Weather? I apologize to all Texans!

[NateHaler]

They'll be fine

Where Do Northern Deer Find Water in Winter? | National Deer Association

www.deerassociation.com

Southern whitetails (and Chital, aka "Axis deer") are not northern whitetails. This is a 30-year event, not a yearly thing. But there are too many deer in TX, so just another way to cull the numbers. Nature is beautiful and terrible at the same time.

Congress is only terrible.

 

[joshb]

Is your Sequoia 4WD (or AWD)? If so, with good rubber, you should be okay. Just don't drive fast. My neighbor came over to say howdy today (figure 4" snow here north of Spring Branch, TX). He was driving his Polaris Ranger. Started out in 2WD and got nowhere. Keep in mind that many of these ATV/UTV vehicles have recommended tire pressure of 5 (yes five) PSI.

Lots of Texans drive 2WD pickups. They should stay off the roads in conditions like this, unless they've lived in snow/ice climates before, and have a few hundred pounds of ballast in their truck beds to help get traction on the rear wheels.

We moved here from NH, and we're staying home, because it's amateur hour out there. In a week, it will be 70 degrees and all will be forgotten. I feel bad for the deer. They need water, and they're not used to this hard freeze. Hopefully some of them are using our stock tanks, but they freeze overnight and stay that way until I bust the ice come dawn. We have a cow that is Houdini when it comes to getting stuff out of the tank, like hoses, heater, and stay-full valves.

Thanks for the thought, Nate. It’s a 4wd. I cut my teeth back East. I learned to drive a tractor around 8. I got plow duty on it when I was about 12. Been driving 4wd trucks since I got my license. I’m more afraid of the idiots than the ice and snow, too. I won’t drive the Sequoia because of the shape of the tires. I won’t take my new Escalade out because of the idiots. I have a full freezer, plenty of milk and bread, eggs etc. I’m sitting tight. Besides......there’s a virus out there!

 

[INTJ]

I’ll try to get there as soon as I can. The little county road I live on has been closed for three days. They don’t have salt trucks or plows down here. The “municipal strategy” seems to be to wait until it melts. I was going to get new tires on my Sequoia last weekend but I put it off. They only have 1/4 inch of tread left. No better than slicks in this stuff!
I’ve been advised not to ask for “snow tires” so I’m going to get some “off road” tires!

Get a "three mountain peak" or "snowflake" rated tire. When chains are required, you don't have to use them if you have this type of tire. Several companies make them. I have been driving around today in the snow with these tires and my traction on this powdered show is excellent.

 

[Newhouse]

Get a "three mountain peak" or "snowflake" rated tire. When chains are required, you don't have to use them if you have this type of tire. Several companies make them. I have been driving around today in the snow with these tires and my traction on this powdered show is excellent.

I had Goodyear Duratracs on my Tacoma that I traded in. Wished I kept them as OE tires in the new Tacoma are not as good.

 

[joshb]

Get a "three mountain peak" or "snowflake" rated tire. When chains are required, you don't have to use them if you have this type of tire. Several companies make them. I have been driving around today in the snow with these tires and my traction on this powdered show is excellent.

I don’t think I could buy a tire made for “snowflakes”....

 

[gmitchell]

I have heard this for years, and it is somewhat a misnomer. I have lived in TX, AR, MS, AZ, OR, WA, and now Northern Idaho. Saw big snowfalls in Lubbock, Little Rock, and once in Western Oregon. Saw heavy ice and very cold temps in MS. Even saw snow in Tucson.

The snow in most of the "warmer" places is almost always the heavy, wet snow that quickly packs into ice. Additionally, because the temps fluctuate between just above freezing and just below when it snows, ice is very common. Nobody drives well on ice.

Here in N. Idaho--where I understand it was warmer than much of Texas today, the the snow is dry and powdery. Itty bitty little snowflakes that don't stick and don't compact into ice as easily. Also, when it snows here, the temps are usually in the mid 20s to low 30s, so the snow stays snow and provides good traction.

Now I bet that early and late snows here in N. Idaho could be the wet kind. Regardless of the kind of snow, there are lots of snow plows, guys with snow blades on their pickups, and many folks have snow-blowers. So snow just isn't the issue here as it is in places that are just a little warmer.

So take a Minnesota snow driver and put him in a wet West Oregon snow/ice show with little snow removal equipment, and let's see how he does........

I know I didn't enjoy shoveling 16" of wet snow from my 1800 sq ft driveway in Western Oregon a couple years ago. Took me a week. No one plowed our street. No one had a snow blower.

Here in Coeur D Alene, I drove along a frozen lake in mid 20 degree temp to a gun range today on snow covered roads and had great traction. I also crossed paths with many big snow plows.

Snow is a while different deal in places like this. We are expecting 4-8" over the next 24 hours, which is the first real snow we will have seen here since we started coming up this way in Mid-November. I'll bet it's no big deal and if you can get out of your driveway you can get anywhere you need to.

I'd put my Minnesotan All American Country girl wife,sister or daughter behind the wheel before many of the southern boys on snow or ice. We run the gravel roads. Dodging deer and critters. In the spring it’s as slick as anywhere.

 

[okie]

You transplants that are new to Texas, are about to experience “Texas Winter”. This is 6 or 7 days of cold, maybe some ice and snow. The weatherman will threaten snow. It may snow, it may not and if the weatherman says 2 inches it could be 10 or it could be 1/2”. It doesn’t matter how much snow it is, we’ll all freak out because we don’t see snow often.

The threat of snow (or ice) from the weatherman is your prompt to head to the grocery store and buy milk, eggs and bread. It doesn’t matter if you need these items. It’s just what we do. Everyone in town will be there.

You’ll also need to make a mad dash for faucet covers and finding them and getting out of the store will be like an episode of the hunger games. You’re in the redneck district.

