Today the sun is shining and our weather is back to normal in West Texas, and by normal I mean, sunny and 70 degrees! What we experienced last week was a once in a lifetime (hopefully) weather anomaly which lasted for days!
Last week, for the first time ever, all 254 counties in Texas were under a winter storm warning and most experienced sub freezing temps, snow and ice. Now, I know this isn't unusual for many parts of the country in February. It's not even unusual for a portion of Texas this time of year, but for the entirety of our VERY BIG STATE to experience those conditions was a rarity, indeed!.
In my college days in the northern and central parts of Texas, I spent more than one February day outside sunbathing in perfectly pleasant weather in preparation for Spring Break on South Padre Island.
Years later there was even a warm February day where the mercury hit 100 degrees!! I remember because I was pregnant!! Hello, air-conditioning!!
Needless to state, we aren't accustomed to or prepared for this weather. It was hard on young and old, rural and city folk alike. To make it even worse our power grid failed with catastrophic results. That's another story entirely. I won't get into all that here but suffice it to stay that it took our state to an unnecessary and devastating level of disaster.
But, in true Texas fashion, Texans pulled together and made it through! As we came through the crisis, I posted these thoughts on my Instagram feed:
"Close to 9 inches of snow on the X7Bar. A once in a lifetime weather occurrence. It was something to experience. Single digit temps and day upon day of below freezing weather is not something this gal, the ranch or this state is prepared for. Just never happens here. But I'll tell you what... we are STRONG! With family helping family, neighbor helping neighbor, friend helping friend, rancher helping rancher, and stranger helping stranger, we got through it. We Texans have broken water lines, damaged homes, freezers full of ruined food, flooded floors, and muddy clothes just to name a few. But we also have hearts full of warmth and love. We had friends and family both near and far trying to reach one another and check on each other. Friends offering warm homes, hot showers, water and firewood if they had them. We experienced all of this personally and did what we could to help others. Today the sun is shining, the ice is melting and we made it through thanks to FAITH, FAMILY and FRIENDS! GOD BLESS TEXAS!!
"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: if either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up." Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
