Blizzard Update: More Snow, Power Outages Linger, Damage Assessments Begin

Satellite views of the Blizzard of '78 and the Blizzard of 
26 look eerily similar. The Blizzard of '78 was
more destructive because it brought storm surges
through four high tide cycles. This week's
blizzard caused coastal flooding through one
high tide. However, snowfall was greater this
time compared to 1978 

It was snowing again this morning in the areas hardest hit earlier this week in the Blizzard of 26. It's not much snow, but it's adding insult to injury as people continue to dig out. 

More than three feet of snow fell in some areas.

The death toll from the storm is still being assessed. Many winter storm deaths come in the days after the snow has stopped falling. 

That's when people have heart attacks shoveling snow, die from carbon monoxide as snow blocks vents and exhaust systems.  There's also car crashes on icy roads and accidents during storm clean ujp. 

So far, six deaths have been reported just on hard-hit Long Island, New York. Five people died on the island from heart attacks as they were shoving the deep snow

A sixth person was  found deceased beneath mounts of snow in Deer Park, Long Island. A worker hired to shovel snow at the complex for residents age 55 of over found the body. The cause of death has not been determined, but police said it's not suspicious. 

In Rhode Island,  a college student was found dead in a running car Monday evening. Snow blocked the tailpipe, which means carbon monoxide backed up into the car. Another person died when he was struck by a truck on the Mass Pike as he  were trying to remove snow from a vehicle.

AccuWeather is estimating $36 billion in damage and economic losses from the storm.That includes damage to homes and businesses, disruptions to commerce and supply chains, problems with shipping operations at majorhubs, financial losses from power outages, travel delays and damage to infrastructure. 

A neighborhood full of people try to dig their street
out of record deep snow in Providence, 
Rhode Island on Tuesday. 

AccuWeather did not tease out how much of the total was in damage and how much was economic losses due to power and transportation disruptions. 

As of noon today, more than 150,000 homes and businesses still had no power in Massachusetts, mostly on or near Cape Cod.  

Power was still out across most of Cape Cod on Tuesday. Six towns on the Cape had virtually no powFew gas stations were open, and those that did had long lines. Things had improved by this morning. Only Wellfleet was completely without power. Service was partly restored to the other towns. 

Utility officials said they hope to have electricity restored to almost everybody on Cape Cod by Friday night. 

Vermont  has sent help in the form of snow clearing equipment. Thirty-two VTrans employees left Vermont this morning to help clear snow in Massachusetts. Video showed a convoy of state dump trucks and bucket loaders an Interstate highway Tuesday morning bound for Massachusetts. 

 We can spare the equipment because only southern Vermont received snow from the blizzard and even that amounted to only a few inches. No large snowstorm are in the Vermont forecast. 

As the snow its cleared, damage to buildings is becoming apparent. 

A high school gym room in Kingston, Massachusetts collapsed under the weight of the snow.  A gas station canopy on Cape Cod was shredded by high winds and heavy snow.  Fallen trees are still blocking some roads in southeastern Massachusetts. 

In New Jersey, a church steeple was left leaning after the blizzard and will have to be torn down. 

Other cities are beginning to emerge as having set all time records for a single snowstorm. New Bedford, Massachusetts received 37 inches of snow, its biggest-ever snowstorm. We have a new front runner for city with the most snow. Fall River, Massachusetts reported a storm total of 41 inches. 

It's late in the winters, so you'd think a thaw would come along and just melt all this snow fairly quickly But nope! 

Temperatures in the blizzard zone will get above freezing this afternoon, tomorrow and Saturday, but not be overly wide margins. A late season Arctic blast will keep temperatures below freezing Sunday and early next week. 

Even worse, a little more snow is in the forecast. An inch or two of new snow fell from New York City to Cape Cod this morning. A little more snow might fall Thursday night and again Sunday. Luckily, these snowfall do not look very big. At least at this point. 

I'm sure a several million people that got hit by this blizzard are seriously pining for spring. 

Trump's Department Of Energy Apparently Has Never Heard Of Batteries For Clean Energy

If you take Trump's Department of Energy at face
value, then they apparently are unaware of the
concept of batteries. 

 Let's check in with those electricity generating wizards at the U.S. Department of Energy, shall we?

They had this to say on X

"Wind and solar energy infrastructure is essentially worthless when it's dark outside, and the wind is not blowing."

