Talk about a crazy week! Texas was not made for extended cold weather, especially sub-freezing temperatures going on 5 days! While it is beautiful and so much fun, we have seen just how dangerous and scary it can be!
Monday started out nice with a light snow fall in the morning and proceeded throughout the day. It continuously snowed and got colder as time progressed. By the time Monday evening arrived, we received between 4 to 5 inches of snow! That night would also bring 7° weather, but the feel like temperature would be -9°. Homes here are not made for cold, especially this type of cold! Our homes are made to withstand extreme heat; the kind that Texas is known for!
Tuesday brought even more cold and stress. Power started being lost as well as water all throughout the city and surrounding areas in the morning hours. Many families went well over two days without heat or water. While being promised intermittent power, these time spans started like this: multiple hours without power, 90 seconds with power. This would repeat until Thursday evening. Most families would receive power on Thursday, but still, some are having issues keeping it. Water is another story….
Water via pipes for many disappeared Tuesday morning, while others were spared this tragedy until Wednesday evening. Tubs were filled, buckets and jugs were filled, and water bought frantically at stores everywhere. Water boil notices were sent out city wide, and snow was even brought it to houses to melt due to water shortages everywhere. Other items that disappeared were milk, eggs, bread, fuel, and propane, among others.
Luckily, our family was spared the fight for power. We did not lose power at all from the beginning of this bitterly cold winter storm. We also were one of the lucky households that were able to keep their water until Wednesday evening. We opened our home to people that were not so lucky, and many stated that if it got worse, they would take us up on the offer.
Yesterday was the first day since this past Sunday that there was not any snowfall. It got up to the upper 30’s, and a lot of the snow and ice melted. We thought maybe it was finally over and that things would get back to normal…. we were wrong. This morning, Thursday, brought more snow starting at approximately 8AM. It has continuously snowed since then, and it supposed to snow for the rest of the day. We have approximately 3-4” of snow already today that has accumulated in the yard. Our once green and warm Texas was icy and frozen for the second time in a week.
Tomorrow, it is supposed to finally be warm. By warm, we mean 45°. Due to the severity of the weather causing outages of power and water for the better part of the week, many farmer’s markets we attend have been cancelled or postponed (See our Upcoming Events page for details). Boxes I was needing to mail at the beginning of the week have been delayed until at least Saturday. Orders I was supposed to deliver this week have been postponed until early next week. Even cooking our candied jalapenos has been postponed until we receive water enough to clean dishes and cook with.
Please keep Texas in your prayers. While we understand northern states go through this on a normal basis, Texas does not. Texas is very uneducated in how to deal with cold, ice and snow. We are not made to deal with cold, ice and snow. WE DO NOT LIKE COLD, ICE AND SNOW! 😊 It is almost over as far as the weather goes, but there is a lot of repair that will need to take place once the moisture is gone. We look forward to our Texas weather again. Lastly, I know for me at least, I will not complain about the heat of the summer, or the lack of having a cold winter…. the north can keep it!
