Snow in Dallas!

"Most people here don't have ice scrapers in their car."  Costco card werks in a pinch......and this just in...68 degrees and sunny by saturday next week here in north Houston

Went to grocery store an hour ago, took 5 attempts to get over slope into the main road.. Fighting myself, ready to start fireplace up but that little adult in me is waiting in case power goes out

Snow in Dallas at my house. The big pile is over 6' high.

Dallas, PA.

My Aussie is rolling in the snow, doing snow angels.

Subscriber-unavailabile said:

Fighting myself, ready to start fireplace up but that little adult in me is waiting in case power goes out

Huh? Wouldn't you want it started already, so you don't have to scramble? Or is there something I'm missing here? The only places I've had a real fireplace, we've either had gas heat or used the fireplace to heat the house. 

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

Okay, NOW he looks more interested in the snow!  Stay warm down there!

If we had that in Los angeles  you would have some great photos of Super cars sliding off the Freeways !

Stay safe,,,,,and warm

In reply to mtn (Forum Supporter) :

I only have enough for 2 days max, and westill have few days of single digit nights. 

lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) said:

Snow in Dallas at my house. The big pile is over 6' high.

 

Dallas, PA.

What is that thing on the front of the truck?  A plow? 

Has anyone experienced any power outages? News saying they're doing rolling blackouts thru out the state. 

In reply to dean1484 :

Yes sir. I've had it for 18 years and is unbelievable for how simple it is. It's made by SnowSport and mounts to a 2" front receiver. I use it on our 800' driveway and at our commercial properties. People laugh until they see how it works. How many "real plows" are still around after 18 years. And it was under $800 when I bought it! When it gets too deep here at home I use the big dog or for maintenance the side-by-side sees light duty. 
 

In reply to Subscriber-unavailabile :

I haven't yet but several friends and my office have 

Subscriber-unavailabile said:

Has anyone experienced any power outages? News saying they're doing rolling blackouts thru out the state. 

PEC up here in Cedar Park.  Power went out about 4:00 according to their outage website.  Power came back on about 45 minutes ago.  Turned up my thermostat a few degrees to get it warmer in case power goes out again.

It's weird that I had to sweep snow off my deck so my pups, (both inside dogs and short) could go out to do their business.  Snow past my ankles in my own back yard is just surreal.

-Rob

In reply to rob_lewis :

We got 6-8 at my place. Dog just left a big brown spot in middle of yard!

I do not like snow but I had to go out in this E36 M3 this morning. In San Antonio. I'm moving back to S.California!

Lots of vehicles littered about in the streets and highways. It was like this yesterday but no snow only icing. I'm glad I know how to drive in snow. 

7" in central AR and still falling.  First appreciable snow we've had in 3+ years.

ARDOT has some plows and salt trucks, but most municipalities don't.  Several of the larger landscape and lawn care outfits also do snow clearing, but that only gets the parking lots and sidewalks.  Secondary streets go untouched for a while.

We've got a couple more waves coming through this week.  I'm not leaving the house for a while.

We spent 3 years in Columbus, OH while SWMBO was in grad school, I remember watching the news to see if school was closed after the first significant snow we got, in flipping October.  Nothing closed.  Roads were clear.  ODOT and the city of Reynoldsburg were on the ball.  We were blown away at how quick the roads were passable after a significant snow fall.

Bad thing about the south, Arkansas for sure, is we get freezing rain and sleet way more often than actual snow.

I took SWMBO to a dentist appointments after last weeks ice storm (hit us after TX).  We loaded up in the Jeep, decent AT tires, lockers front & rear, it'll go, dentist's parking lot was a skating rink though, going is one thing, stopping is another.  We were sliding towards a nice, newer Lexus SUV, long enough for SWMBO to let out an audible, uncomfortable, "uhhh," before it dawned on me, take your foot off the brake, cut the wheel, and give it some throttle, ya dummy!  We drove away from the Lexus, no harm, made another loop and re-entered the parking lot much slower.  Most sothern folks don't know what to do on ice, and just like I almost did, would have slid right into the Lexus.

Best is to just not put yourself in those situations.  The roads were mostly slush by the time we needed to go to the afternoon dentist appointment, but the shady dentist parkinglot was a sheet of ice.

