Federal regulators have opened an inquiry into what caused the massive power outages across Texas. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) confirms it will investigate along with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. FERC is the same agency that examined the last major winter power outage in Texas in 2011, and then offered recommendations aimed at preventing a repeat in the future.
On Wednesday, a group of North Texas congressmen sent a letter demanding answers from ERCOT, the agency that manages the state’s power grid. The letter asks what ERCOT did to prepare ahead of this major storm?
Meanwhile, NBC 5 Investigates has uncovered new information showing, less than a week before the storm, ERCOT officials gave assurances that the state’s power plants were ready to weather the elements, raising more questions about how such a massive failure of the state’s power system could happen.
During the storm ERCOT said, 40% of the state’s generators – four out of every 10 – were knocked offline. Those generators account for 46,000 megawatts of power, enough electricity to power roughly 9.2 million homes.
“I think it’s safe to say that the weatherization efforts have failed, they’ve not been able to keep capacity online during this extreme weather”, said Jesse Jenkins an energy expert at Princeton University’s Center for Energy and the Environment.
Jenkins said key questions for investigators will include what power plant operators did to protect equipment from the cold, and what ERCOT did to make sure those plants were ready.
“And after the last close calls and rolling blackouts in 2011, efforts were supposed to have been made to weatherize the system against cold. And it’s clear that those efforts were not up to the task,” Jenkins said.
NBC 5 Investigates found ERCOT meeting records on ERCOT’s website showing, just five days before the storm hit, ERCOT CEO Bill Magness assured the group’s board of directors in a meeting, “We’re ready for the frigid temps to come our way”.
He said the agency had issued a notice to power plants to ensure they were winterized properly.
In September ERCOT’s annual winter assessment designed to ensure the state is prepared, assured the public there would be enough power to meet peak demand this winter.
But then when the bitter cold arrived, dozens of power plants were knocked off-line, putting millions of Texans in danger.
At a news conference Wednesday, NBC 5 Investigates asked ERCOT CEO Bill Magness how he and his agency can be trusted after assuring the public the state was prepared.
Magness responded saying, “The people who folks in Texas really need to trust to lead us out of this crisis are those operators who are working on 24/7 shifts to make decisions that will keep the system safe.”
“The blame can be assessed very soon,” Magness said, “Blame will surely be assessed.”
NBC5 Investigates also tried to reach Sally Talberg, the chair of ERCOT’s board of directors, which oversees the agency. Talberg did not return the call. An ERCOT spokesperson also said that no board members will be available for interviews because their priority is restoring power right now.
ERCOT confirmed Wednesday that it has no mandatory rules to require power plants to prepare for the winter, only voluntary guidelines.
ERCOT says power generating companies have incentive to be ready, because they can’t make money if they aren’t able to make electricity.
A group that represents power generators, Texas Competitive Power Advocates, issued a statement saying power plants were in fact winterized and ready for the storm — but that the weather the state has seen has been unprecedented.
It was the 17th hole to appear in the remote Yamal and Gyda peninsulas in the Russian Arctic since the first was spotted in 2013, mystifying scientists. The craters arethought to be linked to climate change. Drone photography, 3D modeling and artificial intelligence are helping to reveal their secrets.
“The new crater is uniquely well preserved, as surface water hadn’t yet accumulated in the crater when we surveyed it, which allowed us to study a ‘fresh’ crater, untouched by degradation,” said Evgeny Chuvilin, lead research scientist at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology’s Center for Hydrocarbon Recovery in Moscow.
It was also the first time researchers have been able to fly a drone deep into a crater — reaching 10 to 15 meters below ground, allowing them to capture the shape of the underground cavity where methanehad built up.
Chuvilin was part of a team of Russian scientists who visited the crater in August 2020. Their findings were published in the journal Geosciences last week.
Climate change
The drone took around 80 images, allowing the researchers to build a 3D model of the crater, which is 30 meters deep — imagine three buses end to end.
Study author Igor Bogoyavlensky, of the Oil and Gas Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, served as the drone pilot and said he had to lie down on the edge of the 10-story deep crater and dangle his arms over the edge to control the drone.
