Houston will have extreme cold and temperatures could drop below 20 (MERGED) (Galveston: pool, electricity)

[resonator]

I thought that for several years now a water heater leak in the attic was no longer covered. And rising water requires a flood policy. Just some types of water coming in through the roof due to wind damage is still covered. But who can keep up with all the little fine print exclusions they put in the 6 month bills ?

[Htown2013]

Anyone else still really disappointed/disgusted that we had such a prolonged and brutal cold snap? I know it was a month and a half ago, but still disappointed by its impact. I hope such terrible artic cold doesn't plague us again.

Between the power outages, water damage, sprinkler system damage, and our regions beautiful zone 9a foliage (palms, subtropicals) severely setback or outright decimated, I'm quite upset that this happened.

I moved over a thousand miles south to get away from that type of winter. I like seeing palm trees. I like seeing things that cannot grow further north. I'm still sad about this happening to Houston. I didn't realize how much just seeing palm trees by First Colony Mall/Cheesecake Factory "improved my mood" until this happened. Seems like we got "2020'd" in 2021.

Anyone else feel the same?

[Ghost Town]

Well I am not sure if there's a reason to be disappointed with a weather event.
This is something we can't control. Nature is nature.

What I am kind of disappointed is: fragile infrastructure/home designs.
House can be ruined with a fairly minor external influence like this.
Yes, that sort of freeze feels really cold for the humans, especially locals.
But that should not be so devastating for the houses.
And those pipes that builders keep putting in the attics, that's really stupid.

[kemahkami]

There is a reason why places like Africa, China, and India are major cradles of biodiversity and civilization. Whereas in the Americas, you have to get far below the Rio Grande before you even start seeing similar levels of complexity. The North American climate is perhaps the harshest on Earth outside of Antarctica. Even in the relatively benign states of California and Florida, you still have to deal with drought/wildfire cycles and hurricane strikes, respectively. Such harshness definitely played a role in restricting quality of life of those that originally settled the continent.

Dan Gill is a horticultural specialist affiliated with the LSU AgCenter. During the winter of 2014, which was also a frigid polar vortex event in the US, he wrote a piece that captured the true extent of devastation and heartbreak at New Orleans in the aftermath of the 1980s freezes. Below are the most pertinent portions of the piece, which capture the true plight regarding the climate of North America.


https://www.nola.com/entertainment_l...38383f1f1.html

Repeated freezes are tough on tropical plants, but New Orleans gardens have been through worse

Experiencing just one night of 15 degrees in New Orleans with temperatures staying below freezing for a day or two would be far worse than numerous freezes in the mid-20s. The effect on tropicals in our landscapes would be disastrous, as I well know.

I began my horticultural career in 1980 when I was hired as an LSU AgCenter extension horticulturist in Orleans Parish. During the '80s, temperatures dipped down into the upper teens every few years in New Orleans. That chilly decade culminated in the catastrophic freeze of December 1989. Occurring just before Christmas that year, temperatures in New Orleans reached 11 degrees and stayed below freezing for three straight days.

In the midst of the freeze, I remember looking out a window at the snow and ice and actually shedding tears. I knew this freeze would destroy much of the unique beauty provided by our tropical plants, and it simply broke my heart.

And, indeed, the freezes were devastating to area landscapes. Golden rain trees (Koelreuteria bipinnata) and camphor trees (Cinnamomum camphora) were widely planted, and every single one was killed. I remember flying into New Orleans in June 1990 and seeing so many dead trees it almost looked like winter. Many people had to completely change their landscape plantings, as yards previously shaded by 30-year-old rain trees were drenched in sun.

There were dead palms everywhere. All but a few of the hardiest palms species were largely wiped out.

Tropical plants were substantially eliminated from landscapes, although some of the hardier types with below ground parts, such as bulbs or rhizomes, managed to survive. Efforts at protecting tropicals were largely ineffective. It was simply too cold for too long for covering to help that much.

The cold was so intense that putting plants in garages did not necessarily save them unless heaters were used. People who had left home for the holidays and turned off their heat came home to find indoor plants that had actually frozen to death inside their houses.

After that episode, however, the rest of the winter was relatively mild. This is a good example of how evaluating a winter based on the lowest temperatures that have occurred rather than how many times it goes below freezing can be a better indicator of its severity and impact on tropical plants.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Originally Posted by Htown2013

Anyone else still really disappointed/disgusted that we had such a prolonged and brutal cold snap? I know it was a month and a half ago, but still disappointed by its impact. I hope such terrible artic cold doesn't plague us again.

