Depending on how much you follow national weather, you may or may not know about a storm coming to much of the south this weekend. Having never lived in the south before this fall and winter, I had heard about these storms before and wondered what the big deal was.
I had known that for each region when you got a weather event outside of their normal it impacted them more. Compared with the same weather event happened in a place that was accustomed to them. A hurricane in Arizona or Tornados in San Diego would also be a big deal.
I am here to report to you why 20-degree temperatures, snow, and freezing rain are going to have a big impact in the south, while they are just a Tuesday in Wisconsin. The biggest issue is it is truly outside of their norm, resulting in construction practices not seriously addressing cold related issues. Things like houses, roads, plumbing, electricity, heating, etc. are not constructed with this in mind. Many places don’t have building codes or were constructed before such things exist (don’t get me wrong I find it loathsome that the government tells people what to do). If you choose not to factor freezing conditions when you install your plumbing, you must deal with it when they freeze. Every hardware store will be out of all plumbing parts by this time next week.
The fact that houses are designed to shed heat, instead of holding it in is another factor. Up north small rooms, low ceilings, a stove and stocked woodshed mean you can make it warm without power. In North Idaho, if I wasn’t cutting wood, I was chopping it or using it. Here not so much, I just finally stopped sweating.
The infrastructure here is much older as well. The old stuff here is at least 100 years older than the old stuff in the west. The public power and water systems are older. Many of which need to be updated. Meaning they break more frequently, especially when they experience a stock outside of their normal.
I did learn a new way of dealing with frozen pipes. If it looks like the temperature is going to drop overnight, turn the water off at the street or the well. Then open the valves throughout your house so the freezing water has some place to go.
It will be interesting to see how this weekend goes. I pray no one dies on the road or freezes to death. You have a few days to prepare still so take an appropriately measured response and then continue with your day.
-Joseph
Outpost 95 