Sure, I understand that. But because Texas has its own grid cut off from the rest of North America (except I think they can buy from Mexico, or have done so in the past) they can’t call on the resources of the rest of the continent to help them out. Most of the rest of the US is connected to one of two major North American grids that even extend into Canada. It’s a lot harder to overwhelm a larger grid.
It’s not 100% guaranteed - almost nothing is - but the grid in Texas being isolated like that was a conscious and deliberate decision on the part of the people running Texas. In addition, those same people also set regulatory standards in Texas so if those standards turned out to be inadequate that’s who should be looked at.
Yep. Two story house here. Thermostat is downstairs. When gas log is going, living area definitely heats up. Upstairs gets cooler because the thermostat tells central heat to stop.
Sure is nice to hear all these proud, independent Texans complaining that the government didn’t do enough to protect them, and wishing for more regulations in the form of energy policy and building codes!
There is a big difference between dipping into the 20s for a few hours, and staying below freezing for a few days, and spending the better part of a week in the teens and lower–potentially with no working furnace in the house. Our houses are designed to handle relatively brief freezes. And it’s not the ice/snow that’s new here: we get this, we know how to deal with this. But we don’t get this cold, and it doesn’t stay this cold this long. That’s what is overwhelming the systems–two systems, really, as natural gas is also struggling to meet demand.
This quote + your username almost doxxes you! I do love Old East Dallas.
To the OP: we are not really prepared. Not for this level of cold. I own a heavy hoodie, but not a proper coat: my son’s best coat is basically a puffer, with a little more insulation. No one I know owns snow pants. Another big lack is warm boots with good soles. It’s just not worth it.
I guess I should note that I am in my early 30s; I wasn’t around for the December 1983 cold snap (my folks, who are from Illinois/Wisconsin, didn’t move here until the following year). This is the worst one I’ve ever experienced personally. I’m actually in Irving myself, and grew up in Euless over in Tarrant County; the username reflects my heritage on my dad’s side.
Probably true in north/north central Texas. But in the Houston area, there are dire warnings issued about pipes freezing/bursting every time the thermometer is forecast to drop to 32F or below.
That happens commonly enough that you’d expect something to be done about it other than running around applying makeshift remedies and then forgetting about it until the next freeze panic.
We have those warnings up here in DFW, but I’ve never heard of anyone’s pipes actually busting unless it gets like it is now: deep, deep freeze for a couple days. I think people just enjoy having something to “do”,
Living near the coast can be bone-chilling cold and damp.
And the houses built in Southern California are not – because they don’t have to be – insulated the way houses in the Yukon (or Minneapolis or Vermont or Idaho) are.
So 40* in Orange County can be cold inside, even with the furnace keeping you at 72*F.
The houses can be downright drafty, too – particularly old housing stock.
I have SoCal friends with FPs that love them and use them all the time throughout the winter.
[former San Diegan with friends and family still in SD, OC, LA, and beyond]
A quick aside …
OC relative visited us in the Rockies in November. We had a bad snowstorm coming through and it occurred to me that the SoCal car she drove here to visit us might not have windshield washer solvent designed to protect in subzero conditions.
So, for $20, my preferred shop drained and changed it out, assuring me that what they took out of there would have frozen, causing $ignificant damage to her car.
You can’t think of everything, but the people who didn’t winterize the wind turbines, for example, probably should have thought of that. You hit the Internet or you make a few phone calls, and then you implement.
Here’s an example of the stories that run in the Houston news media when cold weather arrives, even when it’s only a matter of temps dipping down to 28F or so for six hours (something that happens virtually every winter):
My question was why homes in SE Texas are not properly insulated against these types of common minor cold snaps.
The “don’t hamper industry with regulation” crowd has been winning for long enough that insulation isn’t required and it’s cheaper to build without insulating so… profit, basically.
I had never heard of homes losing natural gas supplies. I’ve experienced at least 25 ice storms and heavy snow through out my lifetime. We have lost power many times. Our backup heat was gas space heaters. Today we have a natural gas generator that runs our central gas fired heat.
I can’t imagine losing natural gas. That would be horrific.
The people in Texas are in big trouble. Unless they have a full tank of propane in their yard. It’s more expensive but at least those homes are warm.
That is definitely correct in the Austin area. I’ve lived here for over a decade and I can count the number of times the snow has actually stuck on one hand. One of those times was in January of 2021.
The road in front of my apartment isn’t a major street but it’s a fairly busy connector. The street would have been cleared pretty early if we lived in a place with regular winter weather, but we don’t have anything in place for that. A lot of cars were struggling through the snow and even some trucks were getting stuck.
I grew up in NJ and went to school in Pittsburgh, so I have cold weather gear but I’m far from the Texas norm. Most of the time my gear sits in my trunk in the back of my closet unless I’m traveling back East for the holidays or when I used to travel somewhere cold for work. I have also amassed a nice collection of blankets and comforters but I’m not sure if I would have this many if I had not lived alone before moving down here.
When I worked in bars we would go to this one place after shifts to unwind with a cocktail on the patio. In the winter, the only people who had gloves were all from places with cold winters. People who ski or snowboard may have some gear, but most folks don’t have coats that are better than a heavy hoodie.
Even though I’m reasonably prepared clothing-wise, I still don’t have anything to clear walkways or a driveway. I was out on the balcony on Monday watching people try to clear snow with all sorts of random stuff (brooms, squeegees, garden tools, etc). I started to chuckle a little before realizing that I would absolutely be in the same boat. The only reason I even have a scraper is because it’s NY Giants themed and I threw it in the bottom of a storage bin when I moved down here
I lived in two houses and few apartments before I settled into my current place and none of them have had fireplaces. All of my friends with newer (post-90s) places do have fireplaces and pretty much everyone I know living outside of the city has a fireplace. For comparison, the only place I lived back East without a fireplace was a dorm.
Grills are pretty common and it has definitely come in handy for some folks. I have a portable tailgating grill that is great for apartment living because it breaks down to a nice size. People who camp also tend to have additional gear for these situations. I have power banks for travel and solar chargers that I use when camping, but I haven’t had a generator since I moved to Texas.
I know that some folks who are closer to the Gulf are more prepared to go without power because of regular storms, but we rarely see those storms in central Texas.
@Jackmannii is absolutely right- you’d think a mild freeze was some sort of apocalyptic event down there by the way that the news beats the drum and there are signs everywhere, etc…
Here I might occasionally see a sign at the entrance to a subdivision or by an apartment complex, but for the most part, there’s no real emphasis of freezing temps unless the temperature is going to be under about 25, or the highs are going to be below freezing for a long time (like now).
I don’t know if there are different building codes and standards; pipe busting just isn’t a huge issue here, while it is a big deal down there, at least according to the news and anecdotally. People’s pipes run through their attics and stuff down there, which I understand isn’t so common here because it freezes.
My mother was sort of unconcerned; she has the whole panoply of her hurricane preparedness stuff to draw on- food, water, batteries, etc… As long as she has heat, she’s good.
