Lack of Suitable Winter Coats Shuts Down Greater Houston Area

Today is a “snow day” in the greater Houston area. That means it’s 32 degrees and rainy, so we must all panic and not go anywhere- our coats just aren’t thick enough to handle that kind of cold. Our North Face shells simply cannot fight such arctic temps as 28 degrees below 60. Yes, there was a slight icing, but nothing that requires precautionary measures like shutting down roads and entire school districts. And yet, here we are being discouraged from travel and encouraged to forgo common sense applications while driving (that doesn’t exist on perfectly dry roads here), by not driving at all. We are forced to remain tightly locked inside our homes, being comforted only by our televisions and local reporters braving the cold in our stead.

I’m from Oklahoma where we actually get more ice accumulation than snow, and school rarely gets closed down for any reason that stems from impending weather events. If Oklahoma schools closed for weather events, we’d be as uneducated as the rest of the nation assumes we are. Tornados in the spring, tornados in the fall, ice in the winter- but thankfully, school is typically out by the time wildfire season begins or we’d all come in from recess smelling of smoke. Houston is bizarre in that it’s a city that gets more than 40 inches of rain a year, but their drivers cannot drive in the rain. A wind gust of 20 miles an hour has weather men warning those driving high profile vehicles to use caution on the highways, and yet it’s a hurricane city. Hell, I’ve seen high profile people get blown off the sidewalk in April back home.

Today was a good day even though I actually had to put salt on my porch steps (a trick that I picked up back home). I grieve for real Houstonians who are falling on their asses every time they venture out their front doors, due to the 1/16 inch of ice accumulation… just kidding, Houstonians aren’t venturing outside at all. I just hope the palm trees’ feelings aren’t too badly hurt by this offending arctic front. Let’s hope Houstonians can ride out this blast of cold air until Saturday when the high is forecast to be 70. Keep Houston in your prayers.