The official NerdZoner's weather zone! How's your weather today?

[Tiffany]

How's your weather today?



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[Tiffany]

My family already knows I'm a weather junkie. I love viewing the forecasts, reading the weekly forecasts and taking in what preparations should be considered if there's a weather event on it's way. They say in Texas if you don't like the weather, give it a few hours and it will change. That is true. This week, we will be experiencing a four day weather event. Lot's of freezing rain, ice, sleet, mixed precipitation (they don't know, good grief) and temperatures below freezing. After living through snowmageddon of 2021 (February) and icemageddon of 2022 (February), now we have another icemageddon that isn't just expected to be a one day event, but ice over the next few days. Power loss is a big concern and having had some really good conversations on the best practices for survival with loss of power at the following thread: https://nerdzone.uk/threads/battery...ystem-question-star-trek.681/page-3#post-4903 I thought the only nerdy thing to do was create a weather thread.

 

[Retro]

Well, here right now, it's almost 05:00, 7C, mild and dark. Not bad weather.

 

[Tiffany]

I'd take 7C (44F). We are -2.22C (28F), and won't get above freezing, daytime hour of 9:28am right now . We are already in a winter storm warning and the mayhem of freezing rain and sleet has already arrived. Ice is a big problem with all of the trees and power lines because power loss is usually imminent. The ice becomes too heavy on the trees and the tree limbs fall or damage the power lines. Oh yay!

Map of severe weather for the US.
https://www.weather.gov/
(find map below from weather.gov)
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More information of this winter storm from the Weather Channel.

Damaging Southern Ice Storm From Texas To Tennessee | Weather.com

This winter storm's major impacts were from ice, not snow. - Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com

weather.com

 

[FF]

Seattle is cloudy every day up until summer. Almost no exceptions.

 

[Tiffany]

@FF does it also rain a lot in Seattle too?

We are sitting at 26F (-3 C), completely iced in. We have more sleet and freezing rain expected tonight and through all of Wednesday until early Thursday morning. We still have power, but I would expect tomorrow will be the critical day whether we maintain power, as our grid maxed out hours ago.

 

[Retro]

It's currently 4C outside. Water's densest temperature and feels bloody cold. I'm also currently nice and warm indoors.

 

[wolfdeer]

It's hot here. Feels about like summer! Sunny. 71 F.

 

[Tiffany]

@Retro 4C is cold, especially with a lot of humidity, it bites....we are still at -3C and totally iced in.

@wolfdeer I would love 71F right now. Even my dogs are very unhappy when they go out. They step on the crunchy ice and if they new how to cuss, that's the look they give me while they are outside, like what the heck?

Our Ice Storm in a few pictures:

Photos: Dangerous Ice Storm Strikes The Southern Plains | Weather.com

Winter Storm Mara brought more icy conditions to parts of the Southern Plains Wednesday, making travel dangerous and causing pileups and accidents in several states. - Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com

weather.com

Thunder sleet (as opposed to Thunder snow)

Thundersleet Spotted In Dallas, Texas - Videos from The Weather Channel

A vivid lightning strike caught on camera is nothing new, but it’s not common to see sleet on the ground below at the same time. Check out this video of thundersleet from northeastern Dallas. - Videos from The Weather Channel | weather.com

weather.com

We are so iced-in right now. We have more freezing rain coming in for the rest of the day and through the night.

Damaging Southern Ice Storm From Texas To Tennessee | Weather.com

This winter storm's major impacts were from ice, not snow. - Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com

weather.com

 

[wolfdeer]

Oh, wow! I bet your dogs are very grateful for a warm house to live in!

Oh, my. That sounds intense. I hope y'all stay safe and warm!

 

[Tiffany]

It's been raining freezing rain all day...O.M.G. So far we have maintained power, so it's a good day! Thank you for the good wishes! You enjoy your warm weather too!

Well, it's about that time for my dogs to venture outside again....they have been cuddling all day....frankly, it's just even cold in the house too. Grabbing winter coat and boots and off to brave the ice....oy vay!!

 

[Retro]

Glad you don't have a power outage. The few times I've had them it really sucked and they weren't even in bad weather.

I the dogs don't suffer too much. Perhaps just a five minute walk so they feel they've had something?

 

[Tiffany]

Day 4 and I almost hate to mutter this good news, but we still have power! YAY!! The freezing rain has stopped and the temp is going up. The side roads and country roads are still a skating rink, but the main roads are starting to clear better with activity.

My dogs love going outside, however, yesterday, I had to save my little Champy Bear. With his little paws walking on the ice, he finally got to a point where he couldn't get back to me near the door where I was. He gave me this look about fifteen feet away and the look was, "I'm done mom, come get me.....sigh". Of course I went to go get him, but as you know, dogs are smart, since that moment when I helped save him, now I've been saving him every time he goes out. But how can you not?