Don’t look for a sled. You won’t find one. In the rare chance we get enough ice or snow to sled grab some cardboard or a trash can lid and go find the nearest hill. Yes, we know it’s not a hill. You live in the flatland, just go with it. You’ll be alarmed by the fact that you’re “sledding” towards a bar ditch, fence or maybe into a farm to market road. Just go with it. You’ll be fine.

We don’t have equipment to handle the winter and weather. The roads will be a mess and even though the state has been telling you for a week they’re ready, they’re not and it won’t work. Just stay home if you can and if you can’t just come to terms with the fact that nobody here knows how to drive in snow and ice.

Whatever you do, DO NOT talk about snow tires.

If you happen to slide off the road or get stuck, turn your flashers on, take a deep breath and wait. Two guys in a four wheel drive truck will be along in no time to offer assistance. Don’t try to help them, they live for this stuff, and will do what they can to get you back on the road. If either one of them screams “hey y’all watch this” just get back and get your phone out and start recording, you’ll probably have a viral video. Also of note, when they offer you beer and deer sticks, don’t be rude, take them and smile.

No matter what you do, don’t talk about how they did it back home in any of these scenarios. Nobody cares. You live in Texas now, Texans know they live in the greatest state in the country and it’s our way or the highway.

When we act like we’re going to die and start to complain about the 7 days of winter just shut up, we’re serious and we don’t care how much you love it. We don’t.

You’ll be back in shorts and flip flops in a week to ten days and it’ll be nice until right around Easter.

Texas “second winter” will be 2 or 3 days and will hit right around Easter, usually the week before or the week after. This will hit right around the time you plant flowers and a garden. We know you’re not from around here when we see you’ve planted flowers before Easter and before the “second winter” has hit.

This is why all the people at the nursery don’t sound like us when you’re shopping for plants. We know better.

During second winter it’ll go from 70 to 25 and you’ll experience all four seasons in one day. This too shall pass, get used to it and when second winter is over you can enjoy the 3-4 weeks of “spring” before summer gets here and it’ll be melt your face off hot until sometime around Halloween.

God bless Texas!

Lmao

 

[INTJ]

I don’t think I could buy a tire made for “snowflakes”....

It's rated for driving ON snowflakes...

 

[Intheshop]

Driving,"on".... over,through,or whatever. The more snowflakes that get eliminated,the better in my book(jk).

Got plenty of driving stories here. Folks move in from northern climates,yappity yappin about "this isn't snow,you know back where I come from". Well,good luck with the black ice and 9% grades. Same with deer.... "awww how could anyone shoot that beautiful animal"? Wait till a FEW of them are passengers in your front seat and we might have a conversation,N'es Pas?

 

[NateHaler]

As we wind up this thread, it's 3 degrees here about 20 miles south of Johnson City, TX. But should warm up to 28 by dusk, and then the worst will be over. Supposed to warm up to the 30s, 40s, 50, and 60s within a week. Snow will be gone, and body shops will be booming. The savvy types will wait until spring/summer then stock up on pipe insulation, heaters, and firewood, and take on some insulating and preventive measures for next winter. Meaning, most people won't do anything.

If I decide to sell some stuff at a gun show in the near future, I may add Duraflame logs to the display. At $20 each. Less than the cost of two boxes of .22 ammo right now.

(Strike anywhere matches? $10/box.)

 

[david kieffer]

This is a perfect morning to sort bullets here in central pa . I had enough winter .

 

[Texas10]

The snowfall in Austin ending Monday morning was historic. Austin recorded 6.4 inches officially breaking records back to 1949. Another tenth of an inch and it would have tied a 1920's record. It came after an ice storm that took down many trees and limbs, knocking out power to 166,000 just in the Austin area and 25% of all Texas utility customers. I only lost power for 9 hours, I was lucky!

This morning (Tuesday) we're down to 5 F. Many have been without power for 36+ hours because the generating capacity has been knocked down by freezing natural gas lines, closed refineries or wells freezing, wind turbines frozen and solar panels covered by ice and snow. It's the perfect storm.

This part of the country is not built to withstand these low temps, quite the opposite. Most of our backouts are the result of extended 105+ temps in August when wind, solar and gas production is not being taken offline due to weather. Homes, even new homes are for the first time suffering frozen pipes, low natural gas pressure on top of power outages. And more is coming.

Tonight we expect more freezing rain with yet another round due Thursday morning. We'll start to thaw Friday but by then many will have been without power for 3 to 4 days. Seniors who can't deal with frozen pipes and lack of heat will suffer the most, unable to travel to local hotels because in this part of Texas, snow plows are unheard of, and snow on top of ice is a marriage made in hell when it comes to travel.

Friday we'll finally start the clean up of storm damaged trees, roofs, pipes and cars. As glad as we were to see 2020 finally come to an end, 2021 is shaping up to be even worse.

 

[Chris Covell]

Here is New Braunfels this morning.

 

[Ol Thumper]

We hit -6 last night, it’s never been this cold here..EVER... So much for their global warming theory, they can shove that straight up their keister.. Along with their green energy crap. Frozen wind turbines, solar panels covered in snow.. These morons coming up with this crap don’t have to deal with this stuff and neither should we. Their are so many busted pipes in homes from them shutting the power off for long periods of time down here it’s only a matter of time before the lawsuits start flying. Who knows what the final death toll will be from them shutting the power off but I bet it’s going to be pretty high.. We produce more energy than most of the rest of the country combined and we can’t keep our power on, really??

 

[snert]

I just put some reloads together for it’s first test run!?! I sold my other one with the cheap plastic stock because this one had real walnut!

drat

 

[GotRDid]

 

[GotRDid]

 

[GotRDid]

 

[GotRDid]

 

[GotRDid]