The Ongoing Super Mega Weather Thread v3

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I think AESO really needs to get out there more in the public consciousness and local media. I remember as a kid seeing advertisements in the transit buses about "avoiding the energy rush hour" and reducing use during peak times whenever possible.

Yeah, we do need a campaign of some sort. That has fallen off my radar, but I remember setting a timer delay for the dishwasher and washing machine to run at like 3am, but I've gotten out of the habit and it's just sort of fallen off my radar to be mindful of that.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Yeah, we do need a campaign of some sort. That has fallen off my radar, but I remember setting a timer delay for the dishwasher and washing machine to run at like 3am, but I've gotten out of the habit and it's just sort of fallen off my radar to be mindful of that.

I have a friend in Ontario that used to mention running her dishwasher/washing machine in the wee hours of the morning, due to getting dinged at a higher rate or something, if they ran it during busy hours. It twigged me to that, hadn't really given it a pile of thought, so I started using the delay feature on the DW to have it run in the middle of the night. I tend to be a night owl, so I do laundry while I'm up in the later evening hours (10 pm onward).

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Yeah, we do need a campaign of some sort. That has fallen off my radar, but I remember setting a timer delay for the dishwasher and washing machine to run at like 3am, but I've gotten out of the habit and it's just sort of fallen off my radar to be mindful of that.

During +30 weather I run my dishwasher & washing machine at the same time

[Matata]

As part of my work I have access to weather data and powerful software that allows me to instantly analyze that data and have it tell me the annual heating degree days (HDD). The weather files themselves are an average of the last 15 years of weather data. The definition of a HDD is convoluted, but it's basically a measurement of how often and how intensely cold a location is. Here are some cities for reference:


7715 Fairbanks
5583 Edmonton
5273 Regina
5147 Calgary
5025 Juneau
4904 Fargo
4664 Ottawa
4346 Stockholm
4615 Montreal
4298 Minneapolis
4090 Toronto
3650 Kelowna
3577 Sapporo
3430 Chicago
3321 Glasgow
3255 Cleveland
3190 Berlin
3129 Denver
3020 Vancouver
2984 Dublin
2750 Beijing
2675 NY Central Park
2668 Seattle
2652 Paris
2625 Baltimore
2426 Portland
2311 Tokyo
2145 Nashville
1915 Istanbul
1824 San Fransisco
1733 Melbourne
1710 Shanghai
1673 Atlanta
1417 Rome
1403 Barcelona
1336 Jerusalem
1085 Auckland
960 Capetown
720 Los Angeles
687 Sydney AUS
628 Pheonix
547 Mexico City
401 Cairo
375 Tampa
320 New Dheli
24 Abu Dhabi
0 Mumbai, Singapore

Will take requests, options are limited outside of North America, No South America available.

[Yikes]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Happy first day of winter, it's finally here! I wonder what the season will bring, after such a lovely and full autumn we just had.

I can honestly say that yesterday and this morning are the coldest I have felt Calgary in a very long time...10 minutes outside max.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Minnie

I have a friend in Ontario that used to mention running her dishwasher/washing machine in the wee hours of the morning, due to getting dinged at a higher rate or something, if they ran it during busy hours. It twigged me to that, hadn't really given it a pile of thought, so I started using the delay feature on the DW to have it run in the middle of the night. I tend to be a night owl, so I do laundry while I'm up in the later evening hours (10 pm onward).

Yeah and that kind of thing is common in Europe as well. The appliances have timers on them so you can delay the usage until the middle of the night when power rates are cheaper.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Sliver

It's totally reasonable to prefer hot weather, but it's preposterous to say you don't need to take precautions in the heat. In -30 you need to dress and operate appropriately and you need to do the same in +30.

Is it fair to say it's far easier to dress appropriately for +30 than it is for -30?

And what's with the "if clothes don't exist" argument? Isn't it possible to get frostbite even when you have clothes on?

