Snow flurries fell in the Austin area Wednesday morning as an arctic blast blew through Central Texas.
"Light snow accumulated just a little bit on some cars and some grassy areas, but it's not causing any impacts; it's more just a wow factor," meteorologist Jason Runyen, with the National Weather Service, said. “If there's any left [it will] thin out through the rest of the day.”
The National Weather Service has issued an extreme cold warning and a cold weather advisory through Thursday morning. There is also a slight chance of precipitation Friday night into Saturday morning.
The windchill has brought the coldest weather of the season, with temperatures feeling like10 degrees or lower.
Schools
School districts in the region do not anticipate changes to their school schedules as road conditions are expected to be dry. Austin ISD said campuses will leave their heaters running overnight to ensure “comfortable temperatures for students” as they arrive in the morning.
“While we are taking this precaution, we recognize that some older buildings with less insulation may not maintain consistent temperatures in these extreme conditions,” the district said in a Facebook post. “Please plan to send your child to school with warm clothes, including layers.”
The Four P's
The City of Austin Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) is encouraging people to protect the 4 P’s: people, pets, pipes and plants.
People should dress warmly in layers as the windchill could increase the chance of hypothermia for those outside for long periods of time. While heating your home, do not use a generator, grill, camp stove or any device that uses gasoline, propane or charcoal. These could produce odorless and colorless carbon monoxide gas that is deadly.
The city also encourages people to bring pets inside and to insulate or cover exposed pipes. To further protect pipes from freezing, drip faucets.
“ If we just drop below freezing for a few hours, that's no big deal, it takes time for the water inside your pipes to freeze,” Runyen said. “ I'd encourage people to be dripping during the day because we do have a hard freeze ongoing.”
HSEM also recommends covering plants or bringing them indoors.
Cold-weather shelters
David Gray, director of the Austin Homeless Strategy Office, said staff housed nearly 400 people at overnight shelters Tuesday.
“When we have these multinight activations, usually we’ll see about 200 to 250 clients on the first night,” he said. “That 400 on the first night, I think, is just a strong indication that folks are looking for warm places to be.”
The office will open cold-weather shelters again Wednesday and Thursday nights, and could open them Friday and Saturday, depending on the forecast. The office expects the number of people seeking services will go up.
People can register to stay at the shelters from 6-8 p.m. at One Texas Center on Barton Springs Road. Capital Metro bus fare to the center is free.
Under updated rules, the city now opens overnight shelters when the forecast is 35 degrees or below. More information on shelters can be found here.
Shelters shut down in the morning, but people in need of a warm place to stay can go to warming centers, like Austin's Parks and Recreation facilities and city libraries. The city recommends checking hours of operation before arriving.
The Austin Public Library will open the Central Library and Terrazas Branch at 7 a.m. Thursday and Friday to serve as warming centers.
Austin-Travis County EMS transported three people to local hospitals for cold-related illness, none of those cases were severe.
Southside Community Center in San Marcos, the only overnight warming center in Hays County, will provide updates on its Facebook page about operations later in the week.
Follow the latest tweets from the NWS below.
