Texas storm media coverage

noteven · February 21, 2021

This dumb Canadian has a question about the Texas storm coverage in the media (the snowstorm not the chitstorm that followed):

If this was/is an heretofore unprecedented freak 100yr climate change caused going to happen more often storm, why do so many people own snowblowers?

Thanks

Dutch_12078 · February 21, 2021

Snow is not unheard of in parts of Texas, but the problem this time was the record low temperatures combined with the snow, sleet, and freezing rain that caused all the problems. Canada, like much of North America, is prepared for these events, but obviously Texas was not.

Kirk W · February 21, 2021

1 hour ago, noteven said:

If this was/is an heretofore unprecedented freak 100yr climate change caused going to happen more often storm, why do so many people own snowblowers?

Who do you know in TX that owns a snowblower? I can't think of anyone that I have known in all of my years of living in TX that has one and very few who even own a snow shovel. I don't know about all of the cities in TX, but I just checked and none of the suburbs in the area where I live own any snow removal equipment at all. Most are using front end loaders to remove snow on major streets and the side streets just have to melt off. The North Texas Toll Authority does have and did use snow-plows as did the state highway department on the interstate routes. By far the most common thing that I saw in use to clear sidewalks and driveways was leaf blowers, but I suppose you could now claim that they have become snow blowers?

Edited February 21, 2021 by Kirk W
repair a typo

noteven · February 21, 2021

The video clips I see show people using snow blowers clearing side walks and driveways...

Kirk do you mean to say "the media" is showing clips from other places while talking about Texas? Nooo they wouldn't would they?

Anyways of course I understand it is sustained temperature below freezing that is causing the trouble, not snow.

Some snow info I found:

Here are the top 10 snowfall events for Dallas-Forth Worth, from iweather.net:

11.20" 1 Feb 11, 2010 (Thu)

7.80" 2 Jan 15, 1964 (Wed)

7.50" 3 Feb 17, 1978 (Fri)

4.70" 4 Nov 13, 1976 (Sat)

4.50" 5 Mar 01, 1942 (Sun)

4.30" 6 Jan 16, 1964 (Thu)

4.00" 7 Jan 30, 1977 (Sun)

4.00" 8 Jan 24, 1948 (Sat)

4.00" 9 Jan 22, 1940 (Mon)

3.90" 10 Mar 07, 1947 (Fri)

*Note: Two of the largest calendar-day snowfalls at DFW occurred on consecutive days: 7.8" on 01-15-1964 4.3" on 01-16-1964 total 12.1"

durangodon · February 21, 2021

From the 2010 census to the 2020 census, Texas' population increased by about 4.5 million people, or almost 17%. Maybe some of the Northerners who moved down to Texas during that period brought their snow removal equipment with them. 😀

Kirk W · February 21, 2021

1 hour ago, noteven said:

The video clips I see show people using snow blowers clearing side walks and driveways...

It seems that you know far more than I. I can only tell you what I have witnessed both over the past winters spent in TX and what I saw traveling from a northeast suburb of Dallas to a southeast one on Feb. 18. Maybe everyone hides their snow-blowers and snow-shovels when they know I'm coming?

Come to think of it, I can't remember having seen a snow-blower in any TX stores either so they must be part of that conspiracy?

Edited February 21, 2021 by Kirk W
repair a typo

Barbaraok · February 21, 2021

2 hours ago, noteven said:

This dumb Canadian has a question about the Texas storm coverage in the media (the snowstorm not the chitstorm that followed):

If this was/is an heretofore unprecedented freak 100yr climate change caused going to happen more often storm, why do so many people own snowblowers?

Thanks

I imagine a lot of people bring their snow blowers from the north when they move to Texas. And I wouldn't be surprised that a lot of firms might have one or two they picked up from some garage sale cheap "just in case". We were in the Fort Worth area one Christmas a couple of years ago when it was snowing on the west side of Fort Worth with tornados on the east side of Dallas - at the same time! Weather can get really freaky when gulf air full of moisture hits cold air coming south. And in the winter, there is nothing between Dallas and the Canadian border but flat, flat, prairie.