 

[Tiffany]

Passed yesterday with still having power and most of the ice is gone! Yay!!

Today's high will be 53F/ 11.6C and sunny. So glad to not be shivering.

 

[Retro]

I'm really glad your power, Tiffs. Losing that is the worst in the cold.

 

[Tiffany]

Me too! Everyone had an unexpected staycation this week. My husband was ready with this propane thing in case we lost power this time. Hovering around the fireplace just doesn't cut it during extremely low temps.

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[Tiffany]

We've had cold nights here, and yesterday was a record cold day for February. I've looked for the precipitation forecast coming in through February 25, and so far, no temps below freezing...so looking to get through this month without worrying about another ice storm.

We have rain coming in though at the beginning of the week and this is the fourth week in a row to have rain at the beginning of the week in the forecast. Weird right?

 

[Retro]

Tiffs, given the extreme weather and subsequent power cuts that you experience, I wonder, would it be affordable and practical to install an emergency diesel generator for electrical power?

 

[Retro]

It's around 10C where I am and not raining, so reasonably mild.

 

[Tiffany]

We've talked about it a lot since our first extreme weather event in February of 2021. That weather event with extreme power loss all over the state, exposed a lot of issues with Ercot (the provider on our independent grid), how they were allocating power between gas, electric, wind etc. Then it happened again in February of 2022 and they were again exposed for not addressing the bigger issues. Some of our neighbors have added generators after 2021's experience and they were smart to do so quickly, because, those that waited (like us) now find a substantial cost in adding a generator to our homes 30k plus. I've lived here all of my life and have never worried about losing power until 2021. Our state has had a huge influx of people moving here from other states, particularly since the pandemic because of the way other states handled the pandemic. Florida is also experiencing a high influx of people moving there too. More people, more strain on a grid full of issues. I think I read last May, that there were still 16 stations not winterized by last May...the reason I remember that is because hurricane season starts in June and you never know what kind of stray bad storm could come through and knock out the power.

So, yes, we should add a generator but we have hurdles to solve with the architecture of this house to be able to do it. One of our neighbors on our street, just added a generator a few weeks ago, so it can be done. It's been added to our "house- to do list".

This is a pretty cool website about the US power grid:

How the US power grid works: is the system at risk of failure?

A recent power grid failure in Texas has exposed a weaknesses in U.S. power infrastructure. Here what to know about how it is vulnerable.

www.usatoday.com

 

[Arizona]

those that waited (like us) now find a substantial cost in adding a generator to our homes 30k plus.

Goodness gracious! If I ever have that kind of money for home projects, I would probably get solar instead.

When the power goes out in my relatively moderate climate (Arizona mountains between Phoenix and Flagstaff), I only really need a fan and light most of the time, and the power is usually restored within a few hours. I use a small, portable lithium power supply that is still on sale for $150 USD.

 

[Tiffany]

Goodness gracious! If I ever have that kind of money for home projects, I would probably get solar instead.

When the power goes out in my relatively moderate climate (Arizona mountains between Phoenix and Flagstaff), I only really need a fan and light most of the time, and the power is usually restored within a few hours. I use a small, portable lithium power supply that is still on sale for $150 USD.

Solar would be cool too, another complication of our homes architecture with high pitched roof structure. Power outage is tolerable in the summer for a short time unless we've hit temperatures over 100F degrees. I'd rather have an outage with heat then cold though. Our winters are still the typical winters, though we've had some very low temperatures over the past three years over longer periods of time which is too much of a strain on our grid.

You're lucky to have moderate temperatures and great that you have a lithium power supply. Thanks for that link, I will look into that...I'd rather have a few electric comforts working if a lithium power supply would work in a crunch. Good price too!

 

[Arantor]

Here where I am it‘s very mild, we’ve had a few days lately of not even turning the heating on where it’s warm enough to not need it. And our grid is pretty stable even if prices are through the roof because of (list of things that affect multiple countries but somehow only hit the UK hard because we’re pretending it’s not all profit maximisation)

 

[Retro]

(list of things that affect multiple countries but somehow only hit the UK hard because we’re pretending it’s not all profit maximisation)

tsk, you cynic.

 

[Tiffany]

The cost of power has gone through the roof here too. It's painful to open up my bill.

We have a squall line coming through tomorrow....oh yay!!

Damaging straight-line winds, large hail and a few tornadoes could accompany any storms that turn severe.

Last night had a soaker-rain that ended this morning, with mild temps in the 60's F (15C) , sunny, but a very windy day. I would like to live in a place that has mild temperatures and no need for heating or AC.

The UK's weather sounds really nice!