We have plenty of food, things to cook, can work from home as long as the power holds out, gas heat, a decent generator, 10 gallons of fuel, and plenty of propane and camping supplies, we're not going anywhere until Friday.

Being from the NE it is easy to mock the south when this happens but in reality it is dangerous as they are not prepared. People can and will die from weather events like this. I feel bad for them as many don't have a good understanding  what they are dealing with and how to prepaid for and live through a weather event like this.  

I've also heard that the problem is made worse because the ground temps are high enough that it will melt and re-freeze.  Then instead of having snow or slush, you're just driving on an inch or two of ice.  And that causes problems no matter where in the country you're at.

Tx situations are made worse by no real drainage or raod crowning as they just don't get the moisture to d for it.  The mecca of absurdly high banked overpasses is not terribly helpful either.

dean1484 said:

Being from the NE it is easy to mock the south when this happens but in reality it is dangerous as they are not prepared. People can and will die from weather events like this. I feel bad for them as many don't have a good understanding  what they are dealing with and how to prepaid for and live through a weather event like this.  

I'll mock them when they clear out the bread and milk and TP and cancel everything for an half inch of snow ahead of time that we wouldn't even salt for, but this is a serious snowfall no matter where you are. Even in Chicagoland, where we're really really good at clearing snow quickly, if this snow came at the right time of morning, it could shut everything down for a day. 

The other factor here, more important than the snow to me, is the cold. I love the cold. But it gives me a lot more difficulties than the snow does, especially if it is around for more than a day or two.

 

dean1484 said:

lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) said:

Snow in Dallas at my house. The big pile is over 6' high.

 

Dallas, PA.

What is that thing on the front of the truck?  A plow? 

I remember having one of those on a 4x4 Chevy LUV in Colorado back when mini-pickups ruled the earth. I'll bet you can't find one in that size anymore.

yeah the snow is just a novelty and inceonvenience.. the real dangers right now in TX are the low temps causing a strain on the power grid from homes pushing for more heat than ever.. plus the wind farms are down.. plus our excess capacity on generation stations went down for maintenance since this is a quieter time of year and couldn't be spun back up in time.

I went and took the Fit out for a drive during my lunch hour..

I appreciate y'all up in the north not laughing at us down here.  Not only do we not have ice trucks, there are also probably only 1 or 2 snow plows in the entire area.  Why spend the money on equipment that you might use once every 10 years or so. 

My kid (ahh, to be 19 and dumb again) came over to the house this morning.  They're about 3 miles from us and because they're in Austin, they have no power.  So, they came over to have breakfast and warm up. He said driving wasn't too bad, but was making sure to be extra cautious and slow.  The round last night was dry snow (is that a thing?) so it doesn't pack or form snowballs or anything.  Son said it was kinda like driving in sand.  I'm hoping the continued cold weather keeps it like that as it seems easier to travel on?

Austin proper is in serious trouble.  They were planning on rolling blackouts of 30-60 minutes, but apparently didn't plan it right, and lots of folks have been without power since 3 a.m.  Add the fact that most houses are insulated for cold weather, I've heard several cases of people waking up this morning and their house is in the 50's or lower. 

I'm glad I have power for now, but I'm keeping my thermostat a little higher than normal (gas, so I'm not contributing to the electrical overload) for when we lose power again, it'll stay warmer a little longer.

-Rob

In reply to rob_lewis :

Thankfully in our neck of the woods we are extremely lucky. News said the electric companies started shutting off electricity in our area to non important infrastructure areas.. Went for beer run few hours ago, about 30 min wait outside just to get inside, most of people there were simply trying to get food for their families because they've been without power all day and can't cook what food they have. Turns out I'm in a "lucky" 2 block radius they're keeping the power going, assuming because of heb and couple small ER clinics. Still waiting to fire up fireplace in case..

In reply to Subscriber-unavailabile :

Same here. No power outage in my small area. It's basically 100% residential with a few heavy equipment dealers. So we're not suffering as much as folks who are in San Antonio proper.

Weird thing is the breakers for my appliances tripped but only the microwave, dish washer, and washer. The microwave and diswasher doesn't get used and none of the appliances were used at all today. Anyone care to educate me on why that may have happened?