Texas Winter 2013-2014

[opticsguy]

ERCOT and electricity

True that some capacity is offline, but many in Dallas use their oven to heat their house since they don't have central gas heat (many older houses). I had a townhome with "resistance heating", which is essentially two 3000W hairdryers built into a wall (one on each floor). I remember using $120 worth of electricity in one weekend back in 1990 or 91.

There are probably 100,000 space heaters being used in Dallas County alone this morning.

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

ERCOT and electricity

True that some capacity is offline, but many in Dallas use their oven to heat their house since they don't have central gas heat (many older houses). I had a townhome with "resistance heating", which is essentially two 3000W hairdryers built into a wall (one on each floor). I remember using $120 worth of electricity in one weekend back in 1990 or 91.

There are probably 100,000 space heaters being used in Dallas County alone this morning.

You fellows, unless you harden off quickly , might be in trouble this winter!

[srainhoutx]

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
704 AM CST TUE JAN 7 2014

TXZ229>233-239>246-071500-
LA SALLE-MCMULLEN-LIVE OAK-BEE-GOLIAD-WEBB-DUVAL-JIM WELLS-
KLEBERG-NUECES-SAN PATRICIO-ARANSAS-REFUGIO-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...COTULLA...CALLIHAM...CROSS...
LOMA ALTA...TILDEN...GEORGE WEST...THREE RIVERS...BEEVILLE...
GOLIAD...LAREDO...FREER...BENAVIDES...SAN DIEGO...ALICE...
ORANGE GROVE...KINGSVILLE...CORPUS CHRISTI...PORTLAND...
INGLESIDE...ARANSAS PASS...SINTON...MATHIS...ROCKPORT...REFUGIO...
WOODSBORO
704 AM CST TUE JAN 7 2014

...LIGHT WINTRY PRECIPITATION POSSIBLE THIS MORNING...

AREAS OF LIGHT RAIN...LIGHT SLEET...AND EVEN SOME LIGHT SNOW HAVE
BEEN IMPACTING PORTIONS OF SOUTH TEXAS EARLY THIS MORNING. THIS
LIGHT WINTRY PRECIPITATION WILL CONTINUE FOR A COUPLE OF MORE
HOURS UNTIL TEMPERATURES BEGIN TO WARM. NO SIGNIFICANT
ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED DUE TO THE BREVITY OF THE
PRECIPITATION...BUT A LIGHT DUSTING OF SLEET MAY COVER VEHICLES
AND ELEVATED SURFACE. SIGNIFICANT TRAVEL IMPACTS ARE NOT
EXPECTED...BUT ISOLATED SLICK SPOTS MAY DEVELOP EARLY THIS MORNING
ON BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES.

[opticsguy]

those of you up North with basements don't get the "cold slab" effect. When the slab under the house gets cold (usually takes a few days), it then starts to suck heat out of your house pretty fast. A cool tile floor is nice to walk on in the summer, but a cold tile floor just makes the room feel colder than the thermometer says.

FWIW, I grew up in N. Michigan

[vbhoutex]

ERCOT and electricity

True that some capacity is offline, but many in Dallas use their oven to heat their house since they don't have central gas heat (many older houses). I had a townhome with "resistance heating", which is essentially two 3000W hairdryers built into a wall (one on each floor). I remember using $120 worth of electricity in one weekend back in 1990 or 91.

There are probably 100,000 space heaters being used in Dallas County alone this morning.

You fellows, unless you harden off quickly , might be in trouble this winter!

In all my years in Houston, I have never seen this during the Winter even during other extreme events like this one. I wonder what has changed. Maybe more population using more appliances? We do see it during our extreme heat events almost every year.
Managed 23f here this am. All the way up to 25f now.

[Tireman4]

ours lives at 72 degrees in the winter... 75 degrees in the summer.

C'mon be brave and knock three more degrees off that. I can guarantee you don't have the cool *cough* breeze that was coming though certain areas of this house.

So my brave and hardy Tireman4 what is yours set at????

Mine is set at 68 in the Winter and 78 in the Summer....

[cctxhurricanewatcher]

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
704 AM CST TUE JAN 7 2014

TXZ229>233-239>246-071500-
LA SALLE-MCMULLEN-LIVE OAK-BEE-GOLIAD-WEBB-DUVAL-JIM WELLS-
KLEBERG-NUECES-SAN PATRICIO-ARANSAS-REFUGIO-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...COTULLA...CALLIHAM...CROSS...
LOMA ALTA...TILDEN...GEORGE WEST...THREE RIVERS...BEEVILLE...
GOLIAD...LAREDO...FREER...BENAVIDES...SAN DIEGO...ALICE...
ORANGE GROVE...KINGSVILLE...CORPUS CHRISTI...PORTLAND...
INGLESIDE...ARANSAS PASS...SINTON...MATHIS...ROCKPORT...REFUGIO...
WOODSBORO
704 AM CST TUE JAN 7 2014

...LIGHT WINTRY PRECIPITATION POSSIBLE THIS MORNING...

AREAS OF LIGHT RAIN...LIGHT SLEET...AND EVEN SOME LIGHT SNOW HAVE
BEEN IMPACTING PORTIONS OF SOUTH TEXAS EARLY THIS MORNING. THIS
LIGHT WINTRY PRECIPITATION WILL CONTINUE FOR A COUPLE OF MORE
HOURS UNTIL TEMPERATURES BEGIN TO WARM. NO SIGNIFICANT
ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED DUE TO THE BREVITY OF THE
PRECIPITATION...BUT A LIGHT DUSTING OF SLEET MAY COVER VEHICLES
AND ELEVATED SURFACE. SIGNIFICANT TRAVEL IMPACTS ARE NOT
EXPECTED...BUT ISOLATED SLICK SPOTS MAY DEVELOP EARLY THIS MORNING
ON BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES.

