Snow day in Austin! It only takes a dusting

December 08, 2017


The flakes started hitting my windshield at 2:30 pm over in central-east Austin. By the time I got home I thought it was all over, but the heavy, gray sky and cold temps convinced me to start pulling pots of tender succulents up against the sheltering walls of the house, and I tossed sheets over them for good measure.


And then fat flakes started falling like something out of a Christmas movie. Hey, this is Austin — it hardly ever snows here, and we had reason to lose our minds.


Snow!!! By dusk it had begun to accumulate — at least on the plants, if not on heat-holding stone and concrete.


We threw a few snowballs scraped off the deck rail, tasted a few snowflakes (they were ripe), and watched the dog frolic in the strange cold stuff.


He’s a cold-weather lover, like his mama.


I can’t remember it ever snowing here this early in the season. When snow or ice storms happen — only about every 5 to 7 years — it’s usually in January or February. Our last real snow was in February 2011.


I measured a half inch of snow at my house. My friends on the south side of town got even more. Even family and friends in Houston — Houston! — joyfully posted pics of snowy yards on Facebook.


Of course school was cancelled today. Don’t laugh (too hard) at us — we don’t know how to drive in this stuff, and we don’t have road de-icing equipment down here. Just let us enjoy a miraculous almost-white Christmas.

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21 responses to “Snow day in Austin! It only takes a dusting”

  1. Jenny says:

    I knew you’d be enjoying this cold. I thought the snow on the grasses was the prettiest. What I didn’t like was that it was icy precipitation. When I removed the cloths not stuck like glue and was very heavy. More cold tonight but at least a sunny day.

  2. Gerhard Bock says:

    Wow, these are photos you don’t see very often! You’ve got great shots for future Christmas cards!

    As beautiful as these images are, I do NOT want the snow to come MY way 🙂

  3. peter schaar says:

    Pam, how do you tell when snowflakes are ripe. Do they become fragrant? The only culinary use for them I know is to put them in my drink.

  4. Nell says:

    Magical!

    My favorite news pic from Austin’s snow day is the TAMU meteorology students up on the roof with their instruments, earnestly measuring…

  5. ks says:

    I can’t even remember the last time we had snow in Napa-10 years at least I would say. Like yours it never sticks. We do get a dusting on the hills and mountains around us most years (snow is very altitude dependent in California) but I steer clear-I don’t do snow. Looks pretty in the Pam garden though!

  6. Kris P says:

    It’s odd to see a dusting of snow in your photos (and Jenny’s). Even after hearing about Houston’s snowfall on the news, it didn’t occur to me that it would have reached you too. It’s very pretty, if not garden friendly. I’ve only seen snow fall in SoCal once, when I was in middle school long, long, long ago and it melted before it hit the ground.

  7. Alison says:

    Your night-time pictures of the snow make it look very pretty. I learned to despise snow, having lived 55+ years in Massachusetts. Now, in the PNW, we get a light dusting like this at least once every winter. We had one in early November, and my husband, who works with several engineers from tropical places like India, came home from work with tales of them and their children marveling at having experienced their first snow. I was born in December in Massachusetts, so of course I have no memory of “my first snowfall.” It must seem like magic.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      I’m a lifelong Southerner, and I have to say that 55 years of lots o’ snow sounds like about 54 years too many! You deserve a break, Alison. —Pam

  8. lcp says:

    so pretty! and how clever you are to have a matching dog! some people just think of everything…:)

  9. Lisa at Greenbow says:

    You had just enough snow to set the mood for the holidays. Your pictures are pretty.

  10. Impressive scenes, and I’m glad you were able to dig out!! So far you’re ahead of us on accumulation, even though we get a few inches every year. The front door view with the sedges…can’t wait to see this in person.