I live in Texas. I have never seen this much record-breaking weather, day after day, hour after hour. I saw weather forecasts missed day after day. It was always even colder than forecast. In my home town we shattered both snowfall and low temperature records. This makes me wonder if there was deliberate weather modification and control going on whether it be the Russians, the Chinese, a group in the USA, or even extraterrestrials.
Leaving that aside, political leaders in Texas including Governor Greg Abbott failed to enact appropriate laws or regulations to protect the power grid in the event of such extreme weather over a huge area. No one was thinking about how we were going to make it if most of the natural gas pumping stations and pipelines were all frozen. We have both wind turbine fields and solar power fields in Texas which can store great amounts of electrical power on batteries. Why weren't we prepared to use them in the event something like this happened?
Our political leaders made decisions that left us highly vulnerable. Fixing the blame on government regulatory agencies is a cop out but it's par for the course among political leaders everywhere who don't want to publicly admit fault for anything.
@5leafclover and @blackandwhite
I am heartily sorry for the miseries you and other Texans are going through right now. I've donated to the Red Cross and continue to pray for your recovery, as I do when any state experiences hardship. I hope one day all Americans will have benevolent social and political systems that truly support their livelihood, health and happiness. ❤️
Is there anything else we can do to help?
I saw weather forecasts missed day after day. It was always even colder than forecast
This is what my daughter kept telling me. Even the day of all the horrible pile ups had off predictions.
I wonder if the weather is more difficult to predict because it is happening from unusual weather patterns which is effecting things in surprising ways?
Glad you are safe @Sleafclover. May things improve dramatically.
*Warning *Trigger for some of our empathic community members.
I want to share this information because it is important for me personally to state what the truth of this horrible situation in Texas and not gloss over the catastrophic failures of the Government and the impact it has had on human life. I also know that other states are dealing with severe problems from the freeze as well, but Texas had the cataclysmic failure here so it is Texas I am focusing my energy upon.
Now for the tragic news.
They are now discovering people who have frozen to death in their beds. In one such case an elderly man was found who died in his home bed under the blankets. It was the same temperature outside, 12 degrees. as inside his home. ( Per a CNN interview with a firefighter this morning).
I was expecting this, but it is still difficult to hear. It was avoidable on so many levels.
We will hear (and have heard) about homeless people dying of exposure as well. Their lives are just as important as our politicians who can flee to warmer countries during a weather emergency.
In the United Sates of American, human beings resorted to burning their furniture to stay alive.
And yet, I see light.
A love filled human spirit is a beautiful thing to watch. Humanity which is connected to Spirit, to spiritual love and kindness. During the darkest of times, much light can be seen. Much goodness flows. There were angels present, in human form and in spirit form. This spirit will move through these times of despair bringing about good from the ashes of ruin.
The Phoenix will rise.
Firebirds will be born.
Life will not remain as was for the curtain continues to be pealed back.
May the memories of those lost be a blessing.
May all dealing with these catastrophic days feel love, compassion and healing light. May gentleness and kindness overflow. Overflow through the homes and lives, transforming the frozen ice adhered to everything- the hearts, thoughts, lives, and homes - and bring forth a spring filled garden of rebirth and compassion.
May humanity rise and fly as beautiful firebirds, soaring with their wings.
This makes me wonder if there was deliberate weather modification and control going on whether it be the Russians, the Chinese, a group in the USA, or even extraterrestrials.
It's just the Arctic is leaking. The overall global warming has pushed the winter jet stream south and allowed Arctic air to push further south into the continental interior. No conspiracy is necessary to explain it, unless you consider fossil fuel promotion a conspiracy, which I guess you could.
The take-home message from this Nature article is: " We find that a warmer Arctic atmosphere contributes to dilated geopotential heights locally accompanied by lower heights across mid-latitudes and an equatorward-shifted jet stream. This allows Arctic airmasses to expand farther south while increasing the likelihood of heavy snowfalls. "
AOC is on her way to Houston, Texas today. She raised 2 million dollars for 5 Texas relief organizations and will be distributing supplies today.
Cruz also flew to Texas, recently. I am sure he will also do something for the people of Texas, right after he spends his time repairing his shattered image and picking up his family at the airport on Sunday.
@lovendures Weeping... the pain, the sorrow, the angst, the beauty, the hope, the faith.... and I was already reeling with emotion when I came to read this. There is a movie... that came out today on Hulu ... called ... Nomadland .... I highly recommend watching it if you are able.
I felt it was a metaphor for America and her people today.
A nice point of light during thee Texas crisis.
