Kevin One of the major topics of discussion these past few days is the weather we’ve been having for a large part of the U.S., mainly the Midwest and the South. Since this has had a huge impact on things, I’m gonna make today’s post a special report on Winter Storm Uri, as it’s unofficially called as of the 18th.
I will update this with more developments as they become known, and also include resources for help.
This storm started out in the Pacific Northwest, off the coast of Canada, as an extratropical cyclone. According to the Wikipedia article, the storm did its own thing, and split into separate systems over the weekend. In my area, the temperatures dropped to well below zero on the Fahrenheit scale, dipping into the negative double digits at night, with equally brutal wind chills. We also got snow, and lots of it. On Valentine’s Day weekend, Texas and Oklahoma got snowstorms and with the ongoing cold snap, it wrecked the power grid, leaving them with rolling outages.
Tornadoes even touched down in Florida and Georgia, with ranges from EF-0 to EF3. Some got off with relatively minor damage, and others weren’t so lucky.
Some areas, like in Texas and Oklahoma, saw treacherous driving and travel conditions, along with freezing dams that left residents without safe water. These parts of the U.S. don’t always see weather like this, and their homes weren’t built for it, so it made things even worse.
People died in this storm, and according to the Weather Channel article, the current count is at 47. A mom and baby in Houston died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and others died in car accidents from the storms.
As of today, a lot of people in the South are without power and running water, and in cold weather. The Texas power outage is ongoing, and according to the weather reports, another storm is on its’ way. As of February 19th, the death toll from this storm is at 70, with some of the ones included in this count located in Mexico. Readers, this is a seriously dangerous storm, so if you’re in this area, know that we see you, we hear you, and we care about you.
For readers in Texas who have power and access to the Internet, or for readers who know someone in Texas, there’s a list of available resources that you can use for yourselves, or relay to the ones you know who are living there. [EDIT 12-1-2021: This link no longer exists.]
Over to you, readers. How are you holding up in this? Drop it below, and let’s talk. We’re in this together, and we’ll get out of it together.
