Texas Winter 2010-2011

[Texas Snowman]

Now if something like 1899 happened again, that might cause some more serious economic issues. But even then, I couldn't imagine them being very long-lived.

[downsouthman1]

I was a senior in high school when the 1983 arctic outbreak took place.

A record 295 consecutive hours below freezing, some days lows were in the 5-10 degree range. Lots of burst water mains, frozen and broken pipes, and some minor travel disruption from the one or two snowfalls that took place. There were some power distribution issues (some plants BRIEFLY shut down a day or two, power companies prioritized power supply to homes and hospitals), but nothing major.

With all due respect, there was no collapse of the economy, not even a slowdown (especially amazing considering it began a few days before Christmas).

People still got out and lived. I still got out and duck hunted. Life, while certainly cold for a few days, went on.

That is amazing, considering what you described. It's just that Texas has seen a population explosion over the past 15 years or so, & I don't know if the current grid or infrastructure grew along with that. Hopefully, we will never find out.

[HockeyTx82]

I remember the "mother load" in '83 like it was just the other day. I was about 7 months old, lol

[downsouthman1]

The 00Z NAM looks interesting Hour 84.

[Texas Snowman]

That is amazing, considering what you described. It's just that Texas has seen a population explosion over the past 15 years or so, & I don't know if the current grid or infrastructure grew along with that. Hopefully, we will never find out.

I'll readily admit that the population of Grayson County is semi-rural compared to the Metroplex.

But even in the early 1980s, Denison and Sherman were in the same neighborhood of their current population numbers (35,000 for Sherman; 22,000 for Denison). Grayson County has 120,000 or so people living in it today, the county had 89,000 in 1980.

So while the population has grown, Grayson County wasn't the back side of nowhere 30 years ago either when the Dec. 1983 cold wave hit.

And again, cold or not, life went on.

[vbhoutex]

Now if something like 1899 happened again, that might cause some more serious economic issues. But even then, I couldn't imagine them being very long-lived.

Now that would be a whole other ballgame, at least here in Houston. 20" of snow and Epic long lasting cold would cripple Houston for at least a couple of weeks.

[Ntxw]

Well that's why we have S2K! To let our members and viewers know ahead of time/spread the word and plan for such events to minimize life and property damage! 1980s out break didn't have that now did it!

[downsouthman1]

Well that's why we have S2K! To let our members and viewers know ahead of time/spread the word and plan for such events to minimize life and property damage! 1980s out break didn't have that now did it!

Very true, for just in case mother lode ever hits.

[BigB0882]

I still can't believe 20" of snow fell in Houston in 1899. Has that ever happened anywhere along the Gulf Coast? Has New Orleans ever seen anything like that? Pensacola?

[AggieSpirit]

I still can't believe 20" of snow fell in Houston in 1899. Has that ever happened anywhere along the Gulf Coast? Has New Orleans ever seen anything like that? Pensacola?

Just a few years ago, Victoria, Texas had a comparable snowfall (over a foot)... and they are near the gulf coast too.

[Ntxw]

I still can't believe 20" of snow fell in Houston in 1899. Has that ever happened anywhere along the Gulf Coast? Has New Orleans ever seen anything like that? Pensacola?

That was 1895, but still impressive nonetheless! The 1899 outbreak brought blizzard conditions all over the southeast to Florida and covered basically the whole state in snow. I wonder how the weather was during the 'mini ice age'. Must be epic compared to anything we've ever recorded to have historical data on, probably did have some outrageous snowfall along the gulf coast then too.

[iorange55]

I still can't believe 20" of snow fell in Houston in 1899. Has that ever happened anywhere along the Gulf Coast? Has New Orleans ever seen anything like that? Pensacola?

That was 1895, but still impressive nonetheless! The 1899 outbreak brought blizzard conditions all over the southeast to Florida and covered basically the whole state in snow. I wonder how the weather was during the 'mini ice age'. Must be epic compared to anything we've ever recorded to have historical data on, probably did have some outrageous snowfall along the gulf coast then too.

I remember reading an article about how a mini ice age is bound to happen again and how some think it'll be soon. I can't find it again, though.

[Ntxw]

I remember reading an article about how a mini ice age is bound to happen again and how some think it'll be soon. I can't find it again, though.

I've read something too. The dalton/maunder minima. The sun has been extra quiet and of course people are linking it to the -AO and -NAO. Also the PDO is cold. Once the Atlantic switches over you'd have the perfect recipe for one. But no way to know how it turns out since our data is limited to 40 years or so lol not nearly enough for long term cycles.

Several times I've heard 2012-2014 as being some of the brutal winters like back in the 70s. We're already part way there of how the past 2 has turned out

[southerngale]

I was a senior in high school when the 1983 arctic outbreak took place.

A record 295 consecutive hours below freezing, some days lows were in the 5-10 degree range. Lots of burst water mains, frozen and broken pipes, and some minor travel disruption from the one or two snowfalls that took place. There were some power distribution issues (some plants BRIEFLY shut down a day or two, power companies prioritized power supply to homes and hospitals), but nothing major.

With all due respect, there was no collapse of the economy, not even a slowdown (especially amazing considering it began a few days before Christmas).

People still got out and lived. I still got out and duck hunted. Life, while certainly cold for a few days, went on.

That is amazing, considering what you described. It's just that Texas has seen a population explosion over the past 15 years or so, & I don't know if the current grid or infrastructure grew along with that. Hopefully, we will never find out.