In a Leander HEB grocery store on Tuesday something really great happened. You have seen the lines to get in the grocery stores and the lines for checking out I am sure. Well, while people were shopping the power went out which meant the store needed to shut down. Instead of disappointing people who were desperate for food, HEB allowed those in line to simply walk out of the store with their carts of food, no bags. No payment collected either. What a gift and one that surly provided a great deal of goodwill and relief.
The extreme weather in Texas happened dramatically in winter 2015 in the Boston area when we got 110 inches of snow and the more northerly Alaska didn't get enough snow to run their famous dog sled race. The temperatures in Boston were lower than in Toronto and Quebec.
The Arctic in normal winters has a jet stream in the upper atmosphere of freezing air that circles around it and those cold winds act like wall or chain link fence holding in the cold Arctic weather in a nice circle around the Arctic.
But climate change has brought extreme weather events and in the the Arctic we've had warming faster than any other place on earth. These disproportionate temperature shifts of Arctic versus other parts of the earth has changed the polar vortex or freezing winds so they sometimes don't form a tight circular fence around the arctic. Sometimes that fence gets loopy and allows polar air to escape down and eastward towards the eastern U.S.
That is what happened in Boston in 2015 and in Texas now. We'd be able to handle that in Boston, but Texas has two problems: One is their homes aren't built for that, but much worse, their government has never set up a power grid that shares with other states and their equipment is not prepared for extreme cold.
Good explanation here https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2021/02/19/3-things-people-get-wrong-about-the-polar-vortex-and-climate-change/?sh=3b52ca80426e
@jeanne-mayell That's a good, readable explanation from Forbes.
The author is so right in his concluding statement, "As a climate scientist and communicator, it is a constant struggle to shake people out their narrow perspective that what happens in their little corner of the world is indeed local not global."
That's why among the scientific outreach community, the preferred term for the phenomenon was changed from "global warming" to "climate change"--- Because although it is true that temperatures averaged over the entire year and the entire globe are rising, many people who are seeing snow and cold in their own backyards cannot understand that it is a consequence of generalized global warming. "Climate change" is an easier concept to sell. (Though to me, the drawback is that mere "change" sounds less ominous than "global warming" and is less likely to motivate people to take action. )
Wow so People in Texas now have to worry about the electric bill being up to 10k.
@jessi1978 I read about these electric bills and it makes no sense to me. Isn’t it considered gouging when you hike prizes during a crisis? Apparently not for power companies. I feel so bad for all those people, one girl who owns a small apothecary shop is getting charged $450 a day for electricity. I cannot hate the republicans more than I do now, their greed and disregard for others is beyond belief.
I'm in Texas, and I appreciate this site. It has been an extremely difficult week, to say the least. My neighborhood was lucky as we all had heat, water and the internet. Others weren't so lucky. A friend stayed with me after she lost electricity and her apartment was 33 degrees- she was freezing and couldn't find a hotel. My mom's condo was fine until the next door neighbor's pipes froze and burst, and water spewed into her bedroom. They've shut off the water until it can be fixed - probably Thursday of next week. The silver lining is that she needed new carpet, and now she will get it!
People are helping each other. I haven't been to the store in a few days, but when I was there the shelves were empty- like at the beginning of the COVID shut-down.
People here aren't blaming Biden. They are furious with Cruz abandoning Texas and going to Mexico, as well as Governor Abbott falsely blaming renewable energy for this crisis. My US Representative Colin Allred has been on all over the news explaining the REAL reason we are in this crisis is because of the deregulation and the fact Texas has it's own grid system- that has NOT been winterized to withstand this kind of weather. And the renewable energy - windmills- were NOT the reason for this crisis as being spewed on Foxnews -68% of our energy source is from natural gas, coal and nuclear energy. The silver lining here is the decades long rule of the GOP representatives and their for-profit only deregulations and insistence to not be part of the federal grid system are the blame for this crisis. Greg Abbott has been governor for 6 years so the blame rests on his incapable shoulders as well.
I hope this crisis wakes-up my GQP friends. I think now that Turd is no longer able to spew his lies on Twitter, and this week another GQP liar-Rush Limbaugh, died. And Texans are being forced to see how they've been lied to by our own Governor. People are beginning to see a pattern of how they've been lied to - for decades by the GQP. Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I don't think so.
@jessi1978 I read that too , with horror and disbelief!!!! What are people with fixed incomes that barely exceed that for a year!!!!! ever going to pay that for a month's worth of disastrous charges!!! I would have to live in my house without electricity if that were to happen here.
Single mothers struggling to make ends meet to raise their children haven't got the means to pay that kind of utility bill! Small business owners already struggling from the Pandemic will suffer this as a final blow as they sink under!!!
