It's a wonder I made it home safely

I've said a few negative things on this blog about Texas as a state, so when I come across something about living here that makes me smile, I feel it's only fair that I blog about that too.

The weather in Texas and Oklahoma is a lot alike. We both deal with tornadoes, humidity, a practically nonexistent spring, and incredibly hot summers with awful droughts and water shortages. Weather from day to day (outside of the summer) is completely unpredictable in both states. Wearing shorts in the morning only to see snow falling later (or vice versa) that night is something that I've experienced in both states.

In college, though, I was always surprised to hear Texans and Dallasites complaining about the Oklahoma winters. "It's freezing here! It doesn't get this cold in Dallas!" they'd say. I figured maybe it had something to do with that wind sweeping down the plains, but I couldn't imagine winter in OK would be as different as they made it sound. I guess I was wrong.

I'll never forget the first "winter storm" I encountered after I moved to Dallas. All the local news stations were doing regular weather updates before there was ever even a drop of precipitation. Yes, snow and ice were in the forecast, but it was still sunny outside! Our department at work (at my old job) called a quick meeting to let us all know that we could leave early if we needed to so we could be sure to be home and safe before the weather got bad. We discussed arrangements for work the next day in case the roads were "still" slick. I was amazed to hear of the many, many businesses that were closing early (like 11 a.m.) that day while the weather was still fine simply because of the fact snow was in the forecast for that afternoon. And of course (unpredictable, remember?), the weather was nothing near as bad as expected. In fact, what actually hit was ridiculously minor. The roads were fine the next morning.





(from Monday's snowfall)








Until March, it hadn't really snowed in Dallas this year. We got a whole inch on Monday night (it was mostly melted by Tuesday morning), and when the forecast called for more snow this afternoon, it was all anyone could talk about. Many of my co-workers started leaving to work from home as early as lunchtime.

When I left work shortly after 2 (any excuse to work in my pjs!), it was only raining, as it had been all day, but the roads were already as jammed as during rush-hour traffic. I passed two accidents on my 1 mile of highway driving. Once I got home and turned on the TV, all the local stations were showing was weather coverage. One station had even overdramatically labeled it "Major Winter Storm."

Even though the snow stopped hours ago, the gym tonight was completely dead, as were the roads on the way there. Many businesses and schools are opening late or are completely closed tomorrow just in case the roads get slick tonight. My office is waiting until tomorrow to make a decision. Just in case, I brought everything I'd need to work from home tomorrow so I could be prepared.

The forecast is showing our chance of snow extends into tomorrow. I'd just feel much better knowing I didn't have to worry about being out on the road in case another Major Winter Storm comes and dumps a whole inch of snow on us again.