“Three times we got close to losing it, but succeeded in getting the data for the 3D model,” he said.
The model, which showed unusual grottoes or caverns in the lower part of the crater, largely confirmed what scientists had hypothesized: Methane gas builds in a cavity in the ice, causing a mound to appear at ground level. The mound grows in size before blowing out ice and other debris in an explosion and leaving behind the massive crater.
What’s still unclear is the source of the methane. It could come from deep layers within the Earth or closer to the surface — or a combination of the two.
Permafrost is a huge natural reservoir of methane, a potent greenhouse gas much more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat and warming the planet.Warmer summers — the Arctic is warming two times faster than the global average — have weakened the permafrost layer, which acts as a cap, making it easier for gas to escape. Some experts estimate that soils in the permafrost region hold twice as much carbon as the atmosphere does, making the region extremely important in the fight against climate change.
“Climate change, of course, has an impact on the probability of gas blowout craters appearing in the Arctic permafrost,” Chuvilin said.
With the use of satellite imagery, the researchers were also able to pinpoint when the crater formed. They believe the mound would have exploded at some point between May 15 and June 9, 2020. The crater was first spotted during a helicopter flight on July 16, 2020.
The timing was not random, according to Chuvilin. “This is the time of the year when there’s a lot of solar energy influx, which causes the snow to melt and the upper layers of the ground to heat up, and that causes changes in their properties and behavior.”
While these craters have appeared in a very sparsely populated region, they do pose risks to Indigenous people and to oil and gas infrastructure. The holes are usually found by accident during helicopter flights or by reindeer herders.
While 17 craters have been documented so far, it’s not known how many there are in total or when the next one could blow out.
Scientists don’t yet have good tools for detecting and mapping the gas emission craters, although a team at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Massachusetts is trying to change that.
To log changes in the Arctic landscape, and perhaps ultimately predict where the next blowout crater might occur, the researchers have devised an algorithm to quantify changes to features such as the height of mounds and the expansion or shrinking of lakes on the Yamal and Gyda peninsulas.
The scientists’ model correctly predicted all seven craters that had been reported by scientists by 2017 and revealed the formation of three new ones.
The researchers also found that the craters are just one unsettling sign that the northernmost reaches of our planet are undergoing radical changes.
Some 5% of the 327,000 square kilometers the team surveyed saw abrupt changes in landscape between 1984 and 2017. These changes included ground collapses, the formation of new lakes and disappearance of others, plus the erosion of river bends, according to the research, which published in the Geosciences journal in January.
“These craters represent a … process that was previously unknown to scientists,” said Sue Natali, Arctic program director at the Woodwell Climate Research Center and coauthor of the study, in a statement.
“The craters and other abrupt changes occurring across the Arctic landscape are indicative of a rapidly warming and thawing Arctic, which can have severe consequences for Arctic residents and globally.”
One example is the aptly-named process of “spaghettification”, which is often illustrated by the fable of an astronaut who ventured too near a black hole’s event horizon – the point beyond which no light can escape – and fell in headfirst. Though her head and feet were just metres from each other, the difference in the gravitational forces acting on them would be so great, she would be stretched like spaghetti.
Intriguingly, the effect should be even more dramatic, the smaller the black hole is. Sholtz explains that it’s all about relative distances – if you’re two metres tall, and you’re falling through an event horizon that’s one metre from a primordial black hole’s centre, the discrepancy between the location of your head and feet is larger, compared to the size of the black hole. This means you’ll be stretched far more than if you fell into a stellar one that’s a million miles across.
“And so, peculiarly enough, they’re more interesting,” says Scholtz. Spaghettification has already been seen via a telescope, when a star got too close to a stellar black hole 215 million light years from Earth, and was ripped apart (no astronauts were harmed). But if there is a primordial black hole in our own solar system, it would provide astrophysicists with the opportunity to study this behaviour – and many others – up close.