Hoo boy. 

Could it be that the fine Trumpian folks at DOE have never heard of this nifty gadget called a battery?

They're amazing! The sun's out, and the wind is blowing and all those solar panels and wind turbines charge up those nifty batteries. 

Then the sun goes down and the wind goes calm, and those batteries supply electricity until the wind blows and the sun shines again. 

Those DOE guys and gals should check those batteries out! 

I'm sure DOE loved the community post on the X pointing out batteries exist in the real world, if not in the MAGA atmosphere.

 The comments on that @Energy post are pretty withering, as you can imagine. The first comment I saw when I last looked at it came from Josh Morgerman (@icylcone) who wrote, "This is quite possibly the stupidest tweet I've ever seen from any government account, in any country, anywhere on Earth."

Can't argue with that! 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom as he does so much, couldn't resist the urge to troll DOE, and by its extension Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Newsom's staff posted the following on X: "We're excited for the Trump administration to learn about BATTERIES(we have them here in California and they've helped the Golden State shift to green, clean energy AND keep the lights on)."

Even Elon Musk weighed in, pointing out the availability of batteries. His response to the @Energy tweet was "Um....hello?"

Then again, a some named Emily on X (Emnode) wrote "It's crazy how much money Elon Musk spent to buy the United States government and leave us with a Department of Energy that doesn't know batteries exist."

By the way, people use electricity during the day,  believe it or not, so those solar panels come in handy on sunny days, with or without batteries.  And, believe it or not, the wind sometimes blows at night. 

Of course, we actually doubt the people at the Department of Energy are as stupid as they pretend to be.  (Quite an aspiration, pretending to be as stupid as Lauren Boebert).

We're picking on Wright and his department for stupidity, but they know what they're doing. I'm quite sure they are aware batteries exist. OK, I hope they really understand batteries exist. 

This ignorant posting is all about a larger Trump administration effort to spread misinformation. And to turn the public away from clean energy. 

After all, the official Trump position is that climate change is - against all evidence - a hoax and therefore clean energy is verboten. 

There's a percentage of Americans who don't understand solar and wind power and how they relate to batteries, so Wright is appealing to that base,

What the Department of Energy and its Secretary Wright and his Department of Energy is doing is blasting misinformation to convince people who don't have a lot of knowledge about clean energy.

For the rest of us, the misinformation is meant to make the rest of us mistrust solar and wind power. They hope enough to turn the majority of the public against it, so that climate changing fossil fuel will reign supreme. 

Wright, after all, is the former CEO of two former fossil fuel companies, specializing in shale gas and oil.   

 I don't have a problem with people questioning the efficacy of solar and wind power. As long as the questioning is based on reality and facts. Questioning anything when it's based on facts is a great way to make things better, no matter what you're talking about. 

But as climate change continues to take its worsening toll, we'd better be promoting and improving clean energy. Trump and his minions live in the 1950s, when we didn't know much about fossil fuel and how they contribute to climate change. 

Good changes happen as society learns more information.  The Trump administration, and people who work for him, are trying to take information away from the public. Because it benefits them, and to hell with everyone else.  

Trump Continues To Rage Against Wind And Solar Power With Lies

Donald Trump ramped up his hatred of wind turbines
and solar power this week, which is bad news both
for climate change and an increasingly
serious electricity shortfall. 

 So we had this bit of tedium recently from Donald Trump via his ironically named social media site Truth Social:  

"Any State that has built or relied on WINDMILLS and SOLAR for power are seeing RECORD BREAKING INCREASES IN ELECTRICITY AND ENEGY COSTS. THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!  We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar. The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!! MAGA." 

As usual, I don't even know where to begin with this train wreck/word salad.  But he clearly keeps ranting about wind turbines and solar installations. When he fixates on something, he doesn't let go. Usually for irrational reasons. 

One theory is that the wind turbines  Scotland installed offshore of Trump's golf course are ugly, at least to him, so therefore, all windmills around the world must go.

Or something like that. 

This latest screed came after the Trump administration announced Wednesday that going forward, he will not approve solar and wind power projects. 

Additionally, Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins said Monday that his department would rescind "all programs building solar panels on our farmland." 

Also this week, the Trump administration launched a national security probe into imported wind turbines and their components. This seems to be a prelude to big tariffs on wind energy. 

