Snow day in Austin, Texas!
The biggest snowfall in a decade turned Austin into a floofy white wonderland on Sunday, January 10. All day long, fat snowflakes floated down from the sky, as if the clouds were having a pillow fight. Sure, this may not look like much to you northerners, but it’s a pretty epic snow for central Texas. Two inches piled up in my garden, although with temperatures at or just above freezing and warm soil, most of it didn’t last the night.
My kids are grown and out of the house, so I didn’t witness any snowball fights or snowman-rolling, alas. The snow was a novel experience for the pup though! Enlarge the video to get a better look at small, white Cosmo against the snow.
I’d moved my tender potted plants into the house, and I’m not worried about other plants because it just didn’t get very cold — down to 30 degrees F for a couple of hours overnight.
Nothing a squid agave can’t handle with good-draining soil.
It really was a magical day!
This will be the snow Austin kids remember for a long time to come. When asked, I tell people we get a little snow accumulation about once every 7 years. But this is the biggest snow I can remember in my northwest Austin neighborhood since 2011. We got another memorable snow in 2004, but that was before I’d started blogging.
Snowy sedge in the front garden
And a puzzled Cosmo stepping out into it for the first time that day. The poor dog — he’d just gotten a much-needed haircut. Good thing he prefers cold weather to hot, just like his mom.
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Digging Deeper
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I like it – but glad it’s not going to snow here! I think our plants might suffer a few casualties. It would be interesting to hear about any plant damage you do notice.
Ha! Not a snow lover, I take it? Well, I’m only a fan of a one-day snow event myself. The in-ground plants will be fine. A low of 30 F is commonplace during our winters. The real danger for us is a temperature dip into the 20s, especially if the cold snap lasts a day or two. That happens rarely, but it can happen. That’s when our zone-pushing 9a plants suffer damage or say sayonara.
I like to have a tiny bit of snow every decade or so to remind me why I suffer thru August in Texas.
Same! 🙂
How fun to see snowfall in your Texas garden! I lived in Galveston 15 years ago and remember a Christmas Eve overnight snow that left 2″ or so on the ground for Christmas morning. A real delight for many, many children who’d never seen snow before! I’m glad there wasn’t enough to do any harm to your plantings!
A white Christmas in Galveston? Wow, that’s pretty wonderful!
Wow, you got a lot more snow than my east Dallas neighborhood did. It only snowed for about 3 hours here, and nothing accumulated on the ground. Our last snow was in 2013. That one gave us several inches.
It’s strange that we got so much more snow than you, several hours north. It was certainly an unusual event.
A good thing you whistled at Cosmo. I couldn’t see him before. ha… Looks beautiful with all those spiky plants with snow on them. I hope all survive.
I think they will. It is fun to see them in a coat of white.
Hey Pam, lovely! Nice when it comes down, and nice when it leaves!
Speaking of sedge, you said a while back you’d write on Carex ‘Everillo’. Hope you’ll still do that. I use it a lot in my Georgia woodland but I’d be interested in your Austin take on it.
Stay warm!
Thanks for the reminder, Julie. I may need to wait for spring to get some good photos. But it’s definitely on my to-do list!
Wow. That’s more snow that I’ve gotten in my Indiana garden this winter. I would actually LIKE a big snowfall about now. It’s good for the garden. It doesn’t feel like winter without it.
Now that’s just CRAZY.