Between the power outages, water damage, sprinkler system damage, and our regions beautiful zone 9a foliage (palms, subtropicals) severely setback or outright decimated, I'm quite upset that this happened.

I moved over a thousand miles south to get away from that type of winter. I like seeing palm trees. I like seeing things that cannot grow further north. I'm still sad about this happening to Houston. I didn't realize how much just seeing palm trees by First Colony Mall/Cheesecake Factory "improved my mood" until this happened. Seems like we got "2020'd" in 2021.

Anyone else feel the same?

I think all 22 jasmine plants I have scattered around the yard have died. There are 12 along the fence that are close to 20 years old that didn't survive. A couple of sage bushes didn't survive, but the big purple sage I've had for about 10 years seemed to have survive, although it's not as thick with green leaves as it usually is. I can't tell about the crepe myrtle. It has sprouted leaves since the freeze but the leaves look dark instead of green, so I'm not sure whats going on with that plant. I guess will have to wait and see if it blooms any flowers.

On the positive side of the freeze, I have yet to see any mosquitos or any other bugs so I'm hoping the freeze took a toll on mosquitos and other insect pests.

[gwarnecke]

I've gotta say - it's surreal to think that this freeze happened less than two months ago, and since then we've had plenty of days with temperatures breaking into the lower 80s.

Not to gloat - but thanks to a combination of lots of preparation and a good deal of luck, we had no issues during the freeze. We brought our potted plants into the garage, strung Christmas lights on our flower beds (for a bit of heat), and covered up a few of our shrubs (but by no means all of them). We lost a few plants but 90%+ survived, including our flowers. Some of our shrubs (mostly the ones furthest from the house) looked pretty dead after the freeze, but they're finally starting to sprout some green leaves - glad we didn't panic and rip them all out. Our crepe myrtles look about like they do every spring. We dripped our faucets until pressure dropped to zero, then shut off water at the meter. When we turned the water back on after the freeze, everything was fine. We lost power for about 36 hours, but used a small portable generator and an interlocked inlet in our power to keep the furnaces and essential circuits running.

We're in the process of buying another house that was vacant during the freeze. It also lost power for a time. The seller had drained all of the plumbing before the freeze, and everything seems to have survived without issue except for some possible issues with the sprinkler system. The backyard has a variety of tropical plants and trees, including a 30+ foot queen palm, and all of the trees have survived according to the arborist who assessed them.

There's a lot of venom being spat all over ERCOT, the power grid, etc. To me it's just noise - I don't count on grid electricity, water supply, or anything outside of my control to be 100% reliable. If you own a generator, power outages are inconveniences but not catastrophes. A whole-house backup generator may be a luxury item, but a portable generator doesn't have to be - you can get a basic model for $300 that will run the essentials. I would rather invest in a generator for the few times a decade that it's needed than be forced to pay an extra 5 cents/kWH or however much all of these grid reliability investments are going to end up costing the ratepayers.

[AcresHomes44]

If Houston never haves a cold snap like we did in February, I'll be glad. I don't see another cold snap like a couple months ago happening again because to me, Houston isn't built for cold weather.

[turf3]

No, I was not disappointed. The weather forecasters predicted it was going to be darn cold for a long time, and I would have to say the results

EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS.

So no, not "disappointed".

[timtemtym]

For me, the drought we had back in 2008 was the first time I saw a major setback in the Houston landscape. Memorial park was decimated that year when they had to remove all the dead trees that buffered the quiet park from I-10. Before that, I never really thought of the park's proximity to 610 and 10. We even had wildfires that year. It was a really harsh time for plants.

The biggest disappointment from this freeze was seeing just how poorly Texas leadership team is keeping up with the growth here. They will absolutely sell out their people in order to keep the "business-friendly" label going here. It's appalling.

There was outrage at first, but the top leaders quickly ran around ringing the bells of anti-immigrant, pro-guns and anti-abortion that quickly brought their voters back into the fold. My extended family here quickly shut their mouths about the grid failures and got back to their yelling about the "demonrats" wanting open borders and banning guns.

I don't know what it will take to break the stranglehold on them, but 3 days in frozen cold with no electricity or water just wasn't enough.

[jfre81]

Of all the things to be disappointed in regarding that event and the circumstances around it, the death and removal of a non-native tree that's more useful to wood roaches than anyone else ought to be pretty low on the list.