The administration, in typical fashion, does not give us reasons or evidence behind the probe. But as The Hill tells us, they're looking at the role of foreign supply chains, the affects foreign government subsidies and predatory trade practices. That sounds like economics, not national security, but who knows?

The Trump people said they are also checking into whether there's an ability to weaponize foreign-built wind turbines.  I'm not sure what that is. Maybe they think China can launch nuclear warheads or some damn thing from turbines installed near Sioux City, Iowa or something?

Spoiler: They can't. But who knows whether there's some other security risk. Again, we haven't been given any evidence so far. don't have evidence of that. 

THE NEED

Solar and wind power are great for combating climate change as an alternative to fossil fuel. But there's also a more immediate need for these sources of electricity. 

Electricity demand is outpacing supply in some parts as the United States, as CNBC reports. 

Electricity costs have gone up for many American consumers, but experts are saying that's mostly because of growing demand from data centers and related industries.

Per USA Today:  

"'We need to build more power generation now, and that includes renewable energy. The U.S. will need roughly 118 gigawatts (the equivalent of 12 New York Cities) of new power generation in the next four years to prevent price spikes and potential shortages,' said Ray Long, CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy. Only a limited set of technologies - solar, wind, batteries and some natural gas - can be built at that scale in that frame."

Solar, wind and battery storage would ease the electricity shortage due to AI and expanded data centers the quickest, because you get them up and running pretty quickly. Solar and wind comprise most of the projects in line to connect to the grid. 

So, what Trump is doing is actually driving up the cost of we'll pay for electricity more. You know, supply and demand. Less supply, the price goes up. 

He's also creating a danger of electricity shortages, perhaps doing yet another thing to turn us into a third world country by causing blackouts to power the grid.  And if one part of the grid goes, it can cause an imbalance that can cause the whole thing to go dark. 

That's obviously a worse-case scenario, but since Trump is so cavalier about everything else, he also wouldn't care if all us serfs freeze in the dark.  

NOAA Fact Check Dishearteningly Necessary, Not That Millions Of Wackos Would Believe Actual Facts, Science

NOAA launched a web page meant to debunk lots of
wild conspiracy theories about the weather. 
Great effort, but large portions of the population
chose to believe things that defy basic physics. 

 With all the deeply crazy conspiracy theories about the weather that an alarmingly large number of people believe, NOAA recently had to post a page on its web site debunking the whacko ideas out there.  

The NOAA debunking info is a  mindnumbingly Captain Obvious web page, but I don't blame them. We live in an idiocracy, a society increasingly controlled by stupid people. Or at least willfully ignorant ones. 

I don't know if NOAA's conspiracy debunking page will do much good, because people cling to their out there ideas like their life depended on it. Never mind if what they think is going on defies basic laws of physics. 

 For the record, here's some facts that NOAA provides. The meteorologists there tell us they can't control or steer hurricanes. They don't do cloud seeding, though some private companies do that to produce a little rain in highly local areas.

Also, have you ever seen NOAA Doppler radar installations? They look like a giant white snowball atop a radio tower. This now very commonly used radar is really good at peering inside storms, helping in many ways.  One great example is how Doppler radar finds shifting winds inside a severe thunderstorm to determine whether a tornado is forming so meteorologists can warn us if they do find something suspicious. 

But nope! NOAA has to try and debunk all those who are saying those Doppler radar towers are somehow steering hurricanes and targeting specific communities. As if some random National Weather Service meteorologist decided they had a bad vacation experience in Fort Myers and decided to smite the city with a hurricane as revenge. 

NOAA also sees fit to debunk something called HAARP.  This one is an old classic.

The conspiracy theory behind HAARP has been going for years now. It's supposedly the mechanism in which the evil government controls the weather, or sprays us with mind control chemicals or ensures child trafficking can go on, or gawd knows what else.

Sigh. 

There actually is such a thing as HAARP.  It's a small little National Science Foundation-funded research center in remote Gakona, Alaska that is focusing on the ionosphere, which is 30 to 600 miles above the Earth's surface - and above the Earth's weather.  HAARP is basically a large radio transmitter. 

REACTION

NOAA posted on X a link to their conspiracy debunking page and as you can imagine, the comments on the post were depressing as hell.

I still can't get over how people create entire new realities from thin air. 