I'm happy to report my roof was the recipient of the event !

[cctxhurricanewatcher]

And now you know why Canadians have so many babes in September/October!

And from my fave Texan FB poster:

:uarrow: For us, yes it is going to be another cold night for us. You, on the other hand would probably consider it to be tank top weather. Expecting teens and low 20s in SE TX.

And guess what we are primed to keep sharing!




and where we go.......... oh Texas! [/quote]


That's funny. But we Texans get to laugh at you Canucks in the summer when you call 80 degrees "hot."

[TexasStorm]

Well, the cold has been nice but a quick warm up is on the way. Anything interesting in the model world? Bob Rose on his blog this afternoon mentioned to keep an eye on January 17 for the next arctic front. We have had the ice, many cold days and here in North Texas some chances of rain in the coming days. Now we just need moisture and cold to meet, shake hands and work together as a team for the rest of winter!!!

Models are pretty uneventful through 384 hours. Probably why we are talking about thermostat settings in here right now.

[gpsnowman]

Cool, Corpus got sleet. At least someone did! My poor parents in East Texas(Caddo Lake) have no power and it is 16 degrees where they are.
72 in winter and 79-80 in the summer time. The backyard trees with full leaves block the western summer sun keeping the downstairs fairly cool during the hot months.

[gpsnowman]

Well, the cold has been nice but a quick warm up is on the way. Anything interesting in the model world? Bob Rose on his blog this afternoon mentioned to keep an eye on January 17 for the next arctic front. We have had the ice, many cold days and here in North Texas some chances of rain in the coming days. Now we just need moisture and cold to meet, shake hands and work together as a team for the rest of winter!!!

Models are pretty uneventful through 384 hours. Probably why we are talking about thermostat settings in here right now.

Funny post considering I just posted about my thermostat!!!

[Ntxw]

That's how us Texans are we always find a way to complain . If it's a warm winter we say it can't even get a little cold. If it's cold, we say it can't get to 0 and no snow. If it snows we want 2 feet! jesus never easy to please! Fact of the matter is this is one of the coldest starts to winter we have seen in almost two decades, in terms of averages its 70s and 80s/early 90s like.

DFW recorded it's 30th freeze, next one will be halfway to the record of 62 in 77-78. A cold February could do it, we will probably tack on some more week of 15th. Beyond that there is a frigid air mass lurking just north of the border as the EPO (surprise!) now looks like another tank a coming.

[gpsnowman]

Tomorrow morning could be close. Fox 4 has it down to 33. And that is at the airport. We shall see. Very impressive to have that many freezes in early January.

[wxman57]

I saw 28.4F at my house this morning. My pipes were shivering but not frozen (as were my home's water pipes). Good news is that we won't see another freeze for at least 2 weeks.

[ronyan]

I suspect you were colder earlier in the morning wxman. I recorded 24.6F on my station in Lake Jackson around 345am before the temperature started to rise. You were right about the non-ideal cooling conditions last night, we could have made a run to near 20 if the fall had continued.

[Portastorm]

ERCOT and electricity

True that some capacity is offline, but many in Dallas use their oven to heat their house since they don't have central gas heat (many older houses). I had a townhome with "resistance heating", which is essentially two 3000W hairdryers built into a wall (one on each floor). I remember using $120 worth of electricity in one weekend back in 1990 or 91.

There are probably 100,000 space heaters being used in Dallas County alone this morning.

You fellows, unless you harden off quickly , might be in trouble this winter!

In all my years in Houston, I have never seen this during the Winter even during other extreme events like this one. I wonder what has changed. Maybe more population using more appliances? We do see it during our extreme heat events almost every year.
Managed 23f here this am. All the way up to 25f now.

Actually, there are several reasons why this is occurring and why it'll probably happen more frequently in the future in both summer and winter:

1) State power grid is not connected to any other (cannot get help from other areas of US)

2) Strict environmental regulations have put the kibosh on the development of newer fossil fuel type power plants

3) State population continues to grow at a ridiculous pace thus demand is much higher

[Portastorm]

I saw 28.4F at my house this morning. My pipes were shivering but not frozen (as were my home's water pipes). Good news is that we won't see another freeze for at least 2 weeks.

Let me go on record as saying the next "freeze' darn well better include frozen precip with it, or bring me some Spring and thunderstorms! Yes ... I said it!

Nobody can say we didn't have a "winter" this season. I've shown the maps here ... we've been way below normal temperature-wise since November. Coldest winter in three years for Texas. But enough of this dry cold. Next two weeks look grim (as in no real wintry threats) on the 0z models. But I'm going to hold fast to Heat Miser's own rule of thumb to not trust any model beyond 5 days out.

Finally, I'm happy for any of our friends in South Texas or the Valley who saw wintry precip last night or this morning. Good for y'all!

[WeatherGuesser]

Bunch-O-Wimpz. I thought Texans were tough guys?

My T-Stat is at 57. They make sweats, heavy socks and blankets for a reason and they're all less expensive than NG, LP or electric. The wood I burn is free too.

[Rgv20]

Well I did not get to see my snowflake!! lol Yesterday from about 7pm to 10pm there was very light sleet with light rain....Now I'm ready for the 80s on Friday, gotta love the South Texas winter weather!

[veedub63]

Well I did not get to see my snowflake!! lol Yesterday from about 7pm to 10pm there was very light sleet with light rain....Now I'm ready for the 80s on Friday, gotta love the South Texas winter weather!

It just doesn't get any better than that. A nice taste of winter followed by a 9:00am tee time three days later; playing in shorts, no less. Wonderful.