Classes were canceled, businesses closed and the roads were mostly empty.
An ice storm passed across Texas predictably emptying grocery shelves as the recent memories of last year’s freeze lingered in the minds of locals.
After the Valentine’s Day snowstorm of February 2021, residents were quick to prepare, anticipating similar road conditions, power outages and water shortages. Grocery stores throughout the Greater Austin area saw long lines, with wait times of up to an hour, as customers stripped shelves of food and water throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 1–2. Events and meetings were rescheduled and schools canceled classes, effectively shutting down large parts of the city for Thursday and Friday, Feb. 3–4.
Officially, only 0.1 inches of sleet accumulated at Austin-Camp Mabry on Thursday with 0.2 inches of sleet accumulating at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport the same day. The lowest temperature recorded sat just below 20 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday. However local weather reporter Raymond Schiflett recorded .35 inches of ice accumulation at his residence in Driftwood and a low temperature of 17 degrees on Saturday morning.
Last year’s historic winter storm, comparatively, had inches-thick layers of ice that lingered for multiple days, a snowfall of six inches and bone-chilling temperatures in the single digits.
Still, this year’s storm was not without its impact. Power outages, likely caused by downed power lines, affected 70,000 homes throughout the Greater Austin area, according to Austin Energy. A 14-car pileup was reported on Interstate 35. Most businesses did not open back up for regular business until Saturday, Feb. 5.
However, after a sunny weekend, the recollections of winter storm damage are all but in the past, with temperatures climbing back up into the upper sixties throughout the week.