There's a ton of breathless responses about how "they" are controlling the weather and NOAA is lying. As if they're some top secret organization that's somehow mustering the energy of 10,000 atomic bombs to steer hurricanes into the United States without a bunch of people noticing it.  

Somehow, a Hurricane Helene or a Hurricane Milton is "proof" of some grand conspiracy, rather than hurricanes just following the laws of physics, like they always do. 

Many of the conspiracy comments conflate cloud seeding, which as I previously noted can produce some rain in very local areas, to this Huge Project to flood out vast sections of the United States. Or something. It's never clear what these conspiracy theorists are getting at. 

I also hardly see any of these people explain why they think the government is steering storms and just making life miserable on purpose. 

Sales of tin hats these days must be at record high levels. 

Other people posted photos of jet contrails and cirrus clouds as somehow "proof" of weather modification. Normal people just note that the photos are just standard issue clouds that you see them all the time.

One response to NOAA on X showed time stamped videos showing how NOAA or the U.S. government "controls" the weather. The videos start at around 7:30 in the morning show a few jet contrails and cirrus clouds. As the morning goes on in this video series, the clouds gradually lower and thicken, until by 2 p.m. it looks like it's going to rain.

You can't get it through this person's head that what they documented was the approach of some type of weather system, probably a run-of-the-mill warm front. 

This same person posted dozens and dozens of photos of various clouds "showing" government weather control. Literally all of the photos show the type of clouds we've all seen hundreds of times in the sky. By the way, the jet contrails she keeps showing consist of either water vapor or more likely ice crystals. 

It all goes on and on. 

What's completely ignored in these theories is that humans are actually controlling the weather in one way. At least sort of.

It's called climate change.  Which of obviously not something that people are directing at any one group. But it is affecting all of us. 

There is plenty of evidence that because of human-caused  climate change, storms are in general getting worse, precipitation is getting heavier in some storms and record heat waves have gotten much more common place. Hell, just this week, dozens if not hundreds of record high temperatures across the United States. 

I've actually got a conspiracy theory of my own.  

The people who make up and embrace these crazy notions of weather control understand they - fairly or not - lead an unremarkable life that maybe is to them a little boring. Not to say my life is a James Bond style thrill every second of my existence. I'm definitely nothing special. But I like to live in reality, thank you. Or at least look for reliable evidence if somebody throws a theory or "fact" out there. 

I wonder if some of these conspiracy theories with pedestrian lives imagine placing  themselves in a made up bad TV drama about some mad scientist bent on destroying the world through weather modification, atmospheric mind control, whatever they come up with. 

Maybe they picture themselves as real-life Columbus or Matlocks, you know the underestimated character who figures out what is really going on and brings the villains to justice. 

All this is encouraged by people - supposed leaders - who are actually trying to gain control.  Many of the people feeding the conspiracy theory this steady diet of nonsense have their own aims. Not to control the weather, they know they can't do that. 

But feeding the conspiracy beast earns them money, power, status, autocracy in some cases  

And people are falling for these distractions hook, line and sinker.  

Helene Update: Death Toll Soars As Aid Tries To Come From All Over, Including Vermont

Debris that used to be peoples' homes and businesses 
completely cover the surface of this lake outside
of Asheville, North Carolina, 

 Horrifying damage videos and images have been emerging from western North Carolina all day as more and more people access the region to offer aid, and begin to help at least some of the people traumatized by what has been an incredible disaster.  

At last count this afternoon, at least 132 people have died in the storm. That includes 40 in the North Carolina county that includes Asheville, according to the Associated Press. 

At least 600 people are still regarded as missing, but the thought and the hope is that most of them are OK, but isolated by washed out roads and a lack of telephone and cell service. 

The AP continues:

"A crisis was unfolding in western North Carolina, where residents stranded by washed-out roads and a lack of power and cellular service line up Monday for fresh water and a chance to message loved ones days after the storm that they were alive."

Since the roads are in such bad shape, what aid is trickling in is being delivered via helicopter and even mules. 

Vermonters, no stranger to devastating floods and receiving aid from other states, are trying to return the favor. 

Members of Vermonts Urban Search and Rescue Team have been in Florida, combing through wrecked buildings to ensure they've reached everyone. They've performed swift water rescues near Pensacola and the Tampa Bay areas, WCAX reports. Through Sunday night, the team has searched through 41,000 buildings. 

When they get done in Florida, the team will move on to North Carolina.

