I'm simply failing to understand why some cold weather is crippling a state? Any clarity would be appreciated.
Shit, me too. Although here in California we would be all kinds of unprepared if a blizzard suddenly hit, and we had no power.
It’s simple. The infrastructure is not designed to handle below-freezing temperatures, especially below freezing temperatures that lasts for days. It’s been at or below freezing since Monday.
The issue is not snow or ice on the roads. That would be annoying and shut down traffic and cause a ton of stupid accidents, but it’s not the main factor here.
Power generation in the state failed because none of the plants are set up to handle below-freezing temperatures. Power availability dropped, demand increased, and to prevent physical damage to the distribution lines, the grid operators had to kill wide sections of the grid. Add to that, we don’t have the same winterization standards on other aspects of power that the northern states do; for example, we don’t dehydrate our natural gas to the same degree and thus water in the lines froze the gas up. We literally were running out of accessible natural gas. Shit like that. Basically, everything started to fail due to the cold. There was likely some malfeasance on the part of ERCOT, distributors, and producers. We won’t know the full depth of their fuck-ups until the investigations start.
Water utilities failed because the power failed. In Houston, it was too cold for the back-up generators to start, so the system shut down. No water means that a lot of businesses can’t open. Now, they’re getting things back online but pressure is low, which can lead to back flow and thus necessitates the boil water warnings.
Roads did shut because they either iced up immediately, or couldn’t be plowed because why the fuck do we normally need snow ploughs in Texas? Some areas have experienced heavy snowfall too, not just an inch or two. This impacts supply lines for food and gas, making it hard to move things around the state. So stores run out of food, restaurants can’t open because the water can’t be served, and gas is becoming scarce. And oh, a major percentage of the entire nation’s refinery capacity is here in Texas, and they were impacted by the cold in the same ways power plants were. So gas shortages will be a problem.
So power and water go out in below-freezing weather for millions of people, for days.
That's a great explanation. Thank you. To be honest, I haven't been paying close attention to the weather. I knew there was snow, but I wasn't aware that the cold had been ongoing for this many days.
Yeah, I think we would have been fine if we’d had just a freeze over one night, or something like that.
The thing that really sucks here is that because the cold went on for so long, and the power outages were so lengthy, the temperature in interior spaces of a lot of houses dropped dangerously low. We’re seeing a LOT of busted pipes in finished space. I know several people whose entire kitchen ceilings have caved in from water damage.
And of course, FEMA probably won’t pay anything out because it’s going to be really hard to prove the damage. It’ll rely on people submitting photographic evidence to their counties, and it wouldn’t surprise me if FEMA rejects a lot of that.
What is it exactly that a power plant can not do due to the cold temperatures?
Generators will still run and produce electricity in cold temperatures.
This is a drastic oversimplification. Power plants depend on steam to rotate the turbines. There’s a lot of piping there that’s not necessarily directly heated. In places where below freezing weather is either common or predictable, these pipes are insulated/heated/whatever; they’re set up to handle cold weather. Down here in Texas, they’re not.
Because it's a state that doesn't get much cold weather. So, nothing is designed for cold weather.
I live in a state that is both warm in the South and Cold in the North. Building codes, roads, just about everything is different.
A few years ago, we got a cold snap like Texas got. We got a good foot of snow in a few hours. Unheard of. Nobody knew what the fuck to do. It was a National Guard training weekend. Most soldiers decided to sleep in the armory instead of driving home for the night.
I went home with a buddy who lives a few blocks away from me. But on the way home was a steep hill. No snow plows in the city. Why the fuck would we have snow plows? So we start up the hill. Nope. No fucking way that was going to happen. No snow tires. Why the fuck would anyone have snow tires in a place where it doesn't snow?
Pipes freeze because they don't need to be buried deep underground. Roofs get damaged because they are flat.
Cold weather fucks up a place where infrastructure isn't built for cold.
Thanks, man. I just said to u/signus that I wasn't aware of the extent of snow and cold there. Almost a week. That is wild.
I think Texas normally gets more snow than where I'm from. Most years, we only get a few flakes. It was -1 C last night. Probably the coldest it's going to get all year.
Texas is a southern state and is mostly hot/warm throughout the year.
The average person there doesn't own a coat, doesn't have heating or insulation in their house, their pipes aren't designed to protect against the cold so they burst, and they have no history of knowing how to handle snow so I doubt the state has a decent number of machines/vehicles designed to handle the snow.
Point is, people from a place that has never had a problem, can't deal with it the way everyone else that has said issue deals with it every year.
Are house prices much less in the south due to there being no heating and insulation along with all the heat ducts and whatnot that is required when a house has a central furnace for heat like nearly every house up north? I would think that would reduce the cost of home building significantly
It's a factor, but not much. In Florida for example you might not have a furnace, but you have two air conditioners. Ducting is needed for either heating or cooling.
I have always heard that you can get a lot more home for the same amount of money in Texas.
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