Seniors suffer so much inequity already... and many view us as having outlived our usefulness and as "leech's" on society. Sadly Covid-19 brought about horrific choices of who would get treatment and who wouldn't based on age/ability to overcome the disease.
There are so many who struggle paycheck to paycheck and have no back up for emergencies - what are people going to do ????
I pray that the obscene profits being made by creatures like Jerry Jones, who has been crowing about the enormous profit he is making off this crisis, forces changes. It's reprehensible and heartbreaking to profit off of what harms and hurts so many of our people.
I am just heartsick. I know it takes these kinds of disasters to wake people up. That being said? I am so tired of seeing the hatred, the abuse and the perpetuation of poverty that does not seem that far removed from the beginnings of our civilizations.
We have come so far, and yet...we haven't,and we have so far to go.
My Congressman was on MSNBC this am saying if that happens, it's called price gauging and is illegal. I'm on a contract with Texas Utility but my mom isn't. If she gets hit with a huge bill I'm going to call Congressman Allred's office first, then TXU. I think it's the offbeat companies whose rates are very low during normal times and lure people in. Last summer, one utility company told their customers to stop using them as the rates went sky-high--it was during an over 100 degree weather. The GQP LOVES deregulation, that is until it bankrupts them or kills them....
I think it's the offbeat companies whose rates are very low during normal times and lure people in. Last summer, one utility company told their customers to stop using them as the rates went sky-high--it was during an over 100 degree weather.
I looked at the article referenced by @Jessi1978-- and the power company was an outfit called "Griddy". I looked at their site-- apparently their gig is that they sell power at wholesale prices. Usually this is cheaper than from a regular power company, but when demand rises, as it did during the cold, prices rise, and that is why people were socked with outrageous bills.
To their credit, Griddy did have a message on their website actually encouraging people to switch providers during this time. They even listed names and website links to their competitors. . Nevertheless, people who didn't or couldn't switch in time have huge bills. Griddy has now posted a message blaming the Public Utility Commission of Texas for setting the wholesale price too high with too little warning. Griddy literally says they are "pissed" and are going to fight for their customers. See https://www.griddy.com/post/griddy-update-why-energy-prices-were-sky-high-this-week (disclaimer: I don't live in Texas and don't know anything personally about the utilities there, but this is just what the website says.)
@numerologist People here aren't blaming Biden. They are furious with Cruz abandoning Texas and going to Mexico, as well as Governor Abbott falsely blaming renewable energy for this crisis
You can't really blame Cruz for wanting to cross the border with his family and escape to a civilized country, some place that has things like electricity and running water.
Houston police met Cruz as he returned to the airport. Something about him having 50 lbs. of crack in his Speedo ?
Today a Mariachi band played at Ted Cruz's house. The crime scene tape was also a nice touch, hehheh https://twitter.com/i/status/1363660844094128130
I wish that is was true, and the Texas would finally throw the GOP to the curb, but as a resident of a deep red state myself (Tennessee), I don't hold out much hope that they will do so.
Why should they? 40% of Republicans are still supporting Trump and would leave the GOP to become part of a new "Trump" party.
Let that wash over you for a moment. A full forty percent of the GOP would leave the party of Lincoln and go to support a terrorist leading, raping, lying, criminal individual who does nothing but whine and complain about he is always the victim.
The Republicans have become the "let's blame the liberals for everything" party. Sadly, not only do they count everyone who doesn't agree with them 100% as "liberals," (the media, any republican who doesn't support Trump, the moderates, etc.), but they do everything they can to ensure that they go against common sense measures and simple human kindness simply because the liberals support it.
Give money to the poor during this pandemic? Liberalism! Ensure that people get money when a disaster hits (remember how Cruz was so against aid to the victims in Super Storm Sandy but wants money from the government when Texas gets hit)? Liberalism! Allow for abortions when a woman's life is in danger if she carries it to term or if the mother is a 12 year old that was raped by her father? LIBERALISM!!!!!!
Are all GOP members like that? No. Most are good, decent human beings, but your representative is supposed to represent your state, and you and I unfortunately are having to deal with the fact that our representatives represent nothing except to "make libs cry" and to support Trump.
In short, I hope and pray that the GOP comes crashing down in the 2022 election (or however long it takes) and loses many seats in the House, the Senate, and the State governorships. What is the point of a two-party system when one party's sole objective is to make everyone else miserable? We NEED the Republican party to do so in 2022, least we suffer yet another return of Trump (or his family) in 2024. Even if he doesn't win, he will drive his voters to commit more acts of terrorism and violence.
Until the Republican party is destroyed, I fear that people in red states like you and I will continue to suffer. It is no coincidence that many red states rank last in the nation when you look at health care, basic necessities, happiness, hate crimes, etc.