Ice Storm in Texas

Texans and the British are obsessed with the weather!

The latter don’t believe the weatherman for a minute, living on an island, sun, clouds and gentle rain abide peacefully with mist, snow and biting gales to foil the forecaster at every turn.

Don’t get me wrong, we do love to talk about temperatures and precipitation past and present but no predictions please; akin to washing your car, it is an open invitation for nasty stuff to fall out of the sky or ghastly weeks of interminable hot weather plunging the English rose into a gasping heap.

That said, Texans, at least the other one whose house we’re living in at the moment, enjoy watching the weather channel and talking about what’s in store for the next morning…

“I need to know what to wear tomorrow,” is a valid defense.

I’d rather look out the window or pop outside, see it, feel it and decide what to wear with my ever present umbrella!!

Umbies

Covered with warnings about bad weather and temperatures dropping by 70 degrees overnight, my Southern Gentleman and I set off, in warm and clement weather, for Dallas one fateful Sunday.

My offer to drive was politely refused, perhaps because of my heavy foot, and there we were, thirty minutes into our journey, driving precariously on a slick surface with hail loudly battering the car.

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Traffic had slowed to a crawl, thank goodness because visibility was 0 to none and our windscreen wipers were struggling against the freezing conditions.  We had the seat warmers on, the heat blowing and still the windows were holding on stoutly to their sheath of ice.

For 50 of the 80 miles we crept at 15-20mph, and encountered sleet, slippery patches, wrecks and abandoned cars.    It was miserable and hubs was tense.

I was texting Daughts who assured us it was another world where she was, clear, sunny and a little cold.

I texted her scenes from my vantage point in the passenger seat.

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“Dang!” she texplied, “Y’all be careful…” she’s such a Texan!

We were.

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We arrived safe, sound and exhausted to a city with several weather fronts across the metroplex to keep us guessing.

The authorities erred on the side of caution and closed everything down the following day just to be safe.

And the saying is true whether in England or Texas,

“If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute and it’ll change!”

 

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