It is the ICE that really causes problems, because no snow removal and drivers that will still be doing 70 mph when they hit ice. We were hit in 1978 with ice - for 3 days my husband couldn't get to work and our 2 yr old was asking to "Slide Daddy Slide" on the slick driveway incline. He was so tired after 3 days he practically left at dawn when it was safe to drive to get to work! 😉. BTW, at that time only DFW could land planes in the south, the ice storm had shut down almost every major airport. And the reason they could - they had put in deicing equipment, and everyone laughed. The airport was fairly new at the time. So they could land and take off, but no one could get to either Dallas or Fort Worth because all of the roads were sheets of ice.

Kirk W · February 21, 2021

1 hour ago, noteven said:

people using snow blowers clearing side walks and driveways...

Part of the reason there are actually very few snow-blowers here or snow-shovels for that matter comes from the fact that yesterday the temperatures in the Dallas area got into the mid 50's and today is expected to be in the low 60's. With the recent weather having been the longest continuous period of temperatures below freezing in more than 30 years, if you buy a snow-blower you rarely get a chance to use it. It is unusual for us to get more than a couple of inches of snow and that is typically all melted in a day or two. We lived in Ft. Worth from 89 through 99/2000 winters and then in east TX from 2012 through 2019, when we moved to Mesquite, TX. In all of those winters, this is the most snow and the longest lasting snow that I have experienced. While you may believe that you know something that we do not, in the current storm scenario I have seen 0 snow-blowers, 1 snow-shovel and only 3 snow-plows (all on the toll road). I think you may need to find a better news source.

Quote

Based on records from 1898 to 2019, the average snowfall is 2.6 inches per year. ... The record snowfall was recorded in February 2010, when 12.5 inches of snow fell over two days at the Dallas-Fort Worth International airport.

Big Rick · February 21, 2021

Lived in Amarillo for about 8 years. Moved 3 times since and each time was going to throw away my snow shovel. Glad I didn’t. BTW: they can also be used to spread mulch in your flower beds!

snowblower, not so much

orca · February 21, 2021

Just north of Leaky TX, at the entrance of one of the twisty roads called the Three Sisters is the city yards. In that yard is a large snow plow and an apparatus that slides into the back of a dump truck to spread sand or salt. Every time i ride past them i always think how rusty and unloved they looked! I bet they are well used and heroes of the day now!

mptjelgin · February 21, 2021

TxDOT owns a lot of equipment for spreading sand/salt/deicing mixtures, but relatively little equipment for actually blowing or plowing snow. It comes down to having a bunch of money and maintenance tied up in equipment that might only get used once in ten years, not to mention the operator training necessary.

I have however seen road graders, power brooms, etc. pressed into service for snow removal. If you can move dirt with them, you can also move snow! Just not as efficiently as dedicated snowplows.

Barbaraok · February 21, 2021

1 hour ago, Big Rick said:

Lived in Amarillo for about 8 years. Moved 3 times since and each time was going to throw away my snow shovel. Glad I didn’t. BTW: they can also be used to spread mulch in your flower beds!

snowblower, not so much

Yes, we left our snow throwers with a friend when we left Michigan, but took our manual snow shovel, and ice scrapers with long handles, with us to Oklahoma and Texas and used them for a variety of things. Long manual snow shovels are great for helping to bag oak leaves when you live in a subdivision called The Woods on Big Oak Drive!

Dutch_12078 · February 21, 2021

If you want a snowblower on hand for the next storm, apparently they're not hard to find in Texas:

https://www.google.com/search?q=snow+blowers+in+texas

Ray,IN · February 22, 2021

I live in S. Indiana, this winter is the first in about 5 years my neighbor got to use his snowblower he's had for about 15 years. Then he could only use it for 1/2 hr at at time it was so cold outside.