On Sunday we kept hearing that there was going to be a big winter storm but I didn’t think much of it because San Antonio snow is very rare and never seems to stay for more than a minute.
*ahem*
I expected it would last a few minutes.
The next morning:
Texas has no infrastructure for snow and soon my neighbor was driving over my lawn because he couldn’t see where the street was, but it was really pretty.
And it was amazing.
For slightly less than 24 hours.
Last night I posted the above (before turning all the faucets on to drip) and then at 2am I woke up and looked outside and all of the snow was gone and I was like, “I AM A FUCKING WIZARD“. And then when I got up this morning I looked outside again and there was still snow everywhere and turns out I apparently just dreamt that the snow was gone. So maybe not so much of a wizard. And then I realized that every faucet in the house was frozen and we officially have no water. So, like, the opposite of a wizard.
But we have power (at the moment) and that’s a wonderful thing and I think most people from the Victorian era would think electric lights are totally magic, so I’m considering myself a wizard again.
Stay warm, y’all.
We have water (for the moment at least) but power keeps going off. Feeling thankful for lots of warm blankets and hoping this is over soon.
I was flying into Denver on Saturday when the storm was starting, thanks to a 2 hour flight delay. I hopped on the road and headed south as quickly as possible. By the time I got to Colorado Springs I was in a blizzard. South of Pueblo there was a total white out and I was using the rumble strip on the side of the highway to make sure I was going the right way. It took me an extra two hours to get home. What fun.
Oh you poor babies!! Seriously, when you know how to deal it is one thing and when you don’t it is ANOTHER! Yup, you’re a wizard 🙂
Us Michiganders decided we didn’t want our snow anymore, so we gave it to you. You’re welcome. (but actually, we got 6-10 inches of snow last night, ugh.)
Noooooo! So sorry your water still froze even with the dripping faucets 😕
❤️💜💙
I took a tour in Savannah once that went past the first house that had electric lights. They said every night people would gather in the square. And when the lights came on everyone would applaud like the magic act it was
Your Canadian friends are sympathetic but snickering. Seriously, we wish you well. Texans aren’t built for this.
So sorry you are having to deal with this. We are in Nebraska. We have a couple of frozen pipes. I’m hoping they defrost without busting. Luckily we still have power. They are doing rolling blackouts, but thankfully they only last for about an hour. I hope you stay warm and safe!
I live near Chicago. We got another 6-8 inches yesterday through overnight. This makes a total of roughly 3 feet of snow in a two week period. We are equipped for this. Texas is not. Hugs and prayers to all of you who are having problems.
We have water here where I live in the Hill Country but no electricity. The quiet is triggering my anxiety. We’re coping. Surprisingly, our little dog -who’s never seen snow before- seems to like it.
Thank you for fixing “un-thawed” to just “thawed”.
The pedandick in me was throbbing.
Of course he threw a snowball at you. I hope you gave as good as you got, Jenny. Stay warm. 💜
We’ve got just a light dusting of snow here in Alabama, but everyone is freaking out. I do miss the snowy winters of my military childhood (northeast US) but I’m glad I get a snow day whenever there’s the mere threat of winter weather here!
If you have head in the house, open the cupboard doors that have water pipes – especially if it’s on an outside wall. Depending on where in the pipes it’s frozen, it will help. You can pour hot-salt water into any drain that is frozen. It’s not great for them but the salt will melt out the frozen “plug”. If you have a drain you are worried about, pour a cup of anti-freeze down it BUT keep the animals AWAY!
My son and family are stuck at Universal in Florida because all the flights back to Houston are cancelled. I just hope his pipes didn’t all freeze!
I would love to get snow at my house (we do occasionally), but not to the degree many places are getting it. And especially not ice! Drivers here are bad enough without extra challenges.
I hope it melts for you guys soon. In NJ we can handle the snow. I totally understand TX and other southern states being entirely unprepared for this. I wish I had some words of wisdom to help you get your water back running. <3
Thank you for this life lesson. I live in Maryland and once stayed a winter in Rochester, NY, so I’ve experienced my fair share of snow, blizzards, and below freezing temperatures. I have never experienced frozen pipes so I didn’t know this was a thing in the South. Now it makes sense that our homes cannot be built with water pipes along the outside walls. I was ignorantly naive before today.
Pro-Tip from Canada: Open the cupboard doors to your sink cabinets. The warmer room-temperature air will help thaw your frozen pipes and keep them running better.
Stay warm!
