Being a stay-at-home-mom, or SAHM, I get to listen and watch the news more than ever. I'm kind of a news junkie, I guess. I don't get into a lot of international happenings, but I'm REALLY into weather. And I'm not the only one. I just know that the news teams across North Texas allot "x" number of hours to cover weather.
North Texas is an interesting place to talk about weather. It is said, in these parts, that if you are not happy with the weather, you only have to wait a few hours...because it WILL change. Now I know that weather changes, so people could arguably say the same about their own weather wherever they may be. But ours is CRAZY. This is a TRUE look at our weather forecast starting Tuesday, the 28th. First, it was windy, then we were to expect highs in the 80s. After that, the forecast included: rain, wind, possible tornadoes, hail, thunderstorms, freezing rain, sleet, snow, highs in the 30s and lows in the 20s.
Twenty degrees and a little precipitation is nothing for a lot of Americans. Consider, for a moment, that our Thanksgiving saw us in the high 70s. THAT IS INSANE! Winter, for us, is a few days each year in the 30s, a few days every 2 years or so of serious ice issues and a few hours, every 10 years, of any type of snow accumulation.
The fact that an "Arctic Blast" was headed for us became headline news starting on Sunday. The dropping temps and "quickly changing" forecast took at least half of every news broadcast. Tons of salt and sand mixture were loaded into dump trucks and ready to spread the instant temperatures dropped below freezing. This morning, when the front had actually brought the cold air, even Rachel Ray herself, could not penetrate the news anchors' bombardment of the dangerous and intense driving conditions.
Schools closed all over the area...except ours. We didn't close because we were just getting rain. The windchill was in the teens, but education must continue. However, at 11:30, we got a call from the school saying they would dismiss 2 1/2 hours early. WOOHOO!
I can accept the fact that we, North Texans, don't really know how to handle such weather. We don't get it often. We don't shovel our walkways EVER. We don't have an engine warmer. We don't have chains for our tires. Most of us don't even own scarves and gloves. And that is OK. What we do is completely shut down and "pity the fool" who insists on going out and acting like a bozo.
With that in mind, I have beans in a pot, fire in the fireplace, and all my kids are home. It's a great way to say goodbye to November!
Happy Holidays, Y'all!
3 comments:
Isn't it fun how excited we get over this kind of weather? It's so rare, which makes it so newsworthy. I was one of the SAHM's who watched tireless hours of the news weather coverage.
Well having been a bonified member of the "Great White North" now for over 14 years...I'll paint a picture... we not only have mittens we have spares, because I knit them. Kids wear snow pants EVERY day from December through March to school...Kids go outside at recess UNLESS the windchill dips below 0...not freezing at 32 but 0...they're a hardy stock. =-) It's 7.2 degrees this morning as I'm putting my kids on the bus... And because you can take the girl out of Texas but you can't take Texas out of the girl..I'm making them grits for breakfast!
Ly
Me too! I am one of those that MISSES 80!
Now y'all go read my blog
http://mischiefmanaged-ornot.blogspot.com/
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