It's Mr. White Christmas, It's Mr. Snow

Arbitrage is having an interesting winter being based out of Memphis, TN, where ice has caused the local water/power/gas company to have scheduled rolling blackouts in order to keep the power grid from overloading. In addition, temperatures dropped from above freezing to single digits over the course of a day which resulted in frozen and burst pipes across the city, in addition to increased electric and gas use to heat homes over the Christmas weekend.

Memphis isn't the only city that's "got it rough" right now. Many cities in the midsouth saw temperatures dip in the single digits (in Farenheit of course) where they normally wouldn't in addition to a relatively usual amount of snow and an unusual amount of ice. The temperatures combined with the winds have resulted in record setting or near record setting winter temperatures in some cities.

On a positive note, this time around, the southern United States were better prepared and cities that normally have a single salt truck had multiple running to ensure that the main streets were as clear as possible. However, even with more adequate preparation, some states still suffered significant hits due to weather. For example, Texas had to declare a state of electrical grid emergency as their power plants began to fail. The emergency order allows Texas power plants to pollute more than what is typically allowed in order to produce more energy to attempt to keep up with the power demands. We wouldn't be surprised to hear that the same thing is happening in states other than Texas that also got hit with what we have decided to call the "Christmas Cold Front" or the "Grinch Front."

Maybe it's more like the "Grinch Front" because it also caused thousands of flights to be canceled in its wake as well. Many were stuck or had to reschedule their flights on December 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, with the worst day being the 22nd. Snow and ice across the nation accumulated at a rate so quickly that runways were blocked such that flights were delayed by hours or had to be completely canceled because the storms wouldn't stop long enough for both the plane and the runway to be cleared and no one wants a Christmas plane crash. Supposedly there will be another bout of bad weather between Monday and Tuesday, but with temperatures rising, hopefully it won't be as catastrophic. Stay safe and enjoy the holiday season!

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