Narnia in Texas! How lovely
I feel sorry for everyone who lives in States that don’t normally get this cold or snowy or icy. You’re woefully unprepared for this weather. I don’t understand the need for rolling blackouts because it’s too cold. Too hot, I get, everyone turns up the AC, but too cold? I mean, if you have a furnace or a heater presumably you turn it on in the winter, right? Then I heard that the wind turbines that generate power had frozen in some areas in that electric grid. So combine that with overcast skies and snow and the solar panels aren’t working either. So much for relying on green energy to reduce global warming if we can’t depend on them to work when we need them the most.
Look out for falling lizards! Poor Queen Lizardbeth is probably a popsicle right now. Maybe you and your family should go on a lizard rescue mission.
Stay warm, cuddle up with your housemates be they human or animal.
I have friends in Houston who were without power for almost 24 hours. Now it’s back on, but their heat isn’t working right, so they may still not be out of the woods. Sigh. My corner of Alabama is frozen in place at the moment and we may get more tomorrow evening, before this round can melt away. I’m glad I prepared for several days of milk sammiches. (Stay warm and hope your pipes thaw without bursting!)
I invented FOGS! Faux logs made out of paper towel rolls. We’ve had 2 hours of power for the past 48 hrs. Yes, I know the chemicals are bad for the environment. So are frozen bodies.
It’s NO THANK YOU degrees outside, and the people up north talking about “ohhh that’s nothing” Looka here you cold-hearted, elephant skinned, prolly go outside with your hair wet, fast beat music listening, I got salt on my driveway but not in my food, no Whataburger or HEB having, 5 layers of clothes-wearing, turkey STUFFING eating, high cost of living paying weirdos…
We.
Did.
Not.
Ask.
You.
Signed-MF Texas
P.S. I lived in Minnesota for 30+ godawful years and moved to TX to get the heck away from The effing Frozen Tundra. It’s all fine and dandy to have this happen when this is what you EXPECT in winter. It’s another whole thing when this is NOT what is supposed to happen where you live.
Chiming in with sympathy from a part of California that gets light frost as our coldest winter weather. We’d be totally screwed if we got snow here. I hope everyone’s who’s caught in this gets out with safe, with minimal damages to your homes.
Katy, Texas here. No power from about midnight Sunday till about 10:30 here. We had water, and shut it off at street during the night and back on yesterday morning. Shut off again last night but apparently the outside faucet had water frozen inside so the pipe up the wall froze since the house had no heat to keep it warm — it was 55 degrees inside the house. Fingers crossed that it unfreezes without breaking. Since we have the special tool to turn off water at the street my son has helped several neighbors today already who have leaks in their pipes. The plumbers will be very busy around here. I’m just so grateful that hubby and son are competent do-it-yourselfers who can repair pipes themselves if we start spraying water thru the wall…
Kansas here! We had no power in my area of town for 2.5 hrs this morning. I texted some friends to check on their welfare and one of them texted back that she can’t wear a coat between her home visits as a home health PT because of her PPE. It’s -2 here. Yikes! On another note, my mom lives north of Dallas and has been having rolling blackouts since yesterday. She is way more cheerful about it than I would be. Hang in there, Jenny and family!
It looked and sounded like good squeaky snow, too! The best kind for sledging, snowballs, snowmen, and dog wrestles.
I spent the winter of 2002-03 in Houston. Once, it got all the way down to 42F, and people were losing their shit. The news was telling people to open up their cabinets and leave the sink dripping, bring the pets in (this one made sense, they weren’t used to cold). The next morning I was running around in a medium weight cardigan as usual, and all the natives were wearing “winter” coats that wouldn’t keep them warm for 15 minutes in a Kansas winter. It’s all relative to what you’re used to. Hope everything turns out well for you and your other Texans going through it with you.
Commenter 22, no, people everywhere in the South are not running their furnaces all winter otherwise. In San Antonio, it’ll be back to 70 degrees by Wednesday. This is a huge weather aberration and the whole power grid wasn’t ready for people to be running their heat all at once.
Good luck with the frozen pipes! We have one frozen pipe so no water and a hole is to be cut in the ceiling to make figure out why it froze (we’re further north, this isn’t supposed to happen here!) And to make sure the pipes don’t burst and make a huge mess. Because of course the frozen pipe is on the second level. Silver lining? The ceiling to be cut is in the garage! More silver lining? We only lost power for 45 minutes! Golden lining? My dad is able to take time off work and come fix this thing and he did this shit professionally for 25 years so he actually knows what he’s doing. I am so incredibly thankful for my family at times like this!!!
