Texas Winter 2020-2021

[Hurricane_Apu]

Ended up with about half an inch liquid equivalent in Lafayette, split pretty evenly between freezing rain and sleet, with just a little bit of powdery snow at the end. If it had stayed all freezing rain we would have been in trouble. Still not as impressive here as the January 2018 storm...

[Quixotic]

I may be ignorant, but I find it hard to believe that we are pulling current statewide as much as we do in the summer. They knew a week ago that it was going to get cold. So why the blackouts?

[Iceresistance]

Did every single county in Texas have at least .1 inch of snow?

[aggiecutter]

6" of snow in Texarkana. What happened in Austin this time around.

[Haris]

Here is GOES east imagery. You can see the glacier over the Southern Plains. Deep South Texas was spared.

https://i.imgur.com/naSp9Jx.gif

https://i.imgur.com/6gNDr90.jpg

7.5” in W Austin. After 4” in January, seasonal total over 11”

[Brent]

I may be ignorant, but I find it hard to believe that we are pulling current statewide as much as we do in the summer. They knew a week ago that it was going to get cold. So why the blackouts?

I'm not well versed on it(I don't even pay the electric here), but well I've always heard heat takes more electricity than A/C but still I don't fully understand it either because like you said everyone has seen this coming for a week

[JDawg512]

Luckily didn't lose power, which I figured we'd be fine due to being connected to the nearby hospital grid unless a branch happened to fall on a line cutting this section off which so far hasn't. I have friends and family around the city that have lost their power. Hoping they are all doing okay along with everyone else in the state currently without electricity.

Lastnight was definitely an experience.. Most snow I have ever seen. Going to walk around with a measuring stick and check different areas of the yard to see how deep it is. I would say it's at least 6 inches if not more.

[Iceresistance]

Just recieved a Email update from my friend, Underthwx, the pump house is now thawed out thanks to a space heater that he brought in. (I suggested that to him by Email that I've sent him)

The water pipe to the house is still frozen as far as I know, but he is going to try to thaw that out with a another heater . . .

[Cuda17]

It's currently snowing in Bellville!?!? Partly cloudy and 14°. No returns on radar, that I can see anyway. Wild.

[Yukon Cornelius]

Y’all stay safe.
News about the outages-
https://abc13.com/weather/systemwide-po ... t0KZbjEAjA

[Iceresistance]

I found yet another area of undrifted snow, but it was even better than the last measurement: 10 inches

[EnnisTx]

I may be ignorant, but I find it hard to believe that we are pulling current statewide as much as we do in the summer. They knew a week ago that it was going to get cold. So why the blackouts?

One thing to remember is the difference in outdoor and indoor temperatures. Summertime if it's 100° outside and 75 inside that's 25° difference so not near as big a drain on power as 5° outside and 65 or 70 inside. It's just a bigger drain on the power grid.

[EnnisTx]

I found yet another area of undrifted snow, but it was even better than the last measurement: 10 inches

I got 10.01 actually measured 6.9

[rwfromkansas]

Can’t they buy power from Mexico like in the past?

[utpmg]

Welp. I would have posted pics of the beautiful powder this morning but My power has been out since 2 AM. It’s now noon. No end in sight.

[Ntxw]

Can’t they buy power from Mexico like in the past?

Or the rest of the US . I know it's an unusual circumstance. We all knew this for at least a week (in some cases almost two for the board!). Just a lot of questions all around and little answers.

Seemed extreme talking about back up generators and such back then but boy are they handy now. Writing was on the wall it wasn't going to be a simple run of the mill cold snap.

[EnnisTx]

Can’t they buy power from Mexico like in the past?

Or the rest of the US . I know it's an unusual circumstance. We all knew this for at least a week (in some cases almost two for the board!). Just a lot of questions all around and little answers.

Seemed extreme talking about back up generators and such back then but boy are they handy now. Writing was on the wall it wasn't going to be a simple run of the mill cold snap.

State electricity officials said rotating and controlled outages will continue through Tuesday as around 2 million people were without power Monday morning. The outages could be in place until the "weather emergency ends." ERCOT officials did not define what that would look like.

“Every grid operator and every electric company is fighting to restore power right now,” said ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness.

Multiple electrical generating units began tripping offline quickly Sunday night, causing a collapse in electricity supply and prompting the outages. The units fell offline due to the cold weather, ERCOT officials said during the call.

Most of those that went offline were natural gas, coal or nuclear facilities that shut down. Combined, it in total took more than 30,000 megawatts from the grid. 

This is the longest period of time officials have had to run rotating outages in the state.

Below is a breakdown of how the agency determines when to go into rotating outages.

Conservation Warning

When the electric reserves drop below 3,000 megawatts, a conservation advisory is activated. That’s when ERCOT communicates to the public and to power generators what’s going on.

An advisory is issued but rotating outages are not yet needed.

EEA1

When the reserves drop below 2,300 megawatts, Emergency Energy Alert 1 is activated. That’s when ERCOT communicates to the public and to power generators that the situation is deteriorating.

At this time, ERCOT will import power from other states and from Mexico. This regularly happens during peak summer months and is not new. But right now, because prices are so cheap, and unrelated to the weather, ERCOT was already importing power from Mexico and other power grids.

Rotating outages do not happen during this stage.

EEA2

When the electric reserves drop to 1750 megawatts, other steps are taken to bring on additional capacity, but rotating outages are still not yet activated.

EEA3

When the reserves get to 1,000 megawatts and they are not expected to recover within 30 minutes, ERCOT will then ask electric suppliers like Oncor and Reliant to begin rotating outages to reduce load on the system. 

[TheProfessor]

While 95% of the U.S is suffering from the cold we have parts of Florida under an enhanced risk for tornadoes and wind, and hail was reported in Pensacola.

[bubba hotep]

Wow, models are all over the place with this storm system Tues Night/Wednesday - precip values vary drastically across small areas...considering the amounts, precip types and subsequent implications, this is a really difficult forecast.

The NAMs look good qpf wise for DFW, esp eastern areas. Some of the globals appear to be dry slotting DFW. It's an odd cycle with it being kind of far out for the hi-res but short range enough to have the globals miss mesoscale features that influence precipitation placement. Would think the 00z cycle should clear up some stuff with the hi-res models moving into better range.

[Snowman67]

Just heard from family in Midlothian. They've been without power since 4 in the morning. Temp is down to around 59/60 inside.

Hopefully they can figure out these outages soon. If it's like this at night, I can't imagine how cold it would get inside the house.

I’ve got a friend in Sherman who has been off since nearly midnight. Said it’s 50 degrees inside.

Sister's house in Houston has been out all night as well. 51F inside.