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I think AESO really needs to get out there more in the public consciousness and local media. I remember as a kid seeing advertisements in the transit buses about "avoiding the energy rush hour" and reducing use during peak times whenever possible.

100% agree here. California ISO is way more proactive on social media when there are grid events.

It's kinda ironic that the banter has largely been about +/-30C temperatures. It's precisely those types of weather conditions that yield those temperatures that puts pressure on generators. Very little to no wind when it's really hot or really cold.

The Cascade combined cycle plant will be online in 2023 which will add approx 900MW of firm load to the system. That should provide enough headroom to make these events a thing of the past or at least less frequent.

Aside from that, why the province hasn't started building a link between Grand Prairie and Site C is beyond me.

Last point would be to have a price incentive for consumers to reduce demand during the peak hours during grid alerts. Think of it as a hybrid Time of Use rate scheme. You wouldn't need to do it every day, but during tight supply situations like this week, it will help.

[jayswin]

I really do love this thread, it's fun in my eyes, especially seeing people get bent out of shape. The best part is it's argument over something we have no control over, yet everyone goes at each other like it's politics and the winner will get the weather they want if they argue and vote enough for their party (weather choice).

[jayswin]

My favourite part of the winter freeze version of the weather battles, is it's always the hot weather guys that flare up and lash out with the "is this what you wanted!!!!" type comments, unsolicited. Then within a couple of pages it's also the hot weather guys getting upset at the others for the argument being there "Can't we just move on!!!! Cold weather sucks, here's some more points to finish off, now you cold weather guys stop talking and being contrarian, okay!!!!!!".

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Acey

Is it fair to say it's far easier to dress appropriately for +30 than it is for -30?

It's the exact opposite of fair. In +30 I hate existing outside. I hide from it as best I can. It's miserable, loathsome and makes me want to be a winterbird where I go to some other climate during the summer where temps are closer to room temperature.

In +30 I can only take off so many clothes and even then it's still too hot. I did buy a cooling vest whereby I'd put these like ice-pack things in the freezer overnight and then insert them into the vest and wear it under a hoodie to try to keep me cool during heatwaves, but it didn't work. It just made me super uncomfortable and so I wanted to barf.

In -30 I have all the clothes to make me super comfortable. I don't really have my feet sorted out without the aid of those hand warmer things, though. My boots are rated to -30, but they really can't keep me warm in those temps without the help of a little heat source. Not sure what's up with that...I've had a couple of different pairs of really good boots and neither was warm enough for some reason.

Originally Posted by Acey

And what's with the "if clothes don't exist" argument? Isn't it possible to get frostbite even when you have clothes on?

It is not possible to get frostbite if you have the right clothes on, no. I mean, I don't think I'd embark on an arctic expedition in -30 because that's not my bag and I wouldn't want to risk getting myself into trouble, but anybody just going about their day in Calgary should most definitely not be getting frostbite if they're dressing properly and going inside if they get too cold.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by jayswin

I really do love this thread, it's fun in my eyes, especially seeing people get bent out of shape. The best part is it's argument over something we have no control over, yet everyone goes at each other like it's politics and the winner will get the weather they want if they argue and vote enough for their party (weather choice).

That’s what you think. Wait until this summer, then you’ll find out exactly what Sliver, btimbit, and I have planned. Let’s just say UCB can say goodbye to his wish ever coming true again.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Sliver

In +30 I can only take off so many clothes and even then it's still too hot.

Do you never vacation? Or would you just never enjoy it?

I'm not even being passive aggressive, just genuinely curious if you never leave Alberta because pretty much everywhere is hotter than here.

Originally Posted by Sliver

My boots are rated to -30

I suppose with easier I was alluding to cost as well, perhaps for those less privileged... because the appropriate footwear for +30 is $2 flip flops while your boots rated for -30 cost a bit more than that.

