• The KillerFrogs

One year ago, this date.

Froginbedford

Full Member
The low temp was -2 degrees. Probably the worst cold spell since December 1983, which was really rough and still holds most of the records.
Didn't have an AAA membership in 1983, so I had to hike about 5 blocks to a convenience store to get tire filler....Only to have to repeat it again two days later....There were no tire stores in my neighborhood then....Temp 12-23=90 was -1, and I never thought I'd live to see anything like it again....Oh, well, there was the -2 last year....What made the 1983 cold snap especially bad was that it hung on for close to two weeks....Folks didn't want to drive to brother's in Lewisville for fear of the car breaking down and the possibility of them freezing to death....So they hosted Christmas dinner....My job was to get Grandy's unbaked dinner rolls....Kept the car heat up high, but that caused the rolls to rise....Chewy and cold bread that day....
 

LVH

Active Member
Grateful to have still been in Las Vegas at the time. Got calls from my Texas family huddled around fireplaces.
 

tcudoc

Full Member
Didn't have an AAA membership in 1983, so I had to hike about 5 blocks to a convenience store to get tire filler....Only to have to repeat it again two days later....There were no tire stores in my neighborhood then....Temp 12-23=90 was -1, and I never thought I'd live to see anything like it again....Oh, well, there was the -2 last year....What made the 1983 cold snap especially bad was that it hung on for close to two weeks....Folks didn't want to drive to brother's in Lewisville for fear of the car breaking down and the possibility of them freezing to death....So they hosted Christmas dinner....My job was to get Grandy's unbaked dinner rolls....Kept the car heat up high, but that caused the rolls to rise....Chewy and cold bread that day....
Grandy’s…
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BrewingFrog

Was I supposed to type something here?
The low temp was -2 degrees. Probably the worst cold spell since December 1983, which was really rough and still holds most of the records.
Mrs. Brewingfrog stood in our kitchen that morning, looking at the snazzy little digital weatherstation we have on the counter. "It's 8!" she exclaimed. "8!"

Sure enough, it was danged cold. I was primarily worried about my cows, who are not exactly used to winter temperatures like that, and especially the two little calves that were born within hours of the descending cold wave. I had moved a bunch of big round bales around to make them a wind break, and hoped for the best.

Sure enough, the cows had pulled out a bunch of the hay, and snuggled down behind the wall of bales. They were just fine. The only issue was the water trough, which had frozen solid. it took the big sledgehammer to crack the top of the ice, and allow the cows some water...

The calves are a year old now, healthy, and quite happy. In a fit of originality, I named them Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.
 

Limp Lizard

Full Member
Didn't have an AAA membership in 1983, so I had to hike about 5 blocks to a convenience store to get tire filler....Only to have to repeat it again two days later....There were no tire stores in my neighborhood then....Temp 12-23=90 was -1, and I never thought I'd live to see anything like it again....Oh, well, there was the -2 last year....What made the 1983 cold snap especially bad was that it hung on for close to two weeks....Folks didn't want to drive to brother's in Lewisville for fear of the car breaking down and the possibility of them freezing to death....So they hosted Christmas dinner....My job was to get Grandy's unbaked dinner rolls....Kept the car heat up high, but that caused the rolls to rise....Chewy and cold bread that day....
In Dec. 1983 DFW reported 295 continuous hours of freezing or below! I had just moved down from Connecticut after spending 5.5 years living in Indiana (ugh) and Connecticut (nice). I thought I had brought Winter with me. Lots of broken water mains, too. Water people were out in single-digit weather dealing with gushing ice-cold water.... during the Christmas holiday season. Really felt sorry for them. This led to a booming shrubbery industry the Spring of 1984.

For some reason Texas did not have all the power failures of last February. Or nearly as much frozen precipitation. There was 332 almost consecutive hours freezing or below (there was a 3-hour break after the first 95 hours). So, add another 2.6 days of freezing temps to last Feb., those who were not here in '83.
 
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BrewingFrog

Was I supposed to type something here?
In Dec. 1983 DFW reported 295 continuous hours of freezing or below! I had just moved down from Connecticut after spending 5.5 years living in Indiana (ugh) and Connecticut (nice). I thought I had brought Winter with me. Lots of broken water mains, too. Water people were out in single-digit weather dealing with gushing ice-cold water.... during the Christmas holiday season. Really felt sorry for them. This led to a booming shrubbery industry the Spring of 1984.

For some reason Texas did not have all the power failures of last February. Or nearly as much frozen precipitation. There was 332 almost consecutive hours freezing or below (there was a 3-hour break after the first 95 hours). So, add another 2.6 days of freezing temps to last Feb., those who were not here in '83.
At that time, I was living in the shabby roach motel known as the Westcliffe Manor Apartments. The A/C system over there was essentially a swamp cooler with underground piping to all the various units. The Long Freeze broke all of those buried pipes, and after things thawed out, they began digging and replacing all of that plumbing. It took until after we bugged out in May to finish, and people essentially slept with windows open at night. I remember it as being kind of fun...

The shocking aspect of that freeze was it's depth and persistence. The cold air wafted down past the RGV and into Old Mexico quite a ways. Areas that hadn't seen a freeze in many decades got some Arctic love. The Valley Citrus growers were just about wiped out, as not only their crop, but their trees were destroyed by the cold. And, for those of you familiar with the Valley, the majestic Palms that grace the roadsides were nearly all killed. Only through diligent work, by thousands of volunteers, have the roads and look of the Valley returned to their formerly graceful ways.

Oh, and FYI, in the Winter following the Great Hurricane of 1900, a brutal freeze swept over Coastal Texas that was so severe it froze over Galveston Bay! Yikes!
 

bronco

Active Member
In Dec. 1983 DFW reported 295 continuous hours of freezing or below! I had just moved down from Connecticut after spending 5.5 years living in Indiana (ugh) and Connecticut (nice). I thought I had brought Winter with me. Lots of broken water mains, too. Water people were out in single-digit weather dealing with gushing ice-cold water.... during the Christmas holiday season. Really felt sorry for them. This led to a booming shrubbery industry the Spring of 1984.

For some reason Texas did not have all the power failures of last February. Or nearly as much frozen precipitation. There was 332 almost consecutive hours freezing or below (there was a 3-hour break after the first 95 hours). So, add another 2.6 days of freezing temps to last Feb., those who were not here in '83.
When I was in high school (78-82) we had a cold snap and school was canceled so that the electricity and gas could be diverted to other customers. As I recall it was written into the school's contract with the energy providers.
 

Limp Lizard

Full Member
When I was in high school (78-82) we had a cold snap and school was canceled so that the electricity and gas could be diverted to other customers. As I recall it was written into the school's contract with the energy providers.
Most of the 1983 blast was during Christmas break, so maybe your school missed shutting down.

I just looked at what happened in Minnesota then. The highs (!!) were about -20 several days!!!!
 
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