After a weekend of cold drizzle, temperatures plunged on Sunday evening to 9 degrees by midnight.  Precipitation through the weekend finally turned from rain to ice. 

 

 Austin woke Monday morning to 5 inches of snow that stranded everyone in the city.  

 

Over the next week, Austin broke a weather record with 144 hours below freezing.  The previous record was 140 hours in 1983. 

Plants were subjected to freezing temperatures for days on end, which is not typical for Texas!  So, despite a scenic landscape, many domestic plants will not  survive  

 

 The sun finally came out on Thursday morning, but temperatures were still bitter!

We woke up two mornings in a row with ice INSIDE our windows.

Our gas stove served us pretty well.  We couldn't light the oven, because it was electronically controlled.  But we could use the range top.  

I have an 8-inch cast-iron skillet that I would heat on the range, place in a paper bag and take to bed with Janet and our two cats, and we all huddled to keep warm.  

I had made a big pot of chili the Saturday before we lost power, and that lasted until Wednesday.  

Then I ventured to the grocery store Wednesday afternoon, where there was very little in stock.

Fortunately, I found some stew meat that had been placed in the wrong part of a refrigerated section.  

So I came home and made a big pot of stew by candlelight, and that lasted through Sunday.    

We got our power back on Thursday evening.  But the cold lasted into the weekend.  Driving was treacherous because the city has no snow-removal equipment.  Grocery stores had no food in stock.  Food started to become available in stores once more the following Monday.  

  

 

As beautiful as it was, a lot of damage resulted.  We have to be ready for this stuff!  It will happen again, and sooner than later.