So what does Batygin make of the possibility that the long-sought ninth planet could actually be a black hole instead? “It’s a creative idea, and we cannot constrain what its composition is even in the least bit,” he says. “I think maybe it’s just my own bias, being a planetary science professor, but planets are a little bit more common…”
While Unwin and Scholtz are rooting for a primeval black hole to experiment with, Batygin is just as keen for a giant planet – citing the fact that the most common type throughout the galaxy are those which have around the same mass as Planet Nine.
“Meanwhile most exoplanets that orbit Sun-like stars, are in this weird range of being bigger than the Earth and considerably smaller than Neptune and Uranus,” he says. If scientists do find the missing planet, it will be the closest they can get to a window into those elsewhere in the galaxy.
Only time will tell if the latest quest will be more successful than Lowell’s. But Batygin is confident that their missions are totally different. “All of the proposals are quite distinct in both the data they seem they seek to explain, as well as the mechanisms they use to explain it,” he says.
Either way, the search for the legendary ninth planet has already helped to transform our understanding of the solar system. Who knows what else we’ll find before the hunt comes to an end.
Zaria Gorvett is a senior journalist for BBC Future and tweets @ZariaGorvett
—
Join one million Future fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “The Essential List”. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Worklife, and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott urged residents to stay off the roads and conserve power as a winter storm barrels through the state.
“Every part of the state will face freezing conditions over the coming days, and I urge all Texans to remain vigilant against the extremely harsh weather that is coming,” Governor Abbott said Saturday.
“Stay off the roads, take conscious steps to conserve energy, and avoid dangerous practices like bringing generators indoors or heating homes with ovens or stovetops.”
FORT WORTH DEADLY ACCIDENT: SOME VICTIMS IDENTIFIED AFTER 130-CAR PILEUP DUE TO ICY CONDITIONS
Texas authorities are on high alert following a 133-car pileup that left at least six people dead and dozens more injured in Fort Worth Thursday.
Icy conditions also led to a 13-car crash in Magnolia, Texas Friday.
Abbott issued an emergency disaster declaration for the entire state and will request a Federal Emergency Declaration from the White House.
TEXAS TO GET HEAVY SNOW AS US TEMPERATURES CONTINUE PLUNGING
“Our emergency response to this winter weather requires a collective approach between state agencies, local officials, and Texans throughout our communities to ensure the safety and security of the Lone Star State,” Abbott said Saturday.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for nearly every county in the state, saying that travel in north and central Texas “could be very difficult…if not impossible late Sunday into Monday.”
“Snow totals of several inches are forecast across much of Oklahoma and into northern Texas,” the Weather Prediction Center wrote Saturday. Snow will start falling throughout Texas late Saturday night.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Temperatures will drop precipitously over the next 72 hours.
The National Weather Service in Amarillo warned that “dangerously cold wind chills under -20 are expected in the Panhandles each of the next 3 mornings with Monday morning featuring values as low as -30.”
Abbott said “roads will be very dangerous” and much of Texas “will face historic low temperature that will last for days.”
Five of six victims killed in a Fort Worth crash involving more than 100 cars were identified Friday as investigators worked to determine the cause.
Thursday’s pileup was the most staggering of the crashes that dotted ice-slicked roads across Dallas-Fort Worth. The crash, which was reported just after 6 a.m. Thursday, occurred in the southbound TEXPress lanes of Interstate 35W just north of downtown, Fort Worth Fire Chief Jim Davis said.
Officials said 133 vehicles were involved, and the crash spanned a half-mile between Northeast 28th Street and Northside Drive.
The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office identified the victims as: Tiffany Louann Gerred, 34; Aaron Luke Watson, 45; Michael Henry Wells, 47; Christopher Ray Vardy, 49; and William Darrell Williams, 54, were all among the crash victims.
All of the identified victims died between 6 a.m. and 6: 15 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. Causes of deaths for the victims are still pending.
Tiffany Louann Gerred
Gerred, an administrative clerk for the Tarrant County District Clerk’s Office, leaves behind a young daughter. Gerred was assigned to the 360th District Court which hears family cases. She always entered the courtroom with a smile on her face and was a bright presence, Judge Patricia Baca Bennett said.
