Polar Bear Vortex

If you live in the Midwest/Rocky Mountain Front area(s)...expect this BS to happen...if not already.
 
They had quite the pile up the other day...almost like a demo derby or a NASCAR wreck.
Maybe if some of those rocket scientist truckers and car drivers had slowed down on black ice....it could have been minimized..... Fedex tractor trailer wreck was gruesome.....
 
We just missed the snow. But got all ice . I70 wasn't bad today.
 
Winter happens in CONUS. Even in places where palm tree grow. It definitely happens in Texas.

I thought about this for a little while, and upon reflection and consideration of events in the recent past, I can't imagine why anyone would want to live in Houston:
  • Can't handle cold snaps
  • Can't handle heat waves
  • Can't handle hurricanes (Hurricane Harvey)
There may be some nice places in Texas - I've heard that Austin is great, and have also heard good things about some other cities, San Antonio and San Angelo. But I have not been to any of those places.

The only Texas city I've spent any time in is El Paso. It's not a good fit for this native-born New Englander.
 
Winter happens in CONUS. Even in places where palm tree grow. It definitely happens in Texas.

I thought about this for a little while, and upon reflection and consideration of events in the recent past, I can't imagine why anyone would want to live in Houston:
  • Can't handle cold snaps
  • Can't handle heat waves
  • Can't handle hurricanes (Hurricane Harvey)
There may be some nice places in Texas - I've heard that Austin is great, and have also heard good things about some other cities, San Antonio and San Angelo. But I have not been to any of those places.

The only Texas city I've spent any time in is El Paso. It's not a good fit for this native-born New Englander.
I lived in Austin and San Antonio in the Mid 80's. Austin was pretty small back then but it was awesome!! I've always hated that I didn't stay there
 
BEFORE YOU COMMENT...This is NOT a political post, so don’t make it political. 🤠

“I see a lot of people hating on Texas. Especially from the north.

We aren’t asking for hand outs. Those who are, probably just moved here and don’t know that’s not how it works here.

We don’t get cold weather. Plain and simple. That means we don’t have cold weather supplies. Like salt, snowplows etc.

It never stays this cold for this long. Ever.

Our houses aren’t built to withstand cold. Neither is our power grid.

No different than northerners getting 75 consecutive days of 100 degree weather in the summer.

Give us 113 degree days for a month straight and we are out cutting our yards, letting our kids set up lemonade stands and still dressing up for Church in our Sunday best every week.

When the Nashville floods happened, Texans were there to help.

When the wildfires devastated California, we sent our firefighters there.

When the hurricanes hit the Northeast and New York was unprepared. We never judged you, we sent supplies, crews and disaster relief plans we know and use all too often to aid those suffering.

When the tornadoes ripped the midwest apart, again Texas was there to help. We never asked or hesitated. We showed up before help was even asked for.

When the hurricanes hit Florida and Puerto Rico, Texas was there to help.

We even help Mexico with catastrophes often.

We have one of the largest military bases in the world here. It’s important we get shit back to normal.

So don’t shit on us, you never know when you’ll need our help.

We aren’t begging the US gov for help. We just want the electric company to keep the lights on.

And unlike most states. Texas will learn from this and fix the situation. I can guarantee you, natural gas will play a huge roll in fixing the problem. This “all electric” dream just went up in smoke.

Texans are a unique and resilient. Most importantly, we take care of one another and we are the first to jump to our feet to help those in need. We don't ask questions. We want nothing in return. We just want normalcy for ourselves and for others.

Most of us know how to survive, we just got caught off guard. But we will make it. We always do. #TexasStrong

Rise Above

God Bless Texas
Heather Smith“
 

Attachments

  • 67D7612A-62F2-4304-835F-FCCD033A2529.jpeg
    67D7612A-62F2-4304-835F-FCCD033A2529.jpeg
    225.6 KB · Views: 10
BEFORE YOU COMMENT...This is NOT a political post, so don’t make it political. 🤠

“I see a lot of people hating on Texas. Especially from the north.

We aren’t asking for hand outs. Those who are, probably just moved here and don’t know that’s not how it works here.

We don’t get cold weather. Plain and simple. That means we don’t have cold weather supplies. Like salt, snowplows etc.

It never stays this cold for this long. Ever.

Our houses aren’t built to withstand cold. Neither is our power grid.

No different than northerners getting 75 consecutive days of 100 degree weather in the summer.

Give us 113 degree days for a month straight and we are out cutting our yards, letting our kids set up lemonade stands and still dressing up for Church in our Sunday best every week.

When the Nashville floods happened, Texans were there to help.

When the wildfires devastated California, we sent our firefighters there.

When the hurricanes hit the Northeast and New York was unprepared. We never judged you, we sent supplies, crews and disaster relief plans we know and use all too often to aid those suffering.

When the tornadoes ripped the midwest apart, again Texas was there to help. We never asked or hesitated. We showed up before help was even asked for.

When the hurricanes hit Florida and Puerto Rico, Texas was there to help.

We even help Mexico with catastrophes often.

We have one of the largest military bases in the world here. It’s important we get shit back to normal.

So don’t shit on us, you never know when you’ll need our help.

We aren’t begging the US gov for help. We just want the electric company to keep the lights on.

And unlike most states. Texas will learn from this and fix the situation. I can guarantee you, natural gas will play a huge roll in fixing the problem. This “all electric” dream just went up in smoke.

Texans are a unique and resilient. Most importantly, we take care of one another and we are the first to jump to our feet to help those in need. We don't ask questions. We want nothing in return. We just want normalcy for ourselves and for others.