While they're 2 different ballgames, my area of extreme SE TX was devastated by Hurricane Rita in 2005, with significant damage to Entergy's infrastructure, electricity out for weeks, plumbing, sewer, etc., a ton of buildings and homes destroyed and/or damaged, and while it was definitely a huge slowdown and has taken (in some cases, is still taking) a long time to recover, depending on your circumstances and damage, it didn't collapse the economy. Some businesses were up and running rather quickly, while others took many months, or never came back. But life went on and most people have since recovered just fine. (we had to recover quickly so we could get ready for Ike's devastation 3 years later)

[iorange55]

I remember reading an article about how a mini ice age is bound to happen again and how some think it'll be soon. I can't find it again, though.

I've read something too. The dalton/maunder minima. The sun has been extra quiet and of course people are linking it to the -AO and -NAO. Also the PDO is cold. Once the Atlantic switches over you'd have the perfect recipe for one. But no way to know how it turns out since our data is limited to 40 years or so lol not nearly enough for long term cycles.

Several times I've heard 2012-2014 as being some of the brutal winters like back in the 70s. We're already part way there of how the past 2 has turned out

We definitely have got more love these past 2 winters. I remember before I knew about this site we were lucky to get one winter event per year and it was mostly some type of sleet storm. Now I kind of go into winter expecting snow, lol.


I'm going to google around looking for some articles on it.

[AggieSpirit]

All this talk of the 1899 cold wave got me thinking about periods in history where the climate here in Texas was different than it was today.

I can't find much on the topic via Google or Yahoo, but I am curious what scientists believe the average highs/lows were in the Dallas area during the winter months of the 'Little Ice Age' during the 16th - mid 19th centuries. Additionally, what would the winter climate of the DFW have been like during the last major advance of the glaciers in the Wisconsin Glacial Episode which scientist believe ended 10,000 years ago.

I am pretty sure they did not have the heat island effect back then

[Ntxw]

All this talk of the 1899 cold wave got me thinking about periods in history where the climate here in Texas was different than it was today.

I can't find much on the topic via Google or Yahoo, but I am curious what scientists believe the average highs/lows were in the Dallas area during the winter months of the 'Little Ice Age' during the 16th - mid 19th centuries. Additionally, what would the winter climate of the DFW have been like during the last major advance of the glaciers in the Wisconsin Glacial Episode which scientist believe ended 10,000 years ago.

I am pretty sure they did not have the heat island effect back then

I am no expert on this and have no clue what it was like, but based on latitudes and how ice sheets in the poles are set today, I'd bet Dallas would have the climate of something like southern Canada back in the ice age days brrr, just a guess! An ice age today would be catastrophic. Global warming may be headlining but an ice age would have consequences 1000x worse. At least with global warming we can grow food in Siberia

Lucky that we're in an interglacial period, I wonder if it has peaked, only one way to go! Down!

[AggieSpirit]

All this talk of the 1899 cold wave got me thinking about periods in history where the climate here in Texas was different than it was today.

I can't find much on the topic via Google or Yahoo, but I am curious what scientists believe the average highs/lows were in the Dallas area during the winter months of the 'Little Ice Age' during the 16th - mid 19th centuries. Additionally, what would the winter climate of the DFW have been like during the last major advance of the glaciers in the Wisconsin Glacial Episode which scientist believe ended 10,000 years ago.

I am pretty sure they did not have the heat island effect back then

I am no expert on this and have no clue what it was like, but based on latitudes and how ice sheets in the poles are set today, I'd bet Dallas would have the climate of something like southern Canada back in the ice age days brrr, just a guess! An ice age today would be catastrophic. Global warming may be headlining but an ice age would have consequences 1000x worse. At least with global warming we can grow food in Siberia

Lucky that we're in an interglacial period, I wonder if it has peaked, only one way to go! Down!

Talk about snowpack allowing for the spilling of colder air.... I found some maps estimating the farthest extent of the Wisconsin Glacial Episode.... The advance stopped in central Missouri! Also, all the additional fresh water stored in the glaciation would have meant significantly lower sea levels -- up to a 100 ft lower or more? So Dallas weather would be less influenced by the warmth of the Gulf of Mexico as well, as the gulf would have retreated many miles out from it's current shoreline.

Seems plausible that based on historical observations, the 'Little Ice Age' would have some sort of verifiable records about the local climate during the period. I have not found much about the Dallas area per say, but saw some stuff about ice flows in the rio grande observed by Mexicans and Texans in the 1840s....

[iorange55]

Found a few articles saying that our winters will be colder up till 2035 and a possible severe cold period sometime in between now and then.

I obviously don't want anybody to get hurt or the towns to come to a "stop" but I can't lie. I'd love to see what a huge arctic outbreak is like. Just to experience it. I'm not satisfied with just the record snowfall for Dallas. I want record temps sometime.

[Ntxw]

Found a few articles saying that our winters will be colder up till 2035 and a possible severe cold period sometime in between now and then.

I obviously don't want anybody to get hurt or the towns to come to a "stop" but I can't lie. I'd love to see what a huge arctic outbreak is like. Just to experience it. I'm not satisfied with just the record snowfall for Dallas. I want record temps sometime.

It's never enough is it! I can't imagine how many times I've prayed to see just a half a foot of snow in DFW, and now that we've gone to a foot, it's just not enough anymore! 2ft! So I know where you're coming from lol. Yeah one super arctic outbreak would be nice, it has been quite some time.

We've had a lot more snow in the 2000s than 90s I'd say, and clearly the last 3rd of the 2000s have been extraordinary. I wonder if that's caused changes in our annual snowfall, that foot must've caused a dent lol.

This is a lot to read, but says stuff about Texas during the ice ages.

http://www.epa.gov/gmpo/edresources/pleistocene.html