Also? My coffee maker had just enough water in it still to make my cup of coffee today. So thankful for that!!
It would’ve been wonderful if the electric company had let us know what time they planned to start the rolling blackouts. I woke up very refreshed…and very late because there was no power. I’m in Omaha (no cracks, please – I was raised in Chicago and living here is temporary)…where was I? Oh, Omaha, where the temp was -7° yesterday. It’s been like this for a week. Even the dog is protesting. I grab her leash, open the door, she takes 2 steps out, and pretty much says, “Nope. Hard no. I fell for this before. YOU put your nether region close to the ground and pee. I’m going indoors to search “How To Train A Dog To Use A Toilet” on Youtube. Ciao, estupida!!” Yes, my dog is multilingual. Whoever used a snowblower to clear out the vicious white sky dandruff in front of my home managed to cut off part of my doormat. It used to say ‘Hello’. Now it just says ‘HELL’ and I’m keeping it forever!!!
It only snows every couple of years here in the PNW, but we got 10-12 inches just before it hit you all down in TX.
I have a rescue Pitbull, with that characteristically short hair. He LOVES the snow, but requires a fleece hoodie, and a good thaw by the fire immediately afterwards.
BTW, Dottie’s coat is too cute! The ears!
As someone in the north where it is currently so cold that it is actually too cold to snow, I would be delighted to take back our weather.
I hope everyone is staying safe and warm in your corner of the world and everyone’s city soon returns to their regionally appropriate weather forecasts.
We live in Maine. Very sorry about all your snow/cold/misery. But we don’t want it back. Returns are only accepted before January 31st. We are too busy out back grilling steaks, wearing shorts and flip-flops because the snow is now below roof height.
We got 17+ inches of snow yesterday (to add to the 12″+ that was already on the ground) and the high temperature was 7 degrees. Today, it is 18 degrees, and we discovered our Snow Blower has decided that it doesn’t feel like blowing any snow right now, thankyouverymuch.
Needless to say, my husband and I both have incredibly sore backs right now, and we haven’t even started on digging out the garage/car. At least people can walk on our sidewalk, though; the poor postal workers have had an effing brutal year- we don’t need to add to their pain.
Plus, I broke a tooth yesterday, and need to go to trek to the dentist somehow, but the snow in our alley is over 20″ deep…..
Chicagoland is not the amusement park it sounds like.
Your laughter made my day 😁
I appreciate that the comments here acknowledge that Texas literally cannot handle this weather. There’s no infrastructure, no training or cultural knowledge about driving or protecting pipes or anything, no snow boots and snow shovels. Power outages in freezing weather are terrible, but they’re worse when you don’t have 14 layers of winter clothes to put on because winter is normally 70 degrees. We have the same weather right now in my part of Washington state, but we also have city snow plows, and our drivers ed includes lessons about snow and ice on the roads, and our kids have sleds and snow pants, and our power infrastructure is built with the understanding that our usage is far higher in the winter than in the rest of the year. You can totally hibernate until it’s gone if you want to!
Wow our -35c looks tame now – If it’s that cold it doesn’t dare snow so the roads are perfect and we just have to worry about not being outside longer than 2 minutes or we die. Enjoy the snow it will be gone a lot sooner than you think…our winter won’t end until sometime in April :le sigh:
I did smile at your rainboots in the snow – but then figured that’s what Texas people have…Canadians have snow boots and parkas but Texas has rainboots and cowboy hats 😀 Worried now that you don’t have central heating and I don’t want you to freeze – take care.
I was in Atlanta once for a conference when a HUGE blizzard blew in and dumped on the city….which, apparently like San Antonio, was not prepared for a Snowmageddon… the deicer they used only worked when the temp was about 32 degress (yup, you read that correctly), no snow plows, and definitely no snow tires. All flights back cancelled, and the hotel we were staying in ran out of fresh food the day after the blizzard ended..we spent the time watching figure skating championships and eating grits (which I now like). We had left all warm coats, boots, etc. home, figuring it was going to be warm the whole time…Spent a LOT of time trying to get a flight home, and when we were finally able to get to the airport, the scenes along the road looked like something from the Road Warrior movie- cars overturned, burned (?!), and just a mess. Got to the airport to find no way to get directly back to Hartford, so my friend and I decided to just ‘get the hell out of Atlanta’ on anything going vaguely north. We got a flight to Charlottesville….where, when we landed, we were the only two women in the terminal for the next flight, along with roughly 200 young men, all well over 6′ tall. Apparently, the NCAA championships were going on…so that flight to Hartford, CT was pretty interesting. I wanted to kiss the tarmac when we landed. So, long story short? I feel your pain. Might not be a bad idea to invest in a snow shovel and some deicer- just make sure it’s pet safe and works at any temp!
p.s.- and the ironic (?) part?I had gone to Atlanta w/another teacher friend to attend a feminist conference- which made for some funny looks at our tees at the Charlottesville airport.
