February 2021: Arctic Outbreak/Warmup Begins

General Weather Discussions and Analysis
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Texaspirate11
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Ptarmigan - WOW thank you for that research
I always believed snow came after the hurricane season -
and we had such a bad one this year
so thank you for putting that up
I am hoping for a boring summer - we shall see
Just because you're disabled, you don't have to be a victim
Be Weather Aware & Prepared!
Barbara Jordan Winner in Media
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txbear
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DoctorMu wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 11:07 am
jasons2k wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:12 pm The disaster claims are also expected to surpass Harvey, becoming the costliest natural disaster in Texas history.

Hopefully, the applied science lessons from COVID-19 and the Texas Winter storms is prevention. Winterizing. Preventing and minimizing pandemics.

Particularly because places like the piedmont of NC sees this weather every other year or some. The NC mountains every year. MIssouris experiences this every year. Chicago and Minneapolis for about half the winter! Preventative steps for winter weather reduces summer A/C bills.

Insulate walls. This was a major issue for homes, businesses, and universities. I'm going to get serious about using blown insulation in walls this spring.

We were lucky. I used towels and blankets to insulate our (metal) garage door. When power was on, I used space heaters to warm the garage and thus the attic. Covered and insulated all outdoor pipes and faucets, and evacuated hoses, etc. I ran water for 30-60 sec every hour in pipes I had replaced all the door frame gaskets. Place a thermistor sensor in the attic and dripped water if temp in the attic fell into the 20s. We have a gas fireplace to heat the house when the power was out. We have a gas stove/range. I had shut down the sprinklers and let the snow and ice "insulate" (air pockets) at ground level do the rest.

Some will invest in generators, if they can afford it. Insulation is a lot cheaper for starters.

Dealing with the state gov, ERCOT etc. is going to be problematic...so we have to do all that we can to help ourselves and our neighboring Texas. "Winterize" becomes part of the SETX lexicon.

Having lived in Texas for 30 years, here are my observations about climate change in Texas.

1. The average temperature hasn't changed. This is the consensus of temperature recordings as well.

2. Summers aren't hotter. But they are drier.

3. Rain and drought extremes have always been extreme, but the variance has increased further. More "record" rainfall events. Longer periods of little or no rain.

4. Winters on average aren't any colder or warmer, but the variance has increased. Some winters are warmer, some colder. Extreme events are more frequent. In my first 17 years in College Station we had 3 ice storms, a few snowflakes. No nights in the teens. It snowed once in the 1980s. The only snow my kids ever saw was the Christmas. Even 2004 snow miracle in Houston and the Gulf Coast. However, from 2008 - today we've had 8 snow events. Nights in the teens, and just had 2 single digit nights this week.



Like the Boy Scout motto, we're going to have to be prepared in the future for weeks like this. Because there will be more.
Thanks for posting this. Could not agree more. I’ve gone through a fair share of snow/sleet/ice storms in other parts of texas and never recall these kinds of issues. Preparedness and planning make a world of difference.
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TxLady
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Thank You, Ptarmigan! That is very interesting data! ;)
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Katdaddy
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Excellent info Ptarmigan! Now onward to nice mild weather week across SE TX.
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christinac2016
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A coworker mentioned there’s another system in a couple of weeks. Thoughts? I hope not.
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jasons2k
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A co-worker of mine lives on a couple of acres outside of Magnolia. No power for 36 hours and when the power & water came-on he had 6 different busted pipes! Yikes!

The Space City Weather guys say probably not another freeze south of I-10. Probably true but a bit early to make that call in my opinion. This pattern favors a surprise late season cold snap.
Kingwood36
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jasons2k wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:00 am A co-worker of mine lives on a couple of acres outside of Magnolia. No power for 36 hours and when the power & water came-on he had 6 different busted pipes! Yikes!

The Space City Weather guys say probably not another freeze south of I-10. Probably true but a bit early to make that call in my opinion. This pattern favors a surprise late season cold snap.
Space city is like Dr Jim...
BlueJay
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It feels good to thaw out! 8-)
Cpv17
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BlueJay wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:19 pm It feels good to thaw out! 8-)
Feels a bit on the too warm side to me. If I didn’t know any better I’d say it was borderline hot out there today.
Cpv17
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Kingwood36 wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2021 1:14 pm
jasons2k wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:00 am A co-worker of mine lives on a couple of acres outside of Magnolia. No power for 36 hours and when the power & water came-on he had 6 different busted pipes! Yikes!

The Space City Weather guys say probably not another freeze south of I-10. Probably true but a bit early to make that call in my opinion. This pattern favors a surprise late season cold snap.
Space city is like Dr Jim...
Dr Jim is just a lazy forecaster. He puts no effort into it. Most of us could come up with a better forecast than him.
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