“It was always nice to see her because she was always upbeat and that made it a pleasure to work with her,” Baca Bennett said.
Tarrant County District Clerk Thomas Wilder called Gerred “a beacon of light with her energetic personality” in an email to his staff Friday morning. Resources would be available to her grieving colleagues, Wilder added.
The crash
The crash closed all northbound lanes of I-35W Thursday, including toll lanes, with traffic backed up in both directions from Interstate 30 to Interstate 820, Fort Worth police said.
As of about 6:30 a.m. Friday, the ramps from north loop Interstate 820 to southbound I-35W were still closed for the accident investigation.
A total of 65 people had been treated at area hospitals Thursday for injuries related to the crash, but that number is expected to rise as more people seek help, MedStar spokesman Matt Zavadsky said. None of those treated were children.
Zavadsky said a large number of people who were involved in the accident were health care workers who were wearing scrubs and hospital badges.
Four Fort Worth police officers were hospitalized as a result of the wreck, Chief Neil Noakes said. Three had been on their way to work, and one was injured while helping at the scene. All four were released from the hospital.
In the early hours of Friday morning, less accidents were reported areawide.
When you think of magnets, you probably picture a dull third-grade science experiment, or the tacky palm tree souvenir you picked up on your last beach vacation, which now serves to hold up the overdue electricity bill on the fridge.
Yet magnetism is one of the most defining properties of our planet, enabling us to explain and understand phenomena, from anomalies in the human body, to why Santa Claus ostensibly lives at the North Pole.
Giant, ancient magnets might just help us figure out climate change, too.
New research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals how giant magnetic fossils from 34-56 million years ago could help scientists understand periods of significant environmental change — both past and present.
Electron microscope images of giant needles. Needles have a cylindrical shape and some taper toward one end of the crystal.Courtney Wagner, Ioan Lascu and Kenneth Livi.
Some background — Scientists studied both conventional and giant needle-shaped “magnetofossils” which were found in the continental shelf in Wilson Lake, New Jersey.
As the study states:
The New Jersey continental shelf experienced an overall rapid influx of clay, mineralization of iron oxides, dinoflagellate blooms, and benthic foraminifera species turnover…
As a result, these fossils contain the remnants of microscopic, magnetotactic bacteria and other microorganisms with iron components. In these bacteria’s case, magnetotactic means they orient themselves along magnetic field lines.
As the study explains, the bacteria in magnetofossils formed magnetic chains, acting like a small-scale compass. This magnetic ability guided the microorganisms to favorable nutrients in nearby oceans using Earth’s magnetic field like a road map to food.
Ancient, giant magnetofossils, formed some 34-56 million years ago, took these magnetic properties to another level, forming unique shapes, including “giant bullets, spindles, and needles,” which were approximately 20 times the size of conventional magnetic fossils, according to the research.
Transmission electron microscopy image of giant magnetofossils from Wilson Lake sediments, including the prominent ‘needle’ in these fossils.Kenneth Livi, Courtney Wagner, and Ioan Lascu
How they did it — Unlike previous studies, which crushed samples from magnetofossils into powder, these researchers examined the fossils without damaging them.
The scientists devised a new high-resolution technology to analyze magnetofossils, known as first-order reversal curves (FORC).
According to the study, FORC can “measure the response of all magnetic particles, including giant magnetofossils, within a bulk sediment sample.”
They also used transmission electron microscopy to generate an image of the specimens using a beam of electrons. Finally, they used simulations to predict the magnetic behavior of giant needles in the fossils.
Preserving samples is important for future research, Courtney Wagner, lead author on the study and a doctoral student from the University of Utah, said in a press statement.
“The extraction process can be time-consuming and unsuccessful, electron microscopy can be costly, and the destruction of samples means that they are no longer useful for most other experiments,” Wagner says.
What’s new — The giant, needle-shaped magnetofossils — not unlike the needle of a compass — produce “distinct magnetic signatures” from the ones typically found in conventional magnetic fossils, the researchers found.
These distinct features could ultimately reveal other giant magnetofossils, according to the research.
