Charlie Max
12-26-2004, 03:01 PM
This is probably a piece of cake to people that are tired of dealing with snow, but check this out.
Valley enjoys first white Christmas in recorded history
BY KEVIN GARCIA
The Brownsville Herald
December 26, 2004 — As the clock struck midnight, people waiting up for a hint of Santa Claus received a different kind of surprise — the sound of snowflakes hitting ice-covered windows.
For the first time in 109 years, the Rio Grande Valley was covered in snow — its first white Christmas in recorded history.
“We had an inch and a half of snow in Brownsville and that’s the most snow we’ve had since 1895,” said Greg Flatt, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Brownsville. “We had reports; Hebbronville had 5 inches, Harlingen had an inch and half, Port Isabel reported 3 inches and (South Padre) Island had 2 to 3 inches.”
On Feb. 14 and Feb. 15, 1895, Brownsville received between 5 and 6 inches of snow. On Saturday, some areas here received as much as 2 inches, but by noon most of the evidence had melted away.
Although the snow brought some unwanted side effects, including ice-covered roads and power outages, most of the Rio Grande Valley greeted their white Christmas with a mixture of bewilderment and joy.
Sam Arjona, 20, was spending the first hours of Christmas morning with his 18-year-old brother Javier and their friends when they discovered the snow.
“We were watching movies and I heard rain, but when I came outside there was a lot of snow,” Arjona said. “I thought, ‘What is this?’ Then I saw the car frozen and I said, ‘Oh my God.’ I came to my (uncle’s) house and I was knocking on the door at 2 in the morning, and he said, ‘Oh my God!’”
After a snowball fight, Arjona and his friends built a snowman.
Thousands of others in the city discovered the white landscape several hours later.
In North Brownsville, 14-year-old Austin del Castillo opened Christmas presents before heading outside to make a snow angel in his front yard.
“My dad woke me up at 5 in the morning,” said del Castillo, who had a snowball fight with his friends after making his angel. “It was worth it.”
It was his first experience with snow, although other neighborhood children swear they saw some here in the mid-1990s that melted before it hit the ground.
“It was kinda weird seeing the whole neighborhood under a blanket of snow,” del Castillo said. “I didn’t know how it felt. It’s totally weird, but cool.”
The snowflakes also prompted child-like excitement from 32-year-old Juan Martinez.
“I wanted to play in the snow,” he said. “(When I saw it) I thought I’d been drinking because this is a first.”
His friend, 30-year-old Arturo Alverado Real, was still celebrating the holiday snow after the Christmas sunrise.
“Viva libertad (Long live liberty)!” he exclaimed as he raised his arms in joy in front of the snowman he and Martinez built. “Viva la nieve blanca (Long live white snow)!”
Not everyone was giddy about the snow.
Dorina Martin, 60, moved to Paul’s RV Park in Brownsville from Maine two years ago after visiting each winter years before.
“(We moved) to get away from the long cold weather,” she said. “Usually we get from a few inches to a few feet of snow and you can really get buried. This year for some reason (Maine has) a green Christmas, and that’s not common.”
Although snow was nothing new to her, she was glad to see it for Christmas.
“I loved it; it finally looked like Christmas, for me anyway,” she said, adding that 12 hours of snow isn’t as bad as several months.
Unlike native Valley residents, Martin had no problem driving in the snow.
“It didn’t bother me at all, but I noticed other cars were going 30 miles an hour a little timidly,” Martin said. “I thought it was so funny because I’m just going right along and they were just crawling.”
Despite icy road conditions, emergency crews faced relatively few accidents.
“I think we had three (in the morning),” said Assistant Fire Chief Randy Russell. “Usually there’s a lot more than that, but I guess there were a lot of people staying in.”
That gave on-duty firemen time to enjoy a Christmas meal and some recreation in the snow. Russell and another supervisor were attacked by an unidentified firefighter armed with snowballs.
“We’ll get them back another day,” Russell said.
If the assistant fire chief’s redemption plans involve snowballs, he might have quite a wait – perhaps another 109 years.
No snow is in the forecast today, or any other day in the foreseeable future.
“(This) morning we might get a light freeze but most of the snow should be gone,” Flatt said. “After that it will be in the low 60s and into the 70s all next week.”
