Moving to Texas

[Cranky]

I lived in Houston from 1986-1988 working for Enron. That winter several Ice storms hit the city, and the place shut down!.I lived in spring, and made it to work every day.
My dept manager who was retired Army was asked by corporate why Tim can get to work, and nobody else?
Terry said dryly: he's A YANKEE. He knows how to drive on the ice.
True story!!
I got a lot of OT because of that Ice.

Oh man.....I capitalized them on the down side!!

I obviously am not trained in weather patterns but I always thought that being further south meant warmer weather. Arizona is hotter than Montana. How can states like Texas and Alabama get so damn cold in the winter?
Last year, Lawton OK was below zero for several days.
I always heard that birds fly south for the winter. What if the south isn’t any warmer than the north ??

Birds fly south for the winter is right....but they don't stop until they get much further south like below the equator.....? Some stop in Texas and survive the years when it's colder than dirt but some don't. Thing is, the freezes here don't last for months and months.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Yes, Cranky gave the real answer


Up north you get negative temperatures for long periods, here 20s and teens for a short period are pretty normal

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Same as California, accept we never have humidity... On our worst days we'll maybe see 70% vs Texas where 70% is common & 95% isn't uncommon... And because we rarely have moisture during our coldest periods we don't see much ice accept in the mountains. When we see big rain the temperature usually gets a little warmer...

 

[monaco66coupe]

I have to say Houston definitely has the strangest environment. When the flood hit a few years ago I saw on the news the first floor of the enron building under water, and the new(at the time)1985 house we lived in had water up to to the roof! (I googled it) all I could see in my head when I went to bed that night was visualizing my beautiful 68 charger parked in that garage, if we hadn't moved!

 

[SlinktRR]

I wish that the state of Texas could come up with a plan to deal with winter instead of crowing about how great we are and then not doing anything about it. When I was a kid I remember driving on I-20 during a snow storm and there was a TXDOT truck with a load of sand and two guys shoveling it out the back onto the road. Hasn't improved much since then. The DFW area is now paralyzed for the whole week by something that would basically be a blip up north. The plan as it is every year is... wait until the weather warms up.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Every dang year, why wasn’t there brine put on the day before? Why aren’t crews ready?

Oh well we weren’t sure how bad I’d was going to be.

Really the biggest blame is to be put on the semi drivers. Where are their snow chains? Why aren’t these guys that drive all over the country ready for any weather anywhere,

 

[Roger63]

Every dang year, why wasn’t there brine put on the day before? Why aren’t crews ready?

Oh well we weren’t sure how bad I’d was going to be.

Really the biggest blame is to be put on the semi drivers. Where are their snow chains? Why aren’t these guys that drive all over the country ready for any weather anywhere,

Easy answer, states that don't require chains don't allow there use no matter what. I received a ticket for chaining up in Arkansas after being caught up in a flash freeze event.

 

[SlinktRR]

Plow dare they! Arkansas leaves Texas side of shared road covered in snow

It's a statewide issue with the lack of winter readiness, Feb 2021 just put an exclamation point on the problem. Even Arkansas gets it right. They've had two years to do something different but here we are again.

Can't blame truck drivers, it's state government and DOT here that just refuses to change with no way to salt or plow even the major interstates consistently. Maybe lack of funding. Or people just accept it as normal. But it's been the same for as long as I can remember. I've lived in other states and there are things we just don't do well here compared to the other 49 and don't want to admit.

We do have a few plows in the state though. The issue is that I only see them on some tollways like PGBT and at DFW airport. If you ever need to get anywhere here in a winter storm try a tollway. Privatize all the roads, maybe that's next? Hopefully they don't do like they did with the deregulated electric utilities, which is a total scam.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

I’m not blaming truckers, I’m pointing out they are the biggest treason for traffic jams during the winter weather. They can’t make it up the hills, and clog the highway.

Here’s channel 8 showing jeeps getting semis out of the way, yes that’s right, getting the semis out of the way. The North Texas jeep club is one of the many great things about Texas, when there’s natural disasters, we don’t wait on the government, we don’t wait on someone else, we help each other. These guys anytime there’s ice, they’re pulling people out, delivering meals and medicines to people that need it, offering rides if they need to

 

[EARLY B]

So we’ve been here for 3 weeks and we love Texas! Get a call at O Dark Thirty from my daughter’s school saying it’s cancelled due to the storm. I get up at 7, see the message look outside, I’m stunned cause it looked the same this morning as it did yesterday, cold. Ok, do I tell my little one, she’s happy. I run some errands and get home. A few minutes later, it’s snowing or sleet or hail or whatever the hell it’s called. Then we lose power for 1 and 20 minutes. Gotta love Texas weather.

Just wait for Hail season!!! As you drive around look for the nets over the car lots, you will know your in the area.

 

[Cranky]

I have to say Houston definitely has the strangest environment. When the flood hit a few years ago I saw on the news the first floor of the enron building under water, and the new(at the time)1985 house we lived in had water up to to the roof! (I googled it) all I could see in my head when I went to bed that night was visualizing my beautiful 68 charger parked in that garage, if we hadn't moved!

Don't know if you were familiar with the Edgebrook and Hwy 3 area but that's where I used to live for 10 years or so and that area floods on both sides of Hwy 3. My place got 7" the first time and only a few months later it got 3". A few more years it was 1 1/2". None of that is very much but it was enough to make me sell the place. A buddy of mine still lives in the area and told me that place got 6 foot during Harvey. I've been in my present home for going on 39 years and so far so good. I knew about this neighborhood and knew it didn't flood.....

