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Although the Northeast got the deep snow and national headlines; the Southwest got record breaking (but non national headline producing) low temperatures.
Last I heard locally we'd set new record lows three days in a row. All along the Texas/Mexico border from El Paso/Juárez to Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras to Nuveo/Laredo to McAllen/Reynosa electrical power plants, gas and water utilities were going down due to the single digit cold temperatures.
Locally I've seen news video from utility sites of four and five inch cast iron pipes split wide open with cracks a foot or more long and half an inch wide. One shot showed the open end of an eight or ten inch pipe filled with ice for all except a small two inch opening in the center. Another TV station showed a utility worker in a hard hat and a hoodie (we ain't used to cold around here) playing a big blow torch over water pipes in an effort to thaw them out.
The electricity generating stations designed to withstand months of 110 degree Southwestern summer heat couldn't take ten degrees. At one point temperatures got down to around three degrees around here.
The simplest solution would be for the utility to wrap the pipes in those heating wires that Home Depot sells to home owners to keep their pipes from freezing, but I don't expect that. Instead they'll come up with some multimillion dollar scheme to solve a problem that only occurs every dozen years or so.
Tuesday night the 10 PM weather guys came on smiling like clams; at last the weather was exciting, they didn't have to fake it tonight. The temperatures were going to get down into the single digits!
We'd had a frozen pipe break out back behind the store during similar weather many years ago so I knew what to expect. I bundled up and went out to disconnect the hoses and turn the faucets on just enough so they'd drip all night. The constant flow of comparatively warmer water would keep the water in them from freezing and busting our pipes.
On the spigot out front I had the standard issue gray foam wrap around the pipe where it came out of the wall plus a washcloth taped over that AND one of those hard foam cup thingies over the whole thing so I was tempted to just leave it in place, but I figured better safe than sorry and did the drip thing. Good thing.
In the backyard the spigot had just the gray foam wrapper and taped washcloth and was already frozen. I couldn't turn it on even with pliers. I had to use a tea pot of boiling water to thaw it out enough so that I could turn it on to drip.
Got back inside in time to learn that all the local school districts were declaring snow days.
Wednesday morning just after I logged on to the Internet the power went out. My uninterruptible power supply kept the computer on but I knew it wouldn't last long and the connection to my Internet Service Provider was dead anyway so I shut down the computer and even turned off the monitor to save the battery.
What does a modern man do sans Internet? Chores? Read a book? Contemplate the intricacies of the Universe?
Hell no, I needed INPUT!
I could have dug out the hand crank/solar radio, but instead I jerry-rigged an extension cord from the uninterruptible power supply to one of my Bose Wave radios. These things are great for helping to reset all the clocks in the house after a power outage. The Bose time display goes off and the radio won't play until the power comes back on, but its internal clock will keep track of the time for days.
Now that I was reconnected I not only felt better, but found out that I was participating in a "voluntary" rolling blackout. Oh the joys!
The local news was also reporting water damage from burst pipes and icy road related accidents all over town. Defying entreaties from our esteemed local crooks er... I mean government… my wife went down to the Korean grocery store to trade in a dozen bootleg CDs of the latest Korean soap opera for the next installment of same (I mean, after all, priorities are priorities!) and saw a car that had slid off the freeway, down the embankment and (with great skill) managed to hit the only telephone phone for over a hundred feet in either direction.
An hour later the power came back on (we would lose it again for about another hour that evening) and I got my Internet fix.
The city crooks er… I mean fathers… requested local businesses to close so as to save electricity. Of course they weren't offering to take a pay cut along with anyone who took their advice.
RIGHT! We're going into the biggest winter storm in over a decade and these clowns at the electric company want to save their rear ends by closing the stores that sell the stuff people are gunn'a need like food, batteries, bottled water and generators.
I wish I could have been around to hear the language at the local clothing stores when they heard the news that they were supposed to close down right in the middle of their last best chance to dump er… I mean put on sale… those winter clothes they'd be stuck with next spring if they don't sell the rags er… I mean quality clothing… soon, I'll bet I could have learned a few new swear words.
The evening news was full of stories about people whose pipes had burst during the night and begun spraying water as the day warmed up. There were also interviews with plumbers trying to contain their glee as they told of being booked solid for days.
More to the point, the local water utility was annoyed that people were calling them to come fix burst pipes in their homes and apartments. Didn't these people know the utility is only responsible for pipes up to the meter? The water utility PR guy came on to emphasize this point with every newscast.
Thursday, the rolling blackouts continue and as an added bonus we're warned of impending water and gas shortages. The news shows video of ceilings collapsed by water from burst pipes in the floor of the apartment above.
The frustrated utilities are now threatening unspecified legal action against business that remain open, the schools are still closed and people are thinking the utilities and politicians can stick it where the sun don't shine as they stock up on stuff they should have had before the weather struck.
Friday, Went to Costco and saw some guy loading the back of an SUV with four electric generators. Inside Costco had three 7000 watt and one 9500 watt generators left plus one on a cart soon to become someone else's home backup.
We threw an extra case of Costco's low salt Spam into the cart but really didn't need anything else extra and my HUMMER's gas tank was already full so we went home.
That night we saw more pictures of burst water pipes, collapsed ceilings and smiling plumbers as the politicos and utility PR people continued to claim all was well stay in your homes and don't use any more gas, electricity or water than you absolutely have to (or we'll cut you off!). One TV station proudly proclaimed they were without drinking water due to burst pipes.
Saturday my wife came home from church with the news that hers was one of at least three area churches with burst pipes and no water.
But then came the really important news: the voluntary rolling blackouts were officially over. Evidently the officials had contemplated what would happen (Oh the Humanity!) if they tried to pull a rolling blackout during the Super Bowl.
