It Houston...AGAIN?

Categories: Weather

Photo by Jeff Balke
The shocking state of the patio table in my backyard.
People throughout the city were waking up to a very mild case of what doctors call "shock" this morning when they looked out their windows and saw what appeared to be snow on rooftops. But how could this be? Twice in the past two weeks we've gotten freezing precipitation that practically shut the city down, even a little snow the last time. Apparently, in the early morning hours, some freezing precipitation began to move into the area, particularly the northern and western suburbs. But with reports coming in on Twitter from all over town, it would appear the entire city got at least a little of the white stuff.

In my backyard, it was mostly frozen rain and hail rather than snow, but I'm guessing kids in my hood will call it snow because, hey, we live in Houston and they probably don't even understand the concept.

As of this writing, frozen precipitation was moving through the entire area, but most is still relegated to the northern parts of the area. Parts of Conroe and Huntsville, for example, are getting a pretty good dusting of the white stuff.

The good news -- or bad if you want to make a snowman -- is that temperatures are not below freezing most places south of Beltway 8, so ice on roadways, at least within the city, is not an issue for commuters and traffic appears to be moving as smoothly as it can for Houston rush hour.

You might see some ice in standing water outside in shaded areas where it got to freezing, and snow may stick around on flat surfaces chilled by the wind, but this is not a freeze event. It is also expected to warm up rather quickly today even though temperatures may not get much above 40 degrees.

Personally, I'm not sure I can remember a time when Houston got three bouts of freezing precipitation in the span of as many weeks, but I'm sure it has happened at some point. Fortunately, this time it didn't come with paralyzed, icy roadways.

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