About 50 people with Green Mountain Power are also in the region trying to help restore power. 

 

Keeping Emergency Managers Awake At Night: What Happens If A City's Power Grid Collapses In A Big Heat Wave

As bad as Hurricane Beryl in Houston back in July, the city dodged a bullet that experts say they increasingly worry about: 

An extended, widespread power blackout in a big city during a major heat wave. 

High temperatures are the leading weather-related cause of death in the United States - and worldwide.  That's when the electricity is on and working fine.

Now take a big southern city like Houston, Miami, Dallas, or Atlanta, hit any of them with a big storm that trashes the power grid, then bring on day after day of humid heat in the upper 90s or hotter, and you will have a scary number of deaths. 

It was bad enough in Houston with Beryl. Over a million households and businesses were still without power days after Beryl struck. Temperatures did rise into the 90s on some of the days following the storm. But luckily, the heat was not really a more intense than normal in the days after Beryl. .

Still, the combination of a lack of power and the normal humid heat of Houston surely led to some extra deaths. 

Eventually, experts say, a much more serious combination of widespread power failures and intense heat is inevitable, leading to the risk of deadly disasters that would make Houston's Beryl experience seem like a breeze. 

A Washington Post analysis indicated a long, citywide blackout in Houston coming during a severe heat wave would lead to 600 to 1,500 people in the Houston metro area over five days. During a big heat wave with the power grid working as it should, the same heat wave would kill perhaps 50 people. 

WaPo is probably picking on Houston in their analysis because the power grid in Texas overall, including Houston, isn't especially reliable. Residents of that metro area are 2.7 times more likely to deal with power outages than the average American.

The hurricane/power outage/heat wave nightmare scenario might be getting more likely due to that usual bugaboo, climate change.  Hurricanes are starting to form earlier and earlier in the season, increasing the odds they'll coincide with the worst of summer heat waves.

Plus, those heat waves are getting more intense as the world warms. 

Those factors increase the chances that things would be even worse, as things break down in a city pretty quickly when the power goes out. 

 As the Washington Post describes the scenario:

"When a power outage hits a city, some services immediately disappear. After Hurricane Beryl, stoplights ceased working; some gas stations, which provided critical services to anyone running a generator, lost power themselves and closed. Cell towers not equipped with their own backup power went down, severing thousands of people from communicating with the outside world. 

At the same time, experts say, the population instantly becomes divided: Those with power - or the money or means to get it - and those without."

At first, during these heat wave power failures, you get a burst of activity as people search for ways to gas up their cars and generators, find ice, and buy non-perishable groceries. 

From there, things keep going south. 911 calls surge as people who depend on ventilators, oxygen concentrators and CPAP machines are screwed without electricity, so their conditions worsen.  

Medical clinics won't help. They'll be without power, too. So emergency rooms would soon become swamped. 

After a few days, even comparatively healthy people will begin to succumb to the effects of heat.  A sort of healthy person can deal with eight or  nine hours of hot, humid weather, as long as they get a cooling respite at night. 

But with no electricity and no air conditioning, that respite never arrives. Hospitals then become even more overwhelmed. 

This isn't just a Houston we have a  problem situation. Any major city prone to intense heat waves could suffer just as greatly. 

A study separate from the Washington Post's analysis indicates a power outage combined with a heat wave in torrid Phoenix could kill around 13,000 people.  A similar situation in much further north Detroit could claim more than 1,500 or more lives.   

A medical crisis wouldn't be the only problem. There's violence. 

Heat tends to bring out the worst in people, making us more short tempered and for some of us, prone to violence. 

Our current socio-economic situation makes this even more of a powder keg.  There's a massive and growing gap between the haves and the have nots in the United States. 

Some people who are under the poverty-driving thumb of this arrangement might well resort to looting, stealing, robbing. We can't condone that behavior, but we can understand where it comes from in these situations. 

If you think I'm being alarmist, just look at the New York City blackout in July, 1977. It hit during a horrendous heat wave.  It happened at a time when the United States was in a deep recession. 

New York City was in especially dire straights. The unemployment rate was at 12 percent.  Inflation raged. Crime rates soared. City services had been severely cut because of the fiscal crisis. There had been large layoffs of teachers, sanitation workers, firefighters and police in New York. 

Then, on the hot and humid evening of July 13, 1977, lightning struck four important power transmission lines, plunging New York City into darkness.

