Houston shut down by 1/4inch of ice

Try living in Arizona where driving in rain is a very rare thing.
 
Actually, was referring to something somewhat... louder. And a lot less civilized. Well, if you don't know what it was, I guess you fail at geography in Europe, then. :p :p :mrgreen:

Yeah, I guess I fail for not guessing what you think of. I'll not ask you what happened in Dallas last month and reply "nope, that's not it" to everything you say, claiming you suck at citywide geography.
 
Dunno, seems to me that riots might be newsworthy.

Unless riots have become so common in Europe that they're not newsworthy any more. :p
 
Dunno, seems to me that riots might be newsworthy.

Unless riots have become so common in Europe that they're not newsworthy any more. :p

I'm certain they made local and probably even national news. What's your point?
 
What Chaos is saying I think is that these ice storms are rarely to the caliber of the one that we are currently seeing. I cannot attest the situation in Houston, but having lived in Texas all 17 years of my life, and my mother having lived in Texas all her life as well, neither of us have seen a freeze of this magnitude or length, at least in the metroplex area.
 
ICE STORM1!!!!1!!! On the news in Houston for literally 3 hours straight. Same footage being looped of morons, random snow patches, etc. My dad was also told not to come to work (he works downtown).

I drove home today in my summer rubber shod RWD car. I only spun the tires when I wanted too :D

Yes, there was some ice on the road today when I drove home around 2PM, but not much. I slipped around more on my own two feet :p

Also, I pumped gas in a T shirt like a boss.
 
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What Chaos is saying I think is that these ice storms are rarely to the caliber of the one that we are currently seeing. I cannot attest the situation in Houston, but having lived in Texas all 17 years of my life, and my mother having lived in Texas all her life as well, neither of us have seen a freeze of this magnitude or length, at least in the metroplex area.
The difference between the Dallas area and the Houston area is the ice didn't arrive until last night/today (it was fine on my trip home last night, around 8PM). We had temperatures below freezing for much of the day earlier in the week, but it was dry. A cold, dry road isn't a problem. It's when the road is not only cold, but with a layer of ice, that it becomes a problem, and Houston hasn't had that. We've just had the one day of ice, and it's supposed to warm up again tomorrow. This "one day of ice" is something that may not be experienced every year, but a year with ice certainly isn't uncommon. I haven't commented on the DFW area, just the Houston area. The title of this thread does directly reference Houston, after all. :)
 
The difference between the Dallas area and the Houston area is the ice didn't arrive until last night/today (it was fine on my trip home last night, around 8PM). We had temperatures below freezing for much of the day earlier in the week, but it was dry. A cold, dry road isn't a problem. It's when the road is not only cold, but with a layer of ice, that it becomes a problem, and Houston hasn't had that. We've just had the one day of ice, and it's supposed to warm up again tomorrow. This "one day of ice" is something that may not be experienced every year, but a year with ice certainly isn't uncommon. I haven't commented on the DFW area, just the Houston area. The title of this thread does directly reference Houston, after all. :)


Wow really?! Pardon my ignorance for assuming the storm affected all of Texas equally...I shouldn't make assumptions like that, as it would akin to a person in Nebraska commenting on weather in Oklahoma:p Carry on fellow Texans:p
 
Um, wut? I wasn't trying to accuse you of anything. :confused: I was just providing information for people who may not know.

Haha I know you weren't, I was just saying that I thought all of Texas became a frozen hell, when in fact Houston was just a frozen...idk Purgatory.
 
Once or twice a year is still really rare, though. We got slushies last year, but it wasn't this bad--now I'm wondering if I'll be able to go to an autocross/work on Her Fluffiness/get the hell out of here for a day or two this weekend because the last time we got snow (last month), it stuck around for a couple days afterwards. :( Luckily, it looks like we got less snow this time, but I just checked my phone again and it shows flurries on Sunday up here (northeast Texas, mind you). Ffffffuuu--

Also, Dallas always seems to get blasted in comparison to Houston. Northeast Texas just gets derpcold, Waco gets a little blast, and Austin is like, "lolwut? there was snow today?" Even Austin got a nice white blankie of snow this time, for 'lump's sake. That's...not good if you feel like going anywhere. Not good at all.

Try living in Arizona where driving in rain is a very rare thing.
Ha! One of my friends who moved from here to California mentioned this as a problem where she lives, too.

Coming from WA, I'd argue the same thing about Texans. We get torrential freaking downpours here, but didn't build in the proper drainage or figure out how to drive in them.

- omgpleasedon'tmentionwetafterIalmosthydroplanedthefailtimaintoaguardrail, either (and yes, I know it's my fault for running around on tires fried down to almost-slicks, but omgwtfbbq SCARRED FOR LIFE)
 
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Ha! One of my friends who moved from here to California mentioned this as a problem where she lives, too.

I'm pretty "bleh" about the whole "California suxxors" thing, but Californian drivers do not know what rain is.

