• Light/Dark

Texas-Era, brace for the cold snap.

Ottaro

Ottaro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,570
It's fixing to get colder than hell with an empty propane tank. Please be careful out there, and try your best to avoid going anywhere on Monday.
Keep your pets inside, keep your pipes from freezing, and be prepared for the possibility of power outages. Check your flashlight batteries and charge your portable chargers.

As far as metros go, Dallas-Fort Worth will be getting the worst of it.
3OZov00.jpg

For context, it hasn't hit -2 degrees here since 1949.

I know this would seem relatively mild to a lot of the rest of the U.S., but this is uncommonly bad for Texas and we just do not have the infrastructure for it.

The National Weather Service warning for the Dallas area:
...HISTORIC WINTER STORM POISED TO IMPACT THE REGION SUNDAY AND
MONDAY...
Impacts will begin as early as Saturday morning with patchy
freezing drizzle developing late tonight into Saturday morning,
which will lead to a light glaze of ice in some locations. After a
brief break in precipitation on Saturday, conditions will begin
to deteriorate late Saturday evening, with precipitation
transitioning from a sleet and freezing rain mix to all snow by
Sunday. The heaviest snow can be expected on Sunday and Monday.
High winds will lead to blowing and drifting snow with wind chills
falling to below zero by late Sunday. Snow will come to an end
during the day Monday, but extremely cold temperatures will
persist through mid-week. The heavy snow and forecast long
duration of extremely cold temperatures will likely lead to major
stress on the region`s infrastructure as well as crippling travel
for several days.

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM SATURDAY TO 6 PM CST
MONDAY...

* WHAT...Heavy mixed precipitation expected. Total snow
accumulations of 3 to 6 inches and ice accumulations of a light
glaze. Strong winds will lead to blowing and drifting snow
reducing visibility to less than one mile at times. Wind chill
factors below zero are forecast on Sunday, continuing into
Monday and Tuesday.

* WHERE...Much of North and Central Texas.

* WHEN...From 6 AM Saturday to 6 PM CST Monday.

* IMPACTS...Travel will be dangerous. Hazardous conditions will
persist for several days given the expected prolonged duration
of extremely cold temperatures. The cold wind chills as low as
15 below zero could result in hypothermia if precautions are not
taken.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
vixolus

vixolus

Prophet of Truth
Member
Sep 22, 2020
57,718
Austinite, power was out for 8 hours overnight. Bad time to be about to move out huh..
 
SpottieO

SpottieO

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,758
It's going to be like single digits soon, I don't recall that ever happening here. I read like an inch or two of snow possible and like the last time i remember snow sticking was in 2017 maybe? And that was just like a light dusting.
 
DJChuy

DJChuy

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
5,328
Just bought a heater and some abuelita chocolate. Let's do this.

I'm sure Doordash will be busy, but depending on the traffic, I'll probably work a few hours.
 
Ryuelli

Ryuelli

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,209
I'm in Houston, it'll be interesting.

Schools in the area (at least on the NW side of the metro area, north of I10) called it this afternoon, it's not worth trying to get kids to school. My district is doing asynchronous learning, so kids still need to do their work, their just won't be live classes. That means, as a teacher, I get an unexpected 4 day weekend. As someone who loves cold weather and think I'm at my whit's end with Houston (I grew up here and have lived here on and off over the past 10 years, but it's never felt like home. The climate is a huge part of that.), I really have no complaints.

I'm hoping we do get a bit of snow, just because I want to see what my dog who has never been in it (and my students who have only seen pictures of it) do/say.


I think the real question is what late next weekend is going to be like, because from the sound of Space City Weather, we could potentially warm up for a day or two and do it all over again.
 
Last edited:
Ryan.

Ryan.

Prophet of Truth
The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
13,052
It's about to be 8 degrees in Louisiana and I'm not looking forward to it
 
Mr Paptimus

Mr Paptimus

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,252
vixolus said:
Austinite, power was out for 8 hours overnight. Bad time to be about to move out huh..
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Another Austin ite here, Lost power for almost the whole day. I had to got a family's house for the night and when I got back despite Austin energy map showing we had power It was still out for another hour too. Apartment gone down to 40°.
 