That night and the next day, amid extreme heat, New York was wracked by looting and arson.  At least 1,000 fires broke out, the majority of them being arson. There were more than 4,000 arrests. 

July, 1977 was a dark example of what can happen when power outages, extreme heat and economic disparities join forces.  

It's a cautionary tale, one I hope I don't ever have to write about in this blog. 

 

Pre-Christmas Storm Might Prompt A Disaster Declaration In Vermont

Green Mountain Power released this photo on December 24
of debris tangled up in Charlotte power lines after the
destructive wind storm that hit just before Christmas.

 The storm that swept Vermont and most of the rest of the nation just before Christmas might prompt a federal disaster declaration here in the Green Mountain State.  

As VTDigger reports, the storm caused more than $2 million in damage to Vermont towns and municipal and non-profit utilities. This comes from an assessment by Vermont Emergency Management.  

Vermont Emergency Management has asked federal officials to double check their math and determine whether the storm qualifies as a major disaster. 

VTDigger goes on with more details:

"To qualify for a major disaster declaration, Vermont must show at least $1.14 million in in total costs for response and public infrastructure recovery, and each individual county must demonstrate damage and recovery costs of at least $4.44 per capital to qualify."

If that storm turns out to be a major disaster, at least in the eyes of FEMA, we'd get a big bunch of federal aid. So far, the counties that might be declared disaster areas are Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Grand Isle and Orleans counties. Additional counties might be added as assessments continue. 

The storm caused widespread damage in the majority of states east of the Rocky Mountains. Here in Vermont, most of the damage was due to high winds.  Gusts reached 71 mph in Burlington, the second highest wind gusts on record there. 

Countless branches and trees succumbed to the high winds in Vermont. Many of those trees also brought down power lines. At least 75,000 Vermont customers lost electricity, some for severals days. One storm-related death was reported.

Non-profit utilities suffered a large portion of the damage. As VTDigger reports:

"Nonprofit organizations such as Washington Electric Cooperative and Vermont Electric Cooperative spend the following days restoring power to as many houses as possible in the areas they serve. The repair costs for these cooperatives were immense. For instance, Washington Electric figures it spent $1.3 million on repairs, while its annual budget for emergency storm management is just $300,000."

If a federal disaster is declared in Vermont, municipal and non-profit utilities could be reimbursed for 75 percent of restoration costs and 75 percent of the cost of debris removal, road repairs and staff overtime related to the storm.

The damage tally that could lead to the disaster declaration does not include damage to private, non-government entities. VTDigger notes that Green Mountain Power reports this storm, a heavy, wet snowstorm a week earlier caused some of the most damage in the utility's history.  GMP allocates $6 million each year to handle storm recovery. 

I'm not sure how well that money lasted in 2022.  Other events, like wind in February and severe summer thunderstorms caused damage to GMP's system too, but not nearly as much as the December storms. 

The December wind storm also caused damage to Vermont's agriculture industry. At least 56 maple producers suffered damage, mostly in Franklin, Chittenden, Addison and Rutland counties, the Rutland Herald reported.  

The wind damaged or destroyed some maple trees. Also, falling branches damaged the tubes that collect maple sap.

Some hoop houses, used to grow winter crops within plastic cages, were also damaged. Some dairy and other farms reported roofs blown off barns. 

Vermont is sometimes regarded as a bit of a haven from climate related calamities, but parts of the state, or the whole of the region has been declared a federal disaster area frequently in recent decades.

Excluding the Covid-19 pandemic, Vermont was included in five federal disasters since 2017, pretty much for floods or wind or the combination of the two. 

FEMA is expected to begin assessing Vermont data on the storm this week. The agency probably has its hands full, as that same pre-Christmas storm caused plenty of damage in other states as well. Meanwhile, California keeps getting pummeled by storms, too.

 

Texas Power Grid Strains In Record Hot Weather, Just As It Did In Record Cold Weather

Texas residents are getting fed up with both the long lasting
heat wave they are experiencing and ERCOT, which
does a poor job managing the state's electrical grid.
ERCOT keeps telling residents to conserve electricity
due to inadequacies in the Texas grid.

 You want your electric power supply to be reliable. Especially when temperatures in the winter are below zero, so you don't freeze to death in your own home.  

