on the other side of Legacy and hers is still out while mine is back on. I assume I will be out again before long.

Is yours out yet?

[Flightmare]

Well now we have it! They just shut off the power for Plano area.My daughter just texted me that she called and they have a recording saying they are shutting off power for an hour at a time. I assume it is a rolling thing. She and my sil live 5 minutes from me. If you live in Plano and your opower isn't off yet, get ready. Your turn is coming.

Mine was off maybe 15 minutes and just came back on so I don't know what they mean by an hour at a time. It must be a rolling thing. Just found out the recording says 15 minutes to an hour at a time. I must have been on the fifteen minute cycle. The next one may be an hour.

I live in Texas because of freedom but my secondary reason is I hate cold weather.

145AM: Power Emergency Level 3 from ERCOT due to demand nearly outpacing production. Rotating blackouts in progress. Rotating outages primarily affect residential neighborhoods and small businesses and are typically limited to 10 to 45 minutes before being rotated to another location.

My daughter is literally five minutes away on the other side of Legacy and hers is still out while mine is back on. I assume I will be out again before long.

Is yours out yet?

I am in east Plano and have not had any outages yet that I have noticed. I likely won't notice until morning....about to go to sleep.

[03Lightningrocks]

Well now we have it! They just shut off the power for Plano area.My daughter just texted me that she called and they have a recording saying they are shutting off power for an hour at a time. I assume it is a rolling thing. She and my sil live 5 minutes from me. If you live in Plano and your opower isn't off yet, get ready. Your turn is coming.

Mine was off maybe 15 minutes and just came back on so I don't know what they mean by an hour at a time. It must be a rolling thing. Just found out the recording says 15 minutes to an hour at a time. I must have been on the fifteen minute cycle. The next one may be an hour.

I live in Texas because of freedom but my secondary reason is I hate cold weather.

145AM: Power Emergency Level 3 from ERCOT due to demand nearly outpacing production. Rotating blackouts in progress. Rotating outages primarily affect residential neighborhoods and small businesses and are typically limited to 10 to 45 minutes before being rotated to another location.

My daughter is literally five minutes away on the other side of Legacy and hers is still out while mine is back on. I assume I will be out again before long.

Is yours out yet?

I am in east Plano and have not had any outages yet that I have noticed. I likely won't notice until morning....about to go to sleep.

Stay warm. Goodnight.

[surferdaddy]

Off and on twice so far here in far north Fort Worth. I have animals sensitive to the cold so if it starts to get cold I will move all sensitive things to the main room and manually light some burners on the stove and let them run for 15 or so minutes every little while. I had to do it before years ago when we had our last really cold snap and they blacked us out.

It works but it’s a pain to keep up with it all and remain safe. Looks like I’ll be on watch the rest of this cold night. Don’t forget that if you have gas it is an option.

Surfer

[03Lightningrocks]

Mine is cycling on and off every 15-30 minutes now. My daughter said her home is in an outage area. The power company estimated 8:30 am to have it back up! That is a long time with no heat! That is crazy!

Hope your xritters stay warm.

[surferdaddy]

Mine is cycling on and off every 15-30 minutes now. My daughter said her home is in an outage area. The power company estimated 8:30 am to have it back up! That is a long time with no heat! That is crazy!

Hope your xritters stay warm.

Holy cow, 8:30! I have gotten estimated from Oncor before like that and it only turned out to be 29-30 minutes so hopefully the case here.