A lot of different opinions circulate around about the upcoming weather in the south. I decided to make a post about how I’m preparing for the freeze in Texas and what it means to me. Since this is a personal blog, I will post more about my life. If you’re interested only in my art related posts, I have an art blog on my gallery’s website. It’s a little empty at the moment, but I’m working on it!
I have lived in Texas for over 10 years now, and the weather has been wildly different from year to year. One winter, the air temperature didn’t even drop below freezing all winter. The next year, there was rain and then hard freeze for several days in a row. All streets were covered in thick layer of ice, it was slippery beyond imagination, and everything was paralyzed.
Frozen streets of Texas
The weather in Texas changes quickly and a lot of times unpredictably. There can be a sudden storm with a tornado for a few hours, and then sunshine and calmness the rest of the day.
In 2021, there was a record freezing temperature of -8°F that caused a lot of infrastructure damage and even took lives. We had rolling blackouts with electricity available only for an hour every 4 hours. During that hour, I refilled thermos with hot tea, heated up food and the house. I had to use blankets to stay barely warm. A lot of houses on our street got pipes damaged. Months after the freeze, I’d see apartment buildings with holes in the ceiling and walls where they had to access and repair the pipes. It was a true disaster.
This temperature doesn’t seem like a big issue, particularly for those who live up north. I did too, and it was just a normal winter day in such weather. The difference is that up north the buildings and infrastructure are insulated and built with freezing temperatures in mind.
However, in Texas freezing weather is not common. Majority of the buildings are designed for hot weather with air-conditioning in mind. For example, there are open pipes in the attic in most homes, and if the temperature is freezing, so do those pipes. Same goes for electrical infrastructure. It’s not designed to work in the freezing weather, and we get a lot of electricity from gas. That time, the gas froze and electricity reserve dropped severely below demand. It was a major disaster that I hope to never experience again. Yet, every winter this tiny, but persistent fear lives in my brain, what if it happens again?
How I prepare for the winter freeze in Texas
First of all, I made sure to have enough produce for a week. I always have a few cans of veggies or something that I could eat in an emergency, but I basically made a grocery run about 5 days before the freeze. I anticipate long lines the day or two before the freeze, so I always shop ahead of time.
Next, I contacted my parents and grandparents and reminded them to do the same – get food, water, make sure to have blankets out. I checked if any of the elderly people will be alone. Luckily, they made arrangements for someone to stay with them. The buddy system always works!
Plants need protection too! I have several short palms in my front yard, and they are hardy to about 23°F, but the freeze forecast is way below that. We watered and covered these palms with frost blankets. The leaves won’t survive the freeze and will likely wilt and die off, but the bulb should survive and regrow in the spring.
A couple of days before the freeze, I start cooking food. We have a gas stove, so as long as there’s gas, I can fry something up. But I also like to have some food ready such as soup, meat, and some sides. I start cooking one dish a day, this way it won’t be overwhelming and if there’s power loss earlier on, I’m already prepared. Speaking of, we had a two-hour blackout for the entire neighborhood of nearly 3000 houses just yesterday. The weather wasn’t even freezing, but things happen.
The day before the freeze, I charge all of my devices and external chargers. I make sure to have flashlights with working batteries, and I use my photo-lights, as they’re bright, mounted on floor tripods, and battery-powered. I also fill the kettle, filter jug, and a large cooking pot with water.
To sum up…
Unless I forgot something, this is pretty much my freeze prep list. It might sound silly to people who have regular winter all the time, but it was scary back in 2021. I want to prepare the best I can, and so do all those people who create lines at the grocery stores.
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