I live in the Midwest. I think Mother Nature is broken because we are currently stuck in the hell where it’s negative wind chills but yet it JUST KEEPS SNOWING. How is that even possible???? We are one more snow away from not being able to see our mailbox at all. And the Christmas decorations? Forget about it. I expect to see them again in April or May maybe. But if it’s snowing in Texas, who the heck knows what will happen. I do feel for you guys as you are not used to snow and the rolling blackouts would suck big balls. Seriously, the world has gone catawampus for sure. Please stay safe & warm. Love from nearly buried IL (seriously one more snow and we might disappear)
I live in a northern climate where pipes freezing are a very real possibility multiple times a year. Contrary to popular belief turning your faucets on drip doesn’t actually help prevent freezing. What you actually want to do is make sure the snow stays over your underground pipes (it’s very good insulation) and maybe put a space heater in your basement (if you have one) but DO NOT use an extension cord, plug it into a 6 way or directly into the wall. Space heaters use too much power and start fires with extension cords. GL and stay safe! The world needs you.
If you folks have a hot water heater if it’s a model with a tank you have 20-40 gallons of water. Oh you might need a hose attached to the bottom faucet. Also need to get air in there to replace the water you take out. Old survival trick. Oh, good idea to turn the heater off…
Any opportunity to turn yourself into a magical wizard (even just in your head) is an opportunity you should definitely take…
The electricity gods have favored us so far in the DFW area BUT gas stations are closed, some stores are cash only (card readers down & I never carry cash!) but we will prevail. Stay safe everyone.
Part of the yearly struggle in Ohio. If I wait long enough, my neighbor shovels everything because he’s a good guy…and he likes exercise. https://possumscatsthingsgnawingatme.wordpress.com/2021/02/14/valentinesshit-got-weird/
It’s all what you’re used to. I lived in San Antonio for a kid, so at the time I was used to the heat, the droughts, the fire ants, the humidity, but when I moved to Wisconsin I wind burned my face that first really (-20) cold day since I didn’t understand that all exposed skin had to be covered, especially with the wind. Now it’s meh, more snow, yeah, yeah, ice, yeah -15 isn’t a big deal until -30… but I’m not used to heat anymore so I melt in the summer here.
Hope your pipes clear up! Southern houses aren’t insulated correctly for cold weather AND tend to run pipes on exterior walls. Running a trickle of water helps, but opening all the cupboard doors to expose the pipes to the inside temperature helps even more. I have, on a -41 day, wrapped my one exterior wall’s pipes in a heated blanket, and I STILL got slush out of it when I turned the tap fully on to test.
That said, if it’s sticky snow, you should totally build a snow raccoon. <3
If your pipes are frozen, there’s a chance they cracked somewhere, which is not an immediate problem as long as they stay frozen but can be an urgent problem once they thaw. If you don’t know where the shut-off valve for your house water supply is, figure it out, and if you start to hear water running, or the flow indicator on your water meter is moving while the taps are all turned off, shut off the house water until you have figured out where the leak is and whether there’s an intermediate shut-off valve you can close. Good luck!
Signed,
A Sympathetic Northerner
Magical!! We haven’t had snow like this in Texas since 1972! I was in the 2nd grade and my grandpa poked his head into my class to take me home! Snow day!! I felt so loved! We had a snow day about 10 years ago, but it was along the Gulf. It snowed in Angleton where my mom lives. So Christmas day we drove to my mom’s for some snow. And now this! It is beautiful and I loved it! But one day of snow is good, not a few days!! Looks like it will be icy through Thursday! Stay warm!
Western WA here, at nearly sea level and we got a foot of snow last weekend. Hibs and I were woken up several times Friday night into Saturday morning by loud pops coming from the roof trusses. 😳
It’s down to piles of dirty slush everywhere now.
