Austin snow and ice - 75 photos

[KevinFromTexas]

I've posted the snow and ice pictures I took over the past 3 days. They're in the General Photography section of the forum. Go to the link below to check them out.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=2573680#post2573680

[Boris]

Cool Photos. I like the closeups.

This one sort of looks like a frozen turd.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/KevinFromTexas/Snow%20and%20ice%202007/P1050061EDIT.jpg


And, who's this criminal looking person here?

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/KevinFromTexas/Snow%20and%20ice%202007/P1040881EDIT.jpg

.............

[Mopacs]

Love the photos! The details are amazing. It appears that you had more snow accumulations on your end of town than we did up in Williamson County. Ice and Sleet accumulations were the norm up here.

I'll share some of my pics soon (nothing too interesting, just the usual icicle shots).

[TXLove]

great pics and glad its over so we can get back to normal and see some construction continue!!!!

[BG918]

Interesting to see so far south, haven't they been planting a bunch of palms around Austin the past few years? We were iced in up here in OK as well with a big snowstorm on the way. I'll try to get some pics.

[KevinFromTexas]

Thanks, guys. I enjoyed the storm. It's not every year we have one of these, so when it comes along it's a lot of fun. It didn't snow much here, maybe only an hour or so. At one point the flakes were nice and fluffly, but the rest was pretty slushy. The snow did stick because of the layer of existing ice, but it was already gone the next day. And amazingly I didn't fall on my ass. Our driveway and all our walkways are paved with old bricks from downtown which seem to be good at not icing up. Now the wooden landscape timbers, that's a different story, those things are as slippery as snot!

[NBTX11]

I didn't get one flake of snow in New Braunfels, just some freezing rain.

[NBTX11]

Interesting to see so far south, haven't they been planting a bunch of palms around Austin the past few years? We were iced in up here in OK as well with a big snowstorm on the way. I'll try to get some pics.


Yes, there are tons of palms around Austin and San Antonio. Here's a couple pictures of some covered in ice after the storm.

My front yard with car and little palms covered in ice.


http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/syersj/000_0012.jpg
Bigger palms covered in ice.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/syersj/000_0016.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/syersj/000_0017.jpg

[KevinFromTexas]

^ I'm pretty sure I've passed by there. Do you live near the Wal-mart in New Braunfels? I forget the street names, but there's a large church just before you enter the neighborhood. I swear that house with the boat looks familar. We have friends on Lazy Trail.

[Jdawgboy]

Unfortunaty those palms are damaged and some of them may die. California palms wich is what most of those are usually can handle several hours of freezing but when its about 58 consecutive hours, thats a different story, also it would have been much better if it had just been snow because the ice did alot of damage to the fronds. Im a tropical and semi-tropical plant and tree hobbiest so yea I have several palms and Im going to have to keep a close eye on them I believe one is a lost cause already. Austin is to the point where you can get away with growing palms and other semi-tropical to tropical plants mostly year around but every now and then you get that one bad freeze or winter storm and you have to start over again.:pissed:

[BG918]

^ If they're going to die possibly every other year why plant them in the first place? Why not just stick to native plants and trees?

[NBTX11]

^ I'm pretty sure I've passed by there. Do you live near the Wal-mart in New Braunfels? I forget the street names, but there's a large church just before you enter the neighborhood. I swear that house with the boat looks familar. We have friends on Lazy Trail.

No, I live about 2-3 miles north of Walmart. I live between exit 189 (TX46), and 190 (Bus 35), about 1/2 miles west of I-35.

[NBTX11]

^ If they're going to die possibly every other year why plant them in the first place? Why not just stick to native plants and trees?

In addition to being a skyscraper fan and a member of this forum, I am also a palm afficianado and member of the International Palm Society forum. There are several palms that are 100% hardy for Austin/SA. Some are hardy as far north as Dallas. These types will recover fine in the spring. The damaged fronds (leaves) will simply need to be trimmed off in the spring, and they will resume growth. I have numerous palms in my yard. Here is a short list of palms that are completely hardy, some of which are 40' tall and have been around for 50 years or more. Sorry, but this is one of my other favorite topics, not trying to hijack this thead. Pics attached for reference.

