Hell Hath Officially Frozen Over

Anyone who's been in Houston in July, August or September knows what I'm talking about.

We got snow today, with a high of about 42 degrees at 9am in the morning. Right now it's hovering around freezing, and it's been there most of the day. The prediction of 1-3 inches was pretty correct, with areas closer to the coast getting the most snow. At our house, it didn't even accumulate on the ground. At the airport there was about 1.5 inches, and my car doors were a little stiff when I went to open them.

We even had a full day of school, although several other districts started early dismissal around lunchtime. Y was so disappointed that he had to stay for a full day of classes. I was released from work 90 minutes early. (Hey, free leave, I'll take it no matter what they call it!) I got home just a few minutes before Y, and all he kept saying was, "Mama, you tell me no cold in Texas! Today is very cold!" (as he stood there in shorts, a t-shirt and a jacket) and, "Mama, you say no snow in Texas. Why you say?" The puppies seemed to like the cooler weather, though. I guess that's what happens when you wear a fur coat full-time in Houston.

I took two short videos of the snow flurries and accumulation at the airport, but I can't seem to transfer them to my computer. Here's two pictures; one of them is of an 8 inch snowman taken this evening when I returned to work the midnight shift, the other is my car this afternoon when I left work during the 'hazardous weather event.' Enjoy.

Plus, when I got back to work, there were still a gazillion planes waiting to go. They have been trickling out all night because they have to wait to be de-iced first. I asked one ExpressJet pilot how long it took from the gate until they were cleared for takeoff. He told me (at about 1:30am) that they waited at the gate for 3 hours, then they pushed back and waited in line for 2 hours and 15 minutes to de-ice and take off. Their flight was only 2.5 hours long. Yikes. Apparently they don't have enough de-icing equipment or maybe not enough experienced personnel for such nights as these here in Houston.

The ride home was uneventful, and the ride back to work was DRY. People were actually driving on the highway at 40 mph with their blinkers on because there might be ice somewhere. If you're that afraid to drive - Stay home!

Waiting for it all to melt away tomorrow morning.

Natalie

TX