The structure of conventional magnetofossils are “optimized for magnetic navigation,” because they generate the “maximum magnetic moment with the minimum amount of iron,” the study says.
Curiously, the structure of giant magnetofossils is more variable than the researchers had expected. One theory they present is these giant magnetofossils may have formed at a time when there was abundant iron, making efficient magnetic movements less critical to the organisms’ survival.
Transmission electron microscopy image of giant magnetofossils from Wilson Lake sedimentsKenneth Livi, Courtney Wagner, and Ioan Lascu
Why it matters — The giant needle magnetofossils are uniquely associated with periods of ancient environmental upheaval.
In turn, researchers could use these fossils to better understand how ecological disturbances affect ancient marine life and the ocean ecosystem.
“It’s so fun to be a part of a discovery like this, something that can be used by other researchers studying magnetofossils and intervals of planetary change,” Wagner says.
“This work can be used by many other scientists, within and outside our specialized community. This is very exciting and fulfilling,” she adds.
There are no living creatures that form giant magnetofossils, making the study of these specimens incredibly important.
Ultimately, they could act as a time capsule, revealing ancient changes to the geological record — and hidden insights into modern-day climate change and the world’s oceans.
According to the study:
By studying the occurrence of giant magnetofossils, we can better understand how sensitive marine ecosystems responded to past climate change events.
If the microorganisms in these fossils could use magnetic fields to respond to past climate change and adapt, using the Earth’s magnetic field to find nutrients for survival, perhaps those lessons could help us respond and adapt to the climate crisis in the present.
What’s next — “The organisms that produced these giant magnetofossils are utterly mysterious, but this leaves exciting research avenues open for the future,” Ioan Lascu, a co-author on the study and researcher at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, said in the press statement.
But the scientists need to do more research to fully understand the makeup of the magnetic bacteria in these giant fossils.
“Collection and storage of these samples require specialized personnel, equipment and planning, so we want to preserve as much material for additional studies as we can,” Wagner says.
Abstract: Near-shore marine sediments deposited during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum at Wilson Lake, NJ, contain abundant conventional and giant magnetofossils. We find that giant, needle-shaped magnetofossils from Wilson Lake produce distinct magnetic signatures in low-noise, high-resolution first-order reversal curve (FORC) measurements. These magnetic measurements on bulk sediment samples identify the presence of giant, needle-shaped magnetofossils. Our results are supported by micromagnetic simulations of giant needle morphologies measured from transmission electron micrographs of magnetic extracts from Wilson Lake sediments. These simulations underscore the single-domain characteristics and the large magnetic coercivity associated with the extreme crystal elongation of giant needles. Giant magnetofossils have so far only been identified in sediments deposited during global hyperthermal events and therefore may serve as magnetic biomarkers of environmental disturbances. Our results show that FORC measurements are a non-destructive method for identifying giant magnetofossil assemblages in bulk sediments, which will help test their ecology and significance with respect to environmental change.
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — All outdoor and above-ground subway service was suspended starting at 2 p.m. Monday because of the massive winter storm.
MTA buses are still running, but suspensions are possible as are road closures.
Speed limits were also reduced on many major highways, and numerous spinouts and accidents were being reported.
A winter storm warning remains in effect until Tuesday for much of the Tri-State.
The vast majority of flights scheduled for today have been canceled. Travelers should contact their airlines directly to confirm flight status.
RELATED: State of emergency in New York City due to snow, schools move to all-remote learning
The last LIRR trains to and from Penn Station and Atlantic Terminal will leave between 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
The last Metro-North trains running to and from Grand Central will leave around 3 p.m.
These trains will reach their final destinations at around 5 p.m., with the exception of Metro-North’s Wassaic branch, which will reach its destination at 6 p.m.
Also starting at 3 p.m., all PATH service system-wide will be suspended.
Amtrak Northeast Regional is operating a limited schedule.
The Staten Island Ferry is operating on a modified schedule of every 20 minutes Monday morning
NYC Ferry service is suspended until further notice, and SeaStreak Ferry service is suspended Monday.
New York Waterway ferries also are suspended.
