Dennisons Wrong Foot
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- Mar 10, 2011
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Q - What are winters like in San Antonio?
A - I’ve only lived here for 15 years, we’re still waiting for summer to finish.
That’s how I used to answer, but last month winter arrived. We get 4 or 5 freezing mornings every year, occasionally much colder, but there is usually sunshine and dry weather. It snows in northern Texas every year, rarely in San Antonio, and almost never further south. When we do get snow (two light showers since I moved here) the whole city shuts down – major roads are closed and almost nobody goes to work. That’s necessary because south Texans are notoriously incapable of driving safely in bad weather.
TV stations are always predicting Armageddon, so when record cold and snow were predicted we listened then carried on as normal. Only this time the forecasts were correct. Average daytime temperatures for February should be 20C, but from February 13th we stayed below freezing for four whole days, had six inches of snow in one night (3rd highest amount ever recorded here), and a further 3 inches a few days later, plus snow and ice on roads for almost a whole week (the roads are never salted). Temperatures reached minus thirteen, colder than most locals had ever experienced.
The whole of Texas was hit – for the first time ever all 254 counties of Texas were under a winter weather warning at the same time. One city on the Mexican border had a record 11 inches of snow in one day. All this meant a record electricity demand.
There are 3 power grids in the US – East, West, and Texas. The Texas grid (which does not quite cover the whole state) exists solely to avoid federal regulation. It does have physical links to the other grids and to Mexico, but these are little used. Texas has been warned in the past that its grid is ill-equipped to deal with severe cold but an absence of regulations or political will meant that nothing was done. During the storm not only did demand reach record levels, but supply decreased. Wind turbines froze because they were not ‘winterized’ and gas companies were unable to pump sufficient amounts because their equipment also froze. The grid is managed by ERCOT (several of whose board members lived outside of Texas). ERCOT instituted rolling blackouts, having reportedly been within five minutes of the whole grid going down. The blackouts were intended to last for no more than 15 minutes per hour, but many areas had no power for 2-3 days. Other areas (that share a circuit with critical infrastructure such as hospitals) suffered no outages at all and the value of houses in these areas increased by $20k overnight. We also suffered water shortages, because suppliers were unable to pump water in the extreme cold.
Our home had no power for 2 ½ days. The indoor temperature obviously dropped substantially, but my wife managed to keep warm by staying in bed the whole time. She had also fallen in the snow and sustained a hamstring injury that still limits her walking almost a month later. Other people were not so lucky. An unknown number of Texans across the state died, many of them from hypothermia. There are numerous stories of ice on inside walls of homes.
ERCOT controls prices and raised them to the maximum permitted amount for several days (almost 400 times the average level!!!). Natural gas companies made more money in 2 day than in a normal year. Some of the increases have been determined to be unnecessary, but ERCOT has refused to rescind the extra $16 BILLION that it is accepted we were overcharged. The San Antonio supplier has not yet passed on extra charges, but some Texans faced immediate electric bills over 100 times the normal amount. Cities on the edge of Texas that run on one of the other grids did not suffer the same problems. Other states get much worse weather but can always cope. It has now been determined that the unregulated Texas grid has actually led to higher power charges across the state. It goes without saying that the lawsuits have already started. Politicians who previously praised the lack of regulatory interference are now demanding regulations to prevent a repeat occurrence.
I live almost 20 miles from my business, and was able to drive to work every day. The snow and ice meant a 25 minute journey took 75 minutes and was mentally exhausting, but was doable with careful driving. Most people took the week off. There are around a hundred other businesses close to my store, and on the first day after the snowfall only one other (fast food) was open. On the second day another fast food place was open, plus a gas station that ran out of gas within a couple of hours. For the rest of the week opening hours were unpredictable for even the large supermarkets, and many smaller stores stayed shut. Shortages of bread, milk, eggs, water, meat, etc. led to long lines everywhere. One customer said that her family had unknowingly drunk contaminated water and her son and grandson were in a local hospital who told her that they wanted to transfer her son elsewhere, but were unable to do so because there was no fuel for their ambulances!
Even though the store operated on reduced hours for most of the week, we broke our all-time sales record by 50%. I was physically and mentally exhausted for two weeks afterward - empty shelves needed restocking. On the day that everywhere else was closed we sold three weeks worth of cigarettes. Weeks later and distributors still have shortages of spirits, beer, soft drinks, and tobacco. Supermarkets continue to ration many items.