Last I heard locally we'd set new record lows three days in a row. All along the Texas/Mexico border from El Paso/Juárez to Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras to Nuveo/Laredo to McAllen/Reynosa electrical power plants, gas and water utilities were going down due to the single digit cold temperatures.
Locally I've seen news video from utility sites of four and five inch cast iron pipes split wide open with cracks a foot or more long and half an inch wide. One shot showed the open end of an eight or ten inch pipe filled with ice for all except a small two inch opening in the center. Another TV station showed a utility worker in a hard hat and a hoodie (we ain't used to cold around here) playing a big blow torch over water pipes in an effort to thaw them out.
The electricity generating stations designed to withstand months of 110 degree Southwestern summer heat couldn't take ten degrees. At one point temperatures got down to around three degrees around here.
The simplest solution would be for the utility to wrap the pipes in those heating wires that Home Depot sells to home owners to keep their pipes from freezing, but I don't expect that. Instead they'll come up with some multimillion dollar scheme to solve a problem that only occurs every dozen years or so.
Tuesday night the 10 PM weather guys came on smiling like clams; at last the weather was exciting, they didn't have to fake it tonight. The temperatures were going to get down into the single digits!
We'd had a frozen pipe break out back behind the store during similar weather many years ago so I knew what to expect. I bundled up and went out to disconnect the hoses and turn the faucets on just enough so they'd drip all night. The constant flow of comparatively warmer water would keep the water in them from freezing and busting our pipes.
On the spigot out front I had the standard issue gray foam wrap around the pipe where it came out of the wall plus a washcloth taped over that AND one of those hard foam cup thingies over the whole thing so I was tempted to just leave it in place, but I figured better safe than sorry and did the drip thing. Good thing.
In the backyard the spigot had just the gray foam wrapper and taped washcloth and was already frozen. I couldn't turn it on even with pliers. I had to use a tea pot of boiling water to thaw it out enough so that I could turn it on to drip.
Got back inside in time to learn that all the local school districts were declaring snow days.
Wednesday morning just after I logged on to the Internet the power went out. My uninterruptible power supply kept the computer on but I knew it wouldn't last long and the connection to my Internet Service Provider was dead anyway so I shut down the computer and even turned off the monitor to save the battery.
What does a modern man do sans Internet? Chores? Read a book? Contemplate the intricacies of the Universe?
Hell no, I needed INPUT!
I could have dug out the hand crank/solar radio, but instead I jerry-rigged an extension cord from the uninterruptible power supply to one of my Bose Wave radios. These things are great for helping to reset all the clocks in the house after a power outage. The Bose time display goes off and the radio won't play until the power comes back on, but its internal clock will keep track of the time for days.
Now that I was reconnected I not only felt better, but found out that I was participating in a "voluntary" rolling blackout. Oh the joys!
The local news was also reporting water damage from burst pipes and icy road related accidents all over town. Defying entreaties from our esteemed local crooks er... I mean government… my wife went down to the Korean grocery store to trade in a dozen bootleg CDs of the latest Korean soap opera for the next installment of same (I mean, after all, priorities are priorities!) and saw a car that had slid off the freeway, down the embankment and (with great skill) managed to hit the only telephone phone for over a hundred feet in either direction.
An hour later the power came back on (we would lose it again for about another hour that evening) and I got my Internet fix.
The city crooks er… I mean fathers… requested local businesses to close so as to save electricity. Of course they weren't offering to take a pay cut along with anyone who took their advice.
RIGHT! We're going into the biggest winter storm in over a decade and these clowns at the electric company want to save their rear ends by closing the stores that sell the stuff people are gunn'a need like food, batteries, bottled water and generators.
I wish I could have been around to hear the language at the local clothing stores when they heard the news that they were supposed to close down right in the middle of their last best chance to dump er… I mean put on sale… those winter clothes they'd be stuck with next spring if they don't sell the rags er… I mean quality clothing… soon, I'll bet I could have learned a few new swear words.
The evening news was full of stories about people whose pipes had burst during the night and begun spraying water as the day warmed up. There were also interviews with plumbers trying to contain their glee as they told of being booked solid for days.
More to the point, the local water utility was annoyed that people were calling them to come fix burst pipes in their homes and apartments. Didn't these people know the utility is only responsible for pipes up to the meter? The water utility PR guy came on to emphasize this point with every newscast.
Thursday, the rolling blackouts continue and as an added bonus we're warned of impending water and gas shortages. The news shows video of ceilings collapsed by water from burst pipes in the floor of the apartment above.
The frustrated utilities are now threatening unspecified legal action against business that remain open, the schools are still closed and people are thinking the utilities and politicians can stick it where the sun don't shine as they stock up on stuff they should have had before the weather struck.
Friday, Went to Costco and saw some guy loading the back of an SUV with four electric generators. Inside Costco had three 7000 watt and one 9500 watt generators left plus one on a cart soon to become someone else's home backup.
We threw an extra case of Costco's low salt Spam into the cart but really didn't need anything else extra and my HUMMER's gas tank was already full so we went home.
That night we saw more pictures of burst water pipes, collapsed ceilings and smiling plumbers as the politicos and utility PR people continued to claim all was well stay in your homes and don't use any more gas, electricity or water than you absolutely have to (or we'll cut you off!). One TV station proudly proclaimed they were without drinking water due to burst pipes.
Saturday my wife came home from church with the news that hers was one of at least three area churches with burst pipes and no water.
But then came the really important news: the voluntary rolling blackouts were officially over. Evidently the officials had contemplated what would happen (Oh the Humanity!) if they tried to pull a rolling blackout during the Super Bowl.