Washingtonia Filifera (California Fan palm) - as someone mentioned completely hardy, I have some 50 footers in front of my office, that are at least that many years old. Hardy to 10-12F.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/syersj/Palm5.jpg



Washingtonia Robusta (Mexican Fan palm) - 99% hardy, unless we have another cold snap like we had in Dec 1989, which killed many of them. Hardy to 15-18F. The tall thin ones you see in movie shots of L.A.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/syersj/Palm13.jpg



Sabal Palmetto/Mexicana (Florida Cabbage/Texas Sabal palmetto) - 100% hardy, to 8F. You see alot more of the Sabal Palmettos in FL, but they are hardy here.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/syersj/Palm12.jpg



Phoenix Canariensis (Canary Island Date Palm) 100% hardy. Distinguished by the big long drooping fronds. Hardy to around 10F, but will defoliate below 18F or so.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/syersj/CIDP5.jpg



Butia Capitata (Pindo Palm) Hardy to single digits F. Sorry, no pics.

Syagrus Romanzoffianum (Queen palm) - marginally hardy, but commonly planted due to thier tropical looks resembling a coconut palm. Hardy to 18-20F. Below this will defoliate of kill them.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/syersj/Palm15.jpg





There's more, but those are the main ones you see. Again, sorry, but this is one of my other favorite topics.

[alexjon]

Wow, NB

Just wow.

[KevinFromTexas]

That's awesome that you guys know so much about palms. So by the looks of the ones you called California Fan Palms, and the page on them at Wikipedia, it looks like our's are California Fan Palms also. But I know they stand up to temperatures colder than 10 to 12F since we've been as low as 4F here and it still did fine. We actually thought of buying a heater for trees to keep it warm that winter, but we didn't. It's been ok all this time. Wikipedia notes that they live to be 80 to 90 years old, so our's is only halfway through its life.

[NBTX11]

That's awesome that you guys know so much about palms. So by the looks of the ones you called California Fan Palms, and the page on them at Wikipedia, it looks like our's are California Fan Palms also. But I know they stand up to temperatures colder than 10 to 12F since we've been as low as 4F here and it still did fine. We actually thought of buying a heater for trees to keep it warm that winter, but we didn't. It's been ok all this time. Wikipedia notes that they live to be 80 to 90 years old, so our's is only halfway through its life.

Kevin, I looked at your pictures, and yes you have California Fan palms. 80-90 percent of the really old palms around Austin/SA are California Fans or a hybrid between California Fans and Mexican Fans. They hybridize easily and can be difficult to tell apart. California Fans generally have thicker trunks. As far as being hardy to 10F, that is a minimum of 10. Below that might defoliate (kill leaves) or damage the trunks, but they might be able to survive down to lower single digits before being outright killed (which we probably will never see again, hopefully).

[KevinFromTexas]

Yeah they have been in some cold. I was just looking up some historical data on temperatures from the 60s to the present, and in December of 1983 it was very cold. That was the coldest December on record for San Antonio, and the 2nd for Austin. Austin remained below freezing for a record 140 hours from December 21st to the 27th.

January of 1985, we also saw some cold weather with snow in Austin and San Antonio. San Antonio had their all time record snow amount of 13.5 inches. Not sure how much Austin got, but LoneStarMike and I do recall it. They also saw 8.5 inches of snow all the way down to Del Rio which was a record for them as well. The following year it happened all over again and Del Rio picked up another 8.2 inches. This is insane considering it's deep south Texas, we're talking on the border. Just 7 months later in August however, San Antonio had it's highest temp ever at 108F.

December of 1989 was extreme. Del Rio had its lowest record temp for December when the temp dropped to 10F. This was on December 23rd. That same day Austin and San Antonio reported their record lows for December of 4F and 6F degrees respectively. I think the coldest Austin has been since then is perhaps 21F or so. It's been much colder in the Hill Country, low double digits out there.

[NBTX11]

^^Yeah, the 83 and 89 cold snap were two of the worst cold snaps the past100 years. Not expecting anything like that anytime soon. The coldest SA has gotten officially at the airport since 1989 is 17F, but most winters it doesn't get below 25-27F.

[TexasBoi]

I remember december of 89. I think it snowed that year. I will not forget February of 96. It iced and snowed on February 1st and 2nd and school was cancelled. It iced up again exactly one week later. Then exactly 2 weeks after the second storm, the state saw 90-100 degree temperatures throughout the state.

[Corinth940]

Reading this thread reminds me of just how much warmer the weather has become, especially winter, over the last 20 years or so. We just had about 80-85 hours below freezing here in the DFW area last week, and that hasn't happened in years. Here's an interesting map showing new Plant Hardiness maps and how the different regions of the US have warmed substantially.

In regards to Texas, areas around the DFW metro that used to be in zone 7 and zone 8 are now firmly in zone 8 and includes southern Oklahoma. Areas around San Antonio and Austin are now included in zone 9 with northern areas of the Austin metro and the Hill Country at the beginnings of zone 8. Even the Houston metro is totally entrenched in zone 9 all the way up towards Huntsville when it used to be just coastal areas near Galveston.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e255/corinth940/changes06.png