I bet the children will love that!

Bubbles said:I bet the children will love that!

dave said:We've got about half an inch of snow accumulated so far tonight.

Took the pups outside at 5:30am, we have about an inch of snow on the ground here in Huntsville. First time pups have experienced snow. Took forever to get them back inside. It is 27 degrees on my porch thermometer. Didn't cover my Orange Frost this go round so we will see how cold hardy it is

Upper twenties this morning, but 42 F in the greenhouse.

26 here. No ice on the road but icicles on the grass, trees and horses' manes.

Austin is closed! The schools are closed, including UT, highways are partially closed, no one has tried to drive down (or up) our street. News is mostly updates on pile-ups this morning! The sleet stuck to the walks, not even slippery. I went out to get the newspaper. Head slap, can't deliver up here. We both read online.

There was a 23 car pile-up last evening on the overpass at 290/71, another on 45. Most are attributing it to the stuff they spray on the bridges and overpasses to de-ice them (accidents happened way before roads froze).

Kind of nice to be stuck in the house for a few hours. My hoops held and it doesn't look like anything is wilted in them.

Just had a thin layer of ice on certain surfaces, 23° for low earlier. Hoping for nice temps next weekend, plan to go back to Houston again. My sis will probably be released from the hospital soon, just not sure yet where she'll go from there.

Yep passed 3 wrecks on 71 going into work this morning. It was still icy on the overpass. However, my workplace decided delaying until 11am was sufficient, even though it wasn't yet above freezing. So here I am....

I don't see this very often.



I guess I will be outside scraping ice off my windshield before I go to work.

Sun is out and there's still ice on the walks, but melting nicely! It'll be in the 70s tomorrow, then another blast of freezing temps. Monday. I'm not complaining, though. I'll take the cold over 100° any day.

Not me!

ok, I'll complain for you Bubbles. we had the freezing rain and light snow which of course practically shut the city of Houston down. We froze for two days but like you, it is sunny and in the 60's today. They did a decent job of sanding the roads but still, there were many accidents, mostly pick-up trucks and 4 wheelers who think they are invincible in this kind of weather. And pile ups of course. The airport was shut down for 2-1/2 hrs because someone forgot to sand the exit roads. Cars piled up and clogged the roads. They sent out two guys with 5 gallon buckets of sand to fix it. Fortunately, I missed the fun and games by an hour.

My outdoor plant covers got rain soaked then froze into rock-hard tents. I'm afraid to look underneath! But I am so happy to report that the greenhouse and garage plants stayed warm and will be able to fill on the void outside while everything else grows up again. This worry is killing me! I think I'll find a cave and hibernate!

Actually, the "ice-tents" could be a good thing. The ice will never be much colder than 32 F and will block the wind. If the outside temperature is in the teens, but inside the tents it is around 32, that's a good thing.

That's my theory for what its worth. LOL

Round Two, or is it Round Three of the Polar Vortex? I've lost count. It's coming on Monday, mid morning. By Tuesday morning they are predicting more freezing rain and snow that will last through Wednesday. This is Houston, not Michigan. I didn't sign up for all this cold weather! I have things to do outside that require a car with no snow tires.

Oh no, Cheryl, that is downright dangerous to have no snow tires in that kind of weather, I hope they are wrong.

I don't even think they sell snow tires here. What do they look like?? Seriously. This weather is highly unusual for us, Margaret. When we get snow it usually is just north of the city. It rarely sticks here. It just messes everything up. And we have ice. Then it stops ad gets warm again. This cycle that we're in now is stifling. The City shuts down. They tell workers to stay home. There are school closures, etc because we don't have the man power, the equipment, or enough salt or whatever chemical they put on the roads to keep them safe.

I will be calling the office where our appointment is on Wednesday to see if they are still open before we leave. It is at 3 pm. Hopefully, the weather will have cleared up by then. But then if the temps stay freezing, that doesn't help either.

Snow tires are made of a softer rubber with special groves that grip ice and snow, here if you don't have them and are involved in an accident you can be charged.

Hopefully the forecast is wrong and things get back to normal for you.

Thanks, Margaret. We'll survive the week. By next weekend, we will be in the 70's again. Tis a Texas thang!

We too are predicted to get the coldest temperatures of the year Tuesday-Thursday. It is not supposed to get out of the 20's for high temperatures those three days. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr So far I see no mention of ice or snow though, just extremely cold. We have already had 22 days of temperatures in the 20's (most of those mid to lower 20's), five days in the teens, and a day in the single digits. Where is Global Warming when you need it!?

The five heaters in my two greenhouses and the three on my enclosed porch will be working overtime again I fear. I dread to see our upcoming electric bill!

I'm hoping that the coldest temp we have had this year won't ever reoccur for at least the next few years. That was 14.4° on the 7th of January...I wrote it in red on the calendar as a reminder to myself in the future that the unexpected can and will happen. Not even the coldest we've ever had here, however. I remember the night of the single digit...early 1990, I think! That was before I got into gardening here...so no regular landscape plants were involved (the previous owner didn't bother), but I recall there was major damage or even die-off among the many Texas Mountain Laurels in the area. The lowest forecast for the coming week is supposed to be 22°, but there will probably be some wintry mix involved Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm at bit tired of the roller coaster ride...looking for milder weather and the end of cedar pollen by mid-February.
Edited for a typo on my forecast.