This year's winter has been mild compared to other years. A couple years ago we had snow in December. Then there were some cold snaps. Then summer. Fortunately, it was a relatively mild summer compared to other years. Overall, 2020 was not a year of weather extremes. I guess it was saving things up for 2021.
For the record, the Rio Grande Valley is having three nights of below freezing temperatures. The entire state of Texas has been under severe weather warnings. There were light flurries in some parts of the RGV. There has been ice on the roads, icicles hanging from roofs, and frost everywhere.
We have also been hit with rolling power outages. ERCOT is having to cut power to different areas to keep the electrical grid up. This introduces problems in that you can't really operate a business or other operation if you can't rely on power to stay on all day. Many local governments, school districts, and other institutions have just decided to take the day off and wait until Tuesday afternoon to reopen. By that time, temperatures should be in the forties or so. All we have to do is wait things out.
In the meantime, people are hunkered down at home trying to stay warm. It is strange that there is yet another reason for people to stay home other than COVID. In the grand scheme of things, nothing much will change except that some people are having to sit in the dark and pile on the blankets.
Speaking of, communities are opening up shelters for people who need a warm place to sleep. Unfortunately, the rolling blackouts may end up making the experience marginally better than staying home.
Lately, living in the South Texas has spurred me on to plan for emergencies. We have extra food. We have rechargeable devices. Power generation. Radios. We seem to need to be ready for more than just hurricanes.
Fortunately, most of us have things like the book of face, the insta, and the tweeter to keep us distracted through all of this. Personally, I tend to watch a lot of the tube of you and read blogs. If the power goes out, I have a Kindle charged and ready to go.
The greatest disaster would not be the loss of power. It would be loss of Internet. Most homes in the RGV have some degree of redundancy. If the house Internet goes down, we can switch over to our phones. Or, perhaps many households rely on their phones for Internet service. Even so, most homes likely have more than one mobile account.
I hope everybody is keeping warm and safe. One more night of this . . . wait. There is another freezing night later this week. At least it's just the one night. For now, one more night. Let's prep for the next. Then we can move on with our lives.