Five Thing I Learned During the Texas Winter Storm

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I have been in Texas since 2006 and for years I have always asked for snow. This year in 2021 I finally got my wish in a Snow Storm. I really don’t like the ice part of it all because it makes for unsafe driving. The snow, however, I truly love.

On January 10, 2021  we had our first snow storm of the year. Actually it was also our first snow in Texas in years.  My two younger children and grandkids, this was their first snow ever, so we had to make it extra fun for them. School was cancelled, so outside we went. We went out and made snow angels, a snowman and had a snowball fight. We had to take inside breaks in between because we are in Texas, normally we don’t get this kind of weather, so we didn’t have any gloves and our hands were getting cold.

February was another surprise for the history books. We now get a ice storm for not only our area  of Texas but the entire state of Texas. Thursday, February 11th, 2021, the first day of our ice storm. School was cancelled and ice was everywhere.  Day 2, February 12th, ice still out on the roads and it is dangerous to drive. Teacher In Service was cancelled due to the roads being very bad. In our area, we did not return to school until February 25th, 2021. Three schools still remained closed due to damage. When we returned to school, a boil water notice was still in effect, so we had to bring bottle water; which is nothing new for most of us.

The local grocery stores were cleaned out, very similar to what happened when Covid 19 shutdowns began to happen. Nearby neighbors were without water and electricity so some stayed in hotels if they could.

What I learned during this winter storm!

1. During below freezing weather let inside faucets drip and leave cabinets where the pipes are open so that the heat can get to them. This was, to me, the most important thing that I learned. It helped prevent the pipes from bursting. I admit, I hated hearing the drip drop of water throughout the house but I am thankful that our pipes did not burst.

2. Keep food that does not have to be cooked and bottled water in the home. The grocery stores stayed almost empty during this time. I realized that certain things when we get the news about storm coming that I will need to grab and try to keep in stock year round just in case. I found these cool meals on Amazon that you can store for awhile in your pantry. They are Wise Company Emergency Freeze-Dried Food and Drink Supply.

Some of our favorite items to keep in house during winter storm

• • Wild Soil Almonds
  • Wise Company Emergency Freeze-Dried Food and Drink Supply

3. Purchase a portable generator. We were fortunate that our lights did not go out. However lights were going out all around us so to be on the safe side this has taught me that we will need to have a generator, at least a portable one.

4. Purchase a shovel. I live on a incline. This was very interesting trying to figure out how to clear snow and ice off the drive way so that I could get in and out without a shovel.  I first used a hammer (yes its all we had to break the ice, funny right? Luckily we had a neighbor that does gardening and they sent over their gardening hoe and we used that to break the snow and ice. It took a long time but we got it done. Will definitely be investing in a shovel just in case this ever happens again in this area.

5. Purchase a ice scraper. This was very necessary when you have to drive you need this to scrape the ice off the windshields.  This type of weather isn’t normal here so it’s not something that we had on hand so it was a struggle trying to get the ice off the windows of the car.

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