As soon as they see drops on the windshield, they slow to about 2/3 of the speed limit (most traffic is doing five to ten over). That's not really a problem - our roads see water so infrequently that it kinda makes them a bit slick when it does rain. But, as soon as they see the drops stop coming down, they accelerate back up to five to ten over the speed limit, even though the road is still sopping wet.
 
Even wikipedia knows snow or ice events in Houston in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011. It's no Canada, but no "doesn't happen" either. You always tell me how bad my knowledge of the US / Texas / geography / whatever is, yet you as a local appear to know even less about your own beloved state of Texas :no:

So over a 17 year period wikipedia told you we have 8 snow or ice events here in Houston. Thanks for proving how uncommon it is.

Understand. I was born in Houston and I've live in the Houston metro area for all of my 26 years. This is the worst icing event I can recall. Normally Houston might get 2 or 3 "hard" freezes (temps clearly below 32 degrees) and I'm sure an ice patch will show up here or there because of it. And I'm sure Houston's countless bridges (Houston is built on a swamp and has an incredibly intricate interstate system with dozens upon dozens of interchanging flying bridges that can ice up ABOVE 32 degrees due to the mysterious properties of bridges) but normally when Houston gets an 'ice or snow' event it really means that 5 snowflakes fell on IAH and slightly moisten the runway. 2004 was different in that snow actually fell to measure in appreciable quantities (2-4 inches IIRC). Still it quickly melted because the ground never really froze and the road never really got more than wet. And trust me, we Houstonians have experience driving on wet roads (Houston is ALWAYS wet. Or flooded).

This event was different because wipespread freezing rain (VERY RARE in Houston. Much more so than 5-flake snowstorms) covering the city in a patch of ice and that only slowly melted because of how untypically chilled the city is at the moment. Ice wasn't only on bridges, it was everywhere. Combine that with a city filled with large SUVs and trucks with powerful v8s and open differential rwd riding on summer tires and you have Houston today.

Sidebar: One of Houston's interchanges. We have a lot of these:

bw8_i10_interchange_nb_feeder_20-may-2001_hres.jpg


We have very very many of these. Check out

http://www.texasfreeway.com/Houston/houston.shtml

if you want to see pictures of just about all of them. Houston's highway/interstate system is really something else.

More typical Houston weather:

http://img14.imageshack.**/img14/383/phpc2juqdam.jpg

http://img718.imageshack.**/img718/4416/phphjhkanam.jpg
 
I'm pretty "bleh" about the whole "California suxxors" thing, but Californian drivers do not know what rain is.

As soon as they see drops on the windshield, they slow to about 2/3 of the speed limit (most traffic is doing five to ten over). That's not really a problem - our roads see water so infrequently that it kinda makes them a bit slick when it does rain.

Oh yeah. The freeways here have really inadequate drainage, and in the recent rainstorms that we've had in the past two months, standing water builds on them pretty quickly. Means traffic sucks a lot more than usual.
 
I hope you fellas understand that I'm not trying to say we Houstonians are good drivers. We're not. Not when the city is covered in ice, nor when the asphalt is so hot you can fry an egg on it and the tires grip like they're molten gold (typical Houston day.) I'm merely trying to explain why a lil' ice pretty much shut down the city.

They say that Texas is to America as America is to the rest of the world. We're pure, distillate Americanism at it's best (or worst). I'm, just look at Spectre. So you only imagine our drivers. Remember all those old western movies, where two posses show up and gun each other down until there is only one man standing? That's a morning commute on I-10. We don't have an ounce of driving skill, but we do have a 7000lb hunk of diesel powered steel putting out 600lb.-ft and that, combined with massive amounts of pride, ego, and anger issues is enough to get us to work. Barely.

We Texans have a reputation of being friendly, hospital, and easy going. But we sure ain't on the morning battlepath to work. WWIII is going to be a lot like the Katy freeway on a Tuesday around 7am, I reckon.
 
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I know two people in Texas who are having to live elsewhere because of MAJOR damage to their homes water lines. Many frozen/burst lines. Even burst a few pex lines! That's hard to do!
 
https://pic.armedcats.net/k/kn/knarkas/2011/02/05/haha_20-_20zoom.jpg
 
So over a 17 year period wikipedia told you we have 8 snow or ice events here in Houston. Thanks for proving how uncommon it is.

I've never said it's not uncommon. All I'm saying is that "doesn't happen" is false.


interchanging flying bridges that can ice up ABOVE 32 degrees due to the mysterious properties of bridges)

That's neither mysterious nor specific to bridges, it's just physics. Every body radiates off heat. If the air is at 2? at night and there is no cloud cover stuff will get a lot colder than 2? because there is more radiation going out than coming in. That's also why car windows can ice up without the air ever being frosty - moisture from the warmer air condenses on the colder glass, and freezes up if glass is under 0?. No mystery involved.
 
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