Community Chat

[Mindy D]

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@Nightowlz wrote:

Even if they winterized in Fl your pipes will freeze. They are not buried in the ground far enough like they are in colder areas.

If there are homes in Fl with plumbing in attics it won't be insulated either.

Last time I was at my sisters in Fl while it was hot I told her something was wrong with her cold water. LOL!!!

I told her I like to wash my face with cold water but hers never got cold enough? She said it's because our pipes are not buried as far down as yours are.

If it gets colder in places that don't get cold what a mess.

Tx knew this weather was coming they could have done something but did not think it could happen.

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@Nightowlz @ The pipes are another difficult matter to contend with. You're correct that burying Florida pipes deep enough might not be doable. Where I live, in S. Florida, you can get salt water intrusion which affects where pipes can be buried.  These are not easy fixes.

Only two months ago, we had record rain leading to supersaturated ground and a water table that could hold no more water. My particular location sustained the most rainfall, 18" in 24 hours, and I was trapped inside my house with the inability to drive out for a week. My area had invested in multimillion dollar flood pumps but these were not adequate to compete with ground water that could hold no more water draining into it from above. 

[Sooner]

@Mindy D One 100 year plus event doesn't mean it will happen again soon. Or in 10 years or 150.   At this point, you can't predict.

What we have seen so far is weather, not climate.  This event is not unique, but there is no pattern to say it will happen again for next year or another 100 years.  

At this point it is speculation only. 

[Sooner]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

In 1989 Texas experienced their last cold wave but since then the need to prepare for the next deep freeze was ignored. 

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@SilleeMee Had we put a lot of money into it in 1989 that model would be outdated by now.  

[Lali1]

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@Sooner wrote:

@Mindy D One 100 year plus event doesn't mean it will happen again soon. Or in 10 years or 150.   At this point, you can't predict.

What we have seen so far is weather, not climate.  This event is not unique, but there is no pattern to say it will happen again for next year or another 100 years.  

At this point it is speculation only. 

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Considering they had to change from global warming to climate change I'd say the so called experts haven't a clue. And wasn't milk supposed to $20 a gallon by now according to Al Gore? Climate has always changed and always will.

Mother Nature will always surprise us. Some people think government is the fix and answer to everything. Others think you have to be prepared because there's no one coming to help you when things go haywire. 

[Nuttmeg]

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@Mindy D wrote:

I have no idea where the power grid is winterized. I do know that areas that had warmer winters in the past might need to quickly reevaluate whether winterization should be done in light of climate change and the changing weather we see now days. Floridians would probably laugh if lawmakers tried to winterize locations here, but I'm not laughing. So many unpredictabilities lie ahead that I'd rather be safe than sorry. 

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@Mindy D

I hope people ask questions the freezing cold weather can happen anywhere. 

[Nonametoday]

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@Mindy D wrote:

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@SilleeMee wrote:

In 1989 Texas experienced their last cold wave but since then the need to prepare for the next deep freeze was ignored. 

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@SilleeMee @I lived in Texas in the 80's. We had very cold winters when I lived there with tons of snow and ice. At the time, I thought that this weather was normal for Texas.  I thought this way because it was all I saw and because there were so many fireplaces in living spaces. I didn't know any better. There was enough heat indoors but the roads were covered with snow and ice. I kept wondering why they didn't get the roads clear the way the roads were clear when I lived in New York. They put salt on the roads but in Austin and San Antonio where I lived they were not prepared the way places with cold climates are. Texas and other places will have to prepare for more than the impact of climate change on power. I'm in Florida and I've been wondering if it's time to take SCUBA lessons

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@Mindy D There was a lot more cold weather in the 1980s in the southeast.  At the time I lived in the southeast and I can assure you, Texas was no different from Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, et al.  I recall a time in the 1990s (day before St Patrick's, I beleive) as well when there was a huge thundersnow event that took out a whole lot of tender shrubbery in New Orleans and Hauma.  As well, even around 2006 (I am not quite sure of the year), there was a big freeze on Easter Sunday that killed all the budding roses along the South Carolina Coast unless they had been winterized.

[gertrudecloset]

These cold weather events don't seem to be that far apart.  According to the Almanac for Texas a cold snap has happened at least three times within the last 50 years.  That's enough right there to be concerned.  The last one was in 2011.  That's not odd for North Dakota, but it is for Texas.  Some northern states like Maine don't get -22 degree readings in the winter like Texas just went through. 

This is like saying let's wait for the damns and levies breach before we do something.  Kicking the can down the road is always a chance you take and it leads to endless suffering and loss of money and life.

[gertrudecloset]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

In 1989 Texas experienced their last cold wave but since then the need to prepare for the next deep freeze was ignored. 

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@SilleeMee Something similar (cold wave) happened in 2011. 

"After a heavy snowstorm in February 2011 caused statewide rolling blackouts and left millions of Texans in the dark, federal authorities warned the state that its power infrastructure had inadequate “winterization” protection. But 10 years later, pipelines remained inadequately insulated and heaters that might have kept instruments from freezing were never installed."

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/21/us/texas-electricity-ercot-blackouts.html

[Sooner]

How much money should be diverted to planning for infrequent events?  How much do we do in our own lives?

How much money would be available and what do we take it from?

And also, we are pumping money into alternative energy and how reliable is that in extreme cold?  I saw something about solar panels being covered somewhere, which really made me think about this.  Have you heard anything on the news about any of this?

Like me, there are things that would be great to have but can I afford them? 

[agb80]

Didn't Ercot drop the ball? I'm sure Texas leadership will figure this out take care that it never happens again.