Ditto to like everything above. I’m a Michigan native now living in the Dallas area. Back home, this would be no big thing and we’d just keep on going. I can handle it, I can drive in it. But here, it was fun for a day, then our power went out at 3:30am and was out for almost 18 hours before coming back for two more brief stints before giving up again. I can handle this weather with power, water, open businesses, but when all of that is gone? It sucks. Even this northerner said EFF THIS and my family is now crashing with a kind coworker who has power and water. You can make fun of the people here when its 30 with a dusting of snow and they’re freaking out, but not in this. The snow is gorgeous and we can’t even enjoy it.
I’m so sorry all of you down there are having to deal with this–when I lived in Georgia from ’89-’97, I realized very quickly that y’all just don’t have the infrastructure to deal with this kind of weather; an inch of snow, and everything shut down. Up North (Boston area), we can handle the cold pretty well, although I think eastern Massachusetts has a bad case of collective PTSD regarding the Blizzard of ’78 (27″ of snow, cars abandoned on highways, people running out of food), hence what we call French Toast Alerts (everyone runs out and buys milk, bread, eggs, and, now, toilet paper). Meanwhile, we can’t handle hot weather, whereas in Georgia, and presumably Texas as well, has air-conditioning almost everywhere…it’s all what you’re used to. Good luck coping with everything, and start figuring out what you’re going to do when the pipes thaw out, OK?
After I heard about this I wondered how you were doing. The posts on Reddit from Texans are a nightmare. Glad you have power. The stream of water from your faucets should be the diameter of a pencil, to keep your taps open.
You also seem to have Alaska’s snow, which is needed back home to thaw in the streams so the salmon hatchlings can do their salmon thing. Terribly-low harvest last year. Please tell the snow to “Go home” as it’s clearly drunk. Be well. Wool blankets FTW!
I’m in a rural area outside Austin. We’ve been on rolling blackouts for 2 days and lost our water 24 hours ago. We have ice, and over 4″ of snow, on the ground and it’s not melting because we’ve been below freezing for 3 days. The roads are already impossible, and we’re expecting more snow and freezing rain tonight. My neighbors are melting snow to flush their toilets (we have pool water). I was wearing t-shirts and flip-flops last week, and we normally have our AC on by the first of March.
Haha we have power at the moment but no water. So we can’t have all the nice things at once cause yesterday and the day before we had water but no electricity.
Try to keep the power! Here in Round Rock we have no electricity or water. Hope the warm up comes soon.
Minnesota Here. We would lend you some heat if we could but it has been below zero for the past ten days.
I live a full-time RV life and I came to Texas to ride out the winter. WTF?
I live a full-time RV life and we came to Texas to ride out the winter. WTF?
We finally got power back for the first time since Monday. No water though, pipes are frozen. We are thawing snow to flush toilets. I’m 20 minutes fro San Angelo in Christoval so I think you probably know where that’s at. For anyone dealing with no water just a hint, a trash bag over the toilet seat makes a great potty chair! When times are tough you gotta do what ya gotta do!!
Made it throuh Monday with no power. Got halfway through Tuesday & couldn’t get the movie “The Day After Tomorrow ” out of my head! Thinking on my goodnes what if that happens! Here we are on Thursday power finally came back, still waiting on water. Wondering if it’ll be back so I can knock of the stink for work tomorrow.
Meanwhile in California, it’s just another 60-degree February day with mostly clear blue skies. Brr. I think I need a light sweater. My banana tree is not happy about this bitter cold.
I think I would die if I moved somewhere that actually has winter. I’ve never needed to prepare for freezing temperatures a day in my life. Our autumn doesn’t start until mid-November and then just swaps right over to spring in March. It makes gardening very confusing because all of the seed planting instructions talk about “frost dates” that… we don’t really have.
Here in The Nether Lands we got like three inches of snow two weeks ago. The entire country just stopped functioning. No transport, no newspapers, no supermarket supplies… The way the Dutch see things is – having equipment to deal with winter, when snow only comes every few years, is expensive. It’s cheaper to just let the country grind to a halt for a bit. So… that’s what happened.
(We didn’t lose power or heating, though. Only Internet.)
Tomorrow looks like a very warm spring day is coming, which means an EPIC headache for me. And hopefully a bonfire in the evening, unless the very warm spring day in February decides to add extra rain and a wee hurricane to all the attractions. Oh, the excitement!
Fort Worth here- I can’t believe it really is all gone now and it’s 62 degrees outside. Feels now like it didn’t happen, it it weren’t for the fact we still have bottles of water in the kitchen sink and mud in the yard.