# Snow In Houston



## texasalynn (Dec 4, 2009)

WooHoo!  Snow in Houston - is pretty when it first starts to snow.  And we get a snow day at work.  Enjoy


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## Smitty (Dec 4, 2009)

Anyone who's been in a snow/ice storm anywhere in Texas south of the panhandle, knows you get a snow day to keep everyone off the roads!

Kind of like Californians in the rain. 

But the first snow of the year is always pretty.  Just had 1' up in Laramie 2 weeks ago.


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## schielrn (Dec 6, 2009)

I am still waiting for snow here in Cincy!


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## Norie (Dec 6, 2009)

What's 'snow'?

Is it that white stuff that I saw the other day on the top of a hill?


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## NateO (Dec 6, 2009)

It's been snowing in Minneapolis since early October. 

What's a snow day @ work?  You get to wear jeans?


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## Greg Truby (Dec 6, 2009)

NateO said:


> What's a snow day @ work?  You get to wear jeans?


 
Spoken like a man that never seen Texan trying to drive on ice. If you're not on the road with them it's entertaining. If you ARE on the road with them it's harrowing.


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## Norie (Dec 6, 2009)

Greg

Driving on ice is fun.

Last time we had a major snowfall I had to drive 30 miles or so to work, and not all the roads were gritted.

It was like playing an arcade game - but the bad/good part was that when I'd finished the 'mission' I was met by astonished faces and told to go home.

That wasn't as much fun because by that time the ice had melted.

PS I'm not recommending driving on ice.


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## Greg Truby (Dec 6, 2009)

Driving on ice is not my favorite thing to do.  Snow's OK, even blowing snow, I can handle (think heavy snow, 25 mph winds and [really] flat land with few trees).  But ice or freezing rain?  I've driven on it when I've had to.  But when I greet such weather with "oh, this should be fun", believe me the sarcasm is unmistakable. :wink:


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## Norie (Dec 6, 2009)

Greg

I wasn't really being serious that it's 'fun', in fact it can be a nightmare, and dangerous.

I don't think I would advise driving in snow or on ice in your part of the world, or anywhere else.

The last time I saw snow in the States was in the mountains above Albuquerque, and that was in the summer of 1980.

Also visited Houston, but that was just a stop-over and it was so hot we couldn't even sit down on the seats in the departure lounge.

Over here if there is any sign of even a flake of snow/ice we are advised not to travel, by car, bus or train.

I think maybe i should get my coat.


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## yytsunamiyy (Dec 7, 2009)

What's the fuss about? It snows- you drive. It freezes-you drive. I'm almost always travelling by bike (bicycle to make it absolutely clear), no matter what the road conditions are.  If the wether is foul you just go extra careful with your car and use the handbrake to slide around corners... Snow and ice IS fun!


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## Norie (Dec 7, 2009)

Handbrake turns?

Sounds almost as scary as travelling in a clapped-out VW Beetle from Bamberg halfway up a mountain in deep winter.

PS I wasn't driving, I was sitting on a box in the back.


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## yytsunamiyy (Dec 7, 2009)

It's always scarier when you ain't doing the driving. Even on dry roads with the sun shining and the birds tweeting 
Mind you, for handbrake turns you better be in a front-driven vehicle, otherwise that idea would be just a tad hazardous :D


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## schielrn (Dec 7, 2009)

Well I guess all I have to do is ask and then I will receive snow.    We got a whole half inch and the white death has officially arrived.  Along with 3 overturned semi trucks this morning and probably a couple dozen accidents easily.  I saw probably 5 cars off the side of the road or facing the wrong way with just my 10 mile commute in.


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## texasalynn (Dec 7, 2009)

schielrn said:


> Well I guess all I have to do is ask and then I will receive snow.  We got a whole half inch and the white death has officially arrived. Along with 3 overturned semi trucks this morning and probably a couple dozen accidents easily. I saw probably 5 cars off the side of the road or facing the wrong way with just my 10 mile commute in.


 
Yikes - what a commute.  Our Friday was ok nothing that scary.  Although I heard alot of sirens and news reports of fires in homes from heaters.  But the snow is gone now and suppose to warm up again to normal temps (60-70<SUP>o</SUP>F)


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## Cbrine (Dec 7, 2009)

Since we have about 3 months of snow up here in Toronto(More in other parts).  We really don't have a choice on driving in the snow or not.   I've asked them to shut the country down for 3 months, but they haven't returned my calls
  Seriously though, the first snow fall we have here will result in about 5 or 6 hundred accidents and traffic chaos for the day....But I'm still looking forward to that since it hasn't snowed so far this year(No snow in November is a record since starting weather recording(1800's)for us this year).  Know I will be hating the snow by the end of February.


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## texasalynn (Dec 7, 2009)

Cbrine said:


> (No snow in November is a record since starting weather recording(1800's)for us this year).


 
I hate to break it to you but it is now December!


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## Cbrine (Dec 7, 2009)

Yes but the record was broken in November, and we have had a couple of light dustings of snow in December so far.  Mostly melted when the sun came out, so we are still below Houston on the total snowfall YTD chart.  Which is the oddity I was trying to point out.  

PS-Spent 3 days in Dallas in November a few years ago...All 3 were like the best summer days we ever had in Toronto.  Don't know if I would want to be there in the summer though.


