Snow in Texas

Snow in Austin, TexasHappy (brrrr…) Valentine’s Day! Since last week, most of the United States has been in the throes of icy winter weather, closing airports and leaving motorists stranded in snow drifts. This typical scene plays out every winter, threatening to upset life and commerce in cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Boston, and New York. But one doesn’t often consider Texas a target for blizzards. On February 4, several inches of snow fell on Austin. That weekend, I drove up to Dallas to visit a friend. Icy road conditions forced an added hour to what is usually a three-and-a-half hour commute. Road conditions were fair until crossing the Dallas county line, where ice coated the main interstate. I passed Waco—a sizable city— that managed to treat its roads with sand. What happened, Dallas?

That Sunday the Dallas area (Arlington, actually) hosted the Super Bowl. While I did not attend the game, I was witness to a city of over 6.5 million totally unprepared for big crowds and icky weather. Brought to its knees, the Dallas police department seemed hapless to protect and serve, and many Dallasites grumbled—inconvenienced by the weather, 100,000 out-of-towners, and a paucity of taxi cabs. Public schools closed for days due to buses unequipped to deliver students.

Jennifer Dunn, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, admitted that the “first band caught us a little off-guard.” This week’s snow will likely push the season total into territory not seen since the record-setting storms of the 1970s.

Downtown Austin, Texas, February 4, 2011

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