The Weather Channel shows the pink of mixed frozen precipitation on its local radar inching its way into the western edge of Jefferson County, almost at the most southeastern edge of Texas. A little snow is behind it.
Nevertheless, I don’t expect to wake tomorrow to a Winter wonderland. I will be surprised if my pickup’s roof is covered with snow rather than the rain which is falling outside right now with temperatures hovering around 33 degrees.
In reality and, somewhat to my wonderment, it is not unusual for this part of eastern Texas to get a blast of cold and even snow-sleet accompanied air this time of the year even though it isn’t even officially winter on the Texas Gulf Coast.
I am sure there probably is some meteorological reason for it but spending as many years in this portion of Texas as I have — ranging from birth to my early 50s with some time off in Central and North Texas, Southern Mississippi, southern California and the Southern Pacific — I have noticed that this corner of the state quite often gets a super blast of Arctic air a week or two before Christmas.
Several times I can remember pre-Christmas snow and sleet storms where I grew up deep in the Pineywoods. Later I remember colder ‘n hell pre-Christmases in Dallas — specifically the week of Christmas 1983 and the week before or near Christmas in 1989. And there have been other instances. I don’t know why we get these chunks o’ cold at these particular times, yet, I have never seen it snow, sleet or come a talcum powder flurry on Christmas Day in my life. Not that it really matters. I have drawn some confused looks from my black friends when I told them I never saw a white Christmas. They said: “Bro, where the hell did you grow up, in Kenya?”
It is just as I mentioned in the earlier post today, the Texas Gulf Coast is hardly your typical winter wonderland. And it’s still raining outside here in Beaumont. And you know something? I like it.