Alternate side street parking in the city is suspended through the rest of the week, but parking meter rules remain in effect.
MTA Bridges and Tunnels implemented an empty and tandem tractor-trailer ban beginning at 6 a.m. on Monday. Buses were being outfitted with tire chains and are running on a reduced schedule.
The upper level of the Verrazzano Bridge is closed, but officials expect it to reopen sometime later.
The MTA urges customers to stay home and avoid unnecessary travel during the storm.
“This is a serious winter storm with high snowfall levels predicted,” MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick J. Foye said. “MTA employees will be working hard over the next 48 hours and beyond to prepare for and respond to the storm. Even still, we strongly recommend New Yorkers stay home, stay safe and avoid unnecessary travel on Monday and Tuesday until the storm subsides.”
RELATED: Live Updates: NYC schools move to remote learning due to snow
MTA employees will be:
– Spreading salt and clearing surfaces of snow and ice – Keeping signals, switches, and third rail operating – Removing any downed trees that may fall across tracks – Attending to any weather-related challenges during the storm
New York City Subway and Staten Island Railway Outdoor, above-ground subway service will be suspended at 2 p.m. Monday. Officials said it will reopen as soon as it is safe to do so. Underground subway service will continue to operate.
There are nearly 220 miles of outdoor track throughout the boroughs. The Rockaway, Sea Beach, Flushing, Brighton, and Dyre Av lines are particularly vulnerable to snow and freezing precipitation. To prevent subway trains from being blocked in yards, they will be moved and stored underground in anticipation of heavy snow or ice. This will impact service on lines with express service.
New York City Transit has a fleet of snow and ice-fighting trains designed to keep outdoor tracks, switches, and third rails clear of snow and ice. High-powered snow throwers, jet-powered snow-blowers, and de-icing cars – retired subway cars modified with tanks and other specialized equipment to spray de-icing fluid on the third rail – are ready for immediate deployment.
New York City Buses MTA buses are still running, but suspensions are possible as are road closures. All local buses will be fitted with tire chains. Sixty-foot articulated buses will be replaced with 40-foot standard buses starting Sunday night.
New York City Transit and the MTA Bus Company have 35 snow-fighting vehicles in their fleet, which operate on predetermined routes to quickly reach terminals, lay-over locations, and other highly trafficked areas and known hotspots.
Bus managers have technology that tracks service when it falls below minimum expected levels on any route, allowing them to make decisions more quickly. Bus service will be adjusted based on road conditions around the city and service curtailments on a route-by-route basis are possible.
MTA New York City Transit’s Department of Buses and the MTA Bus Company have the following equipment and supplies on hand to fight the storm:
– More than 800,000 gallons of diesel fuel – More than 338,000 pounds of de-icing material
MTA Bridges and Tunnels MTA Bridges and Tunnels personnel have activated full inclement weather preparedness for all facilities. Staffing will be maintained at the level necessary to fight the storm with up to 300 employees engaged in weather-related activities.
Due to expected high wind conditions, a ban on empty tractor-trailers and tandem trucks will be in effect on all MTA bridges starting at 6 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 1. Bridges and Tunnels will be closely monitoring the weather and implement additional appropriate restrictions as needed.
Fleet Operations garages will be activated throughout the storm to maintain the availability of all storm-fighting equipment and material including:
Bridges are equipped with embedded roadway sensors for temperature and above-ground atmospheric sensors that deliver real-time information on wind velocity, wind direction, humidity, and precipitation via wireless communication. These sensors record data used to determine if speed restrictions are necessary.
Flooding conditions will be closely monitored and appropriate mitigation measures will be put into place as needed. All non-critical roadwork will be suspended during the storm with contractors on-site and/or available to assist with weather-related response and mitigation.
New Jersey Transit New Jersey Transit will temporarily suspend all service Monday, except the Atlantic City Rail Line, which will operate on a regular weekday schedule.
Port Authority buses
Due to the impending snowstorm, all bus service in and out of the Port Authority Bus Terminal will be suspended Monday, February 1. Please check with your carrier for specific information and resumption of service.
