Wednesday, February 17, 2021

It Snowed Again

It snowed again last night, as predicted. It doesn't look like too much; maybe another two inches, but that's two more inches of snow and another several days of cold in a state that simply isn't prepared for it and mostly doesn't seem interested in dealing with it. (Amusingly, the theme for today's Weekly Blogging Challenge is "how I take care of my health" and the answer, at this point, is "stay warm, and reach out to friends and family who might not have electricity." Like so much of 2020, at this point we're just trying to get through it and hoping there's something better on the far side.) 

There's a lot of misinformation going around, including reports about Texas' "green grid" failing, and... look, first of all, the only reason you get to call it a green grid is because you colored it that way on a map. Second, while the wind energy resources have largely frozen up, that's a very small source of power generation here in the middle of winter and ordinarily the rest of the grid could cover it; plus, the wind turbines could have been winterized, but nobody wanted to put the money into doing that down here where it never gets cold. (Ha!) Which is basically what's going on with the other power plants, though there may be some artificial scarcity and price gouging figuring in as well what with the sudden rise in demand for natural gas (which supplies power to our power plants as well as heating to a lot of dwellings). 

But it's also worth noting that, as we've been discussing for at least a decade now, Global Warming isn't universally warmer; it's better described as Global Weirding. Heat is energy, and if the atmosphere is holding extra heat it's going to produce wilder, more spectacular, and more destructive weather events. I realize a lot of news services don't seem to be able to grasp this, but this is Climate Change 101. 

We're lucky: we still have electricity. (No gas -- the house isn't built for it -- but we're not just sitting here freezing.) We're trying to use as little as possible, but the house is staying warm and the indoor pipes, at least, haven't frozen. It helps that we're a relatively small, snug house; but even so, the pipes for the kitchen are in the outer wall and have frozen closed at least twice already. Fortunately, we've been able to restore them with a hair dryer. 

Meanwhile, the dog hasn't been on a walk in three days; he is absolutely sure that this is the end of the world. The local school district is shut down until at least Friday (and probably will be on Friday as well) for both in-person and distance learning; you can't do remote teaching to people who have no power. My job has moved to "late opening" for people who are still coming in, but that's because it's local government and has a crippling pathological fear of being seen as "lazy government employees" even in the face of genuine danger. But, of course, nobody much else is available, so I'm using this time to catch up on online training instead of working on the half-dozen major projects that are going to immediately fall on my head once things get going again. Beautiful Wife has had her classes cancelled for the rest of the week; she's using the time to nail down resources for the rest of the semester... which, again, is only possible because we still have electricity. (This, in turn, is probably only because there are a couple of private care facilities including an Alzheimer's unit relatively close by.) So far, nobody has had to come shelter with us -- a relief, since we're still in the middle of a pandemic -- but if this keeps up, I don't know. 

So, yeah: I knew 2021 was going to be at best the beginning of a long, slow climb back up from 2020... but I hadn't really appreciated the way the steady cascade of ongoing apocalyptic disasters would just blithely continue. But here we are, and the only way through is as it always was: forward, and together.

13 comments:

  1. I'm glad you guys still have electricity! Hope you get your gas back soon, too.

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    1. Went back to clarify that -- it's not that our gas is off, it's that our particular house just isn't hooked up to natural gas at all.

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    1. We're doing our best -- and so far, we've been lucky. Thanks!

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  3. I'm glad that you're hanging in there and doing what you can. I have a couple friends down in Texas and they're all in similar situations. One, who left Maryland for Texas in hopes of warmer days and milder winters is cursing the gods. Hahaha.

    My post

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  4. Wow, that is truly awful and I feel for you. I'm happy for you that you are able to keep your electricity and I hope that continues. Fingers crossed that there is relief in sight. Yes, global warming is not just "warming". We're going to see a lot more extremes in all weather patterns and it's scary to get a glimpse of that trend. Stay safe and warm!

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    1. We're doing our best. Water infrastructure is starting to feel it too, now, but we're as prepared as we can be.

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  5. Yes, up here in the Midwest, we expect snow and freezing temps in the winter. Down there, you don't, so you're not prepared for it. We also have 2 fireplaces in our house, so even with no power, we'd at least be able to huddle near the fire--probably sleep there too! Keep a trickle of water running at night--helps keep the pipes on the outer walls from freezing. Of course, it wastes water. Hope the weather next week brings you some relief.

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  6. I had a bit of a laugh yesterday. I live in New Hampshire and yesterday it was RAINING. In what world does it rain in south Canada in February, but snow and ice in Texas???

    I would have preferred snow. Rain has messed up everything here. The snow we did have is now frozen and slick as snot. My dogs can't play in the yard, and watching them squat to go potty and then slide down the hill as they piddle is both amusing and terrifying.

    There are those up here where we regularly face snow, ice and power outages making fun of y'all down south, but the fact is...we are prepared for that type of thing. A huge number of folks here have generators and wood stoves. For the most part, it's inconvenient, but not life altering. I do feel for you folks down there. Hopefully they'll get their act together and get things back up and running soon!

    Hang in there and definitely keep on keeping on!

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  7. Global Weirding says it all. Stay safe and warm.

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  8. Stay safe and warm. Our dog thinks it's the end of the world because he's not getting walkies, either. It's been 0 here the last day and a half and we've got a foot of snow on the ground. Whee.

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  9. Stay warm and safe. I'm glad you still have electricity.

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