Houston Winters

Dear Shawn,

For years, since I was a kid, I’ve joked about Houston winters. “Yeah, we have winter in Houston...it’s two weeks and not in a row.” That’s the winter I’m used to having on the Texas Coast. Most Thanksgivings are spent playing football in the front yard after the feast while wearing shorts. Most Christmas mornings only require a light jacket. It’s almost sad.

I always hated the weaker winters because they fail to kill off the bugs. Summers after a weak winter are itchier and crawlier. We do get a freeze from time to time. I do know what ice looks like, and Dallas has had some wicked winter ice storms when I lived there. Snow is quite rare in Texas, unless up in the Texas Panhandle, but I do remember it snowing once in Houston when I was a kid. Mom picked me up from school early so I could get home and play in it! Or, more likely, work closed down early in order to get people home safe, before it got worse. I’m not sure anyone drives worse in ice and snow than a Texan. It’s just not in our play book!

This winter has been different. Where, in the past, I can get away with not using the heat in my home at all, or once or twice at the most, I’ve had to use the heat a number of times this winter. It’s snowed twice! One day, it iced up and I was two hours late leaving IAH because at first the jet bridge was frozen, and then the tarmac was too icy to move the loading equipment, so they couldn’t unload the bags from the previous flight. Normally, I sleep with a fan all year round. This year, I turned off the fan and even added another layer on my bed under which to sleep, as I do like to keep my home on the cold side. That may be part of the reason why I’m still single.

Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT complaining. My name is Penguin for a reason. I love the cold weather. I’d rather be cold and have to bundle up than hot and unable to do anything but sweat like an animal. I terribly miss living in the Bay Area, where going out with a jacket and hat was the norm. No one wears hats in Houston, unless it’s a ball cap, so when I do wear one of my hats, I feel like I stick out like a tourist.

This year, every time it looks like Houston is back on schedule, the temps rise to the lower or mid seventies, and I start to think that our winter is over, at least for a month or so, until the next cold spell comes, where it dips back into the 40s and makes me smile. Case in point- yesterday, the high was 72. I woke up this morning and needed my skull cap because it was cold in my house again. Then I went outside to head to work and the breeze sent a chill through me as if I were in Chicago! It was 42, but the wind was blowing so hard that it easily felt like it was in the 30s. It made me look at the forecast, which seems to indicate that we are not quite done with Houston winter, just yet. Now, it’s warmed back up and the fan is back on. I’m hoping for another cold front. Take your time, spring. I can get into this chill!