Commuter Railroads The Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad are amending service plans in advance of the storm and may amend them further depending on storm conditions. Snow-fighting equipment is winterized, tested, and positioned strategically throughout both railroads. Protective heat circuits are being verified to be operational, air brake lines are being purged of any moisture to prevent them from freezing, and electric trains are being fitted with special third rail shoes to prevent snow from accumulating.
Metro-North Railroad The last Metro-North trains running to and from Grand Central will leave around 3 p.m. Monday. To view final train departures at individual stations customers should visit mta.info or use the Metro-North Train Time or MYmta apps.
Metro-North is closely monitoring conditions and may further modify or suspend service if the snowfall is heavy. In ice storms, blizzards, or sustained winds over 39 mph, train service may be severely curtailed or suspended, especially if there are frozen switches, downed trees, or a loss of third rail or overhead catenary power.
Metro-North Railroad installed third rail snowshoes on its electric trains to scrape ice off of exposed third rails, is shrouding exposed train couplers with snow covers to keep snow out, is treating exposed shoes with deicer, and is spraying door panels with an anti-freeze agent.
Metro-North Railroad has snow-fighting equipment ready to go, strategically located at facilities around the system.
Switches – the interlocking tracks that allow rail traffic controllers to route trains from one track to another – are being treated with an anti-freeze agent and lubricated. Metro-North Railroad uses electric switch heaters.
Long Island Rail Road The last LIRR trains to and from Penn Station and Atlantic Terminal will leave between 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday. Due to the extreme cold currently hitting the service territory, LIRR station waiting rooms will remain open through Wednesday, Feb. 3.
The LIRR is closely monitoring weather forecasts as the upcoming storm nears its service area and may further modify or suspend service if the snowfall is heavy. In ice storms, blizzards, or sustained winds over 39 mph, train service may be severely curtailed or suspended, especially if there are frozen switches or there is a loss of third rail power.
The LIRR reminds customers to travel only if necessary on Monday and Tuesday. Railroad crews will be out across the service territory working to keep trains moving for those who need them. Those who must travel are urged to be cautious on station staircases/platforms and when boarding/exiting trains. Customers who are planning to travel are encouraged to check the LIRR TrainTime app, MyMTA app, or new.mta.info, for the latest service information.
Access-A-Ride Access-A-Ride paratransit service will continue to provide service, with vehicles using tire chains and all-weather tires, although shared trips and feeder service will be suspended during the storm. Reservations are being accepted on a 24-hour booking cycle instead of the usual 48-hour booking cycle. Customers may experience additional travel and wait times. Customers may want to reconsider travel, unless medically necessary. The Paratransit Command Center will be monitoring the storm to track and respond to immobilized vehicles and customers.
New York City Transit has coordinated a procedure with New York City first-responders and the NYC Office of Emergency Management for rescuing customers on immobilized vehicles or those who develop medical needs during storms.
NY Waterway Ferry Service All NY Waterway ferry service will be suspended on Monday, February 1 due to severe winter weather. NY Waterway will issue updates on Tuesday’s service as the storm develops.
Tri-State air travel update LaGuardia Airport, John F. Kennedy Airport, and Newark Liberty Airport are reporting approximately 90% of their flights on Monday have been canceled. Travelers are urged to contact their airlines directly to confirm flight status.
ADDITIONAL WINTER STORM COVERAGE Current winter storm forecast Snow Stream live winter storm updates New York CIty declares state of emergency Mass transit and travel information Check AccuTrack Radar School closings and delays
SEND YOUR SNOW PHOTOS HERE:
For weather updates wherever you go, please download the AccuWeather app.
Solomon’s compensation package was reduced to $17.5 million for 2020, down from the $27.5 million he received in 2019, according to a US Securities and Exchange filing on Tuesday. The $10 million payout comes after Goldman agreed to pay nearly $3 billion after pleading guilty to charges the bank conspired to violate US anti-bribery laws in a massive scandal with 1MDB.
In October, the bank said that Solomon would face a pay cut, along with other top executives including its CFO Stephen Scherr and COO John Waldron in light of findings from the investigation that involved the US Department of Justice and other authorities.