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## Smitty (Dec 7, 2009)

Cbrine said:


> Don't know if I would want to be there in the summer though.


 
You probably wouldn't unless you're real fond of air conditioning. But at least DFW doesn't have Houston's humidity.

And woo hoo! We got snow last night up on the summit (rare if you consider I'm 13 miles from Surf City USA - Santa Cruz).


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## Greg Truby (Dec 7, 2009)

Smitty said:


> And woo hoo! We got snow last night up on the summit (rare if you consider I'm 13 miles from Surf City USA - Santa Cruz).


 
We got a "heavy dusting" last night; but it's stayed a few degrees below freezing today, so it's still with us. The forecasters are saying 5" for us tomorrow, but 1" for folks just 25 miles south of here.  So we'll see if that shifts and we get seven inches or two.


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## justme (Dec 7, 2009)

They are calling for 8-12" for Wisconsin Tuesday evening.


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## Atroxell (Dec 7, 2009)

You can add the central valley of Northern California to the list of unusual places where snow has made an appearance this year. Metropolitan Sacramento reported multiple places this morning with 2 to 4 inches of snow. There was as much as 12-16 inches overnight at just 1500 feet of altitude. I have lived here for 20+ years and only seen snow a couple of times, but never staying long enough to measure. And they are predicting the mid-20sF (-4C) for the temperature tonight...


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## TinaP (Dec 8, 2009)

We had a light dusting yesterday.  There were folks visiting from south Georgia and all they could say was, "It's snowin' and y'all are still driving all over the place."  

We're expecting a winter storm tonight.  Snow to begin with, changing to rain by morning, with freezing rain somewhere in between.  I'd rather have a foot of snow than any amount of freezing rain.


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## Greg Truby (Dec 8, 2009)

TinaP said:


> ... I'd rather have a foot of snow than any amount of freezing rain.


 
Amen to that!

And to our local forecasters... a BIG... FAT... *PHHHHT!!!*  Last night all of 'em were selling the 5" for our area schtick. Shoot, I can still see the pavement on my sidewalk.


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## Norie (Dec 8, 2009)

Greg

You have pavements on your sidewalk?

That's just bizzare - we have pavements but no sidewalks.


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## NateO (Dec 8, 2009)

justme said:


> They are calling for 8-12" for Wisconsin Tuesday evening.


Yep, guess where it's coming from and what's occurring right now.


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## Greg Truby (Dec 8, 2009)

Norie said:


> Greg
> 
> You have pavements on your sidewalk?
> 
> That's just bizzare [sic] - we have pavements but no sidewalks.


 
Aye, over here "pavement" refers to the material of any paved surface, sidewalks, streets, driveways, airport runways,... Asphalt is a specific type of pavement.

Nate - the same low pressure system that tracked too far north to hit us much is the same that's dumping on you guys and pretty much all of Iowa. How much y'all gonna end up with?


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## Norie (Dec 8, 2009)

Greg

How can you expect a poor country like oursis to actually teach pleple to spl correctilly?

Or type-touch.


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## Norie (Dec 8, 2009)

Greg

Apologies, I'm so bad at spelling/typing/seeing that I thought you meant that I'd spelt bizarre wrong.

Anyway back to the snow thing - I know the Inuit have many words for it but I think we've only got one - *****.

And that's not a wildcard.


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## hatman (Dec 9, 2009)

New england got that storm this morning.  When I left the house at 5, there was already a few inches, and you can imagine that the plows weren't out yet.  It just doesn't phase me anymore... as mentioned in an earlier post in this thread: "It snows, I drive, what's the problem?"  The problem is the people who should NOT drive when it snows... 40 miles of mostly highway driving, and too many people goinf 10mph instead of a more reasonable 35-45... at leats i made it!


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## Cbrine (Dec 9, 2009)

Hit us here in Toronto over night...I'm pretty sure our yearly snowfall is now greater than that of Houston's.  Took me about 1 hour and 40 minutes to make my 20 minute drive to work.  Radio said they were reporting about 1 accident per minute.  Looks like no here know's how to drive in the snow either(Except for me of course).


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## Domski (Dec 9, 2009)

I want snow!!!


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## hatman (Dec 9, 2009)

Cbrine said:


> Hit us here in Toronto over night...I'm pretty sure our yearly snowfall is now greater than that of Houston's. Took me about 1 hour and 40 minutes to make my 20 minute drive to work. Radio said they were reporting about 1 accident per minute. Looks like no here know's how to drive in the snow either(Except for me of course).


 
In my 40 mile commute, I witnessed 3 spin-outs, saw 3 others that had happened recently, and got to watch a semi-tractor trailer use all 4-lanes to recover from an impending jack-knife 3 cars ahead of me... My driving was perfect.


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## pbt (Dec 10, 2009)

Although we may not get a heavy snow this year here in Las Vegas,  I thought I might share what happened Last Year.

A familiar site to those of you that have been to Vegas:
http://access.nscpcdn.com/gallery/i/w/wnew_snow_in_vegas/vegas00.jpg

One of our neighborhoods:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3207/3116353249_bee6232733.jpg

The Luxor Hotel:
http://media.nowpublic.net/images//e4/b/e4b530038c497c13eeb6ab9a69c493b2.jpg

And who said it doesn't snow in the Desert?

Harry


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