Snow In Southeast Texas

[Night Wing]

Where I live in southeast Texas, we don't see snow very often. In fact, it is an oddity. We had the fringes of an arctic front come though late Monday night and combined with an upper level disturbance coming out of New Mexico, it produced some great snow showers Tuesday afternoon. A picture of it is below. BTW, as I type this message, it is 16 degrees F outside. This temperature is an oddity too since last Sunday, it was 68 degrees F.

Texas weather is like a yo-yo in the winter. As cold as it is outside right now, this upcoming Sunday's forecast is for 68 degrees F. One thing about Texas in the wintertime. If you don't like the weather, wait a day or two.  Now for that snow shower photo.

[supthecreek]

Sweet!
Always good To Have extremes To Enjoy From Time To Time.

Wierd.... My Tablet Is Capitalizing Every Word

[Zooport]

That's not the right kind of vegetation and trees for snow country; looks very strange indeed.  Hope you have better weather when your new board arrives.

[Night Wing]

@ Zooport

Some of that vegetation in the background of the photo is loblolly pine trees, live oak trees (which are everygreen), post oak trees (without the leaves on the trees) and yaupon bushes. The grass is San Augustine. And three days later on that Sunday, instead of 68 degrees F which was predicted, the temperature soared all the way to 73 degrees F. So in 4 days time, the temperature went from a low of 16 degrees F to a high temperature of 73 degrees F. Quite a temperature swing, but this is what we expect from our winter temperatures where I live.

I figure my board will arrive during the first or second week of February. The water at that time will still be too cold for me to try out my board. I like a minimum water temperature of 66 degrees F since I don't wear any wet or dry suits. I watch the water temperatures for Lake Conroe and down on the upper Texas coast at the two links below.

http://www.sjra.net/lakeconroe/lake-levels/

https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/dsdt/cwtg/wgof.html

[Badger]

NW, once you get your new 11' X 30", you won't have to worry about falling in so much. That board will be so stable that you'll no longer have to wait for the water to get 66 degrees. A 73 degree air temp will be the perfect excuse to go paddling.

My first board was a 10'6 x 32" and my second was an 11' x 30" and I never fell once on those boards when paddling on flatwater.

To this day I've never accidentally fallen in when paddling on flatwater and I don't think my balance is anything special.

Your winter water temps are warmer than our summer water temps. At least you don't have to worry about hypothermia as much. Come to think of it, maybe that's why I don't fall.   

[Night Wing]

@ Badger

It is not hypothermia which I worry about. I just do not like the feel of cold water on my skin. As I type this post, the water temperature at Lake Conroe is 47 degrees F. The water temperature down at Surfside (which is next to the small refinery town of Freeport) is 52 degrees F. And our winter isn't over yet.

The long range forecast calls for a kink in the upper layers of the atmosphere so the frigid air from the Arctic will be brought down into our area via the Jet Stream. The Arctic air mass is scheduled to arrive around Friday evening, February 2nd. The weather forecasters don't know how cold it will get, but I hope it isn't in the low teens in the early mornings come Saturday or Sunday mornings (Feb 3rd & 4th).

And to top it off, our weather "prognosticator" (the chief meteorologist) does not do a very good job of predicting air temperatures. As an example, this Thursday morning's low temperature was supposed to be no lower than 35 degrees F since he forecasted a low of 37 degrees F. But at 7:30 am this morning, the low temperature bottomed out at 29 degrees F. And when the head prognosticator came on for this evenings televised weather segment, the first word out of his mouth was............"Oops".   

With his gazillions of missed temperatures by a large margin over the last 12 years, I've had evil thoughts about inviting our weather prognosticator out with me for an up close and personal "bull shark tagging trip" if you get my drift. 

[connector14]

So it was in the high 30's, low 40's here on Hood Canal this morning.  I was hoping to celebrate my 67th by going out for a paddle. But those conditions were not very appealing. But after lunch I got a glimpse of some blue sky and the water was pretty flat. So I decided to go for it.  I managed to get in 5 miles and during that time I experienced some sun,  some rain,  some HAIL, and some breeze.....and amazingly at the end of my session a beautiful rainbow. Ya never know,  but I felt blessed and great-full for the experience. Sometimes it is really hard to get motivated to get out....but it never fails,  when you get back in it was all worth it!

[Night Wing]

@ connector14

I'm too much of a wuss to paddling in cold air and cold water temperatures simply because I paddle in long pants with a long sleeve shirt in early Spring or shorts with a long sleeve shirt in late Spring.

BTW, I will be celebrating my 68th in February. My wife of 44 years has scheduled a surprise birthday party for me at my favorite rustic restaurant (Saltgrass Steakhouse).

I'm not supposed to know about the "surprise", but I do notice details no matter how tiny and I picked up on one from her which "let the cat out of the bag" so to speak. So when the event happens, I have to act surprised.

Anyhow, I'm hoping these Arctic weather fronts cease by the middle of February and we have an earlier than usual Spring like we had a few years ago when we had quite a few days where the air temperature hit 90 degrees F in the first week in March. That makes the water temperature rise real fast which is good for me.

[Badger]

Sheesh, when it's 90 degrees, I'd be jumping in the water to cool off and be warm again as soon as I get back on the board.

My point was that with your new super stable board, you aren't going to be falling that much anyway. So the water temp won't matter as long as the air temps are warm enough.

A cool dip is good for you, especially on a hot day. Step out of your comfort zone a little.

[Zooport]

Sheesh, when it's 90 degrees, I'd be jumping in the water to cool off and be warm again as soon as I get back on the board.

My point was that with your new super stable board, you aren't going to be falling that much anyway. So the water temp won't matter as long as the air temps are warm enough.

A cool dip is good for you, especially on a hot day. Step out of your comfort zone a little.

Agree.  I've had some of my best days when the water and air were frigid.  Granted, probably not as cold as Wing's area.  But I've come to prefer that cold scenario because it limits the crowds here in Zooport Beach.   

[Night Wing]

@ Badger

Since I'm 146 lbs, this means I don't have much excess fat on my body to keep me warm if I fall in cold water. And I've also got an internal thermometer which I pay attention to.

If the water temperature is 66 degrees F or above, I don't shiver when I'm in the water. If the water temperature is 65 degrees F or lower, if I fall into the water I start to shiver almost immediately.

Stepping out of my comfort zone means shivering to me and I don't like to shiver. Since I don't wear a wet or drysuit, the smartest and best move for me is to stay "within" my comfort zone.