You also want electric power to be reliable, when it's 110 degrees out and you don't want to die of heat stroke in your own home.

Texas can have both kinds of weather, and their power grid is not up to the challenge of either weather extremes. 

The hilariously and inaccurately named Electric Reliability Council of Texas or ERCOT begged customers to conserve power as much as possible on Monday after several days of intense heat. Intense even by Texas standards.  

For the state of Texas as a whole, Sunday was the second hottest day since at least 1950. Individual cities melted in the heat. Houston reached 105 degrees, tying the record for the hottest day in that giant city's history. That huge city also set a record for their hottest four-day stretch on record.

Somerville, Texas got up to 113 degrees Sunday. College Station was close behind at 111 degrees, its second hottest temperature on record. Austin reached 110 degrees over the weekend, tying the record for the hottest on record for the entire month of July.

The heat is expected to go on for quite awhile yet, too. Each of the next seven days in Dallas are expected to reach at least 100 degrees, except possibly on Friday, when the forecast high is a comparatively frigid 99 degrees.

Anytime you get record, long lasting heat like Texas is experiencing, you're going to run into power supply shortages. If we manage to have a near record heat wave here in Vermont later this summer, I'm sure you'll hear pleas to reduce your electricity usage during the day. (Spoiler: No big heat waves are currently in the Vermont forecast).

So you'd expect ERROR, I mean ERCOT to ask for conservation. But Texas is a special case, and I do mean that in a derogatory way, at least in terms of its energy management.

They long ago decided to create their own independent power grid, with no real links to power supplies in other areas. Here in Vermont, we're more typical of other regions of the United States. We'll get feeds of electricity from other states and/or Quebec if demand begins to outstrip supply in the Green Mountain State. 

With no way to get help from surrounding regions, Texas can only do so much in these situations. 

Traditional electric generating plants, run by gas or coal or other fossil fuels are falling short. Some are in disrepair. There's eco-friendly power sources. Solar power is doing great with the wall to wall sunshine of the Texas heat wave, but supplies are limited. Wind power is big in Texas, but under this het wave, wind is practically non-existent, so the whirlygigs aren't helping all that much. 

ERCOT warned over the weekend that if energy conservation was insufficient Monday, there would be rolling blackouts. As of late Monday afternoon, it appeared as if enough people were turning up the temperature on their air conditioning settings to barely avoid these blackouts.  Plus, a few well timed and well placed thunderstorms developed Monday afternoon over some populated areas, cooling things down a bit and reducing demand. 

Temperatures cooled ever so slightly in Texas on Wednesday, so the electricity is still flowing. They're not out of the woods yet, of course.  Through the end of the month, long range forecasts focus on Texas as being the most likely area of the United States to experience much hotter than normal temperatures. 

Even if nobody in Texas ends up with a blackout because of the heat, they're going to pay for this heat wave.  In May, before the heat really hit in earnest, average power bills in Texas had already increased by 30 percent or so in a few previous weeks. 

While virtually all the continental U.S. is expected to be
hotter than  normal through the end of the month, Texas
is the most likely place to experience much hotter
than normal conditions. 

If the current story of a weather related Texas energy emergency rings a bell, it's because you're thinking of February, 2021. It's believed 246 Texans died, and billions of dollars in damage hit Texas when the state's power grid collapsed in a record cold wave. Most of those who died succumbed to the cold or carbon monoxide poisoning from using alternative and unsafe ways to stay warm.

As always, this has gotten political. Democrat Beto O'Rourke is running against incumbent Republican Gregg Abbott. O'Rourke made sure to tweet the following:

"We can't rely on the grid when it's hot. We can't rely on the grid when it's cold. We can't rely on Greg Abbott. It's time to vote him out and fix the grid."

By the way, I wouldn't get too smug about your friendly local power grid being better than the one in Texas. Yours probably is better than that of the Lone Star State, but not immune from increasingly weird weather brought on by climate change.

Other than storms, heat waves are probably the biggest culprit than get cut your power. Cold waves can of course do it to you, too. But weather extremes are getting more, well extreme under the pressures of climate change. Just another thing we'll need to be prepared for.

It is expected to get hot up here in Vermont next week. It likely won't be record heat, and the power grid should hold up just fine. That's not to say things will work out with our power supply if the heat were more intense and long lasting. 

Even in a place with better energy management like Vermont, electricity will be one of the many important things affected by climate change.