Most of us know how to survive, we just got caught off guard. But we will make it. We always do. #TexasStrong

Rise Above

God Bless Texas
Heather Smith“
She's not ugly...
 
BEFORE YOU COMMENT...This is NOT a political post, so don’t make it political. 🤠

“I see a lot of people hating on Texas. Especially from the north.

We aren’t asking for hand outs. Those who are, probably just moved here and don’t know that’s not how it works here.

We don’t get cold weather. Plain and simple. That means we don’t have cold weather supplies. Like salt, snowplows etc.

It never stays this cold for this long. Ever.

Our houses aren’t built to withstand cold. Neither is our power grid.

No different than northerners getting 75 consecutive days of 100 degree weather in the summer.

Give us 113 degree days for a month straight and we are out cutting our yards, letting our kids set up lemonade stands and still dressing up for Church in our Sunday best every week.

When the Nashville floods happened, Texans were there to help.

When the wildfires devastated California, we sent our firefighters there.

When the hurricanes hit the Northeast and New York was unprepared. We never judged you, we sent supplies, crews and disaster relief plans we know and use all too often to aid those suffering.

When the tornadoes ripped the midwest apart, again Texas was there to help. We never asked or hesitated. We showed up before help was even asked for.

When the hurricanes hit Florida and Puerto Rico, Texas was there to help.

We even help Mexico with catastrophes often.

We have one of the largest military bases in the world here. It’s important we get shit back to normal.

So don’t shit on us, you never know when you’ll need our help.

We aren’t begging the US gov for help. We just want the electric company to keep the lights on.

And unlike most states. Texas will learn from this and fix the situation. I can guarantee you, natural gas will play a huge roll in fixing the problem. This “all electric” dream just went up in smoke.

Texans are a unique and resilient. Most importantly, we take care of one another and we are the first to jump to our feet to help those in need. We don't ask questions. We want nothing in return. We just want normalcy for ourselves and for others.

Most of us know how to survive, we just got caught off guard. But we will make it. We always do. #TexasStrong

Rise Above

God Bless Texas
Heather Smith“

I'll try to keep my comments on-topic and avoid any political slant, as requested.

The author doesn't want people to shit on Texas, but she has no problem with shitting on the rest of the US: "...unlike most states, Texas will learn from this."​
It's not clear that Texas will learn anything from this - they had a similar freeze in 2011. They didn't build in any resiliency in the 10 years since that event, but perhaps she has a different definition of resilient than do I.​
The 2011 and 2018 cold snaps also invalidate her "We don't get cold weather" argument.​
She apparently doesn't know the difference between energy production and energy delivery. "This all-electric dream just went up in smoke" is ludicrous - I don't think Texas is going to be moving away from electricity any time soon. I suspect electric lights, electric stoves and ovens, cell phones and computers and TVs and coffee makers will continue to be as widely deployed and used in Texas as they are elsewhere.​

It may be that this event will be the one that causes Texas to re-engineer their energy production and delivery systems. And maybe homeowners will start thinking about insulation - insulation keeps houses warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, and helps with energy efficiency. Increasing the energy efficiency of homes and businesses would help the environment, because less energy would need to be generated to heat/cool those edifices. But less consumption means less profits for the energy sector, so I have my doubts about whether there will be any lessons learned and applied based on the events of this past week.

Short version for the TL;DR crowd - just another Texan bragging about her state.

And for those broad-minded enough to think there may be more than one side to a story, try this:

 
Last edited:
i lived in tx and it gets below freezing pretty much every winter, however briefly. it's asinine how they don't insulate well and feel it's ok to put hw tanks outside in a utility closet. when i was there, a couple in my apt complex went on vacation and their pipes burst and destroyed their furniture, etc.
 
BEFORE YOU COMMENT...This is NOT a political post, so don’t make it political. 🤠

“I see a lot of people hating on Texas. Especially from the north.

We aren’t asking for hand outs. Those who are, probably just moved here and don’t know that’s not how it works here.

We don’t get cold weather. Plain and simple. That means we don’t have cold weather supplies. Like salt, snowplows etc.

It never stays this cold for this long. Ever.

Our houses aren’t built to withstand cold. Neither is our power grid.

No different than northerners getting 75 consecutive days of 100 degree weather in the summer.

Give us 113 degree days for a month straight and we are out cutting our yards, letting our kids set up lemonade stands and still dressing up for Church in our Sunday best every week.

When the Nashville floods happened, Texans were there to help.

When the wildfires devastated California, we sent our firefighters there.

When the hurricanes hit the Northeast and New York was unprepared. We never judged you, we sent supplies, crews and disaster relief plans we know and use all too often to aid those suffering.

When the tornadoes ripped the midwest apart, again Texas was there to help. We never asked or hesitated. We showed up before help was even asked for.

When the hurricanes hit Florida and Puerto Rico, Texas was there to help.

We even help Mexico with catastrophes often.

We have one of the largest military bases in the world here. It’s important we get shit back to normal.

So don’t shit on us, you never know when you’ll need our help.

We aren’t begging the US gov for help. We just want the electric company to keep the lights on.

And unlike most states. Texas will learn from this and fix the situation. I can guarantee you, natural gas will play a huge roll in fixing the problem. This “all electric” dream just went up in smoke.

Texans are a unique and resilient. Most importantly, we take care of one another and we are the first to jump to our feet to help those in need. We don't ask questions. We want nothing in return. We just want normalcy for ourselves and for others.

Most of us know how to survive, we just got caught off guard. But we will make it. We always do. #TexasStrong

Rise Above

God Bless Texas
Heather Smith“
You won me over with the truck!
 
Back
Top