The scandal relates to bond sales that Goldman Sachs(FADXX) arranged and underwrote for 1MDB, from which the US Justice Department alleges $4.5 billion was stolen. The Justice Department accused Malaysian financier Jho Low, who had ties to the film “The Wolf of Wall Street,” of masterminding a plot to channel the money from the fund to former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bank accounts.
Scherr’s pay was reduced to $15.5 million from $22.5 million in 2019. Waldron’s pay was slashed to $18.5 million, down from $24.5 million in 2019. In total, the three executives’ total compensation for 2020 was reduced by $24 million in response to the bribery scandal fallout.
“While none of Messrs. Solomon, Waldron or Scherr was involved in or aware of the firm’s participation in any illicit activity at the time the firm arranged the 1MDB bond transactions, the Board views the 1MDB matter as an institutional failure, inconsistent with the high expectations it has for the firm,” the filing stated.
SpaceX has bought two huge oil rigs to convert into floating spaceports for its Mars-bound Starship spacecraft. Named Phobos and Deimos, after the two Martian moons, SpaceX intends the massive structures to support super heavy lift launches.
Thanks to recently captured photos, now we get to see the enormous scale of the two rigs.
Shrouded in mist off the port of Pascagoula, Mississippi, Phobos stands out like a sore thumb. The derrick, the tower of steel meant to hold the rig’s drilling apparatus, towers above its surroundings — almost as if a Starship was already perched on the platform ready for liftoff.
SpaceX’s Starship offshore platform, Phobos, has entered the Port of Pascagoula in Mississippi. pic.twitter.com/IKjiPSJR4F
— Brady Kenniston (@TheFavoritist) January 22, 2021
As spotted by aerospace and launch photographer Jack Beyer, the two platforms were even given nameplates in line with their new names.
I’ve been exploring around the Port of Brownsville while waiting for Starship testing and found an oil rig that appears to be named Deimos, after one of the moons of Mars! Based on job postings and @elonmusk’s tweets, I’m willing to bet that SpaceX is involved. @NASASpaceflight pic.twitter.com/zhTOGNnZKd
— Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) January 19, 2021
Floating Spaceports
Converting oil rigs as means to launch its spacecraft has been part of SpaceX’s plans for a while.
“SpaceX is building floating, superheavy-class spaceports for Mars, Moon and hypersonic travel around Earth,” CEO Elon Musk wrote in a June 2020 tweet.
It’s still unclear when SpaceX will end up starting work on converting the two rigs. But if its recent development of its Starship spacecraft is anything to go by, we should expect to see some modifications being made to the oil rigs sooner than later.
More on the platforms: SpaceX Bought Two Huge Oil Rigs to Use as Floating Launchpads
Margaret Court, a tennis legend who won each of the sport’s four major tournaments multiple times and has created controversy over her anti-LGBT views, is set to be honored on Australia Day.
However, the decision to give her the Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia, which is “awarded for eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or humanity at large,” sparked a massive backlash. The award is set to be given Tuesday, on Australia Day.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Views on Court have changed since her playing days on the tennis courts. Court, now a Pentecostal minister, has been outspoken about her disagreement with LGBT rights and same-sex marriage in Australia. Her criticisms sparked calls for Australia to rename the Margaret Court Arena, which is one of the venues for the annual Australian Open.
The decision to award Court the honor on Australia Day received criticisms from Australian politicians. Former tennis star Martina Navratilova didn’t outright criticize the decision but retweeted Court scrutiny.
“I don’t give out those gongs. That’s not a matter for me; that’s for others. You might want to speak to them about why they think those views, which are disgraceful, hurtful and cost lives, should be honored,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said Friday, via The Guardian.
SPANISH TENNIS PLAYER SAYS SHE TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
Andrews added more in a tweet.
Anthony Albanese, of the Australian Labour Party, also tweeted about the decision.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison didn’t comment on Court’s honor.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“I can’t comment on an award that is done through an independent process that hasn’t been announced or I have no official knowledge of those things,” he said.