Easy answer, states that don't require chains don't allow there use no matter what. I received a ticket for chaining up in Arkansas after being caught up in a flash freeze event.

A few years ago I bought a pair of really short 15" studded snow tires mainly because they were short....really short like 23" short to try out on the back of my 95 V6 Dakota just to see how much difference it would make in the 'gearing'. Plus they were really cheap. Man, they did make a difference. Kinda keeping an eye out for a set of 4.10 gears now. Don't know what some of these manufactures are thinking when they design a gutless V6 with 3.55 gears and OD. Nuts. But I sure got some hard looks from the local LEO's too. It was enough to pull out all the studs and that was a pita!

I’m not blaming truckers, I’m pointing out they are the biggest treason for traffic jams during the winter weather. They can’t make it up the hills, and clog the highway.

Here’s channel 8 showing jeeps getting semis out of the way, yes that’s right, getting the semis out of the way. The North Texas jeep club is one of the many great things about Texas, when there’s natural disasters, we don’t wait on the government, we don’t wait on someone else, we help each other. These guys anytime there’s ice, they’re pulling people out, delivering meals and medicines to people that need it, offering rides if they need to

I saw the Jeeps on the local news here. It was only about 3 seconds worth though. At least there's no hills here to speak of unless you count overpasses lol

 

[Cranky]

Just wait for Hail season!!! As you drive around look for the nets over the car lots, you will know your in the area.

Hail season here is all year long! lol

 

[Roger63]

I’m not blaming truckers, I’m pointing out they are the biggest treason for traffic jams during the winter weather. They can’t make it up the hills, and clog the highway.

Here’s channel 8 showing jeeps getting semis out of the way, yes that’s right, getting the semis out of the way. The North Texas jeep club is one of the many great things about Texas, when there’s natural disasters, we don’t wait on the government, we don’t wait on someone else, we help each other. These guys anytime there’s ice, they’re pulling people out, delivering meals and medicines to people that need it, offering rides if they need to

I knew you weren't, it's all good. But sometimes it is the over confident Billy big rigger.

 

[monaco66coupe]

Don't know if you were familiar with the Edgebrook and Hwy 3 area but that's where I used to live for 10 years or so and that area floods on both sides of Hwy 3. My place got 7" the first time and only a few months later it got 3". A few more years it was 1 1/2". None of that is very much but it was enough to make me sell the place. A buddy of mine still lives in the area and told me that place got 6 foot during Harvey. I've been in my present home for going on 39 years and so far so good. I knew about this neighborhood and knew it didn't flood.....


A few years ago I bought a pair of really short 15" studded snow tires mainly because they were short....really short like 23" short to try out on the back of my 95 V6 Dakota just to see how much difference it would make in the 'gearing'. Plus they were really cheap. Man, they did make a difference. Kinda keeping an eye out for a set of 4.10 gears now. Don't know what some of these manufactures are thinking when they design a gutless V6 with 3.55 gears and OD. Nuts. But I sure got some hard looks from the local LEO's too. It was enough to pull out all the studs and that was a pita!


I saw the Jeeps on the local news here. It was only about 3 seconds worth though. At least there's no hills here to speak of unless you count overpasses lol

Vaguely,but I believe that area around treschwigg flooded because the dike for spring creek or whatever broke, and overwhelmed the whole area.The area I am referring to is about four miles east northeast of the I-45 and FM 1960 eastbound exit
Although It may snow and get cold here in nebraska,, and have the occasional tornado, but there are no poisonous snakes, lizards, fire ants, or flying roaches that can carry small children away, and alligators can't be found anywhere! Heck, one night going home I saw a rat in the Enron Parking garage that was trying to steal my car one night!
HAHAHA

 

[Cranky]

Vaguely,but I believe that area around treschwigg flooded because the dike for spring creek or whatever broke, and overwhelmed the whole area.The area I am referring to is about four miles east northeast of the I-45 and FM 1960 eastbound exit
Although It may snow and get cold here in nebraska,, and have the occasional tornado, but there are no poisonous snakes, lizards, fire ants, or flying roaches that can carry small children away, and alligators can't be found anywhere! Heck, one night going home I saw a rat in the Enron Parking garage that was trying to steal my car one night!
HAHAHA

Saw a few rats traversing the wires out on the utility poles at my old place but so far I haven't seen any where I live now and have been here for 39 years. No poisonous snakes either and have learned how to keep the tree or bark roaches out many years ago. The only lizards I see here are the little green ones that don't hurt anything except insects. Fire ants now....that's something I'm always fighting! Have seen a few snakes but so far none that are poisonous. Now if you lived in an apartment while in Houston you will most likely see everything you mentioned and more!! lol Some of the things I've seen out here was deer, skunk a time or two, ducks (used to be a large stock tank behind the houses across the street), coyote, all kinds of birds (there's a nature preserve about 7 miles to the south of me), possum and a few others that I can't think of. Don't see as much as I used to since the area has recently rapidly developed

 

[MarPar]

 

[Cranky]

View attachment 1411497

At least Katrina didn't happen in Texas.....but we got a big influx of 'refugees' from that other state that stayed here.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

At least Katrina didn't happen in Texas.....but we got a big influx of 'refugees' from that other state that stayed here.

Yeah, unfortunately we did. Between them and the Commiefornians (Commiefornians are the the idiots, Californians are the good ones,) we have to fight harder to keep our state beautiful

 

[5.7 hemi]

****’n Commiefornian’s!

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

, aren’t you glad you’re not one of them!