Ablacious

Ablacious

Member
Dec 23, 2018
1,650
Chasex said:
Why decent chance without power? I work from home so the road issues are fine.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think one thing is trees getting ice on their limbs and they fall on power lines. But I wonder if Austin utilities are just brittle. Friend that worked for the LCRA would say if one relay station or another went down it would take weeks to get power back on for a huge chunk of the city.
 

Thebox

Member
Dec 26, 2019
431
My brother-in-law in oklahoma said they're worried about their water lines freezing. Apparently they don't bury them as deep in the ground as we do up in IL. I'm assuming Texas is similar
 
Damaniel

Damaniel

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
6,558
Portland, OR
-2 in Dallas - crazy stuff.

I'm in Portland, obviously much further north than Texas, and we've only hit -2F once - in 1888 (that was our all time recorded low). Stay safe, Texas-Era, and cover up your faucets if you can!
 
divisionbyzorro

divisionbyzorro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,775
(Houston) I legitimately don't know what to do about my exterior faucets. I've got them covered, but I don't know if that's going to be enough. Houses out here aren't built with valves for exterior faucets, so I can't just bleed them.

The pipes going into my house have some insulation, and I wrapped them them all up with multiple layers of towels and covered them with a trash bag to keep rain off. The faucets are wrapped and covered with those faucet protectors. But my zip code says the low monday is projected to be 8 degrees - I don't think any amount of passive insulation is going to be enough.
 
Carthago Delenda Est

Carthago Delenda Est

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
6,119
Chasex said:
Why decent chance without power? I work from home so the road issues are fine.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The city's electrical infrastructure just isn't built for such cold temperatures. The ice does damage. It's built to withstand the heat. A huge amount of people in Austin lost power last night. As of 2:30pm today, 11,000 homes in Austin still don't have power: https://www.statesman.com/story/new...friday-morning-austin-energy-says/6735634002/. When it snowed in January, a bunch of houses lost power then too so it's not just a one-off. My parents were without power for almost an entire day when it snowed in January.

It's crazy.
 
OP
OP
Ottaro

Ottaro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,570
Chasex said:
Why decent chance without power? I work from home so the road issues are fine.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
A combination of ice/sleet/snow damaging lines and power equipment along with everyone's heaters trying to compensate for the temperature and overwhelming the grid.
I am far more stressed about the power outage than anything else.
 
Lebon30

Lebon30

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,326
Canada
Me that lives in Quebec, Canada seeing this makes me laugh. I'd wear a small wind-breaker coat in this temp lol.
 
Carthago Delenda Est

Carthago Delenda Est

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
6,119
divisionbyzorro said:
(Houston) I legitimately don't know what to do about my exterior faucets. I've got them covered, but I don't know if that's going to be enough. Houses out here aren't built with valves for exterior faucets, so I can't just bleed them.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I dripped mine last night but I was able to get some of those styrofoam covers today so I'll be wrapping them after work today. I think that will be good enough.
 
PerfectFlaw

PerfectFlaw

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,135
My wife works nights and her job is being a hard ass about her having to go in on Sunday. I'm thinking she is just going to call in and face the consequences. I'm scared to death of her having to drive home close to midnight Sunday as I'm expecting people to be getting hurt left and right on the San Antonio highways.
 
CatAssTrophy

CatAssTrophy

Member
Dec 4, 2017
7,766
Texas
I live in a "garden style" apartment complex where our entrances are on inward-facing hallways, but the floors of the hallways are concrete, and the ends of the hallways are just open to the outside.

So essentially it will be "outside" temps right outside my door in the hallway, and I also have the other side of my apartment facing the outdoors. Sigh.
 