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/images/uploads/snowLEAD.jpg
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/images/uploads/brownsvillesnow3.jpg
Valley enjoys first white Christmas in recorded history
BY KEVIN GARCIA
The Brownsville Herald
December 26, 2004 — As the clock struck midnight, people waiting up for a hint of Santa Claus received a different kind of surprise — the sound of snowflakes hitting ice-covered windows.
For the first time in 109 years, the Rio Grande Valley was covered in snow — its first white Christmas in recorded history.
“We had an inch and a half of snow in Brownsville and that’s the most snow we’ve had since 1895,” said Greg Flatt, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Brownsville. “We had reports; Hebbronville had 5 inches, Harlingen had an inch and half, Port Isabel reported 3 inches and (South Padre) Island had 2 to 3 inches.”
On Feb. 14 and Feb. 15, 1895, Brownsville received between 5 and 6 inches of snow. On Saturday, some areas here received as much as 2 inches, but by noon most of the evidence had melted away.
Although the snow brought some unwanted side effects, including ice-covered roads and power outages, most of the Rio Grande Valley greeted their white Christmas with a mixture of bewilderment and joy.
Sam Arjona, 20, was spending the first hours of Christmas morning with his 18-year-old brother Javier and their friends when they discovered the snow.
“We were watching movies and I heard rain, but when I came outside there was a lot of snow,” Arjona said. “I thought, ‘What is this?’ Then I saw the car frozen and I said, ‘Oh my God.’ I came to my (uncle’s) house and I was knocking on the door at 2 in the morning, and he said, ‘Oh my God!’”
After a snowball fight, Arjona and his friends built a snowman.
Thousands of others in the city discovered the white landscape several hours later.
In North Brownsville, 14-year-old Austin del Castillo opened Christmas presents before heading outside to make a snow angel in his front yard.
“My dad woke me up at 5 in the morning,” said del Castillo, who had a snowball fight with his friends after making his angel. “It was worth it.”
It was his first experience with snow, although other neighborhood children swear they saw some here in the mid-1990s that melted before it hit the ground.
“It was kinda weird seeing the whole neighborhood under a blanket of snow,” del Castillo said. “I didn’t know how it felt. It’s totally weird, but cool.”
The snowflakes also prompted child-like excitement from 32-year-old Juan Martinez.
“I wanted to play in the snow,” he said. “(When I saw it) I thought I’d been drinking because this is a first.”
His friend, 30-year-old Arturo Alverado Real, was still celebrating the holiday snow after the Christmas sunrise.
“Viva libertad (Long live liberty)!” he exclaimed as he raised his arms in joy in front of the snowman he and Martinez built. “Viva la nieve blanca (Long live white snow)!”
Not everyone was giddy about the snow.
Dorina Martin, 60, moved to Paul’s RV Park in Brownsville from Maine two years ago after visiting each winter years before.
“(We moved) to get away from the long cold weather,” she said. “Usually we get from a few inches to a few feet of snow and you can really get buried. This year for some reason (Maine has) a green Christmas, and that’s not common.”
Although snow was nothing new to her, she was glad to see it for Christmas.
“I loved it; it finally looked like Christmas, for me anyway,” she said, adding that 12 hours of snow isn’t as bad as several months.
Unlike native Valley residents, Martin had no problem driving in the snow.
“It didn’t bother me at all, but I noticed other cars were going 30 miles an hour a little timidly,” Martin said. “I thought it was so funny because I’m just going right along and they were just crawling.”
Despite icy road conditions, emergency crews faced relatively few accidents.
“I think we had three (in the morning),” said Assistant Fire Chief Randy Russell. “Usually there’s a lot more than that, but I guess there were a lot of people staying in.”
That gave on-duty firemen time to enjoy a Christmas meal and some recreation in the snow. Russell and another supervisor were attacked by an unidentified firefighter armed with snowballs.
“We’ll get them back another day,” Russell said.
If the assistant fire chief’s redemption plans involve snowballs, he might have quite a wait – perhaps another 109 years.
No snow is in the forecast today, or any other day in the foreseeable future.
“(This) morning we might get a light freeze but most of the snow should be gone,” Flatt said. “After that it will be in the low 60s and into the 70s all next week.”
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/images/uploads/snowLEAD.jpg
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/images/uploads/brownsvillesnow3.jpg