Cold and Snow
Northern and western sections of the state average snowfall annually due to their colder average readings each winter. For one week in February 1956, a snow storm of historic proportions struck northern Texas. The maximum amount measured was 61 inches (150 cm) at Vega, Texas with Plainview, Texas receiving 24 inches (61 cm) in one day. El Paso, in Far West Texas, received 22.4 in (57 cm) of snow during a 24-hour period 13–14 December 1987. For central and southern sections, snowfall is considerably more unusual, but not unprecedented. In February 1895, a large area of southeastern Texas received over 12 inches (30 cm) of snow, with peak amounts near 30 inches (76 cm) at Port Arthur, Texas. More recently around Christmas of 2004, up to 13 inches (33 cm) of snow fell along the middle coast, with the maximum occurring at Victoria, Texas.
The worst cold snap to occur statewide occurred during the last half of December in 1983. Four stations recorded their longest continuous readings at or below 32 °F (0 °C) on record. At Austin, Texas, the temperature remained at or below freezing for 139 hours. At Abilene, Texas, the period at or below freezing totaled 202 hours. Lubbock, Texas saw temperatures at or below freezing for 207 hours. The Dallas-Fort Worth airport measured temperatures at or below freezing for a total of 296 consecutive hours. Snow which fell on December 14 and December 15 across northern Texas stayed on the ground until New Year's Day of 1984.
Read more about this topic: Climate Of Texas
Famous quotes containing the words cold and, cold and/or snow:
“A cold and searching wind drives away all contagion, and nothing can withstand it but what has a virtue in it, and accordingly, whatever we meet with in cold and bleak places, as the tops of mountains, we respect for a sort of sturdy innocence, a Puritan toughness. All things beside seem to be called in for shelter, and what stays out must be part of the original frame of the universe, and of such valor as God himself.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“And thus Snow White became the prince’s bride.
The wicked queen was invited to the wedding feast
and when she arrived there were
red-hot iron shoes,
in the manner of red-hot roller skates,
clamped upon her feet.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)