Thebox

Member
Dec 26, 2019
431
divisionbyzorro said:
(Houston) I legitimately don't know what to do about my exterior faucets. I've got them covered, but I don't know if that's going to be enough. Houses out here aren't built with valves for exterior faucets, so I can't just bleed them.

The pipes going into my house have some insulation, and I wrapped them them all up with multiple layers of towels and covered them with a trash bag to keep rain off. The faucets are wrapped and covered with those faucet protectors. But my zip code says the low monday is projected to be 8 degrees - I don't think any amount of passive insulation is going to be enough.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Just curious what is different about the outside faucets compared to the ones I have? I live in northern IL and I have never covered mine the past 6 years living in this house and it gets subzero here almost every winter for a couple weeks.
 
Officer Big Mac

Officer Big Mac

Member
Oct 28, 2017
22,596
PerfectFlaw said:
My wife works nights and her job is being a hard ass about her having to go in on Sunday. I'm thinking she is just going to call in and face the consequences. I'm scared to death of her having to drive home close to midnight Sunday as I'm expecting people to be getting hurt left and right on the San Antonio highways.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


If it's not raining and there's no melting snow/ice I don't see why there'd be cause for concern.
 
Tater

Tater

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,616
Lebon30 said:
Me that lives in Quebec, Canada seeing this makes me laugh. I'd wear a small wind-breaker coat in this temp lol.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yeah, this is just a normal part of the season for those of us up north, but their infrastructure isn't used to this kind of cold. I mean, they probably don't have any plows or sanding trucks. And a lot of the residents there probably don't have decent cold weather gear.
 
dirtyjane

dirtyjane

Member
Oct 27, 2017
842
Like others said, if it's not raining or snowing then melting and then freezing then you guys have nothing to worry about.

Right now I'm working night shift, it's 5F and, a bit windy and it's totally bearable.
 
CerealKi11a

CerealKi11a

Chicken Chaser
Member
May 3, 2018
1,967
divisionbyzorro said:
(Houston) I legitimately don't know what to do about my exterior faucets. I've got them covered, but I don't know if that's going to be enough. Houses out here aren't built with valves for exterior faucets, so I can't just bleed them.

The pipes going into my house have some insulation, and I wrapped them them all up with multiple layers of towels and covered them with a trash bag to keep rain off. The faucets are wrapped and covered with those faucet protectors. But my zip code says the low monday is projected to be 8 degrees - I don't think any amount of passive insulation is going to be enough.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
If you can access any kind of block valve, block and drain them out. Otherwise, passive insulation is your best bet outside of finding a way to heat them.
 
divisionbyzorro

divisionbyzorro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,775
Thebox said:
Just curious what is different about the outside faucets compared to the ones I have? I live in northern IL and I have never covered mine the past 6 years living in this house and it gets subzero here almost every winter for a couple weeks.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It all comes down to whether or not you have a 'frost-proof faucet.' Frost-proof faucets have the actual water shutoff inside the wall, so the water is backed up inside the wall. If you don't have a frost-proof faucet, the water shutoff is on the exterior side.

http://www.burtonplumbingco.com/how-do-frost-proof-faucets-work/

CerealKi11a said:
If you can access any kind of block valve, block and drain them out. Otherwise, passive insulation is your best bet outside of finding a way to heat them.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Unfortunately there isn't one. I've thought about setting out an incandescent lamp and boxing it in, but haven't gone that far yet.
 
CatAssTrophy

CatAssTrophy

Member
Dec 4, 2017
7,766
Texas
Malajax said:
Very glad I did light shopping yesterday then. I just needded toilet paper lol.

In Houston. I thought it was strange that we hadn't had a cold snap yet and here it is almost on time!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You and me both. I kept thinking "weird, we usually get a random day of ice and/or white stuff falling from the sky that everyone can angrily debate about whether or not it's real snow..."

I was going to run to the store tomorrow but I think I'll pass if it's already crazy today. I think I have enough to hold me over through Tuesday or Wednesday, and a snack machine at my complex could be worst case.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.