[The Yen Man]

Lol, cold weather white knights getting a bit upset in here cuz people like to complain about it being crappy when it's - 30 out. Relax guys, we like to complain about cold weather. It's our coping mechanism as we pine over hot weather. Get over it already.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Matata

As part of my work I have access to weather data and powerful software that allows me to instantly analyze that data and have it tell me the annual heating degree days (HDD). The weather files themselves are an average of the last 15 years of weather data. The definition of a HDD is convoluted, but it's basically a measurement of how often and how intensely cold a location is. Here are some cities for reference:


7715 Fairbanks
5583 Edmonton
5273 Regina
5147 Calgary
5025 Juneau
4904 Fargo
4664 Ottawa
4346 Stockholm
4615 Montreal
4298 Minneapolis
4090 Toronto
3650 Kelowna
3577 Sapporo
3430 Chicago
3321 Glasgow
3255 Cleveland
3190 Berlin
3129 Denver
3020 Vancouver
2984 Dublin
2750 Beijing
2675 NY Central Park
2668 Seattle
2652 Paris
2625 Baltimore
2426 Portland
2311 Tokyo
2145 Nashville
1915 Istanbul
1824 San Fransisco
1733 Melbourne
1710 Shanghai
1673 Atlanta
1417 Rome
1403 Barcelona
1336 Jerusalem
1085 Auckland
960 Capetown
720 Los Angeles
687 Sydney AUS
628 Pheonix
547 Mexico City
401 Cairo
375 Tampa
320 New Dheli
24 Abu Dhabi
0 Mumbai, Singapore

Will take requests, options are limited outside of North America, No South America available.

Can you filter out the warm six months. My understanding of HDD says is we would get influenced by our cold nights in late spring perhaps even summer relative to Regina and Edmonton. HDD is the measure of the number of degrees the mean temp is below 18 each day. So when Calgary as a high of 24 and a low of 10 (assuming uniform heating and cooling) we would still score a 2 on HDD.

So if you could pull HDD days by month for Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Chicago, Minneapolis, Toronto I think that would be interesting.

Essentially I don’t like the idea that we are as cold as edmonton or Regina and Minnesota is warmer and I think it might just be the spring/fall/ summer HDD skewing it.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by Yikes

I can honestly say that yesterday and this morning are the coldest I have felt Calgary in a very long time...10 minutes outside max.

Yeah this is ridiculous. I think around Christmas last year it was as cold if not colder, but I was also on holidays by then and not driving anywhere, commuting in this right now is something else. I'd rather add an extra 30 mins on my commute finding a straight, flat road this week than having to go down a steep hill...especially if it has a stop sign at the bottom. That sign seems to be more of a suggestion if able, in this weather...

[sa226]

I complain at every temperature

+30 What sweet hell is this?

-30 God has forsaken us!

-10 I want to wear my SG Parka but it's too damn hot

+10 If I walk too briskly then I get a bit sweaty and have to remove a layer, but then I remove a layer and get too cold.

+20 What kind of fake warm temperature is this? You're trying to be warm but when I'm in the shade in my shorts I get more chilly than I should.

-20 On the walk between the Cafe and my car, my latte becomes tepid faster than I would prefer.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Yeah this is ridiculous. I think around Christmas last year it was as cold if not colder, but I was also on holidays by then and not driving anywhere, commuting in this right now is something else. I'd rather add an extra 30 mins on my commute finding a straight, flat road this week than having to go down a steep hill...especially if it has a stop sign at the bottom. That sign seems to be more of a suggestion if able, in this weather...

Didn't we have that deep freeze last year?

I agree this stretch seems to be worse. I think it's because last years stretch had less wind chill than this stretch.

[PepsiFree]

Fellas is it cold weather white knighting to wear a jacket?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

That’s what you think. Wait until this summer, then you’ll find out exactly what Sliver, btimbit, and I have planned. Let’s just say UCB can say goodbye to his wish ever coming true again.