But this is Texas so there will be no major changes.
A - I’ve only lived here for 15 years, we’re still waiting for summer to finish.
That’s how I used to answer, but last month winter arrived. We get 4 or 5 freezing mornings every year, occasionally much colder, but there is usually sunshine and dry weather. It snows in northern Texas every year, rarely in San Antonio, and almost never further south. When we do get snow (two light showers since I moved here) the whole city shuts down – major roads are closed and almost nobody goes to work. That’s necessary because south Texans are notoriously incapable of driving safely in bad weather.
TV stations are always predicting Armageddon, so when record cold and snow were predicted we listened then carried on as normal. Only this time the forecasts were correct. Average daytime temperatures for February should be 20C, but from February 13th we stayed below freezing for four whole days, had six inches of snow in one night (3rd highest amount ever recorded here), and a further 3 inches a few days later, plus snow and ice on roads for almost a whole week (the roads are never salted). Temperatures reached minus thirteen, colder than most locals had ever experienced.
The whole of Texas was hit – for the first time ever all 254 counties of Texas were under a winter weather warning at the same time. One city on the Mexican border had a record 11 inches of snow in one day. All this meant a record electricity demand.
There are 3 power grids in the US – East, West, and Texas. The Texas grid (which does not quite cover the whole state) exists solely to avoid federal regulation. It does have physical links to the other grids and to Mexico, but these are little used. Texas has been warned in the past that its grid is ill-equipped to deal with severe cold but an absence of regulations or political will meant that nothing was done. During the storm not only did demand reach record levels, but supply decreased. Wind turbines froze because they were not ‘winterized’ and gas companies were unable to pump sufficient amounts because their equipment also froze. The grid is managed by ERCOT (several of whose board members lived outside of Texas). ERCOT instituted rolling blackouts, having reportedly been within five minutes of the whole grid going down. The blackouts were intended to last for no more than 15 minutes per hour, but many areas had no power for 2-3 days. Other areas (that share a circuit with critical infrastructure such as hospitals) suffered no outages at all and the value of houses in these areas increased by $20k overnight. We also suffered water shortages, because suppliers were unable to pump water in the extreme cold.
Our home had no power for 2 ½ days. The indoor temperature obviously dropped substantially, but my wife managed to keep warm by staying in bed the whole time. She had also fallen in the snow and sustained a hamstring injury that still limits her walking almost a month later. Other people were not so lucky. An unknown number of Texans across the state died, many of them from hypothermia. There are numerous stories of ice on inside walls of homes.
ERCOT controls prices and raised them to the maximum permitted amount for several days (almost 400 times the average level!!!). Natural gas companies made more money in 2 day than in a normal year. Some of the increases have been determined to be unnecessary, but ERCOT has refused to rescind the extra $16 BILLION that it is accepted we were overcharged. The San Antonio supplier has not yet passed on extra charges, but some Texans faced immediate electric bills over 100 times the normal amount. Cities on the edge of Texas that run on one of the other grids did not suffer the same problems. Other states get much worse weather but can always cope. It has now been determined that the unregulated Texas grid has actually led to higher power charges across the state. It goes without saying that the lawsuits have already started. Politicians who previously praised the lack of regulatory interference are now demanding regulations to prevent a repeat occurrence.
I live almost 20 miles from my business, and was able to drive to work every day. The snow and ice meant a 25 minute journey took 75 minutes and was mentally exhausting, but was doable with careful driving. Most people took the week off. There are around a hundred other businesses close to my store, and on the first day after the snowfall only one other (fast food) was open. On the second day another fast food place was open, plus a gas station that ran out of gas within a couple of hours. For the rest of the week opening hours were unpredictable for even the large supermarkets, and many smaller stores stayed shut. Shortages of bread, milk, eggs, water, meat, etc. led to long lines everywhere. One customer said that her family had unknowingly drunk contaminated water and her son and grandson were in a local hospital who told her that they wanted to transfer her son elsewhere, but were unable to do so because there was no fuel for their ambulances!
Even though the store operated on reduced hours for most of the week, we broke our all-time sales record by 50%. I was physically and mentally exhausted for two weeks afterward - empty shelves needed restocking. On the day that everywhere else was closed we sold three weeks worth of cigarettes. Weeks later and distributors still have shortages of spirits, beer, soft drinks, and tobacco. Supermarkets continue to ration many items.
But this is Texas so there will be no major changes.
